Celebrated as one of the "Five Great Kilns" that produced porcelain in ancient China, the Ding kilns in the Song dynasty were located in what is now Quyang county, Hebei province. At the time, the area was under the administration of Dingzhou, hence the name "Ding kilns."

Ding ware is a type of high-fired, white porcelain, characterized by its white glaze, copper-bound rim and exquisite decoration, which is engraved, etched or imprinted. Popular motifs include waves, fish, animals, birds, flowers and children at play. Engraved floral decoration was the primary form of ornamentation in early Song porcelain. Once this technique became popular, it was combined with comb-etched images to create a secondary form of decoration. For example, the center of a flared dish might feature a carved flower surrounded by etched leaf outlines, creating parallel lines that represent the leaves' veins.

One of the most significant contributions of Ding potters was the invention of the inverted firing method. The challenge of warping that occurred when firing thin Ding bowls and plates in an upright position, prompted the potters to devise a novel solution. They devised a method of firing the vessels upside down. In order to do this, the glaze on the rim had to be scraped away so that the vessels would not stick to the saggar, a box made of fireclay in which delicate ceramic pieces are fired. This method spreads the weight of the vessels over a wider area, solving the warping issues.

Among the "Five Great Kilns" of the Song Dynasty, the Ding kilns are the only ones to produce white porcelain, for which they were famous in their time.

In 2008, the "Ding porcelain firing technique" was inscribed on the list of national intangible cultural heritage.