The first time I noticed the shift was in a small ceramic shop tucked away in the Jingdezhen alleyways. I was holding a celadon teacup, its surface cool and smooth, the glaze so deep it looked like still water. The artisan, an elderly man with hands weathered by decades of work, quoted a price that made me pause. “Fifteen years ago,” he said softly, “this cup would have cost a third of that.” I smiled, not at the irony, but at the honesty. It was the first moment I truly wondered: are chinese products going up in price, and if so, what does that mean for the soul of the…