Ceramics is a traditional Chinese handcraft with a long
history. The best pottery-making centers are Yixing in Jiangsu Province,
Shiwan in Guangdong Province, and Luoyang in Henan Province. Luoyang’s
tri-colored pottery in Tang style is known throughout the world. Yixing’s
pottery is mostly made for everybody use and is especially known for its
purplish brown, glazed, polychrome and refined products. Objects of art,
figurines in particular, are the forte of ceramics of Shiwan. Luoyang’s
tri-colored pottery, glazed red , green and white, made a name for itself as
early as the Tang Dynasty. Famous Chinese porcelains include celadon ware
from Longquan of Zhejiang Province; the Ru-style porcelain ware (glazed
grayish blue with a jade-like material) from Linru, and the highly decorate
Jun-style ware of Yuxian County of Henan Province; and products from
Tangshan and Xuanhua of Hebei Province. None of these porcelain-making
places, however, rival the fame of Jingdezhen, the ‘the Capital of Chinese
Porcelain-making Industry’, and famille-rose, blue-and-white, eggshell-thin,
and exquisite porcelains are its trademark products. |