Porcelain

"By the Shang Dynasty (16th century BC - 11th century BC) glazed pottery and the hard glazed pottery that came near to porcelain had appeared. And by the Wei and Jin Dynasties (AD 220 - 420) China had produced porcelain with a hard body fired at high temperatures. Both the techniques employed in manufacturing ceramics and artistic creation reached a very high level during the Tang Dynasty. The Ming and Qing Dynasties saw further technical progress in making the base, decorating, glazing and firing. Pottery and porcelain are qualitatively different. Pottery is mainly made from the highly sticky and plastic clay; it is not translucent and is slightly porous and absorbent of water. Porcelain consists essentially of kaolin, quartz, and feldspar and is fired at high temperatures; it is semi-translucent, nonporous, nonabsorbent, hard and fine-grained. Nowadays Chinese porcelain is not only popular by native people but also becoming a well-pursued product for foreign friends. They give their family and friends the Chinese porcelains as precious gifts or reserve some of them for their own collection. "