Cups of phosphorescent jade from Jiuquan are a popular collector's item. It was in the Zhou Dynasty that primitive porcelain drink containers first appeared. At that time, porcelain was of a quality somewhere between that of present-day pottery and porcelain, and was inferior to metal in both practical use and artistic appeal. Porcelain making reached its zenith during the Song Dynasty, but it was seldom used to make drinking sets. The Tang Dynasty influence, with its preference for gold and silver drinking vessels, prevailed.

Although the number of porcelain drinking sets produced during the Song Dynasty was small, those extant are exquisite. One example is a lid-less wine pot. To fill it, the liquid is injected through a small hole at the bottom of the pot, into a tube that leads to the pot brim. When set upright, the liquid does not flow from the mouth. Another novel example is a double-chamber wine pot that held two kinds of drink, good and poisoned, and which was a popular instrument of assassination.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, ceramic drinking sets dominated, and gradually replaced those of gold, silver and jade in the imperial court, and were also used in ordinary households. It was during this period that drinking sets became smaller, partly for practical reasons, but also because of the change in drinking habits. Stronger drink appeared in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). Prior to this, alcohol was usually low proof, generally less than 10 percent. Following the appearance of stronger spirits, the style of drinking changed, and drinking sets became smaller.

With the advance of time, drinking sets are now daily-use articles, and pottery drinking sets are in vogue.

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