In ancient China, silk took a great place among the many goods exported through sea routes. That led to the name experts gave to the maritime trade 　 the Maritime Silk Road. However, since the Tang Dynasty , the quantities of silk exports stayed unchanged while an increasing need for pottery and porcelain products from foreign countries pushed China’s maritime trade to a new peak. The maritime trade of porcelain and pottery was given such great importance by many scholars that they named the routes Maritime Porcelain Road instead of Maritime Silk Road.

While Europeans unable to learn the procedures to produce pottery and porcelain until the 18th century, China had decoded the secret as early as the East Han Dynasty (25-220). Early in the 18th century, a French Jesuit visited Jingdezhen in 1722, staying in the center of porcelain production in China, sent home a record of porcelain making. In 1756, Louis XV (1715-1774) ordered that a porcelain production center be set up at Sévres, located near his palace at the Versailles. Called the Manufacturer Royale du Porcelaine, it was to supply dinnerware and works of art for the court.

Japan’s ceramics production was closely related to that of China. In the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), a Japanese came to Fujian Province to learn porcelain production and successfully produce black-glaze potteries when he came back to Japan in 1223. The Japanese apprentice was then regarded as the “ancestor of Japanese ceramics.” In the middle of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), a Japanese, called Wu Xiangrui in Chinese, came to the famous ceramics center -- Jingdezhen -- in 1508. Five years later, Wu Xiangrui went back to Japan and began to produce porcelain in his hometown.

Persian ceramics workers also paid great efforts in studying the production of Chinese porcelain and pottery. They created “Multi-glazed Pottery ” or “Persian Tri-colored” porcelain by adding  floral characteristics to traditional Chinese porcelain production. The Persian blue and white porcelain that appeared later were proved to be mimics of Chinese pieces.

Chinese ceramics enlightened the porcelain production of Africa, too. The biggest Egyptian ancient ceramics works center is in the south of Cairo, where more than 600,000 potsherds have been unearthed. It was amazing that 70 percent of the potsherds were mimics of Chinese porcelains. Experts think that after Chinese Tang Tri-colored porcelain works were exported to Egypt around the 9th and 10th centuries, the ceramics center began to produce multi-colored porcelain. Also, the Egyptian celadon and white and blue porcelain pieces were produced after the Chinese ones were exported to the country.

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