And now a set in this exquisite Jixiang ruyi' style, produced by Jingdezhen Ceramics is to be presented to US President George W. Bush and his First Lady by Chinese President Jiang Zemin during his US visit this fall.

The tableware has already been made and special packaging is being designed.

The King of Tableware

According to the records of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), this special royal porcelain was designed and produced by ingenious Jingdezhen artisans and fired in the government-owned kilns. One famous set was known by the name "Wanshou wujiang" meaning "infinitely long life." It was said to comprise possibly one hundred pieces and was intended for the many dishes of a full scale Manchu-Han banquet. It adopted the famille rose design. Following its traditionally high profile usage, "Wanshou wujiang" has long been regarded as the "King of Tableware."

In the present day we pay careful attention to health issues. Previously there was a problem with traditional famille rose porcelain due to a technical difficulty in completely removing all traces of lead and cadmium, both poisonous elements. Thus in choosing porcelain for daily use most consumers have tended to turn to white ware or underglazed celadon.

As a leading company in the production of porcelain for everyday use, Jingdezhen Ceramics launched new research work on in-glaze tableware in 1997. Their mission was to use the latest advanced technology available to produce a healthy porcelain in the traditional famille rose pattern but free from lead or cadmium.

After years of effort, the company achieved a breakthrough first with in-glaze ware in the "classical garden" style in celadon. The technology was then extended to embrace "Wanshou wujiang" tableware, which was taken to batch-production in 2000.

President Jiang Zemin visited Jingdezhen Ceramics at the end of May 2001 during his tour of Jingdezhen. He highly praised the Hongye brand porcelain which is produced for daily use.

In middle of June of the same year, the company received an order for more than 10,000 sets from Zhongnanhai. This order called for an innovative shape and pattern combined with a contemporary functionality.

And so a special team was formed to take charge of the production of the Zhongnanhai porcelain. Within two months, the first batch of in-glaze "classical garden" tableware of both Chinese and Western styles was completed.

At same time, the company set themselves the task of developing in-glaze "Wanshou wujiang" tableware for the second batch of Zhongnanhai porcelain. However the old name "Wanshou wujiang" carried unfortunate feudal connotations. In a popular move it was given its new modern name of "Jixiang ruyi." By December 18, 2001 more than 20,000 pieces of this new porcelain were being transported by air to Zhongnanhai.

Most Complimentary

"Jixiang ruyi" is free from lead and cadmium and combines modern aesthetic charm with strong traditional styling.

"In February this year, US President George W. Bush and his wife Laura were most complimentary about "Jixiang ruyi" when they saw it at dinner," said Mr. Wang Yao, general manager of Jingdezhen Ceramics.

"Jixiang ruyi" comprises as many as 48 different items in a total of more than 200 pieces. There are bowls, plates, pots, wine cups, jars, spoons, chopstick stands and so on. The set is well suited to both Chinese and Western dinners.

It makes good use of a basic golden yellow with patterns of bats, lotus flowers and clouds picked out in red, blue and various shades of green. It features the Chinese character "Shou," meaning "longevity" and other traditional motifs. Made from top quality white porcelain, every piece is perfectly fine and smooth to the touch. At present this particular tableware has not been made generally available. A comparison with well known, high quality, in-glaze tableware would suggest a price of not less than 10,000 yuan (US$1,200) for the set of "Jixiang ruyi."

Zero-defects Quality Standards

The highest quality standards were achieved by Jingdezhen Ceramics in fulfilling the order for the Zhongnanhai Porcelain. This required that there should be zero defects in the finished product as delivered. Such a level of quality requires an extraordinary level of endeavor.

Mr. Zhan Baolin, an engineer in the company's technical department said, "Design work for the in-glaze Jixiang ruyi' for Zhongnanhai started last July. Work on developing the shape and patterns involved nearly all the engineers in the company. In order to create functional shapes that were also novel and elegant, designers worked round the clock on research and conceptualization."

Stylist, Mr. Shao Wei, revised his original concept more than ten times to achieve a sample with a perfect combination of pattern and shape acceptable to the workshop after test firing.

Eventually in August the finished design was passed to the administrative department responsible for approval and put into production in September.

According to Mr. Zhan, all the workers who took part in the production of the tableware were veterans of several decades' experience. Most pieces of Jixiang ruyi' are of a non-standard form, so extant solutions could not be employed to avoid distortion.

For example, in order to fashion one unusually small steamer only 90 millimeters in diameter and 50 millimeters high, it was found necessary to move away from traditional processes and engage in time consuming experimentation which eventually proved successful.

One particular plate was more than 500 millimeters long and presented some tricky technical challenges due to its unusually large size. Over a series of attempts, the edges of the plate were repeatedly found to be unintentionally swept upwards. Eventually a solution was found which involved a modification to the underside of the plate.

Many individual breakthroughs were achieved during the production of this new tableware. Few first-time solutions emerged as the unexpected became commonplace. However, dedicated workers proved themselves willing to "go the extra mile" to ensure perfect quality in every piece.

(china.org.cn by Wang Zhiyong, August 9, 2002)