"China", another name for fine porcelain, with a dainty, nostalgic feel speaks to the prominent position China once held in the craft. And to many, the name "Jingdezhen" in particular is synonymous with the pentacle in expert craftsmanship. For centuries, the small town monopolized the making of porcelain products for the Imperial household. Last weekend, the East China town opened an international expo to show off the latest trends in its age-old specialty.

The 2009 Jingdezhen International Porcelain Expo is putting its focus on the high-tech products made of ceramics. The star item on exhibit is the nanometer kitchen knife set. With superb hardness and sharpness far surpassing their steel cousins, these porcelain knives represent a breakthrough in the application of new materials.

The expo boasts an attendance of more than one-thousand ceramics enterprises from home and abroad. They showcase an astonishing array of the latest uses of porcelain in everyday life, ranging from a toothbrush to auto parts.

Jingdezhen, located in the northeast corner of Jiangxi province, is the most famous Chinese porcelain manufacturing center. It boasts a sixteen-hundred year ceramic-making history, and served as the porcelain factory for at least three Chinese imperial dynasties.

The town possessed the best raw materials and finest craftsmen during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Given these advantages, the kilns once exported the world's finest ceramics. Today, Jingdezhen continues this tradition, taking advantage of its concentration of modern craftsmen to produce ceramics with innovation and practicality.

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