Song artisans perfect qingbai porcelain

1139

Master potters at Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province perfected the luminous qingbai glaze - a translucent bluish-white finish on porcelain so delicately thin it was called yingqing, meaning shadow-blue, because light passed through it like water through silk. Exported by the shipload to eager markets in Southeast Asia, India, and the Swahili coast, these wares set the global standard for fine ceramics that endured for centuries.