Red Porcelain Dragon

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Red Porcelain Dragon
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Shiwan Pottery - Trace back to five thousand years ago

Many sand earthenware, soft and hard earthenware decorated pieces have been unearthed from the Beiqiu Relic of the New Stone Age excavation in Hedang, Shiwan. The decorating patterns include string, trellis design, leaf, ladder-shaped trellis, frogs, etc.. According to the carbon 14 dating by the Beijing Archaeological Studies Office, these pieces were made four thousand nine hundred to five thousand years ago. This archaeological finding has overturned the saying that Shiwan's Pottery Industry was moved from the north in Song Dynasty. An historical perspective has a poetic appreciation of "Shiwan tile, the best in the world". The surviving dragon kiln "Ancient Nanfeng Kiln", symbolizes the outstanding technique of Shiwan pottery.

Ancient Nanfeng Kiln - Firing for five hundred years

To open the mysterious mask of an old dragon kiln, to show the legend of an ancient ceramic town, to extend the dragon's life of five hundred years, the history of Nanfeng ancient kiln is worth studying and researching.

Ancient Nanfeng kiln was built during the Zhengde years of Ming Dynasty (1506-1521), a rare dragon kiln with a history of almost 500 years that is still in use for making ceramics nowadays. It is now the Key Culture Relic Unit of Ancient Kiln in Guangdong Province.

For nearly five hundred years the flame has never died out, with constant production. Thus the kiln has been kept completely without any damage, which is rare in China. It is the oldest dragon kiln left in China and the important cultural protection site of Guangdong Province.

The opening of Nanfeng kiln faces the south. The far end is under the green shade of banyan trees, which brought cool breeze in summer, so the kiln was called "Nanfeng" as it meant as "south breeze". During the long years, the production had never been stopped for repairs. The present chimney of the kiln was built in modern times. The kiln has a total length of 34.4 meters. There are 29 rows of fire holes (5 for every row) on the kiln. It is said that one fire for each row totals 29 fires. The fire hole is used to stoke with wood during the firing. There are 4 doors on the side of the kiln, for the loading and removal of products.

Arts of Flame - Mysterious and unpredictable

The composition and heat given out during the wood firing bring limitless changes to the clay and glaze.

The dragon kiln is divided into upper, middle and lower sections with three levels of temperature, low, medium and high, varying from 900 to 1300 degrees Celsius, and operated and controlled solely by the kiln master, to fire different kind of earthenware.

To maintain the reducing atmosphere, the kiln master controls the duration and degree of heating and the changes during firing, making decisions only by his discerning eyes and operating according to changes of circumstance. After firing for 20 hours, and waiting until the kiln cools, it is then ready to open. The resulting produce is in dazzling colors including blue, red, white and green.

Review the whole course of pottery making, which reflects the hardship and intelligence of pottery makers.

Shiwan Ceramics

The old Shiwan Ceramic Town at the kilns twenty miles south of the city of Canton in Guangdong province. This is the most famous city in China in creating ceramic products nearly 500 years. Most of the National Master-pieces and Museum pieces created there have been being collected in the national museum and by collectors all over the world.

Shiwan Ceramics was shaped in Tang and Song Dynasty (618-906AD) and flourished in Ming and Qing Dynasty.

The main products such as artistic ceramics, ancient garden ceramics, Spanish-type roof tile, western-style roof tile, stone-resembled tile, stone-porcelain tile, artistic garden tile, etc. are famous worldwide, especially statues. There a professional team of art masters has inherited and developed the outstanding tradition of Shiwan ceramic techniques ranging from lively earthen figures, statues and animals with thick and earthy ceramic glaze, to modern ceramics of plain, elegant and fresh patterns, thus forming its own unique artistic style and making Shiwan ceramic techniques extraordinarily splendid.

The artistic ceramics of Shiwan are divided into four types of figures, animals, micro-sculpts and daily utensils, of which the figure ceramics is granted the national Golden Medal in three consecutive times, the animal ceramics is granted the Hundred Flowers Medal and Silver Cup Medal, micro-sculpt and daily utensils are granted Quality Product Medal of Guangdong Province. Following the principle of "quality product" is based upon elaboration, each piece of ceramics with "signs" of the art masters is produced via six complicated procedures (including design, plaster molding, pouring slurry for figuration, amending cog, glazing and burning).

To see today's Shiwan Ceramic Lady Figurines

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Texas Sees Green: Texas Gets Turned On To The Benefits Of Tea

We've all been there, at least in some form that complex and mystifying land of too many beverage choices and their accoutrements. While office jokes of the five-minute coffee order ("I'd like a double half-caff, three-fourths-skinny, dry mocha Rocha hazelnut, light whipped cream latte") may be the first thing that comes to mind, the possibilities of tea variety and preparation are almost endless. Dallas, Houston, and the rest of Texas are the most familiar with black tea, demonstrated by their strong tradition of the sweetened, iced variety.

Tea's health benefits are innumerable; infused with antioxidants, including the powerful catechins and ECGC, high quality teas are considered to be healthy, traditional beverages that, unlike coffee, can be safely enjoyed at will. Several studies show that drinking five or more cups of green tea a day actually reduces the risk of dying from many illnesses, including heart disease and stroke.

Now, that's something your health insurance company will love. And that's just one kind. Tea is actually the second most popular drink in the world next to water, and was enjoyed long before the modern era began. Texas and the rest of the Western world are slowly catching on to this.

I recently visited a tea house, which are starting to pop up in Austin, Houston, and other Texas cities. I was seeking simplicity, tired of waiting in line for that poor, anonymous office gopher to finish a ten-employee order that sounded more like a theater student's warm-up exercise -- or a very bad joke. This was a definitive error in judgment. While the experience was undeniably educational, my choices weren't just varied, they were like looking into the endless spiral of time. The conversation with the clerk went something like this:

"I would like a nice cup of hot tea."

"Uh, ok. What would you like?"

"Tea. I'd like a cup of tea. Oh, right. Well, what kind do you have?" (Mistake Number One.)

"Well," she huffed, obviously a bit annoyed with such a novice. "We have most worldly varieties -- black tea, red tea, green tea, yellow (Deep inhale.) "White tea, herbal tea, twig tea, fruit"

When did all this start sounding like a Dr. Seuss novel? "Uh uh, white. I'll try white."

"Chinese, I assume? How about a nice Bai Mu Dan?

"Sure."

"Would you like milk? Soy? Rice? 2%? Whole?

"uh. No milk. Is there more than one kind of this, this Bai Mu Dan?" (Mistake Number Two).

"Well, sort of. Bai Mu Dan is a kind of white tea, but you can get it in different preparations, grades, and from several different provinces, although Fujian is the best. Would you like loose-leafed, pyramid-bagged, cold-pressed? Earthenware, glass, or porcelain tea pot? We can also do blends to make it half-caff or super-caff. Would you like honey, white sugar, raw sugar, brown sugar, agave nectar"

My thoughts trailed off somewhere along the sweeteners, off to the barbecues of Texas -- where tea was mostly simple. And iced.

"Or would you prefer an oxidized tea?"

"Uh"My half of this conversation was composed entirely too much of monosyllabic mutters. "How 'bout just a cup of black coffee?"

Don't worry. It's not as hard as it sounds. I finally settled on a Bai Hao Yinzhen -- the highest grade of white tea -- an earthenware teapot, no milks or sweeteners (please). I figured my health insurance company would be proud. Then I promptly returned home and fired up the Wi-Fi for a night of research. I simply would not be duped by the world of hot beverages.

It turns out tea is not just tea -- even in Texas. In fact, "tea" is often not tea at all. To be considered genuine, the drink must be infused from at least one part of the plant Camellia sinensis, (of course informally known as the "tea plant"), usually the leaves. What Americans call "red tea," for instance, is not really tea, but a brew made from the South African rooibos plant; herbal drinks, similarly, are considered infusions. There are four main types of true tea: white, green, oolong, and black, all classified according to how the Camellia sinensis is processed.

Because the leaves of the plant can begin to wilt and oxidize within hours, the stage at which this oxidation ceases determines the type of tea. This process is called "fermentation" in the industry, but is formally known as enzymatic oxidation. The further this progresses, the more chlorophyll breaks down, the more tannins are released, and the darker the tea leaves become. Enzymatic oxidation is stopped at any given stage by heating -- either by steaming, or through a dry cooking method.

White tea is considered the least processed, as oxidation is immediately halted after picking. Due to this lack of "fermentation," white tea retains high levels of catechins, and because only young leaves or new growth buds are chosen, also retain more of the natural caffeine. The plant may even be shielded from sunlight to prevent it from developing chlorophyll, both factors giving it a pale appearance.

As fewer young leaves are harvested, and the process is more sensitive, white teas -- particularly the good ones -- are correspondingly more expensive. This type of tea is considered a specialty of the Fujian province in China, and the most popular include Da Bai (Large White), Xiao Bai (Small White), Narcissus, and Chaicha.

Green tea is slightly oxidized, and is the most globally well-known next to black tea. It is ubiquitous in Japan, so much so that it is often referred to simply as "tea." Green tea is either dried separately or rolled into pellets, which are later called "gunpowder" teas.

Green tea's health benefits have taken over the media spotlight in recent years, and with good reason. The infusion has been used as a traditional medicine in Japan, India, China, and Taiwan for millennia -- treating everything from digestive disorders to uncontrolled bleeding. In 1191, the Zen priest Eisai wrote what is roughly translated as The Book of Tea, describing how to recognize and grow the plant, as well as how to apply it medicinally. Modern claims on the positive effects of green tea include everything from increasing fat oxidation (thereby raising metabolism), to treating neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

The word oolong means "black dragon," and it is believed the tea is named after one or more legends surrounding the leaves. Oolong teas are considered semi-oxidized, the level of fermentation ranging from 10% to 70%. The Chinese know semi-oxidized teas collectively as "blue-green tea," and oolong as specific types of these. The most famous are produced in the Wuyi Mountains of the Chinese Fujian Province and in the Central Mountains of Taiwan.

Black tea is fully oxidized, and ferments for anywhere between two weeks and one month. In China, the tea is referred to as "red tea," due to the liquid's reddish-brown hue, while Westerners call it "black tea" due to the color of the leaves usually used. Black tea is the most popular tea in South Asia and certain parts of Africa, and can keep for up to two years when properly stored.

Unblended black teas are classified much like wine -- according to their estate, year, and flush (or time of year in which the leaves were harvested). All black teas (blended or single origin) are also grouped according to production method -- orthodox or CTC (Crush, Tear, Curl) -- and further classified based on quality. For orthodox black teas, the Orange Pekoe System is used to judge quality, while CTC's are evaluated according to other standards.

Considering humans have been tea drinkers for the better part of 5,000 years, a cursory glance at classification is just the beginning. When given the time, we Homo sapiens are inventive little creatures, and, over the millennia, have perfected elaborate systems for brewing, storing, serving, and preparing tea. Certain varieties are purported to fetch thousands of dollars a pound, and are well worth the cost. Better yet, they may even extend your life. And, really, who couldn't use a cuppa' with the grandkids?

Tea's benefits include increased energy, better health, and possibly a longer life.

About the Author

Pat Carpenter writes for Precedent Insurance Company. Precedent puts a new spin on health insurance. Learn more at Precedent.com

Name for my dungeons and dragons character?

We're starting an exciting new campaign, and I think this time I'm going to play a valiant paladin. Please help me choose from the following list of names I have narrowed it down to:
* Mysrathropia The Valiant
* Red Bull
* French Roast
* Heterozygous Whitetail III
* Gnash Porcelain
* Smiles
* The Hand of God Jr.

I vote for Mysrathropia the Valiant, since you are seeking a valiant name.

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