Competition between China and Japan’s Porcelain Industry in the Era of Great Navigation —Historical Role Positioning of Guangzhou Foshan “Guangcai Porcelain” and China Taiwan Porcelain
This article focuses on the era of great navigation. With the changeof Chinese political power, major events such as the Ming and Qing dynastysea ban, anti Qing and restoration of the Ming dynasty, and the Eight NationAlliance have directly or indirectly affected the global sales market of China’s proud porcelain industry. “If China prospers, Japan will be weak, and ifChina declines, Japan will prosper” has always been the historical fate of theinternational porcelain market. In addition, this paper also demonstrates thatthe “Guangcai Porcelain” in Foshan, Guangzhou, in the late Qing Dynasty didnot come from Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, and was shipped to Guangzhoufor painting, but was directly produced in Guangzhou and Foshan, and shippeddirectly from the the Pearl River for export. During the exploration of porcelainon the Maritime Silk Road, it was unexpectedly discovered that Taiwan of Chinahad exported hundreds of thousands of high-quality porcelain pieces to Japan asearly as the 17th century. This is even further from the earliest record in Taiwan’sporcelain industry history. Has the China Taiwan porcelain market ever beensupported by Japan? Or has “Taiwan Porcelain” become a political fringe or anunincorporated place for trade, participating as a comprador or acting as anoriginal manufacturer in the Japanese porcelain export market, or even assistingJapanese porcelain merchants in “OEM” exporting internationally?