LI Youyu's factory may be the most peaceful and beautiful one in the world. There is no noise from the machinery as workers create jars and vases in different shapes from the rolling snow-white clay.

Li is the president of this factory, belonging to the Shanghai Hanguang Ceramic Manufacturing Co Ltd, which produces high-quality Hanguang porcelain. But he said he would rather others thought of him as an artist.

"My biggest happiness comes from creating porcelain items, not from selling them at high prices," he said. His pursuit of excellence in porcelain manufacturing began with foreign expert criticism.

National dignity

In the mid-1980s, it was said in an international porcelain seminar that in the modern market for high-grade porcelain, China had lost its place, despite its rich historical and natural resources.

What made Li even more ashamed was a trip to Japan as a visiting scholar in 1989, where a student from Japan's Osaka Arts University asked him why Chinese porcelain always used the same design, simply copying the traditional style?

After visiting Japan's porcelain market, Li found what the student said was actually quite fair.

"In the international market, high-grade porcelain is dominated by Britain, Germany, Italy, the US and Japan. These countries are rich in creativity," he said. "In foreign countries, Chinese porcelain can only be found in small stores opened by Chinese."

He was surprised to see the price of a piece of foreign name-branded porcelain such as Royal Doulton, Royal Albert, Wedgewood and Waterford, was equal to a large basket of the Chinese alternative.

Recent statistics show the output of China porcelain accounting for two thirds of the world total. But the average price of the Chinese product is only 30 to 50 cents per piece. "How could that be?"

Li was determined to understand the situation.

Long history

As one of the first batch of graduates majoring in porcelain at the Central Academy of Art & Design after the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), Li clearly recognized how far China's position in the field of porcelain had fallen in the world.

China's traditional porcelain originated in the Shang Dynasty (1766-1122 BC). It became an industry in the Han Dynasty (202 BC- AD 406) and boomed in the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. It hit a peak in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Historically, Chinese porcelain, whose features are to be "white as jade, thin as paper, bright as a mirror with the sound of a music stone", has been famous throughout the world.

Beginning from late Song, the Guan Yao (official kiln) appeared, producing exclusively for the imperial family, either for its own use or for gifts to award aristocrats and ministers. Such pieces are still auctioned for astronomical prices in salesrooms. All the world's most expensive porcelain pieces, as determined at auction, have been made in China.

But after the late Qing Dynasty, Chinese porcelain stopped developing. In fact, it went into rapid decline.

"If you were to ask me about famous China porcelain made over the past 100 years, I could only say the '7501' was a kind of renaissance," Li said.

The "7501" was also known as "Chairman Porcelain". To produce high quality porcelain items, experts in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces engaged in intense research. Their success came in late 1975. The set of white porcelain pieces produced at that time were painted in light red patterns, such as plum blossom, which were Chairman Mao's favourite flower. Because it was made by technicians from two places, it is now difficult, so many years later, for people to replicate such products.

All the products made in 1975 were sent to Beijing. Some inferior ones were given as gifts to those who had worked to produce them.

Later, these articles began to appear in the wider society. But at auction, most of the "7501" pieces have been sold for high prices. A single cup might fetch 600,000 yuan (US$72,000).

"But all these achievement are past, we can't take pride in them forever," Li said. Thus, he left university in 1993, although many of his colleagues and friends advised him against escaping the "golden bowl". "But I thought it was more important to throw myself into a new business," Li said. His dream was to instigate a rebirth of porcelain and change people's attitude to China's products.

New heights

The first task was to find the right material. In 1996, equipped with a map, Li and his friends walked in the mountains around Jiangxi, Hunan and Fujian provinces to search for high-quality clay.

Considering their safety, they dressed in shabby clothes and wore a battered caps, just like local village people.

Li found some experienced peasants who knew how to dig out the material. They charged 300 yuan (US$36) per month. But Li gave them 500 yuan (US$60). "You just dig out quality material for me," he told them.

After getting the right material, the next difficulty was directing production. "It just like a never-ending chemical experiment, who knew what kind of combination would lead to the right thing," he said.

Like a sorcerer addicted to making magical potions, Li changed the formula again and again. A year past. On an ordinary day without any special omens Li and his colleagues were working in the lab as usual. Suddenly, a small piece of porcelain emerged.

Li knew the miracle had happened: The small piece was later proved to be of even higher quality than the "7501".

Li said he fell into a state of crazy happiness for the whole day.

The new porcelain was named after Hanguang (Brilliance of the Han nationality). It carried on the traditional of porcelain making techniques and at the same time incorporated today's high technology.

Hanguang porcelain is characterized by its elegant smoothness and purity. In the dim light of the exhibition hall, it glitters, shiny and almost crystalline. The final products, baked in kilns at very high temperature just once, give the impression of transparent watercolour paintings on the surface.

Over the past few years, Hanguang porcelain has won more than 10 national awards. Its representatives, masterpieces such as "Big-leaf Hydrangea", "Chinese Flowering Crabapple" and "Peony - The Most Beautiful Flower", have been collected or shown at the National Museum of Treasures, the Ziguang Pavilion of the State Council, the China Ceramics Museum and the Ministry of Culture.

Many years ago, when Li was walking along Fifth Avenue in New York, a street filled with the best artworks and most expensive goods, he could find nothing marked "made in China".

"In about three years I hope Hanguang will have its own store on Fifth Avenue," Li said, revealing his new dream.

Shanghai Hanguang Ceramic Museum

No 3, Lane 188, Changshu Lu

Tel: 5403-7060