Hanguang Ceramics Co Ltd sells international-award-winning china products in a shop at No 115 Changshu Road.

Bowls and vases are displayed on glass shelves and strong lamps overhead highlight the fine textures of the china.

Each piece is hand-made and therefore unique, which means it doesn't come cheap.

One bowl priced 5,000 yuan ($600) is decorated with eight flying Apsaras (fairies painted in ancient frescoes), each frozen in different attitudes of a dance.

Plain bowls are priced around 400 yuan ($48) each while vases can be as expensive as 10,000 yuan ($1,200).

The shop also sells pottery. One-metre-tall jars and vases are cast in interesting shapes like wine barrels and bags, ranging in price from 1,000 yuan ($120) to 15,000 yuan ($1,800).

There are various kinds of mugs and colourful dessert plates, sauce bowls and tea strainers. Some mugs contain little filters to separate the tea leaves from the water. "Chrysanthemum tea will not sink but float on the surface of the water," explained a shop assistant.

Chrysanthemum flowers can be placed in the filter while the tea brews and then removed so that you can drink the tea without being troubled by floating tea leaves.

White and blue porcelain ware is sold at between 10 and 20 yuan ($1.20-2.40) a piece. "You won't be too upset if you break a bowl of this kind," said a sales girl. "But you may be heartbroken if you smash a Hanguang china bowl."

Also in white and blue porcelain are three tiny sculptures of boys playing with watermelons. Each is so small it can sit in the palm of the hand. Ancient Chinese scholars would use them as paperweights or brush stands. They cost 10 yuan ($1.20) each.

Reproduction antique china and high-quality china dinner sets from Tangshan in North China's Hebei Province are also sold in the shop. It is said that bone ash mixed into the clay contributes to this porcelain's fine quality. A 48-piece dinner set is priced around 600 yuan ($72).