Page 226 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINA

tack in the public streets of Peking. In 1800 the

first edict prohibiting foreign opium was issued. To

students of history these two events recall the com-
mencement of a long period more than sixty years

during which China had little rest from internal or
external complications. Not only her art excellence,

but even the ability that inspired it, seems to have dis-

appeared. Nor is there, so far as can be discerned,
much chance of a genuine renaissance. Connoisseurs
and men of taste generally will not look at wares be-
longing to an epoch more recent than the eighteenth

century. There is practically nothing except the de-

mand of the foreign market to encourage modern
effort. Did Chinese annals contain any instance of

the keramic industry recovering its vitality during the
same dynasty that witnessed its decay, the outlook
might be less unpromising. But there is no such

precedent. It appears as though any sensible improve-
ment must be preceded by one of two events the
comparative probability of which is difficult to esti-
mate a change of dynasty or an intelligent revival
of official patronage on something like the ancient
scale of magnificence. Whatever stimulus the export
trade might have afforded, has been largely dimin-

ished by Japan's competition. Her manufacturers, in

addition to rapid rejuvenescence of technical skill,

show adaptability that ought to secure for their wares
the permanent favour, if not the ultimate monopoly,
of the Western market.

Before dismissing this portion of the subject, a

word should be said about a variety of blue-and-white
porcelain known to Western collectors as " Nankin
ware," and by the Japanese ascribed to workshops at
Canton. The latter misconception is evidently due

176