Compared with the dazzling array of goods in the twentieth century, ancient China's exports remained limited to only a few categories for a long time: silk, porcelain, tea, and paper.
Paper was exported for a relatively short time and in smaller quantities. Tea did not begin to be exported until the Song dynasty, and it only became a major export after Westerners, especially the British, began drinking it.
Once paper and tea were excluded, the only true bulk exports left were porcelain and silk. These two commodities held different positions on the Maritime Silk Road and the overland Silk Road. Camels and horses were the primary means of transport in the Western Regions, so lightweight silk sold better than porcelain. At sea, however, weight requirements were less strict, because as early as the Tang and Song dynasties, ships with four masts, massive keels, and astonishing displacement could already be built.
At the same time, ships needed ballast at sea, and porcelain happened to be both marketable and durable. It thus became the ideal product for maritime trade.
People in the Tang dynasty had not mastered glaze very well, but there was a marked improvement by the Song dynasty. That was when the "Imperial Kiln" porcelain that would later fetch astronomical prices at auction appeared. It was produced in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi—the Guangzhou naval commander's "hometown," as it happened.
However, porcelain transported from Jingdezhen to Guangzhou was often plain, unpainted ware. Chinese aesthetics differed greatly from those of Westerners. Items for newlyweds often featured paired butterflies, lotus flowers, magpies, and similar motifs, while Westerners preferred flowers and plants, people, and insects.
Guangdong had a tradition of copying calligraphy and paintings. Ceramic factories shipped vast quantities of completely plain porcelain to Guangdong, where European buyers could ask porcelain workers to paint it according