Jingdezhen was little more than a large village, the sort of town formed by gathering cluster after cluster of private homes together. It had no city walls like Huai'an. With the development of the porcelain industry, its population had already exceeded one million. At night, looking down from the hills around the town, one might think a fire had broken out within the city, for thousands of blazing kilns cast a fiery red glow, while the rising smoke seemed to form an enormous round lid over the town. The Chang River flowed through Jingdezhen, creating a basin a li wide within the town, its waters reflecting the diffuse firelight.
Miss Wan Ning's description reminded Nick of Manchester or Birmingham, except there was no clatter of steam engines, and Jingdezhen was not engaged in ironworking but in manufacturing with a material that was both fragile and elegant.
The word porcelain came from a type of univalve shell, porcella, because porcelain resembled that shell so closely in appearance. Europeans had never understood what porcelain was made of, although the process of making it had become well known through the tireless research of Jesuit missionaries, especially Yin Hongxu, who had lived in Jingdezhen for a long time.
His concubine aunt's cough brought Nick back to reality. He was currently introducing The Elements to Wan Ning. It contained very basic geometric knowledge, but for someone who had never studied such things, Wan Ning learned quickly.
Perhaps she would later study geography, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and more, just as the Kangxi Emperor had. He not only knew all those things, but also surveying and mapmaking. Nick would teach her how to use instruments such as the theodolite, astrolabe, and quadrant, provided they could be bought. Otherwise, as with the compass and set square she used