Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/204

 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 commencement 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 disappeared. 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 belonging to an epoch more recent than the eighteenth century. There is practically nothing except the demand 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 improvement must be preceded by one of two events—the comparative probability of which is difficult to estimate—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 diminished 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