When considering the production of porcelain it is pertinent to distinguish between its Chinese and Western definitions. To the Chinese, porcelain is a stoneware; that is, both hard and resonant and covered with a hard feldspathic glaze that has fused with the body. To the West, porcelain is a translucent white-bodied ware that is both hard and resonant. The first Western reference to Chinese porcelain appeared in 851, when the merchant named Suleiman wrote : "The Chinese have a fine clay of which they make drinking vessels as fine as glass; one can see the liquid contained in them."

True porcelain is made by firing a mixture of white china clay (kaolin) and china stone (pertuntze) to a temperature over 1300 degree. Fusion of the particles takes place enabling thin walls to be made without loss of strength. This technique was probably mastered by the T'ang (618 - 906) potters; it is reported that some of the porcelain bowls were made as musical instruments in 850. In Lu Yu records in the Cha Ching, the Book of Tea in the Tang dynasty, it described the relative merits of the white porcelain bowls of Hsing-chou and the celadons of Yueh Chou: "Some class the Hsing-chou bowls above those of Yueh Chou.... Husing-chou porcelain resembles silver...Yueh porcelain resembles jade....Hsing-chou is like snow." However the technique didn't get developed fully until the Song (960 - 1279) or Ming (1368 - 1644). State kilns produced vast quantities of porcelain goods for trade. Longquan kiln in Zhejiang province could fire 20,000 to 25,000 pots at ocne.

Porcelain was introduced to Central Asia via the Silk Road during the 9th century. Porcelain was found in the ruins of the Abbasid city of Samarra, which was the summer residence of the Caliphs from 836 to 883. The fine 9th century porcelain imported into the Arab world from China encouraged the development there of earthware made in imitation of porcelain as well as instigating research into te manufacture of porcelain. During the Yuan (1279 - 1368) dynasty under Mongolian control, the porcelain development continued without any disturbance. Furthermore, a reduced home demand enabled a flourishing export trade to be built up. Thus arose a period of intense ceramic development. In the 13th century, Kashan in Persia, 125 miles south of Teheran, is perhaps the most famous center in Persia and work of a high technical and artistic standard continued to be produced there well into the 14th century. Complete genealogies of potter families, some dating from the tenth century and continuing for 400 years, are known. The Ming dynasty is particularly famous for its underglaze blue-and-white porcelain developed at the kilns of Ching-te-chen, which remained the ceramic center of Chinese porcelain manufacture for five hundred years.

European didn't start to make porcelain until the 15th century. Porcelain was introduced by the Arabs into Spain where it formed the basis of Hispano-Moresque ware. From there it spread into Italy and formed the basis of Italian majolica. In the 14th century the muslim potters fled from Catholic Spain to southern France where they made tin-glaze wares, the earliest French majolica. In Germany, some of the earliest majolica porcelain was made at Nuremberg in the 16th century. The manufacture of porcelain in Europe started in the 18th century. In 1709 Bottger in Germany discovered the secret of Chinese or hard-paste porcelain and on the basis of this discovery the Meissen, the first porcelain factory was established. A porcelain factory was founded at Worcester in 1751 and established an impressive tradition of finely made and decorated wares. In due course it spread throughout Europe to France, Delft in Holland, and Bristol and Lambeth in England. Porcelain was not made in Japan until after 1600.