The potteries at Hu-t´ien which are mentioned in the Memoirs of Chiang (see p. 160) were only separated from Ching-tê Chên by the width of the river. They are described in the _T´ao lu_[365] as active at the beginning of the Yüan dynasty and producing a ware which, though of coarse grain, had "a considerable amount of antique elegance," and appealed to the taste of the inhabitants of the Chêkiang. The clay was hard and tough, and the colour of the ware brownish yellow[366] as a rule, but even when of a "watery white" tone it was tinged with the same brown colour. At the end of the eighteenth century all trace of the factories had disappeared, though the village still existed[367] and the old wares were still to be found. Brinkley, who seems to have met with examples of the ware in Japan, describes it as follows[368]: "The _pâte_ is thick and dense, without any of the delicacy of porcelain, and the glaze is muddy yellow.... The surface of the pieces is generally relieved by deeply incised designs of somewhat archaic character, figure subjects being most common. Some examples are preserved in Japanese collections, where they are known as _Ningyo-de_ (figure subject variety) in allusion to the nature of the incised designs." In spite of its apparent roughness it was thought worthy of imitation at Ching-tê Chên in the Ming dynasty.[369] Among the causes to which was attributed the lack of prosperity at Ching-tê Chên in the Yüan period, the Memoirs of Chiang includes (1) the uncertainty of the season on which the opening of the factory partly depended, (2) the intolerable taxation and the exactions of officials, and (3) the competition of the potteries at Lin-ch´uan, Nan-fêng Hsien, and Chien-yang, all of which, as Bushell indicates, lay on the trade route between Ching-tê Chên and south-eastern coast towns. Of these we learn in the _T´ao lu_ that Lin-ch´uan[370] in the Fu-chou Fu in Kiangsi (not far south of Ching-tê Chên) made a ware of fine clay and thin substance, the colour of which was mostly white with a slight yellowish tinge, and that some of the pieces were coarsely ornamented, though we are not informed how the ornament was applied. The same authority informs us that Nang-fêng Hsien[371] in the Chien-yang Fu (also in Kiangsi) made a ware of refined clay but somewhat thick substance, which was, as a rule, decorated with blue designs (_ch´ing hua_), though some had the colour of the _t´u ting_ ware, i.e. the coarser and yellower variety of Ting Chou porcelain. From this passage it appears that "blue and white" may be added to the types of ware made in the Yüan period. The third factory, at Chien-yang in Fukien, has already been discussed at some length. It was chiefly celebrated for the dark-coloured wares (_wu-ni yao_) and the "hare's fur" and "partridge" tea bowls.[372]