The Emblems or Devices that so frequently occur in lieu of inscriptions on Chinese porcelain are well illustrated in the British Museum catalogue. They are, however, of little or no value in classifying or dating the pieces on which they are found--they can seldom be connected with any known manufacturer or artist. Such devices are generally symbolic, above all of long life, riches, and honours, the three things desired by a Chinaman, and I suppose that they are more or less vaguely expected to bring to the owner the good luck that they suggest. Some of these devices remind us of the ‘canting’ charges and badges of our heraldry. Thus a bat (PL. B. 19 A.) is in Chinese called _fu_, but the same word also means happiness; so again a peach is _shu_, but _shu_ means also long life. The characters for happiness (PL. B. 23) and long life (PL. B. 19), we may mention, are of constant appearance, the first usually as a mark on the base, the second as an integral part of the decoration, on both Chinese and Japanese porcelain. Such interest, then, as can be found in these marks is derived rather from the light they throw upon the working of the Chinese mind than from any information they give us about the porcelain on which they are inscribed. CHAPTER IX THE PORCELAIN OF CHINA--(_continued_). KING-TE-CHEN AND THE PÈRE D’ENTRECOLLES There is nothing more remarkable in the history of the porcelain of China, than the fact of the concentration in one spot, for so many centuries, of an industry for the supply of almost the entire population. So that as regards porcelain, as China stands to the rest of the world, so the town of King-te-chen stands to the rest of China. In fact, to parody a French saying,--‘_Qui dit porcelaine dit la Chine, qui dit la Chine dit King-te-chen_.’