Tang-ying in his report to the emperor on the manufacture of porcelain, from which we have lately quoted, tells us that during all the processes of turning on the lathe, painting and glazing, a solid bar is left at the base of the vase by which it is conveniently handled. This bar or handle is at length cut off short, and the base of the stump is scooped out to form the foot of the future vessel. It is at this stage that the inscription is written by a special artist on the centre of the base, and then brushed over with a coat of the glaze, which does not extend over the rim to join the rest of the glazed surface. Thus we see that the writing of the inscription and the glazing of the base are subsequent to and independent of the decoration of the rest of the vase. In whatever style this decoration may be, the inscription is generally written in cobalt blue under the glaze. There are many varieties of Chinese writing. We pass from the oldest ‘tadpole’ forms, by way of the _chuan_ or seal character, to the _kai-shû_, which takes the place roughly of our ordinary printed letters. Of this last, the square detached strokes pass when written with a brush into the more flowing ‘grass’ character. The _kai-shû_ style is the one most frequently found on porcelain, or at least a form something between it and the grass hand. The seal character, however, was much favoured by the Manchu emperors, and since the time of Kang-he has been practically the only one used for the imperial _nien-hao_ (PL. A. 10-12).[72] The Chinese have two methods of indicating a date: first, by a cycle of sixty years; second, by the name given to the whole or part of the reign of an emperor. With the first we are not concerned, it is found so rarely on porcelain.[73] The other, the imperial date or _nien-hao_, has been in use ever since the time of the Han dynasty (say roughly from the beginning of our era). Very early dates of this kind are often found on bronzes, where, however, they are no more to be relied on than in the case of porcelain. The inscription occurs in two forms:--first, the six word form where the emperor’s name is preceded by that of the dynasty, thus: _Ta Tsing Kang-he nien chi_,--‘Made in the reign of the Emperor Kang-he of the great Tsing or Manchu dynasty’ (PL. A. 8); or second, the first line with the name of the dynasty may be omitted, leaving only the emperor’s name and the words _nien chi_, ‘year made,‘--for example, _Cheng-hua nien chi_ (PL. A. 3).