"As we have already said, however, the native accounts do not furnish much information that can be rendered available; but they show very clearly that at all times the porcelain-makers were in the habit of copying the works of their predecessors, and instances are given where they have even succeeded in imposing upon the best judges of their own country. "The places at which manufactories of porcelain have existed or still exist in China are very numerous, no less than fifty-seven being recorded in the 'History of King-te-chin.' They extend to thirteen of the eighteen provinces into which the country is divided, but are especially numerous in Honan, Chihkiang, and Kiangsi, probably owing to the presence of the materials for the manufacture in these provinces. The following is a summary: Chihli 5 Keang-nan 5 Shansi 5 Shantung 2 Honan 13 Shensi 4 Kansuh 1 Chihkiang 8 Kiangsi 8 Szechuen 1 Fokien 2 Kwangtung 1 Hoonan 2 "Of all these manufactories, the most famous appears to be that of King-te-chin, in the province of Kiangsi. It has long been the site of a fabrique, as in A. D. 583 the then emperor ordered the inhabitants of the district now called King-te-chin to send him porcelain vases. The old name was Chang-nan-chin, and the present one was assumed in the period King-te (A. D. 1004 to 1007), whence its name. In 1712 Père d'Entrecolles states that there were three thousand porcelain furnaces in this town, which found employment for an immense multitude of people. The manufactory has suffered severely, as we have already stated, during the rebellion of the Taipings. "Porcelain is termed by the Chinese _Yao_, a name which seems to have been brought into use at the commencement of the Tang dynasty (A. D. 618), before which it had been called _Tao_. The word 'porcelain' is European, possibly Italian, and is supposed to have been derived from the similarity of the glazed surface to that of the cowrie-shell (_porcellana_), which itself took its name from its form (_porcella_, a little pig). Marco Polo employs the word in both senses. In French mediæval inventories the word '_pourcelaine_' is often found, and evidently denoted a substance which could be sculptured. M. de Laborde has collected a number of quotations, in the valuable 'Glossaire' appended to his catalogue, of the enamels in the Louvre, and has come to the conclusion that mother-of-pearl was intended; it will, however, be safer to consider that the word was used for any kind of shell, the cowrie and other shells being as well, or even better, adapted for carving than mother-of-pearl. In later inventories the word seems to have been used both for shell and Oriental porcelain.