Pousa, or Pou-tai, the God of Contentment, is also styled the potter’s god. How he came to be the latter, or to be a god at all, is explained by a good story. The emperor for the time being demanded porcelain, the fabrication of which was represented to him as an impossibility. This information only served to whet his appetite; and to gratify his imperial whim, the workmen were oppressed by their overseers, and driven by threats and blows to make all kinds of sacrifices and exertions to reach the unattainable. At length one of them gave up the struggle, and in despair threw himself into the furnace. When the contents of the kiln were taken out, they were found to be all that the emperor desired, and the rigor from which the potters had suffered was abated. The workmen apparently concluded that such a result was due to some property unknown to alchemy in the body of their comrade. Gratitude led them to respect his memory, and in due course he became a hero and a god. Images of him abound in the workshops of King-teh-chin. Full of sensuality and good-humor, his face wears the laugh of contentment, and his heavy, corpulent body is supported by the wineskin upon which he leans. Without resorting to the explanation to be found in the story, one can readily understand why such a god as Pou-tai should commend himself to the slavish and impoverished potter. In every collection of Chinese ware will be seen certain forms made use of for decorative purposes, and which have also a symbolical significance requiring explanation. Without going into the question of the origin of the wonderful dragons of the Celestials, their presence, in various degrees of hideousness, on vases and elsewhere, cannot fail to attract attention and suggest inquiry. They are many-shaped, as the devils which beset the good St. Anthony. There are the Long, dragon of heaven; the Kan, dragon of the mountain; Li, dragon of the sea, and many others, scaled, winged, horned, and hornless. Under the form of a dragon many of the immortals are represented, and it only appears in our mundane sphere on some great occasion, when, for instance, Hoang-ti was called upon to join the powers above. As emblems, the dragons require attention, since their significance varies with the number of their claws. That with five claws is seen upon the imperial standard, and is the emblem of the emperor and princes of the first and second class. The four-clawed dragon is the emblem of princes of the third and fourth rank. The Japanese dragon is a tripedal representative of the species. Chinese princes of the fifth rank and mandarins have the four-clawed serpent, Mang. [Illustration: Fig. 65.--The Dog of Fo.]