CraftChina

This legend is about a story of the return of a prodigal. The legend has it that an artisan proficient at porcelain craft named Zhao Dacheng at the Cizhouyao Kiln in Pengcheng Town had two sons. The first son Zhao Dechang was not only kind-hearted but also extremely skillful in handicraft while the second son ZhaoDebao was, just on the contrary, gluttonous and lazy, unwilling to learn any skill. After dividing up the family property and living apart, the good-hearted elder brother gave the better kiln to his brother and took a worse one for himself.

However, due to the superb porcelain technology he had learned from his father and his diligent work, his kiln was flourishing while his brother almost brought to ruin the better kiln. Stirred up by his wife, the younger brother went to his elder brother’s kiln at midnight, trying to destroy it out of jealousy. He sneaked into his elder brother’s workshop and stirred them up hard for giving vent to his depressed and discontented feelings. Unexpectedly, the elder brother produced a kiln of ceramics with beautiful multicolored glaze without knowing the cause and had no idea how to repeat the unexpected success. Afterwards, the young brother was repentant of his fault and started to study hard the technique of multicolored glaze. After numerous failures, he finally succeeded and burned the brilliant multicolored glaze that looked like floating clouds and flowing water, resplendent with variegated coloration.