The Beauty Offered for Sacrifice
1 min readThis is a legend about famous variety of porcelain named “ji hong”(the red for sacrifice). The color of “ji hong” is sleek and glossy, stable and not flowing. It is the top-grade porcelain of red glaze and the most precious one was produced in the Ming Dynasty.
The legend goes that in the Ming Dynasty the royal porcelain plant in Jingdezhen got an imperial edict to make a special kind of porcelain. In case of failure within the deadline, the punishment would be death penalty. As the kiln could not reach the temperature needed, the old pottery artisan in charge failed again and again. He sighed and groaned at home and his daughter worried very much for her father.
On the following day at noon time, the old artisan’s daughter, all dressed up, sent lunch to the plant for her father. As the temperature in the kiln was still not high enough, all the people present were too sorrowful to eat anything. All of a sudden, the artisan’s daughter shouted, pushed aside the people around her, and jumped into the kiln. Just at the time when everybody was crying and yelling, the temperature in the kiln went up and the porcelain required was made. As the old artisan’s daughter saved everybody, the later generations call this kind of porcelain “the beauty offered for sacrifice.”
