Former US Ambassador’s Love for Chinese Porcelain

China’s Jingdezhen porcelain has long been well known and admired in the world. Among admirers， Arthur W. Hummel Jr.， former US Ambassador to China， had a passionate love for blue and white “rice grain” porcelain.

He was born in Fenyang in China’s western Shanxi Province in 1920. A church had sent his father， Arthur William Hummel， to China to run its mission school， and， on one occasion， he went to Nanjing on business.

When he saw elegant rice grain porcelain dinner sets in a restaurant， he took an immediate liking to them. As it was not easy to travel to Nanjing at that time due to poor transportation， he bought three sets from a shop， sending one set back to the United States and taking the other two sets back to Fenyang. The father regarded these rice grain porcelain dishes， looking as if they were inlaid with glass， as priceless treasures and placed one set in a china closet as decoration.

Since childhood， Mr. Hummel Jr. ate from these precious bowls and listened to his father telling stories about them， and gradually began to share the enthusiasm for this type of porcelain. In 1928， when he was eight years old， he returned to the United States for studies. At the age of 20， he came to China to work as a teacher of English in the Fu Ren Middle School in Shandong. Once he bored a hole in the bottom of a blue and white porcelain vase to make a desk lamp. The soft light reflected from the elegant vase gave off a special charm.

In 1941， he was arrested by the Japanese aggressor troops and together with a number of American nationals in China was interned in a concentration camp in Weixian County， Shandong. Tragically， all his treasured porcelain was lost. In June 1944， with the help of Shandong anti-Japanese guerrillas， he managed to escape from the concentration camp. After returning to the United States， he started his career as a diplomat.

In 1981， Mr. Hummel， an old China hand who could speak fluent Chinese， was recommended by then Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. to take up the ambassadorial post and thus could renew his links with China. He and his wife went to the Friendship Store in Beijing to buy rice grain porcelain dinner sets and coffee sets. When he finally returned home in 1985， he bought quite a few pieces of rice grain porcelain as souvenirs of his service in China.

In June 1987， Mr. Hummel and his wife were invited by the CPAFFC to make a fresh visit. At his request， they went to Jingdezhen on June 9， where they visited the ceramic art and sculpture studios， an ancient kiln pottery factory， the Hutian Ancient Kiln Site， the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute and the Ceramics Research Institute and got a general picture of Jingdezhen’s long history and development since the reform and opening up. On June 11， they visited the Jingdezhen Guangming Porcelain Factory that produced blue and white rice grain porcelain， and gained a deeper appreciation of the culture involved.

After listening to the briefing given by the factory director， Hummel warmly congratulated the factory for winning the gold award at the Leipzig Trade Fair. Then， he and his wife visited the showroom and were very happy to see a variety of rice grain porcelain with novel designs. He saw that there was a rich assortment of porcelain including Chinese and Western dinnerware， coffee sets， wine sets， porcelain of everyday use， vases and lamps with eye-like openwork （ling long yan） in many unique patterns such as flowers， flying bird， waves， clouds， etc. developed from “rice grain” pattern in mixed colors of red， yellow， green and blue， looking so beautiful and tasteful against the quietly elegant blue and white color.

The American couple acquired some products of novel design.

When seeing women workers using carving knives to pierce all kinds of beautiful patterns through the rough and unfired porcelain body， Hummel praised their superb skills and exquisite technique.

In the glazing workshop， they watched the workers filling the holes （ling long yan） with translucent glaze. The factory director told them that each hole need be filled with glaze eight times before it was fully filled. Amazed， they understood why this type of porcelain was so expensive on the international market.

Hummel thanked the factory director for his warm reception and said that after returning home he would make great efforts to recommend this type of porcelain to American businessmen and encourage them to purchase brand name porcelain in Jingdezhen to meet American consumer demand. That year several groups of American businessmen introduced by him came to Jingdezhen.

That afternoon， leaders of the Jingdezhen Municipal Government had a cordial meeting with Mr. Hummel and his wife and briefed them about the city， and before departure presented them with a set of 45 pieces of blue and white rice grain porcelain dinnerware that had won the Leipzig gold award.

Now， China’s blue and white rice grain porcelain with modern motifs and various patterns has become more beautiful and refined and is full of charm of its inventiveness. Every October businessmen from around the world gather at the Jingdezhen International Porcelain Fair. After listening to the story about Ambassador Hummel’s passionate love for the rice grain porcelain， they become more enthusiastic about and interested in purchasing porcelain of this type.

Editor’s Note： Arthur W. Hummel Jr. Passed away on February 6， 2001