From the Tang period onward, Chinese porcelain exerted a deep-going influence on Islamic pottery. During the last several decates, European and American scholars have made a lot of studies on this subject. Since cultural exchange is always bilateral, Islamic pottery and metalwork also distinctly affected Chinese porcelain, which, however, has not attracted enough attention from academic circles. The present paper deals mainly with multiple Isiamic influence on the porcelain of the Ming period in the shape, decoration and even making technique of products. The Islamic elements displayed in Ming porcelain should be taken to be an embodiment of mutual cultural exchange,as well as a reflection of a social reality for it demonstrates from one side that the Hui nationality of China must have formed in the Ming period. Islamic elements in Ming porcelain were introduced via the Western Regions and the South Sea. In researches on Sino-foreign cultural exchange,a common method is comparative study. For archaeology,it should be based on solid archaeological data and related additional evidence, and requires a comprehensive and historical approach; sometimes, multi-type combinations of articles should be taken as research objects.
As a ""Special Issue of Ceramic Archaeology: Excavation and Study,"" the Wen Wu 2001: No. 11 publishes several papers on topical subjects in the study of ceramic archaeology. Of them the two preliminary excavation reports give accounts of archaeological accomplishments from two Yue and Ru kiln-sites respectively. The former pushes the terminal date of Yue ware from the Northern Song down to the Southern Song, and the latter makes an inference on the nature and date of the Ru kiln-site at Qingliangsi though the authors' opinion is disputable. The theses deal with lead-glazed pottery in the Han period, white-slipped porcelain with scraped and incised designs in the Song and Yuan period, Jingdezhen blue-and-white ware in the Yuan period, Zhangzhou blue-and-white ware at the turn from the Ming to the Qing, etc.. However, some problems discussed in these articles call for still more profound study. Besides, some errors and deficiencies have slipped into the paper ""Porcelain from Official Kilns in the Emperor Wenzong Era of the Yuan Dynasty.""
