Unstable Supply of Practitioners

The earliest stage in the development of the Gangcai industry was met with a lot of challenges. Interviews with those in the industry revealed that there were not enough workers at the time: during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, production was halted and lives were hard. Workers who arrived from the north had to seek their own means for survival, with some returning to the Mainland. After the liberation of Hong Kong, the industry began to rebuild, but with everything in disarray, it was not until around 1947 that operations finally return normal. The Chinese Civil War waged in the Mainland in 1945, and a fresh wave of skilled workers chose to come to Hong Kong, yet during the 1950s, some workers heeded the Chinese Mainland’s call to return there in the rebuild effort, taking away a cohort of local talent, though a portion of them soon made their way back to Hong Kong again.

Resources were scarce in the Industry

In the early days, apart from the lack of human resources, other resources for the painted porcelain industry were also in short supply. Case studies reveal that prior to the 1960s, even basic utilities like running water and electricity were inadequate. Workers had to manually carry the water for use in factories, and the absence of electric kilns required the charcoal-fired kilns to be operated and controlled by hands. Some workshops that just moved to Hong Kong constructed the main bodies of their kilns from clay jars to save on resources. Early porcelain workshops were built quite rudimentary, and some were later destroyed in fires. The white porcelain bodies essential for painted decoration were in short supply, prompting factories to keep stock of strong acid for putting old porcelain wares in, washing away the painted patterns before re-decoration. All these show the industry was not fully established in the early days, and that it was very challenging to set up workshops and maintain livelihoods.

Layout of a kiln built by Lee Wing Chiu in the 1950s when he first arrived Hong Kong, the kiln used an old clay pot for the inner layer, reflecting the scarcity of materials of the time. (Design by Lee Wing Chiu, layout drawn by Yiu Hoi Ki based on the recollection of Lee Wing Chiu.)

Opportunity arisen from Adversity

The early days of the Gangcai were marked by fluctuations amid adversity, but the geographic advantages of Hong Kong helped the industry survive and develop towards prosperity over time. Several historical events marked the development periods: around the time of the Sino-Japanese War in the 1930s, there was a boycott of Japanese goods in Chinese Mainland, those painted porcelain factories in Guangzhou could no longer use Japanese porcelain for decoration, which was a major source of white blanks and carried huge impact on production. Hong Kong, under British colonial rule at the time, faced no such restrictions on using Japanese white blanks. As a result, though the unstable political situation disrupted the supply of white blanks from Jiangxi, Hong Kong still had access to Japanese white blanks for production, allowing business to continue. Secondly, following the end of the Japanese occupation in 1945, the economy of Hong Kong recovered rapidly, the demand for painted porcelain in Chinese Mainland and Southeast Asia was immense, driving Gangcai prices to be ten times that of pre-war levels and creating a boom in sales. Thirdly, following the Korean War, there was an embargo on Chinese goods imposed by USA, porcelain manufactured in China or painted on white blanks produced in China was banned from import into USA. However, porcelain wares manufactured in Hong Kong, including those painted in Hong Kong using blanks from outside China, could be exported to USA provided the businessowners obtained a Comprehensive Certificate of Origin (C.C.O.). In light of this, Gangcai industry in general adopted Japanese white blanks to ensure they were able to be exported. At that time, leveraging Hong Kong’s status under British colonial rule, manufacturers holding Comprehensive Certificates of Origin could also apply for the British Commonwealth Certificate of Preference to Hong Kong. These certificates granted special preferential access to sell products to the United Kingdom, France, and their territories, a measure that undoubtedly greatly benefited Hong Kong’s porcelain exports. While China faced trade barriers during this period, Hong Kong secured favourable economic and trade conditions. Although Hong Kong lost its previous status as an entrepot of China, it earned an opportunity to develop the light industries—with locally produced painted porcelain shipped directly to overseas markets. Later, during the Cultural Revolution in Chinese Mainland in the 1960s, painted porcelain production in Guangzhou was again disrupted. Western merchants then turned their attention to ceramic wares in Hong Kong, and Gangcai thrived by meeting the market demand of the time.

Coloured porcelain exported from the Korean War period through to the 1970s, with an English mark stamped on the base—「JAPANESE PORCELAIN WARE . DECORATED IN HONG KONG」. At that time, there were no restrictions on the export of products made from Japanese white porcelain.

From Family-style Handicraft to Light Industry in Squatter Workshops

The Gangcai industry not only benefited from geopolitics but strived to capitalise on prevailing trends of the time. Technologically, early Gangcai production relied on decorative painting by hands. By the 1960s, as demand surged both locally and overseas, manufacturers adopted rubber stamps for patterns and production-line workflows for mass production. Following the Korean War, westerners flocked to Hong Kong for painted porcelain. Seizing this opportunity, some factories introduced re-processed products tailored to European and American lifestyles—collaborating with manufacturers of metal goods during the 1960s and 1970s to reprocess painted porcelain bowls and plates with tin or copper shells, transforming them into ashtrays while introduced numerous decorative patterns distinct from traditional designs. Markings on product reveal commissions from different companies in Europe or USA. This demand drove further porcelain manufacturers into joining such production. The industry welcome the opportunities through diligence and innovative thinking, gradually laying foundations for further development and take-off. This marked the period when Gangcai industry took root, flourished, and evolved from family-style handicrafts to light industry squatter workshops.