Sufficiency in Manufacturing Capability

From 1970s onwards, Hong Kong’s economy took off and flourished, the condition of the Gangcai industry were all ready to thrive in terms of talent, resources, and manufacturing technology, Gangcai industry blossomed.

Information from the trade shows that: in terms of talent, the painted porcelain masters who had arrived during earlier periods had largely settled and established themselves, and the industry’s workforce continued to grow. As the demand for Gangcai increased, more porcelain factories were set up to take orders, and those that made profits also expanded their businesses. The larger producers would often set up satellite factories, take for example Wah Tung China Company which was one of the largest production firms of painted porcelain, it had commissioned 19 workshops during its heyday all around Hong Kong. Even medium sized firms had their own satellite factories. In terms of supplies of blanks, they were plentiful: some in the trade even imported blanks from Yingge in Taiwan, local factories also introduced equipment for producing blanks from Taiwan to boost output, e.g. Majestic Chemical Art Craft Manufacture imported Japanese superior clay and enamel to produce high quality blanks for Wah Tung China Company to produce Gangcai that were wholly made in Hong Kong. As for pigment, by the late 1970s, most manufacturers had appointed agents in Hong Kong. Improvement in manufacturing techniques includes the widespread adoption of stamping and decals. The use of decals in Gangcai originated from the 1970s for putting trademarks or for simple decoration on money-banks.

During the 1980s, the porcelain factories expanded the application of decals on porcelain to decorative artistic wares, such as antique replica pieces, so the flat patterns can be pieced together to form designs that are multifaceted, which can be further layered with two or three patterns. Whereas porcelain factories had in the past outsourced the making of decals, they later turned to import specialised equipment from the West to produce customised decals in-house, allowing for the production of distinctive pieces of their brands. During the heyday of the industry, larger porcelain factories engaged renowned artists to come up with sketches for stamps and decals to be used in mass-produced porcelain wares, enhancing product quality. As orders kept coming to painted porcelain factories, the output of electric kilns also kept up, a major local manufacturer of kilns, Wing Tai, expanded its operations, achieved the remarkable feat of producing over 100 electric kilns annually for six consecutive years in the 1980s. Moreover, several of these electric kilns were over two meters high, reflecting the technical proficiency in kiln construction at the time. Collectively, these developments tell how the manufacturer capability of Gangcai reached a new height.

Riding the Wave of Development

The flourishing of Gangcai industry owes much not only to the human and technical resources set out above, but also critically to the ability of the industry to align with the prevailing fashion and cultural trends. When Cultural Revolution in Chinese Mainland during the 1960s imposed barriers on Chinese exports, Gangcai took up the opportunity to grow, aligning with the ideology with the West and having free trade policies in place, westerners flocked to source the goods. By 1972, a turning point with President Nixon’s historic visit to China ignited a craze for China from the West, fuelled by intense curiosity and mystical imaginings about the Orient. Designers from major American department stores, chain retailers, and renowned consumer brands found their interest in Chinese porcelain reignited. Against this backdrop, Gangcai revived the chinoiserie trend popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, reinterpreting it on painted porcelain. At the same time, the industry embraced the antique replica with new floral patterns. This trend took shape and rapidly gained momentum. For Americans looking for exotic oriental style, who valued both the novelty and antiquity, chinoiserie Gangcai and antique replicas with new floral pattern products perfectly catered to their tastes.

In order to satisfy the huge market in USA, a well-equipped industrial infrastructure was essential. Following the end of Cultural Revolution, China swiftly made economic reforms, offering favourable terms to attract Hong Kong businesses. Throughout the 1980s, numerous Gangcai manufacturers established factories on the Chinese Mainland, with vast production spaces and abundant labour as well as low operational costs, these factories provided ideal conditions for mass prodction. During this period, Gangcai factories of all sizes in all parts of Hong Kong, along with their production bases on the Mainland, almost exclusively focused on manufacturing products for the USA market.

Antique Replicas with New Floral Patterns brought new Business Opportunities

Along the path of development of gangcai, liberal creative minds were essential. In the past, the painted porcelain industry was staid, adhering to traditional practices without questions; but it has been changed to meet the modern times. The aforementioned 'antique replicas with new floral patterns' trend emerged in 1973, when the owner of the Chung Ah produced blanks modelled on porcelain forms from the Qing Dynasty, and proceed to paint with new floral patterns, and a new style of decorative porcelain was born. During this period, he commissioned blanks from Yingge in Taiwan; the vintage look suits to be made into antique replicas. More and more painted porcelain factories adopted the same approach around the same time, each commissioning painting masters to paint with new floral patterns, resulting in a proliferation of such designs on products. The application of thick glaze became trendy also around that period, creating a raised texture on the surface that contrasted sharply with the traditional style, which favoured a translucent finish. The surface of the porcelain was often distressed to create the look of antiques as favoured by Westerners. Distressing has long been practised within the industry, but it became very popular during this period, with Wah Tung particularly excelled at it, producing a finely texture with matte finish on the surface of painted porcelain, with antique-looking paint that did not fade. Whether it was new floral patterns or thick-glazed pieces, once they had undergone distressing, they were referred to as antique replicas in the industry. Gangcai painting masters had been specialising in antique replica porcelain from the early days, though their work was primarily limited to directly copying antique porcelain, this type of bespoke antique replica porcelain was entirely hand-painted, and so were quite expensive; in contrast, the newer antique replica pieces were mostly mass-produced, possessing the charm of antiques while keeping the price more affordable than genuine antiques or bespoke antique replicas, and these products were particularly popular from 1975 through the entire 1980s. This kind of distressed, thick-glazed porcelain with new floral patterns was a collectively creative output of the industry during the heyday of gangcai, a trend with myriad variations, which brought with it a lot of business opportunity. This period also saw the emergence of many large-sized thick-glaze porcelain pieces; the thick-glaze technique was particularly well-suited to decorating large vases and plates, where designers favoured using them to furnish vast, minimalist modern architectural spaces; by blending Chinese elements into Western-style homes, creating a unique style mixing culture and modern lives.

A Shift from a Passive to a Proactive Sales Model

The old business mindset in the gangcai industry was for the customers to buy whatever the porcelain factories produced; however, during this period, many owners of painted porcelain companies placed significantly greater emphasis on brand image and marketing strategies than before, shifting their sales model from a passive to a proactive approach and demonstrating accurate market sense. Realising a good market opportunity, many painted porcelain factories shifted from focusing purely on production to integrating manufacturing and retailing. One example was Wah Tung, which was the market leader at the time. The company opened a vast showroom, with shelves displaying a wide variety of coloured porcelain styles, making visitors feel as though they were in a grand exhibition or a museum; the owner insists on product with concepts rooted in history, culture and philosophy, doing business with the principle of commercialising culture and culturalising commerce, and placed advertisements in magazines in overseas to attract customers, drawing many government officials, political figures and tourists to the shop. At that time, a number of export-oriented large-scale coloured porcelain manufacturers also emerged, with To Ngai being an exemplar, the company worked closely with customers on the forms and patterns of the pieces, and actively participated in exhibitions and trade fairs in major cities across Hong Kong, Europe and the USA. Other manufacturers adopting similar strategies include Wan Ngai, Chung Ah, Nan Fong, Lok Wood and Art Sheen.

Catalogue of To Ngai Earthware (cover/ inner pages) The catalogue of To Ngai Earthware showcases that the products are both stylish and traditional, featuring painted porcelain in sets of various sizes and designs to suit needs of different customers. (Collection of Yuet Tung China Works)

Turning Crisis into Opportunity: Seizing the Moment for Prosperity

Although the development of gangcai appears to have unfolded smoothly, there were considerable challenges. In the mid-to-late 1970s, the USA and some European countries imposed strict safety standards of lead and cadmium levels on the imported commodity porcelain wares. As lead oxide was a key component in traditional glazing pigment formulations, nearly all gangcai failed to meet these import regulations, dealing a severe blow to the export business. However, the industry responded with adaptability: after noting that antique replica porcelain fell under the category of decorative porcelain, where lead content was not regulated, porcelain factories, which had traditionally specialised in tableware, began shifting their focus to produce of antique replica porcelain from the early 1980s onwards. It is even said that commodity porcelain bowls, plates and saucers were also declared as decorative porcelain at the time so they could be exported without hindrance. This strategy enabled gangcai industry to weather the crisis, whilst at the same time fuelling the momentum of the antique replica with new floral pattern gangcai pieces.

Gangcai sold in Europe and America in the mid-to-late 1970s, with the base stamped with warning such as "for decorative purpose only, not for food serving / use" or "paint contain lead, may poison food, for decoration only"

Adaptability of the industry was also evident in the ability to align with Western lifestyles and culture, thereby expanding the usage scope of painted porcelain. For instance, by encasing porcelain bowls and plates in tin or copper, they were transformed into ashtrays, to suit the lifestyle trends in the USA at the time. Porcelain merchants even suggested secondary uses of the porcelain wares to their Western customers, such as repurposing fish tanks as coffee tables; or using a seven-pieces bowl set as Lazy Susan for snacks; a porcelain stool could also serve as a side table; and an arrow quiver or hat stand could be repurposed as an umbrella stand. These items found their way into living rooms in the West without requiring much alterations, bringing a touch of the Orient to the West. As the range of applications for painted porcelain expanded, it naturally attracted a wider customer base. With its large population and spacious homes, the USA had much demand for interior décor, and the rise in new constructions provides a further boost to the sales of gangcai. During the heyday of gangcai, the USA was the biggest export market at the time, with an extremely keen demand for these types of secondary use products; among them was lamp stands made from porcelain vases, jars, bottles or pillows were particularly in high demand.

Gangcai merchants fitted the porcelain wares with light bulbs and lampshades, enabling the pieces to blend in the homes in the West with Oriental style:

From Light Industry in Squatter Workshops to modern Corporates

From early 1970s to late 1980s, with resources for development in place, Gangcai experienced its golden age as it turned from squatter workshop working styles in to corporate production, having taken on the opportunities with innovation and market sense.