KWANGCHOW, P.R. CHINA – Momentous change affecting the whole world is underway in the Peoples Republic of China, but the speed and direction will be determined here in old Canton where East meets West contrary to poetic assertion.

This bustling port city on the Pearl River delta north of Hong Kong has been China’s official trade center since 714 A.D.

In the past, foreign businessmen came here to exchange machinery and opium for porcelain and bamboo fishing poles.

Before long, China’s prize commodity will be oil. Only those nations with cash or technology will find it worthwhile to attend the mammoth trade fair held here every Spring and Fall.

China is about the size of the United States, with similar climate range and diversity of natural resources. Though it invented the tools of capitalism centuries ago – paper money, banks, printing, civil service – over-population always required concentration on food production. Consequently in-the-ground minerals have not been exploited extensively.

Today all this is changing.

Oil is being discovered in great quantity. The industrial nations are bargaining for this precious energy, price no object. Capital soon may flow to China in a torrent greater than that to the otherwise barren OPEC countries.

History may record that Mao Tse-tung, who ended a century-old civil war and unified modern China, was the last of the agrarian leaders.

Signs of change abound in this most populous Asian nation. Decades of isolation are giving way to international commerce. English has become a required language in schools. Chinese leaders welcome opportunities to visit American and Europe.

The thirtieth anniversary of the Communist Liberation October 1st came and went with little fanfare. Here in Kwangchow, as this is written, all effort is directed toward sprucing up streets and buildings for the International Trade Fair.

In Beijing, the capital, there was no rally in Tiananmen Square where the Communist Party Central Committee frequently assembles a million people for special events. Most surprising, there were no fireworks in a nation that has made an art of pyrotechnics.

The event was marked only by a “personal holiday” for workers and a banquet in the Great Hall for government leaders. Chairman Hua Guofeng lauded the achievements of the people but pointedly omitted Mao’s name.

In a speech described “of historic importance” by the party press, Marshal Ye Jianying implicitly blamed Mao for all that had gone wrong in the recent “cultural revolution.”

Mao had been forced into the background as a result of the devastating failure of his Great Leap Forward. Yet, at age 73, he fretted that the country under Premier Lin Piao was drifting away from communist principles. Carefully written essays to this effect by Mao were rejected by the government controlled press.

Finally his young third wife, a former actress named Chiang Ching, joined with the propaganda minister and two others in a plan to gain leadership through Mao’s influence with the peasants.

This “gang of four” published Mao’s call for a new cultural revolution and unleashed the peasant-based Red Guards to purge all those who had “taken the capitalist road.” Teachers, scientists and professional people were special targets. Many were killed, thousands imprisoned and untold numbers banished to collective farms for “re-education” by forced labor.

Formal education was scorned as “western decadence.” For a full decade, from 1966 to 1976, not one college student was graduated from China. The “Thoughts Of Mao,” published in millions of little red books, was declared to be all the wisdom China needed.

During these excesses, the gang of four announced that Lin had attempted to assassinate Mao and was himself was killed in a plane crash while fleeing to Russia. It is an unsubstantiated story that brings knowing head shakes from private Chinese citizens.

Deng Xiaoping, an advocate of liberalization under Lin, was jailed.

All of this was more than Mao had anticipated. He denounced his wife and allied himself with those party leaders who wished to end the madness. That opportunity came with U.S. President Richard Nixon’s initiative in 1972 to establish normal trade relations.

Upon Mao’s death in 1976, moderate leaders in the party gained the courage to arrest the gang of four, appoint Hua and Deng to the top posts, and turn the nation toward rehabilitation. A trial for the gang of four is expected before year end.

A more significant sign of burgeoning change is the attitude of young Chinese toward the official Four Modernizations program. Agriculture, science, technology and defense are to receive emphasis, in that order, for the rest of this century.

The road to progress is to be through education. Colleges and research laboratories are being reopened as rapidly as possible. The government says it will send 8000 Chinese students to the U.S. next year to study science, particularly mathematics.

Chinese young people are enthusiastic about the prospects. When they approach Americans on the street, as they often do here in Kwangchow, “to walk with you and practice English” they relish discussing the Four Modernizations.

Make no mistake, they are firm believers in communism.

The reason they are free, unlike Russians, to talk with foreigners is that the government is confident of its indoctrination. Political education begins in kindergarten. Newspapers, radio and television are tightly censored. Every Friday afternoon factory and farm workers attend official lectures.

Li and Chang are typical of the students throughout China who filled my evenings with talk of politics and friendship. They are convinced that through socialism populous China will catch up with the capitalist nations.

When?

Chang, just entering college at age 28 because of the cultural revolution, thinks his people expect too much too soon from modernization. “There will be change for the better, but not as fast as most think.”

Li is younger and has been relatively untouched by past ideological struggle. He thinks China will leap into the modern world overnight.

“What do you expect from modernization?” I asked.

“A nice family, a well furnished flat, a refrigerator and an automobile,” he replied.

“What will happen if you have not obtained these things by the time you have children of your present age?”

After a thoughtful silence he answered, “The revolutionary spirit is strong in the Chinese people.”

Along with the Four Modernizations program, the government promotes family planning to reduce over-population. An initial burst of mechanization had to be slowed because the resulting unemployment – now 20 million – threatened the economy.

Some progress with the problem is being made through birth control, free abortions, tax incentives and late marriages. There are accusations that baby girls are murdered by their own parents so they can try again for a boy.

Men cannot get a marriage license until they are 28, women 25. When a couple has their first child, they receive a monthly “reward” of five yen ($3.20) for up to four years. If they have a second child before that time, the reward stops. Doctors will not deliver a third child without party permission, and in these rare instances the couple must pay a five-yen “penalty.”

This is a tremendous change for the family-oriented Chinese, but the high degree of voluntary compliance is an indication of their determination to make modernization succeed.

“It will be a triumph for socialism,” declared Li.

“Don’t forget the Great Leap,” I cautioned. “You cannot modernize without a lot of capitalism.”

Again there was a long pause, and Chang replied: “I have though much about this, and sometimes I think capitalism is not so bad!”

The genie is out of the bottle!

Change is coming to China. The question is whether millennia of custom and decades of brain washing can be reshaped adequately.

If – big if – China can obtain the capital to harness her natural resources, and backs off from communism enough to fully use her enormous human energy, she will dominate the world.

November 01, 1979

Click here to see this article on Lindsey Williams’s website

Lindsey Williams is a Sun columnist who can be contacted at:

LinWms@earthlink.net or LinWms@lindseywilliams.org

Website: http://www.lindseywilliams.org with over a thousand of Lin’s Editorial & At Large articles written over 40 years.

Also featured in its entirety is Lin’s groundbreaking book “Boldly Onward,” that critically analyzes and develops theories about the original Spanish explorers of America. (fully indexed/searchable)

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For most, it’s generally thought that you don’t want to throw out the set because it was grandmother’s, and you remember as a child having Thanksgiving dinner with one of those plates only after you were old enough to not break a piece of the set so carefully cherished for years.

But it’s chipped and maybe stained, and you don’t know what else to do with it, except store it in a box in the basement. There are a few things you can do to move that set from the corner of the basement into your showcase.

Repurpose:

You can repurpose your set into another function. An artfully designed mosaic can be a beautiful use for your broken bits. You may choose the most beautiful part of the piece to create a small piece of jewelry or a put a small piece of the choice painted bit on display.

The drawback is of course that a mosaic only uses pieces and parts of the whole.Having grandmother’s beloved china further broken up doesn’t quite feel right. And what happens to all of the discarded pieces?

For some people this is definitely not the way to address their nostalgia. It may be chipped maybe, but at least they’d like to keep it whole.

China Repair:

There are a few artists who specialize in china repair and porcelain restoration. The techniques they use are incredible with invisible repair lines and museum quality restoration. It is important to remember that these repairs do not usually allow the owners to use the china for meals. It’s generally discouraged to eat food from a repaired plate.

However, a professional china repair can allow you to display grandmother’s china set in your hutch as a whole set. A displayed platter sitting next to several teacups with an entire stack of plates artfully arranged can allow you and your modern family to always enjoy the nostalgia, history, and family tall tales at every special family event.

You should also be aware that you need to clean and your repaired items carefully. If you have monetarily valuable china pieces – beside sentimental value – you must clean them with care. A thorough scrubbing can damage and greatly reduce the value of your item. It can simply remove the patina of age and indeed its antique value or perhaps even its sentimental value.

A professional china restoration artist is experienced in cleaning pieces with tremendous attention to the value of the piece, with museum accepted solvents, and professionally standard cleaning agents.

If you have a set of grandmother’s dinnerware that you would like to bring out of the basement and use in your family’s home, china restoration should be a definite consideration for displaying your set in a beautiful arrangement and setting.

Antique china repair artists use specialized techniques to revive the beauty of heirlooms pieces, antiques and collectibles. To see how a broken object can be restored to its original beauty, visit the site here http://www.luelstudio.com.

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When I was young, I used to look at and appreciate the beauty of the willow pattern that’s in a tiny tea kettle made of porcelain. I even wondered how the artist by the name of Josiah Spode came out with the concept of his masterpiece but all that wonder went away unanswered. It was not only until very recently that I’ve read about that story that comes with the willow pattern.

People tell it in different ways, actually. I loved the version of the story that tells about a young daughter who was being matched by his father to marry a rich old man. The daughter ran off to marry her boyfriend instead, a poor man that she actually loved. Out of anger, the father chased after them with the intention to kill them both but before he could do that, the gods have turned these lovers into doves.

Today, I realized that the great love story is a legend that is worth telling and passing on to the next generation. I wouldn’t mind telling it to the next generation soon. In fact, today, it wouldn’t be hard to relay it to them because of the many products that are already manufactured that use this design. The design is so popular that collecting them is like collecting your favorite collector’s items.

You can find the willow pattern from almost any type of product now. If you would like to preserve the legend that goes along with it, you would be excited about collecting all these willow items. Just remember that the design was originally created from a Blue Willow China and with a wonderful love story that’s meant to be forever remembered.

Forget everything you thought you knew about antique china. This website http://www.myantiquechinaonline.com, Blue Willow China shatters all the current myths and gives it to you straight

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The registration mark appears as a diamond shaped mark and gives the EARLIEST possible date of manufacturer. These marks were used on porcelain, pottery and china from 1842 through 1883. The purpose of the mark was to show that the design or shape had been registered at the Patent Office in London and was thereby protected from piracy by other manufacturers for a period of three years.

General Rules for dating marks – There are several general rules for dating ceramic marks, attention to which will avoid several common errors. Printed marks incorporating the Royal Arms are a 19th or 20th century date. Printed marks incorporating the name of the pattern are after 1810. Marks incorporating the word ‘Limited’, or the abbreviations ‘Ltd’, ‘Ld’, etc., denote a date after 1861, and most examples are much later. Incorporation of the words ‘Trade Mark’ in a mark denotes a date subsequent to the Act of 1862. Inclusion of the word ‘Royal’ in a firm’s title or trade name suggests a date in the second half of the 19th century, if not a 20th-century dating. Inclusion of the abbreviation ‘R N’ (for Registered Number) followed by numbers denotes a date subsequent to 1883.

Inclusion of the word ‘England’,'Germany’,'France’,'Italy’ in marks denotes a date after 1891, although some manufacturers added the word slightly before this date. ‘Made in England’, ‘Made in Germany’ and so on, denotes a 20th-century date. Use of the words ‘Bone China’, ‘English Bone China’, etc., denotes a 20th-century date. Items made in Japan between 1945 and 1953 were required by law to be marked “Made in Occupied Japan.” Most European antique and vintage china and porcelain pieces are well marked as to manufacturer whereas U.S makers were hit and miss on marking their pieces.

If your pieces are unmarked, it may be impossible to ever accurately identify the maker. You will have to search for the pattern and see if you can match your pattern to one that has been identified. The library or bookstore may be your best bet although more and more information is on the Internet every day. You could even go to an antique dealer and see what they have to say. Just make sure that when you do that you know that the dealer is true to his or her word and is not telling is a price that would make you sell it to them and then they turn around and sell it for the real price.

Purchased a collection of thimbles, 7 in all, they picture Henry VIII and his six wives, on the back of the thimbles are a few lines depicting. From the description you have given, I’m assuming they are bone or china thimble and that they are the normal thimble shape, I’ve seen some as the bust or head of the character. I assume the picture you refer to is a decal, little dots when looking thru a magnifying glass. I’m also assuming there is no maker’s mark on them, either on the inside of the thimble or on the band.

You did not describe their condition, so I will assume they are in mint, unused condition. If these assumptions are correct then are not Wedgwood or a precious metal. The thimble you have shown me is a modern, Mexican silver thimble. Most examples were made mid-to late 20th Century. It is decorated with applied wirework on the outside. Periodically you will find lettering on the inside of the thimble and this will indicate a maker’s mark.

If you do find something that has the similar look to you piece or you think you got the markers mark, period it was made or anything else like that you can always double check your ideas by going be an auction house and having some from there look over your piece and see what they have to say about. You might be right or wrong but at least you can find out more on that piece if you choose to take it to an antique dealer or an auction house.

Victor Epand is a consultant for http://www.SellTheAntiques.com/ . Sell The Antiques is a community of antique sellers from around the world. If you have antiques to sell, click here to create an Antiques Account: http://www.SellTheAntiques.com/merchant/signup.html

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Arts and Crafts Movement created furor in the later half of the nineteenth century in Europe. It was a kind of social movement that emerged to point out the impact of industrialization on the society. The romanticism and the creative aspects of human being were in decline and there was a clear shift from handmade crafts to the machine made ones.

The variations of arts may include decorative arts, drawings, paintings, sculpture, collages, photography and videography. Ethnic as well as modern paintings and sculptures of brass, bronze and wood serve as great marvels for interior decorations. Crafts made from several resources like glass, wood, paper, plant products, metal, ceramics, porcelain, leather, fabrics and plastics can be used as indoor and outdoor decors or as gifts to the loved ones.

The practice of arts and crafts in India began from the Indus Valley Civilization and continues in the modern times. Fascinating terracotta crafts, potteries, textile crafts and metal wares were the hallmarks of arts and crafts of the Indus era. The Mauryan era is famous for its stone sculptures and jewelry crafts. The handcrafted cave engravings of the Ajanta and Ellora capture Gupta arts in its finest form. Gorgeous textile crafts, ornate jewelries, miniature paintings and sculptures characterize the Mughal era.

For detailed information on Arts and Crafts, please visit India Crafts

Rajneesh Dubey is Content Coordinator for http://www.india-crafts.com This is a website covering all kinds of art and craft forms of India. Here, you will come to know about jewelry, dresses, sculptures, religions, paintings and various other topics on India. You can see here the lists of the manufacturers, exporters and suppliers of an array of handicrafts too.

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