After. Week. Generation.
Sect. 
Curriculum vitae
Name: Chai Rong (Guo Rong).
Alias: Zhou Shizong.
Hometown: Chaijiazhuang, Yaoshan, Xingzhou (now Longyao County, Xingtai City, Hebei Province).
Working hours: February 26, 954 July 27, 959, a total of 6 years.
Main achievements: rectification and reform, selection of talents, personal conquest of the Southern Tang Dynasty, construction of water conservancy.
Hobbies: Searching for books, carving ancient books, collecting porcelain, and creating their own firewood kilns.
Later generations commented: the first Ming Jun of the five generations.
Five generations and ten ** valves were divided, and wars were frequent. However, during this period, there was also a wise monarch, he was Zhou Shizong Chai Rong, who was known as the "first Ming monarch of the five generations".
Chai Rong ascended the throne in his prime, worked hard to expand the territory, and made great achievements in politics and military. In addition, he did not forget to engage in his own collection and hobby - porcelain firing.
Now when we mention porcelain, many people first think of the five famous kilns: Guan, Ru, Jun, Ge, and Ding. In fact, there is another mysterious variety in history, and it is the firewood kiln.
China's five famous kilns.
According to historical records, the firewood kiln is the official kiln of the Zhou Dynasty after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and was created by Chai Rong of Zhou Shizong. The firewood kiln is also known as the "crown of all kilns" in China, and is the only porcelain kiln named after the monarch in China.
It is said that the firewood kiln is "as blue as the sky, bright as a mirror, thin as paper, sound like a rock, moisturizing and delicate with fine lines." It was the best of the many kilns of the time, and was called "a miracle in the history of ceramics in the world".
Blue as the sky
After the rain is over, the sky is blue and cloud**, this color will do the future. ”
This is Chai Rong's decree when he replies to the Minister of the Interior's palace about what porcelain to use in the palace, and it is also a requirement for the color of the porcelain to be fired.
But later, Ruzhou craftsmen were highly skilled, and with agate glaze, they fired the glaze color of Ru kiln porcelain with "rain over the sky and blue clouds" - azure.
At that time, people would also describe the color of the firewood kiln as "blue", and the Qing Dynasty's "Juyilu" cloud: "Yan Zhufeng's vice-constitution once showed the firewood kiln bowl one, which was blue, the shape was very ancient, and the streamer was shining"。
According to the records in ancient books, "blue as the sky" should be a light green as the main tone, with some blue tones.
Documentation of firewood kilns.
Bright as a mirror
This is to describe the glaze of the firewood kiln porcelain, which is as bright as a mirror. In ancient times, mirrors were not glass mirrors as they are today, but bronze mirrors. The brightness of the copper mirror is the brightness of the copper ground by hand, which is a kind of dim light, which can vaguely illuminate the facial features of the person. The glaze of the firewood kiln is moist and warm, and much brighter, and it can also vaguely illuminate people's facial features.
Paper-thin
It is described as the firewood kiln porcelain is very light and thin, and can even transmit light. If you compare the thickness of modern paper, it is naturally incomparable. But compared with the straw paper used 50 years ago and the toilet paper used now, the thickness is more than ten times different, not to mention the five generations thousands of years ago, the thickness of the paper is obviously thicker.
Qing Anonymous "Tiaoxie Class Edition" "Firewood Kiln" Article Book Shadow Commercial Press.
The sound is like a chime
It is to describe the sound of the striking of the porcelain in the wood kiln. Many people interpret this description as a crisp sound, but it is not. In ancient times, the chime was a stone percussion instrument and ritual instrument, and the sound it produced was supposed to be low and hoarse, not crisp. Because before the Song Dynasty, porcelain was made of clay, so the sound of porcelain percussion was similar to that of stone percussion instruments and ritual vessels.
In ancient times, a stone percussion instrument - chime.
It is a pity that this peerless "porcelain emperor" - firewood kiln has been lost today, and even the exact firewood kiln porcelain and its kiln site have not been found, and there is no complete firewood kiln ware handed down, and even a fragment of firewood kiln porcelain has not been seen. Even in front of us, we may not recognize it, and it is a pity that there is no standard comparison!
Why?
First of all, the firewood kiln is Chai Rong's official kiln and private collection, so the number of firing is obviously not as large as the number of porcelain that is popular among the people.
Secondly, Zhou Shizong Chai Rong's reign was very short, less than five and a half years, and in these five and a half years, Chai Rong spent almost three and a half years at war with the Southern Tang Dynasty. In the turbulent times of war, the country's energy is mainly focused on the needs of war.
Later, Zhou Shizong personally conquered the Southern Tang Dynasty.
And, less than two months after the death of Emperor Chai Rong, when his 7-year-old son Chai Zongxun ascended the throne, Zhao Kuangyin staged a mutiny and seized the throne.
After the change of dynasties in Chinese history, it was the consistent practice of successive rulers to destroy all traces of the history of the previous dynasties. What's more, Zhao Kuangyin was once reused by Chai Rong and was promoted to the senior general of the forbidden army.
Maybe Zhao Kuangyin was ashamed of Chai Rong and had no shame to face it, so Zhao Kuangyin completely destroyed the things related to the Chai surname, including firewood kilns and firewood porcelain, and they were not allowed to be used or recorded. As a result, the firewood kiln never dawned and became a mystery.
Later Zhou Shizong statue and Zhao Kuangyin portrait.
Nowadays, the academic community has been conceiving about the firewood kiln, and the qualitative issue is fiercely debated, but there is no result, and it is already an unsolved case in the history of Chinese porcelain.
But no matter what the controversy over the firewood kiln is, we can still get a glimpse of how much the willful and heroic cultural relics collector enthusiast - Zhou Shizong Chai Rong loved collecting.
I hope that one day, we will be able to see the true face of the firewood kiln!
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