What is the difference between porcelain and pottery？

Chinese pottery and porcelain go back to distant antiquity and have played an important role in cultural development of Chinese society.Porcelain differs from pottery in the following respects：

a.Common clay can be used to form the basic material of pottery.Porcelain requires specific materials including pure white gaoling clay，feldspar and quartz. b.A pottery base body is usually fired into a fixed shape at a fairly low temperature between 800℃ and 1，100℃（degrees centigrade）.Porcelain has a coating of vitreous glaze that is fired at a temperature of at least 1，200℃ until tough crystals appear.Common clay made for a pottery base body cannot become porcelain，but instead will be melted into glassiness when fired at a temperature of 1，200℃ and above.

c.A pottery base body is opaque，and even its wall is as thin as an egg-shell. A porcelain base body appears semitransparent regardless of wall-thickness. d.A pottery base body is not fired completely due to the low temperature of the heat during the firing process.This process results in a porous material that produces an unclear ringing sound when struck.A porcelain base body is non-porous for it is fired completely due to the high temperature of the heat during the firing process.Accordingly，porcelain produces a clear ringing sound like the sound of struck metal. e.There are two types of pottery，one being glazed and the other unglazed.In the Han Dynasty diverse types of glazed pottery were manufactured in large quantities.There are two types of porcelain glaze.One type of glaze is used to coat a porcelain base body.Both the coating and the body are together fired at a high temperature.The other type is called a low-temperature glaze，which is used to coat an unglazed porcelain base body after the body has completed its high temperature heating.The newly-coated body is fired again at a low temperature. f.Mankind shares the invention of pottery，and China is among the first countries in the world to use pottery.Porcelain is often called china because it was first made in China.