Before the Tang dynasty, Chinese people ate from pottery, lacquerware, and gold and silver vessels. Porcelain was not the main character. After the Tang, porcelain suddenly became a daily necessity — and one of China's largest export commodities.

How did that shift happen?

The answer lies inside a rebellion.

In 755, An Lushan raised troops at Fanyang. For eight years, the Tang was engulfed in civil war. Chang'an fell, the emperor fled to Sichuan, and half of China became a battlefield.

The north was in chaos. Populations moved south in huge numbers.

More importantly: the economic centre began shifting from north to south.

War destroyed northern farms and workshops, while the south remained relatively stable. People, capital, and skills poured into the Yangtze basin. China's economic map was rewritten.

The fate of porcelain was rewritten too.

The south had clay all along. After the war, northern craftsmen moved south, bringing skills and capital. Southern kilns took off almost overnight.

The clearest example is Changsha ware.

The Changsha kilns, in today's Tongguan town near Changsha in Hunan, emerged in the late eighth and ninth centuries. What made them unusual: they made export porcelain.

Changsha pieces carry Arabic script, date-palm motifs, and images of Central Asian figures. These decorations were clearly customised for Middle Eastern and Persian markets. From birth, Changsha ware was made not for Chinese buyers, but for foreign ones.

The Yue kilns (Zhejiang) and Xing kilns (Hebei) entered mass production at the same time. Yue made celadon, Xing made white ware — "southern green, northern white" formed the two poles of Tang porcelain.

Before the Tang, China's foreign trade ran mostly overland. The Silk Road led west from Chang'an, through Central Asia to Persia and Rome.

After the An Lushan Rebellion, the land route was cut. The Tang turned to the sea.

From Guangzhou, Yangzhou, and Mingzhou (Ningbo), merchant ships crossed Southeast Asia and India to reach the Persian Gulf. This "Maritime Silk Road" carried more volume at lower cost than the overland route.

Porcelain is heavy and fragile, but sea transport is relatively steady. With proper packing, it could travel across oceans. Porcelain became a bulk commodity of maritime trade.

In 1998, a Tang shipwreck was found off Indonesia — the Belitung wreck. It carried more than 60,000 pieces of porcelain, mostly from Changsha. Its destination was the Persian Gulf.

That route predates Zheng He's voyages by six centuries.

Before the Tang, ordinary people ate from pottery; nobles ate from gold and silver. Porcelain sat in between — expensive but not aristocratic.

After the Tang, as production rose and costs fell, porcelain entered daily life for ordinary households. By the Song, porcelain was one of the most common everyday items in China.

The shift from "luxury" to "daily necessity" started right after the An Lushan Rebellion.

Today, Tang porcelain can look coarse next to Song or Ming-Qing wares. But remember: it is the first witness to porcelain entering ordinary Chinese homes at scale.