"The best porcelain of the world is in China, and China's best is in Jingdezhen," the Chinese writer Guo Moruo once said. Jingdezhen, internationally known as the "Porcelain Capital” of China, is one of China's most famous cultural and historic cities. Endowed by nature with a network of rivers and hills, people there began to produce ceramics as early as 25 BCE. In the Jingde reign of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Emperor Zhaoheng decreed to produce the porcelain used by the imperial court, and by the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) Jingdezhen became the center of production with governmental kilns set up to cater exclusively to the needs of the royal families. The artists and craftsmen in Jingdezhen have created numerous masterpieces, which can be judged by four special features. Jingdezhen porcelain should be "white like jade, bright as a mirror, thin as paper, and sound like a chime."