Zhèngpíng

Zhengping was the county seat of Jiangzhou in the southern Shanxi basin, near the Fen River. The early Ming absorbed the county into the department, whose town became a centre of craft and trade. Jiangzhou was especially celebrated for inkstones made from carefully prepared river clay, fired to a smooth, hard finish. The craft flourished in the Tang and Song and reached a high level in the Ming, before its techniques were lost during the upheavals of the Ming–Qing transition.