While economy, political infrastructure, and society of East Asia have developed rapidly over the past few years, cultural identity issues, such as “what Asian culture is” and “what the modernity of Asian culture is”, become the keynotes of many modern art exhibitions. In many major art exhibitions, Asian-related subjects can never run away from being compared to the West, whether from postcolonial or post-modern perspectives. However, it is a totally different story in the realm of modern ceramic art in a way that issues discussed are often related to sculptural shape or container conception instead of cultural topics. This phenomenon may be because of the nature of ceramic texture; but questions such as “what makes the voice of Asia” are still naturally be asked when one observes contemporary artwork created by Asian ceramic artists. Thus, when originated-in-China celadon becomes the theme of the exhibition, it provides an opportunity to re-examine Asian culture. It also becomes an entry point to relate four areas—Taiwan, China, Japan, and Korea, where the traditions and culture have been deeply influenced by one another. Celadon first appeared during the Shang (1600-1046BC) and Zhou (1045-256BC) dynasties in China in the form of proto-porcelain. Celadon making techniques matured during the Eastern Han dynasty (25-220AD), and further advanced through the Jin dynasty (265-420), the Southern and Northern dynasties (420-589), the Sui dynasty (581-618), and the Tang dynasty (618-907). The technology was in its prime and brought into Goryeo (today’s Korean) in the Song dynasty (960-1279). Although Goryeo later developed a high level of celadon artistry and Japanese began porcelain making in the Arita area, Kyushu, in the 17th century, it could not be forgotten that Chinese celadon had had a large influence over the celadon development in both areas. Via maritime trade, beautiful Chinese porcelain wares had been exported to the world. A collection of over one thousand pieces of celadon in the Topkapi Palace in Turkey is the most evident example of celadon’s worldwide distribution. No wonder celadon has been considered as the embodiment of true eastern beauty and the term “celadon” was especially created to denote this type of pale jade- green glaze and wares in France. The development of celadon in the western world accelerated when alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger discovered the method of creating white porcelain in 1709. After the arts and crafts movement was developed in England and contemporary ceramic art sprouted, the trends in modern ceramic art have been further defined. Japan was influenced by the western trends first among other East Asian areas. It is believed that Mingei, the Japanese folk art movement, was inspired by the arts and crafts movement in the West; and that studies regarding the modernity of ceramic art, and related creations and essays in Japan appeared earlier than those in Mainland China and the Korean peninsula not only due to the western influence but also because of its respect for traditions. As a result, it is not too difficult to understand that the development timeline in different regions differs. Today, celadon wares from the Song dynasty, the Goryeo period, and modern times all can be found in the places of Taiwan, Mainland China, Japan, and Korea. They demonstrate a variety of styles, as well as new artistic mindsets derived from individual histories and cultures. In this essay, East Asian celadon is reviewed in the following four aspects.

Historical traditions
Historical traditions are indispensable nutrition for artists who are devoted to celadon creation wholeheartedly. Some featured artists (e.g. Lin, Pao-chia, Tsai, Hsiao-fang, Tsai, Yung-yi, and Hsu, Te-chia from Taiwan; imperial craftsmen during the Meiji period—Miyagawa Kozan I, Seifu Yohei III, and Suwa Sozan I—from Japan, Japanese Living National Treasures Miura Koheiji and Nakashima Hiroshi, Japanese artist Kawase Shinobu, and masters of arts and crafts in China, including Xu Chaoxing, Mao Zhengcong, and Xia Houwen) have or had established
their unique art style because of their admiration for exquisite celadon artwork in the Song dynasty. Other featured artists, such as Hwang, Jong-gu and Choi, In-kyu from Korea, have focused on the jade green color, line, and inlaid design of Goryeo celadon, and developed their personal art style. Among these artists, quite a few can easily tell their stories about how they lingered on in the Palace Museum just to savor the beauty of a collection of Ru wares and Guan wares. These celadon artists have been deeply enchanted by the quintessence of ancient ceramic workmanship; and they will unremittingly aspire to the knowledge of traditions, no matter how time changes.

Modern innovations
The term “modern innovations” here contains two aspects of meaning: new creation inspired by traditional celadon, or artistic creation that involves celadon. Artists of the former usually make every effort to sharpen their traditional celadon-making skills and attach new ideas to the traditional elements. For example, Kim, Soo-jeong (Korea) transforms Goryeo celadon patterns into sculpting presentation; Su, Bau-tsai emphasizes the black-bodied celadon used in Guan wares in the Southern Song dynasty in the form of his artwork; Miura Koheiji (Japan) blends the beauty of Song dynasty celadon glaze with decorative elements from the Near and Middle East; and Chen Songxian adds traditional features of Longquan celadon onto his modern and succinct design. As for artists of the latter, some use celadon as a creative material because its gentle quality fits their artistic creation. For instance, Chang, Ke-ming (Taiwan) combines multiple materials in his artwork, e.g. wood and stainless steel; Shen, Tong-ning takes advantage of contradicting attributes of engobe and celadon to show the contrast between the sky, the mountain, and the water. Also, there are still many young artists who bring celadon into the form of conceptual art, such as Yoo, Eui-jeong, Kang, Jun-young and Choi, Bo-ram, from Korea, and Fu, Yung-ti and Wang, Yi-hui from Taiwan.

Regional characteristics
From Imperial Court Artist during the Meiji period to Living National Treasures of today, Japanese artists have embodied neoclassic style, the beauty of glaze, abstract design, and modern concepts in their works. For instance, Okabe Mineo has incorporated the idea of “modernity” into his celadon artwork upon the basis of “traditional” conception. The artworks of Fukami Sueharu and Suzuki Osamu are representatives of Japanese simple, succinct, and minimal aesthetics. Inspired by celadon’s clear color and texture, Fukami takes his majestic imagination to abstract formation, while Suzuki extends his poetic and nostalgic creativity to minimal design.Taiwanese artists have reflected Chinese and Japanese influence in Taiwan and have undertaken a variety of experiments about the form of celadon presentation. For example, Lin, Pao-chia applies abstract painting techniques onto celadon; Chen, Tso-tao plays with color by adding different glazes onto celadon; Lin, Chen-long, inspired by Piet Mondrian, works with geometric lines and color blocks; and some young artists allow their design to interact with the space. Chinese celadon artwork is profoundly rooted in traditions. Since celadon restoration projects were launched in Longquan, Zhejiang, in the 1950s, academic as well as professional artists have relocated to this place to pass on traditional craftsmanship and aesthetics in terms of glaze color, decorative pattern, and shape. With this wonderful heritage, new generation artists in this area also start to adapt the form, concept, and creative process of modern art to traditional craftsmanship. Lastly, Korean artwork demonstrates modified traditional methods of Goryeo celadon making, and make refreshing and innovative critiques of traditional celadon. The functional beauty In the history of celadon ware, containers and vessels such as tea sets, bowls, dishes, and incense burners have always played a leading role. This can be proved once again in the exhibition as containers account for the majority of exhibits. Whether in terms of glazing or formation, these functional pieces inherit thousand-years of celadon-making traditions and more continue to shine through the hands of modern ceramic workers. Nevertheless, the boundaries between art and utility have becomed blurred; sometimes, a vessel can even lose its functions. Take decorative teapots and functional teapots for example. Decorative teapots are designed to represent an artist’s philosophy; they are carriers of artistic concept but carry no function. They are more like sculptures, such as artwork of Taiwanese artist Chang, Ching-yuan and Chinese artist Zhou Wu; or they are like a platform for dialectic dialogues between functions and conceptions, such as Fang, Po-ching's artwork. On the contrary, functional teapots are made with consideration of tea and users. Their functional performances, instead of designer’s creativity, are always given the first priority. For example, small discrepancies during the making of round or square teapots may lead to great errors in their use. Thus, functional teapots don’t need to have out-of-the-box style, but need to be confined by certain structural rules. In his book ”The Way of Workmanship” published in December of 1928, Yanagi Muneyoshi believed that handicrafts which combined utility and beauty had to be ready for daily use. He stated that utility was the source of beauty, and used this statement as the definition of “folk art”, which was deemed appropriate. In this exhibition, tea wares and incense burners are presented in the context of tea/incense ceremony in the hope of showing the combination of vessels and the beauty of functions. After much deliberation over the subject of containers, Chinese have concentrated on the long history from the very beginning to on the aesthetic practice of classical art. Celadon is with stronger abstract styles, cooler glaze colors, and more defined shapes, compared with other type of pottery.

This cool abstract style has led Chinese modern ceramic art back to a locally defined classicalism. In other words, contemporary celadon art language has diversified into rich and complex cultural and social meanings, has closely connected the history of containers with the changing modernity of cultural concepts. Conclusion Witnessing thousand years of history, celadon can be considered as a paragon of East Asian culture. Through discussions of historic traditions, changes of art style, transition of aesthetic paradigm, recurrence of regional culture, and manifestation of modernity, celadon is like an endoscope that helps us look into our culture vertically and horizontally; based on our findings will a new era of celadon art be built.