"Lotus Pond" is one of the ceramic works created by Liu Mingwu, master of pottery arts. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.COM/ Yang Yong]

An Exhibition featuring pottery arts kicked off at the National Art Museum of China on Monday, August 27, 2007.

All of these ceramic works - which glitter in the exhibition hall - were magically created by Liu Mingwu, master of pottery art from Taiwan. They have a vivid name: Gem-Pottery. With special encaustic skills, clay has been elaborately shaped and painted with marvelous glaze colors.

"It is a combination of ceramic and oil paintings. Thanks to its special materials, Gem-Pottery is damp proof and mothproof. Unless you smash it, it can be perfectly preserved for more than ten thousand years. With regard to their artistic uniqueness, these ceramic works are baked at an extremely high temperature, more than 1100 Celsius Degrees. Hence we gain more than 100 different colors and each of them glitters as a gem."

Liu Mingwu honed his skills from temple restoration at the age of 17, and is second to none in his field. 23 years ago, eight of his works were even confiscated at the Keelung Customs on their way to France, mistaken as stolen genuine national treasures. They were later relayed to the National Palace Museum for expert verification, but to no avail. Finally, fingerprinting technology was employed to identify Liu Mingwu as the genuine creator to solve this mystery.

This was a Blessing in Disguise. Since then, Liu's fame has reached even far beyond America. An item of pottery made for George W. Bush by Liu Mingwu is placed in the White House.

However, Liu Mingwu has always attributed his success to his 19 teachers of elder generations. He readily explains how his teachers had done years of experiments on real gems and that eventually precious experiences were accumulated.

"With out hundreds of glaze colors that were passed on from generations, I could barely manage to create today's works."

Liu Huolie, a businessman from Taiwan came far away to attend his best friend's exhibition. The work of Lotus Pond, was his favorite.

"I love national Chinese paintings. The Lotus Pond was designed in perfect composition and marvelous colors. You can read a late summer and early autumn in the Lotus' leaves. I love it so much."

This 7-day exhibition was sponsored by Friends of Chinese Culture, aiming to promote a good culture conversation between Chinese mainland and Taiwan.