The globular jar "ching" (center and left in the photo) was used by stores and taverns for shipping goods such as oils and liquor. Once the original contents were emptied, these jars were often reused to store household items such as pickled vegetables, ginger, or salty duck eggs (Yang and Hellermann 1998).
The barrel jar "nga gong" (right in photo) was used for the shipping and storage of dry goods such as rice and other grains, whole soy beans, and sugar. Once emptied, the jars could be reused to store an endless variety of items. They were often left outside to catch and store rainwater and were sometimes used to ship the bones of the dead back to China for reburial.
Spouted jars "nga hu" (far left in photo) are often called soy pots and often contained soy sauce for sale in stores. However, these jars were used for a variety of other liquids such as peanut oil, black vinegar, and liquor. These jars were wheel thrown in one or two pieces (base and shoulder), with the base unglazed and the spout applied over a punched hole.
The wide-mouth jar "fut how nga peng" (center-left in photo) originally held preserved tofu, sweet bean paste, shrimp paste, a variety of beans, and pickled vegetables for sale. The jar was sealed with an unglazed stoneware disk lid (lower left in photo) cemented into place. This jar served much the same purpose in Chinese culture as the Mason jar did in Western culture. These jars were wheel thrown in one piece with the base unglazed.
The liquor bottle "tsao tsun" (center-right and upper right in photo) contained a wide range of fermented and distilled alcoholic beverages. The shape of this bottle dates to 1,000 B.C. (Greenwood 1993). Two common types of Chinese liquor are still sold in these bottles. They are "Ng-Ka-Py" and "Mui Guai Lo", both about 46% alcohol and used for cooking as well as drinking. Ng-Ka-Py tastes a lot like a sweet brandy. These bottles were wheel thrown in three pieces (base, shoulder, and neck) covered with a high quality glaze with the base glazed as well. Occasionally an inverted Chinese character is found embossed on the base (center bottom of photo). The inverted embossed character could have been used as a stamp. Translated, the characters have meanings such as "happiness" or "success."