纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 064大卫对瓶（7）（在线收听）

Foreign rulers, the Mongols; foreign materials, Muslim blue; and foreign markets, Iran and Iraq; all played an essential part in the creation of what to many outside China is still the most Chinese of objects, blue-and-white porcelain. Soon these ceramics were being exported from China in very large quantities, to Japan and south-east Asia, across the Indian Ocean to Africa and the Middle East. And far beyond that. Here's author Jenny Uglow:

"Then it comes to Europe, and the Dutch adapt it to their life, and so it comes to Britain, and we adapt it to the forms of jugs we like, the plates we love, and so on. It becomes translated, it's like a wonderful language which is perpetually translated to the culture where it's arriving and is loved. People say it's a very, sort of, elemental thing: it's blue and white, it's the blue sky and the white clouds, or the blue sea and the white sand. And behavioral psychologists who've looked at the way people react to colour say that blue and white is seen as immensely serene and relaxing. But I think also it has to do with the great long history - you know, a thousand years of history - and the way that the blue-and-white designs themselves seem to be mysterious and 'other' and have their own stories as well. It's a combination of colour appeal and historical appeal."

域外的统治者——蒙古人，域外的材料——回回青，以及域外的市场——伊朗与伊拉克，是成就青花瓷的关键，而吊诡的是，它在中国以外被当作了最具中国特色的物品。很快，这种瓷器便从中国大量出口，输送至日本、东南亚，跨越印度洋?来到非洲、中东以及更遥远的地方。

几个世纪之后，这种起源于伊斯兰国度伊朗的蓝白配色，经过蒙古治下的中国人改造，成为青花瓷来到欧洲，并受到了狂热追捧。一如对待其他热销商品，本土制造商很快便开始对它进行大规模仿制。