It was many years later that I came across an interesting article on internet narrating the events related to the Cigarette factory find.  Apparently, the construction work in 1997 at the factory site uncovered huge quantity of Guan shards. The author mentioned that trucks after trucks of the shards were transported and dumped at a site near Qiantang river.  All in all he estimated more than few hundred thousand pieces. It must be quite a sight!!  It attracted a frantic rush for these treasures by dealers/collectors, the bulk ended in Beijing, Hongkong and Taiwan.

Area shaded gray is the Southern Song palace site and surrounding area.  Cigarette  factory is at Wansong Lin and Laohu Dong at Phoenix Mountain

There are many varieties of vessel forms including various types of censer, box, basin, zun, vase, washer, dish, bowl and etc.  They are coated with 2 to 4 layers of glaze, the bigger and more complete shards display distinct Guan features:  rim with purpish colour tone and grayish iron foot (紫口铁足).  There are some with fine spur marks on the outer base. The glaze colour ranges from  bluish, bluish green, greenish blue, yellowish green and rice yellow.  Majority have glaze crackles, the glaze showing whitish specks due to varying degree of degradation. Many shards  show clear manufacturing defects, suggesting they were kiln rejects.

Sherds from the Taiwan Chang Foundation

Cigarette Factory site Guan sherds in Chinese collections

From archaeological point of view, it was a a great loss and a major disaster.  Systematic studies would have yielded valuable information which will enhance understanding of Southern Song Guan ware production.

Guan shards found by Yoneuchiyama Yoshio (米内山庸夫) in the 1920s ( Tokyo Nezu Museum (根津美术馆))

For a long time, two main explanations were proposed for the cigarette factory finds.  The first is that it was the burial ground for broken pieces from the palace.  This suggestion is questionable  as many show sign of manufacturing defects and there were also kiln furnitures. The other is that those were kiln rejects from Pheonix mountain Luohu Dong kiln and was transported there for burial.  The scientific tests by the Beijing Palace Museum clearly show  the samples from Laohu Dong, Jiaotan xia and cigarette factory have different chemical composition.  Hence, the logical conclusion is there was another Guan kiln site.

Chart showing that glaze chemcial composition of shards from Laohu Dong, Cigarette factory site and Jiaotan Xia are distinctly different and form separate clusters

The ancient Chinese written sources offered fragmentary and vague information on the subject of Guan ware.  Much quoted was that found in Ye Zhi's  Tan Zai Bi Heng " 叶寘坦斋笔衡".  After the court move to the south, an official by the name of Shao Chengzhang was appointed to set up kiln in accordance with the practice of the old capital and under the Xiuneisi Bureau (Bureau for the maintenance of imperial buildings, furnishings for ceremonial and ritual functions , supervison of imperial kilns) to produce porcelain wares to meet the needs of imperial court and the sacrificial rites; later another kiln was built at the foot of the Jiaotan (Suburban Altar).  This would suggest there were only two Guan ware production kilns during Southern Song.

However, the reality was likely much more complicated. The Southern Song scholar Gu Wenjian (顾文荐) in his writing Fuxuan zalu (复暄杂录), further mentioned that wares from wuni yao (乌泥窑), yuyao yao (余姚窑) and xu yao (续窑) were qualitatively inferior to those from Nei yao. (Nei Yao is generally interpretated as referring to Xiuneisi kiln). Apparently,  there were other kilns that supplied ceramic wares to the Palace.  The location of wuni yao (乌泥窑) and xu yao (续窑) are still unknown.  Could one of them be that located at the cigarette factory site?

Prof. Li Gang from Zhejiang Museum has carried out in-depth study on the subject. His views  contradicted some of  the present understanding  of Southern Song Guan kilns in the Chinese ceramics academic circle.  But his arguments, based on re-examination and interpretation of the ancient texts coupled with scientific test results, are cogent and persuasive.   According to his observation,  the quality of the shards are better than those from Jiaotan Xia and Laohu Dong which is generally believed to be the Xiuneisi kiln (修内司).  In comparison, the potting and finishing are superb and the glaze less opaque and possess superior jade-like luster.   He further disclosed that TL testing of samples of Guan shards from the cigarette factory site and Laohu Dong Kiln yielded an average calibrated dating of 1145 and 1186 A.D respectively.  The Treaty of Shaoxing. the agreement that ended military conflicts between the Jin and Southern Song, was signed in 1142 A.D.  With peace, the administration was able to embark on expansion of the imperial palace and central government building complex. Nei Yao, as mentioned in the ancient text, was a kiln set up around 1145 A.D to make ceramic vessels for the Palace.   Xiuneisi supervised the kiln operation. TL dating of the sherds fall within the operational period of Nei Yao.

A ring (蕩箍), one of the components of the potter wheel, was found in the Laohu Dong Kiln. It generated much excitement for those proponents of this kiln being Nei Yao.   It has the incised characters Xiuneisi and cyclical date geng zi (庚子).  Geng zi corresponds to likely date 1180 and 1240 A.D respectively.  Prof. Li suggested that it was was not the date of manufacture of the ring but a commemorative inscription linked to the setting up of the kiln in 1180 A.D.  Hence, it could not be Nei Yao which was supposed to be set up earlier.

Ring with inscribed characters mentioning Xiuneisi and cyclical dating Geng Zi

For some unknown reasons, Nei Yao ceased operation along the way and was replaced by the kiln in Laohu Dong, which he believed is Xu Yao (Xu literally mean to continue).  Xiuneisi he further argued is not the name of the kiln, but the supervisory body which also oversee operation of the later Jiaotan Xia kiln (set up after 1200 A.D).  More detailed information can be found in his book (古瓷笔诠).