Abstract:Historical literature and archaeological records show that white porcelains began to appear in North China during the period of the late Northern and Southern Dynasties (386~581). Xing Kiln was one of the most famous kilns to fire white porcelains at that time, and hence products of this kiln are valuable resources for exploring the origin of the white porcelain. Nowadays, most of the experts agree that the white porcelain was derived from the celadon, and they further point out that a series of technological innovations, such as the elaborate choice and treatment of porcelain materials, the adoption of huazhuangtu, the lower firing temperature and the thinner glaze must have played an important role in the appearance of the white porcelain. As far as the recipe of the body material is concerned, however, there exists controversy among experts. Some people hold that binary recipe or multi-recipe was applied to the body material at the very beginning, while others believe that the body material must have experienced the process from mono-recipe at the beginning to binary recipe or multi-recipe with the development of the porcelain firing technology. In this study, 15 pieces of coarse white porcelains and celadons from Xing Kilns and 4 kinds of porcelain materials were collected and analyzed by means of EDXRF and INNA, and the data were processed by softwares of SPSS and origin. The results indicate that there is little difference in chemical composition between the body of the coarse white porcelain and that of the celadon. It is hence concluded that the potters of Xing Kiln adopted the same kind of material for the body material of both coarse white porcelain and celadon. In addition, the body chemical composition of white porcelains, which includes major elements and trace elements, is very similar to that of local kaolin clay characterized by relatively high Fe, Ti and low Al, suggesting that the potters probably adopted this kind of material to fire the white porcelain. This study provides an important basis for probing into the recipe of body material of the white porcelain. Nevertheless, the problems as to whether kaolin clay with higher Fe, Ti and lower Al could be used as the mono-material to fire the white porcelain and how the ancient potters distinguished the mono-recipe from the multi-recipe remain to be solved in future. In our further work, therefore, more systematic samples should be collected and analyzed, and simulative firing should also be carried out. Only in this way can these problems be solved.