To have others make pieces on one's behalf would require hiring at least two or three full-time staff to complete large quantities—how could this be convincing? Chen Mansheng held considerable standing in various aspects of Qing dynasty literature and art; it would have been impossible for him to produce crude or careless work. The collaboration between Mansheng and Yang Pengnian can be described as an artistic bond of their generation. The two must have shared a deep friendship. At the time, there were others whose pottery skills surpassed Pengnian's, yet Mansheng never collaborated with anyone else. Otherwise, the history of Yixing pottery might have produced other masterpieces. Yu Ting is also frequently mentioned, though regrettably no authenticated pieces have been found. However, another person named Qurong deserves special mention. Qurong, surnamed Pan, styled Juxuan, is listed among the long-lived and filial in the *Yixing County Gazetteer*. He was highly respected by local pottery elders and senior artisans. In Gao Jia's essay "Passing Through in a Carriage: A Gift to Mr. Shao Daxiang," his name is mentioned first. Two fine pieces of his work still survive today. One teapot was featured in the *Illustrated Catalog of Yixing Pottery* (Taiwan edition, page 202). The bottom of the pot is inscribed with a dated signature and the maker's age. In 1937, Li Jingkang and Zhang Hong's *Illustrated Study of Yangxian Purple Clay Pottery* recorded that both the Meishan Pot Studio and Piyun Tower each possessed a large purple clay teapot of the same style and inscription: "...fine clay and exquisite workmanship, the bottom inscribed in regular script: 'Made in the second month of spring in the year Xinmao, by Qurong at age seventy-six, inscribed by hand'—sixteen characters." In autumn 1981, when the author visited Hong Kong, Mr. Lo Kwee-seong accompanied me to visit the Art Museum of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Among the precious pottery collection, I happened upon a teapot with this same inscription—a rare find that brought great delight. According to Dr. Kao Mayching, the museum director, this teapot had changed hands over several decades, passing through Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and was now privately owned but on loan to the museum. When the author revisited Hong Kong in 1985 and 1989, I returned to the Art Museum of the Chinese University of Hong Kong to observe and appreciate it—a source of endless pleasure. Based on the above clues and the maker's dated inscription, the teapot was made in the eleventh year of the Daoguang reign (1831). That year Qurong was seventy-six years old. Calculating backward, Qurong must have been born in the twenty-first year of the Qianlong reign (Bingzi, 1756). Chen Hongshou was born in the thirty-third year of the Qianlong reign (Wuzi, 1768) and died in the second year of the Daoguang reign (Renwu, 1822). According to this, Qurong was twelve years older than Mansheng. When Mansheng passed away, Qurong was still alive, and at seventy-six he was still producing such fine work. Shao Daxiang was from Shangyuan village. His exact birth and death dates can no longer be verified (as the Shao family genealogy was destroyed during the ten years of turmoil), but he is estimated to have been born in the late Qianlong period and died in the late Daoguang period. Daxiang's artistic skills were outstanding, his character upright and resolute, his temperament leisurely and refined—his reputation filled the entire county at the time. His brilliant surviving works possess natural logic and aesthetic appeal. When fellow artisans observe and appreciate them, it is like a sudden enlightenment, penetrating heart and mind. When collectors obtain and cherish them, they treasure them like jade discs, unable to let them go.