Chinese company to supply tableware for royal wedding

When Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton exchange marriage vows on April 29 in London, the invited guests will dine on specially made plates from China, while some may get to carry them home as souvenirs or mementos.

Though there is hardly any buzz in China over the impending royal wedding, it is turning out to be an excellent business opportunity for Chinese companies.

Businessmen in East China's Zhejiang province are already reaping rich returns by making and selling replicas of the royal engagement ring.

A Chinese porcelain manufacturer recently won the bid to provide the official tableware for the royal wedding. Guangxi Sanhuan Enterprise Group Holding Co Ltd, based in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region will supply more than 16,000 pieces of tableware for the royal wedding.

With an annual output capacity of 190 million pieces, the little-known company managed to outbid its bigger and well-known global rivals to bag the royal order.

The tableware, due on Jan 15, has already been dispatched the UK as per schedule, says a company official who did not want to be named.

The Guangxi Sanhuan Group has made five categories of tableware for the wedding. These include a coffee cup and saucer, a dining plate, a souvenir plate, and a commemorative mug, all according to the design and requirements of the royal family.

The picture of Prince William and Kate Middleton in a heart shape is printed on all the tableware, with their names inscribed below the photograph. The plates and cups will be used for the wedding or may be given to the guests as souvenirs.

"We feel very privileged and proud (of the deal)," the company's executive director Chen Cheng told local media earlier.

Chen said the company decided to participate in the bidding as soon as they heard the news of the royal engagement. The Guangxi Sanhuan brand also had the advantage of being popular among the high-end customers in Europe.

"Unlike Chinese people who usually use low-temperature ceramic, the European customers prefer high-temperature ceramic," Huang Guochang, an official of the company, told Tianjin-based Daily News.

For the royal wedding the company has used high-temperature ceramic with in-glaze color technique to make the tableware safe and long-lasting.

Huang said the royal family had extremely stringent standards for the tableware, but the company was able to successfully execute the deal.

Like most of the other souvenirs associated with the royal wedding, the tableware will also be much sought after collectibles.

Huang, however, said the company has to get the royal family's authorization before it decides to sell the remaining tableware, failing which it would be considered an infringement of the design and portrait of the royal family.

The Guangxi Sanhuan Group started to export chinaware from 1987, and sells most of its products to Europe, the United States, Middle East and Southeast Asia. Their products are the preferred tableware at Chinese embassies in 10 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries.

At the same time businessmen in Zhejiang province are raking in huge profits from the sale of other wedding memorabilia like engagement rings and key chains.

Reports from the provincial jewelry association indicated that in Yiwu city, which is famous for its small commodity trade, at least 10 factories are making the replicas of the sapphire and diamond engagement ring.

The replicas have received good response from importers in the Western countries.

A local businessman told China Daily earlier that he got an order for 10,000 pieces from a British firm two days after he posted pictures of the replica ring on his website.