The Cixi Celadon Ou Music Troupe recently performed well-known pieces, including Molihua (Jasmine Flower) and Meihua Sannong (Three Variations on the Plum Blossom), on ceramic vessels and percussion instruments, accompanied by flutes, bells and stringed instruments in a modest building in Cixi city.
The building houses the Cixi Celadon Ou Music Troupe, which recently enthralled international visitors with its performance. Ou refers to vessels such as cups and bowls.
These ceramics with a greenish sheen are called Yue celadon.
The material was first made in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) in locations including the Shanglin Lake area in Cixi, which was part of Yue prefecture in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and is now a county-level city in Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang province.