What is Miesen china ? Matt Yglesias doesn't know http://twitter.com/mattyglesias Wow I know something that Matt Yglesias doesn't know (although he could look it up in the Wikipedia). An Elector of Saxony spent huge amounts of gold buying china from China (there is a Chinese pen and ink drawing entitled (in rough translation I'm sure) "All the World's China Goes to Saxony." A quack alchemist claimed to know how to make gold. The elector locked him up and said he would be released when he delivered. After some distress, the quack alchemist realized he could cut out the middle man and figure out how to make fine porcelain. He had something to do with "Meisen" (not I think his name but rather the place where he implemented his brilliant cut out the middle man and mess with clay because you can't mess with the elements strategy). Miesen China is not an absurdity like Paris Texas or Venice California. It's some clay formed into very nice shapes and fired.