A technician showing a piece of royal wedding porcelain. A Chinese porcelain manufacturing company has won the order to make the official tableware to be used at the British royal wedding of Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton. |
A Chinese porcelain manufacturing company has won the order to make the official tableware to be used at the British royal wedding of Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton. Guangxi Sanhuan Group, based in Beiliu, a city in China's southern Guangxi province known locally for its ceramics and porcelain ware, said they came out tops over more than 500 companies bidding to produce royal wedding porcelain, fighting off stiff competition from manufacturers around the globe. The company is now taxed with producing some 16,000 porcelain tableware products to be used at the wedding. Company officials said the products are divided into five categories including a dining plate, a coffee cup and saucer set, a commemorative mug and a souvenir plate. They will be either used at the wedding or given to wedding guests as souvenirs. The design is generally a uniform one featuring a photograph of Prince William and Kate Middleton inside a heart shape with the words "William and Catherine" written below. Established in 1987, Guangxi Sanhuan is a modern Chinese success story -- a once State-owned company that has now gone private, tailoring a reputation of being a quality manufacturer for ceramics and porcelain over the last decade. It employs more than 8,000 and is known for producing high-end table and dining ware for export to Europe, the United States and Southeast Asia. The company is set to finish the production of the porcelain by the middle of January and its workers are pleased by the publicity generated by the order. Besides this official order, other Chinese manufacturers have already been cashing in on the royal wedding as they churn out tens of thousands of replica royal engagement rings as well as other imitation wedding memoriabilia that are in demand globally ahead of the April 29 wedding. (Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
英国威廉王子和准王妃凯特•米德尔顿的皇室婚礼上使用的官方餐具将是“中国制造”,中国一家瓷器制造公司已获得这份订单。 广西北流市的三环集团表示,该集团在竞标生产皇室婚礼瓷器的500多家公司中脱颖而出,打败了来自全球制瓷企业的强有力竞争。北流市位于中国南部广西省,在当地以陶瓷制品著称。 该公司将承担生产大约1.6万件婚礼瓷器餐具的重任。 公司负责人表示,婚礼瓷器分为五个品种,分别是餐盘、咖啡杯、茶碟、纪念马克杯、以及纪念碟。这些瓷器将在婚礼上使用,或者作为纪念品送给婚礼来宾。 瓷器的设计大致相同,心形的图案中饰有威廉王子和凯特•米德尔顿的画像,下方写有“威廉和凯瑟琳”的字样。 广西三环集团成立于1987年,是现代中国成功故事的缩影。这家企业原为国企,现已改制为民营企业,在过去十年间成为陶瓷制品的高质量生产商,享有美誉。 该企业现有八千多名员工,所生产的高端陶瓷餐桌及餐具远销到欧美和东南亚,极富盛名。 该公司将于本月中旬完成这批瓷器的生产,工人们非常高兴看到这笔订单让公司声名大噪。 除了这笔官方订单外,中国其它厂商也正从皇室婚礼中分一杯羹。有些厂商生产了数万件订婚戒指的仿制品,以及其它仿制的婚礼纪念品。在4月29日这场皇室婚礼举办之前,这些商品在全球都会非常紧俏。 相关阅读 (中国日报网英语点津 Julie 编辑:冯 明惠) |
Vocabulary: tax: to lay a burden on; make serious demands on(使负重担;使受压力;使大伤脑筋) cash in on: to profit from; use to one's advantage(利用,靠……赚钱) churn out: to produce mechanically, hurriedly, or routinely(大量生产) |