Porcelain is a translucent white-bodied ceramic obtained by firing kaolin (aluminum silicate) with feldspar and quartz at temperatures between 1,260 and 1,400°C, producing partial fusion that vitrifies the body. China developed true porcelain during the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD) at the Xing (white) and Yue (celadon) kilns, perfecting it under the Song dynasty (960-1279) at the Jingdezhen kilns, which became the imperial production center. Porcelain reached the Islamic world and Europe as a luxury item whose formula was unknown. European alchemists and potters attempted for centuries to reproduce it without success. The first European porcelain was produced in Meissen (Saxony) in 1708 by Johann Friedrich Böttger following experiments led by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, 1,100 years after the Tang kilns. The term itself — porcelain, china in English — reflects the universal cultural identification of the product with its origin.