Generally, it refers to Twenty-one Poems on Porcelain in Tongguan Kiln, which is a popular folk poem in Tang Dynasty. Named for being included in porcelain made by porcelain makers.
The genre of Twenty-one Poems on Porcelain in Tongguan Kiln is all five-character poems.
You were born before I was born, and I was old when I was born. You hate that I was born late, and I hate that you were born early.
It means that although I was not born when you were born, you were old when I was born. You hate that I was born too late, and I hate that you came out too early.
Extended data
Changsha Tongguan Kiln pioneered the underglaze color in China, and used painting themes and poems for porcelain decoration.
The famous Tongguan Kiln in Changsha in Tang Dynasty not only pioneered the new technology of underglaze porcelain, but also inscribed poems on porcelain in a unique way, which not only achieved the decorative purpose at that time, but also left a valuable cultural heritage for today.
Porcelain poems reflect parting and lovesickness, frontier wars, religious thoughts, business activities of businessmen, vagrants and tourists, and so on.
This poem is an inscription on the porcelain of Tongguan kiln in Tang Dynasty. The author may have created it by the Potter himself, or it may have been a popular alley ballad at that time.
Widely circulated among the people, the Tongguan Kiln site in Changsha, Hunan Province was unearthed between 1974- 1978. See Chen's Supplement to Complete Tang Poems, Volume 56, Five-character Poems by Anonymous, 1642, Zhonghua Book Company, 1992+00.
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-Tongguan Kiln Porcelain Inscription Poetry