The most famous speciality of Guangdong is Duan Ink-slab from Zhaoqing, one of most famous ink-slabs in China. The four precious articles of the writing table are made up of Duan Ink-slab, Xuan Paper, Hui Inkstick, and Hu writing Brush. They all are artists' favorite writing and painting appliance.

Duan Ink-slab was firstly started in the early years of Tang Dynasty. There were many workers living on ink-slabs in ancient Duanzhou (Now it is called Zhaoqing.) more than 1300 years ago. With the development of technique, Duan Ink-slab has become more and more famous.

The stone used to make Duan Ink-slab is fine and smooth, solid and tight. So Duan Ink-slab has such features that ink will come out with only a puff and the ink-slab will not hurt the writing brush. In addition, the carvings on Duan Ink-slab are delicately made and attract many tourists.

Duan Ink-slab is precious not only for high quality stone, but also for the difficulty to exploit and manufacture. The production of Duan Ink-slab consists of more than ten procedures. Raw materials must be exploited by hand. So only 30% or 40% stone could be used to make Duan Ink-slab. Some of tunnels to the mine is so limited that only one person can pass through. Some of tunnels are even under the water. So Duan Ink-slab is very precious.

At present the biggest Duan Ink-slab in the world is Si Hai Sheng Ping Ink-slab, whose size is 206*93*75cm and whose weight is 1.15 ton. A big ancient vase was carved in the middle of the ink-slab and two paintings called Si Hai Sheng Ping and You Long Xi Zhu were carved on the bottleneck. Some ancient poetry are also carved on the ink-slab. This ink-slab is called a gem of Chinese culture.