In June 2025, Perfina will unveil its first African ceramic tableware showroom in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania — a key step in the company’s global development strategy and its commitment to deeper industrial cooperation in East Africa. This marks a significant milestone in the journey of China’s millennium-old porcelain capital, Liling, integrating deeply into the Belt and Road Initiative through the medium of ceramics.
As key partners in the Belt and Road Initiative, China and Tanzania share a rich tradition of cultural exchange, especially in ceramics. In ancient mosques and palaces on the island of Zanzibar, fragments of Chinese porcelain are still embedded in architecture — a legacy of historical Sino-African contact. Even today, many Tanzanian families collect and treasure Chinese porcelain as part of their heritage and dowry traditions.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's largest city and economic hub, offers a strategic location. As East Africa’s major logistics and trade center — home to the region’s largest port — it provides access to neighboring markets like Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and the DRC. The new Perfina showroom is located in the city’s central business district, combining Liling’s traditional kiln-brick style with Tanzanian cultural motifs. Inside, the space features four main display areas: Ceramic Sets, Mugs, Bowls, and Plates, alongside an interactive cultural ceramics experience zone where visitors can appreciate the aesthetic of Liling ceramics — dense body, soft glaze, elegant painting, and durable practicality.
As the first Perfina ceramic tableware showroom in Africa, it also pioneers a hybrid model of “Liling ceramic technology + Tanzanian localized production and distribution.” This “Ceramic Tableware Culture & Experience Center” serves as a platform for cross-border cultural and industrial collaboration. Notably, Perfina will sign a strategic industrial partnership with Goodwill Co., a major local enterprise. Together, they aim to build a multinational alliance focused on co-research, co-branding, and co-marketing, establishing a new model of cooperation: Chinese standards, Tanzanian manufacturing, global sales. With localized production through a smart ceramic manufacturing base in Tanzania, the initiative is expected to reduce logistics costs by over 40%.
Liling, the birthplace of Perfina ceramics, has long been celebrated for its exquisite craftsmanship and refined aesthetic. Historically, Chinese porcelain traveled across the Maritime Silk Road to distant lands, becoming royal treasures and everyday delights. Today, this legacy continues.
Since 2012, ceramic tableware made in Liling has steadily entered the Tanzanian market. Admired for its fine details and durable quality, it has quickly gained popularity. However, challenges such as high shipping costs and the fragile nature of porcelain prompted Perfina to pursue deeper collaboration and local production.
In 2024, that vision took root in Mukuranga, Tanzania, where Perfina began construction on a modern ceramic factory. This move not only reduces tariffs, logistics costs, and lead times but also supports the development of Tanzania’s ceramic industry, creating jobs and transferring advanced skills. Once-overlooked local kaolin resources are now being transformed through Liling’s century-old techniques.
In June 2025, the new showroom in Dar es Salaam will serve as Perfina’s East African flagship, offering both product display and cultural connection. Just as Chinese porcelain once bridged East and West via the Silk Road, today Liling ceramics foster a new path of collaboration, mutual benefit, and shared development. This is the “Porcelain Road” of the new era — a dialogue between tradition and modernity, East and Africa.
The combined development of Perfina’s Tanzanian factory and showroom exemplifies the company’s strategic model of “regional branding + industrial clustering + localized production.” In 2025, Perfina will harness Liling’s century-old ceramic heritage alongside smart manufacturing technology to upgrade Tanzania’s ceramic value chain, with a planned daily capacity of 60,000 tableware pieces to supply East Africa and beyond.
Advanced ceramic processes are also unlocking new value in Africa — activating local kaolin resources, reusing ceramic waste, and exploring low-carbon production methods. The factory supports local talent development through structured training programs that improve skills and raise incomes. In the future, Perfina plans to expand from Tanzania into Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and neighboring countries, building an African tableware manufacturing cluster that meets Chinese standards.
Meanwhile, the Dar es Salaam showroom will be a key hub for Sino-African cultural and industrial exchange, encouraging collaboration between Tanzanian designers and Chinese ceramic artistry. Perfina will replicate this model across more African countries, building a global network of showrooms and partnerships to share the story of Chinese ceramics — where tradition meets innovation, and culture meets commerce.
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