occupations: Asia and the Pacific 799 Peddlar offering wares to a mother and her children; ink on silk, China, Yuan Dynasty, 14th century (Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1911-161e) new three-spindle cotton-spinning frame This increased the production of cotton yarn and supported a major increase in China’s cotton production, both in the local cultivation of cotton and in the weaving of cotton cloth Iron production in China and India was a highly developed skill In contrast to China and India, which had access to iron ore locally, most Southeast Asians had to import iron ore through trade networks over land or sea Villages throughout Asia had their own furnaces, and the larger villages had fulltime blacksmiths Clay furnaces, which produced the high temperatures needed to work metals, burned continuously day and night and stood 17 or 18 feet high, with an opening at the top to allow smoke to escape Charcoal burned on the bottom, and iron ore was smelted in the middle To maintain the furnace heat as many as 10 men took turns working the bellows on the sides of the furnace The liquid metal that separated from the slag flowed out through ducts at the bot- tom of the furnace This molten iron was cast into iron slabs, which in turn were locally manufactured into pots, farm tools, military weapons, and other metal objects The productive process was managed by skilled artisans who determined the timing of the fire and who could distinguish the appearance of iron in its different stages Up to 10 qualified artisans serviced each furnace, and they supervised numerous others who were required to keep the furnace supplied with ore and charcoal or operate the furnace bellows Large, regional iron-smelting facilities included six or seven furnaces and employed up to 1,000 men By modifying the iron furnaces to produce an even more intense heat, Asian craftsmen could fold steel—a process that strengthens the material—more than 200 times to produce high-quality steel products, among these Japan’s samurai swords and Javanese kris knives Asians and Pacific Islanders produced a variety of ceramics throughout their history to meet the daily needs of