This may be one of the largest sets of Chinese export porcelain surviving in such a great quantity of pieces. There were at least 250, and the service comprised dozens of plates and soup plates, teacups, and coffee cups, plus a wide variety of platters, bowls, covered dishes, and other serving pieces. Among the more unusual individual forms is that of the small pudding dishes. Samuel Chase may have commissioned the special-order service on the occasion of his marriage to Hannah Kilty Giles in 1784. The inventory recorded after Chase’s death listed a “dinner service of china, white and gold with a coat of arms.”

The Acer Group of Taiwan has been gearing up for the establishment of an industrial supply chain for notebook computers in China’s Chongqing City of Sichuan Province. The move is expected to significantly boost the global competitiveness of the world’s second largest notebook supplier.

Senior executives of Acer, which now ranks among the world’s top 500 enterprises, have organized a delegation of four major manufacturing partners for a trip to Chongqing to conduct in-depth study on investment environment since Nov. 11, according to officials at Chongqing’s Economy and Information Commission.

t is understood that the four major contract manufacturers of PC products invited by Acer to Chongqing are the “new faces” that have not yet set up operations in Chongqing.

It was reported that Acer has selected Chongqing for its second business operations headquarters and manufacturing base in China. A formal contract will be signed with the Chongqing Municipal Government in December this year, said industry sources.

The strategy of establishing a new center of business operations in Chongqing in southwestern China is not just a step to expand Acer’s business activities and market in China, but will also be a crucial move to achieve its goal of becoming the world’s top supplier of notebooks.

To meet worldwide market demand, Acer plans to farm out orders to contract manufacturers, a similar tactic taken by Hewlett-Packard Co. of the US. HP is currently the leading supplier of personal computers on the world market and has also recently moved to Chongqing.