"What can a potter do for the Beijing Olympics," Xing Liangkun has kept himself thinking since Beijing won the right to host the 2008 Games.

Last month, Xing, from Dalian in northeast China`s Liaoning province, donated 180 ceramic items to the Beijing Organizing Committee on behalf of the Dalian municipal government. One of them, an item that looks like an ancient three-legged vessel, is to be exhibited in the National Stadium.

"It is a great honor for me to show the world the theme of `one world, one dream` with Chinese ceramics," Xing says.

The Organizing Committee will exhibit Xing`s ceramic works in Beijing`s main Olympic venues.

"Working day and night, I had tried hundreds of wares, using complicated procedures: kneading, drying, glazing and firing. Some big items have to be glazed and fired four or five times before they were finished," Xing recalls.

Born in 1955, Xing is an almighty presence in China`s ceramics. Schooled for only five years, he never learned ceramic techniques formally but his innovation has brought him 20 patents from the State Intellectual Property Office. Now, his works are in some of the world`s most famous museums, including the Palace Museum in Beijing and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

He was born into a peasant family in Shandong province and brought up in Dalian. Before he became fascinated by pottery at the age of 24, he had made a living as carpenter, locksmith, electrician, boilermaker, cleaning worker and dustman.

"The great pleasure of life lies not in possessing but in creating," he says. "No matter how good someone else`s collection is, it is always someone else`s. I get to work on my own creation and create something unique."

He first built a kiln, using the skills he had acquired when he was a boilermaker. Then he worked out a technique to control the temperature of the kiln and in doing so, succeeded in manipulating the once "uncontrollable" kiln transmutation.

He also tried to mix new glazes and in order to make them unique, he even added some dynamite into the mix. The result was just what you`d expect - the kiln blew up. But another result was a surprise: He made a new kind of variegated glaze.

Xing was once a millionaire who planted and sold kaffir lily. However, collecting and producing pottery cost him all he had except for one sheepskin quilt and an army coat. His wife thought he was mad and divorced him. Yet, he kept pursuing his pottery dream with his friends` help.

Xing is most famous for his skills in glazing and forming clay. His pottery works mainly fall into three categories: tea-bowls, multi-layer center-rolling spheres and deformed human bodies.

The Palace Museum bought 11 items from his exhibits, the first contemporary pottery works the museum had acquired since 1894. In 2000, it took another 15 items.

In 2000, Xing`s pottery works were also exhibited at the Nakatsu Garden in the Japanese city of Kagawa. Despite the city government`s offer to buy 150 items, Xing donated them all to the city`s art gallery.

At his first exhibition in Japan, some local critics cast doubt on the collection, saying such exquisite shapes could not have come from clay.

On hearing this, Xing casually let one item drop to the ground. "Let them take back the pieces and see whether it is made of clay or not," he said.

Xing has never been one to shy away from controversy. He is well known for his strong personality, never caring what others say or think about his work.

Humility is not his strong suit. "I`ve made more inventions on silicate than many experts in this field. Therefore, I should win the Nobel Prize in chemistry with my inventions," he says.