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UK China Maker Rolls Out Souvenirs for King’s May Coronation

Dispatcher Steph Bogdanski packs the finished products, at the Duchess China 1888 factory, in Stoke-on-Trent, England, Thursday, March 30, 2023. (AP)
Dispatcher Steph Bogdanski packs the finished products, at the Duchess China 1888 factory, in Stoke-on-Trent, England, Thursday, March 30, 2023. (AP)
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UK China Maker Rolls Out Souvenirs for King’s May Coronation

Dispatcher Steph Bogdanski packs the finished products, at the Duchess China 1888 factory, in Stoke-on-Trent, England, Thursday, March 30, 2023. (AP)
Dispatcher Steph Bogdanski packs the finished products, at the Duchess China 1888 factory, in Stoke-on-Trent, England, Thursday, March 30, 2023. (AP)

With just five weeks before King Charles III's coronation, a British manufacturer of fine bone china is busy making “God Save the King” commemorative plates and mugs for the historic occasion.

Craftspeople at the Duchess China factory in the central England city of Stoke-on-Trent painted delicate gold edges on more teacups and saucers Thursday to make sure there are enough to meet the expected demand for royal souvenirs.

When Charles is crowned at London's Westminster Abbey on May 6, the ceremony will be the UK's first coronation since his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was the subject of the same ritual just shy of 70 years earlier. He inherited the throne when Elizabeth died in September.

Duchess China started producing china tableware in 1888. Its range of commemorative china features the Union Jack colors of red, white and blue, and come emblazoned with the words “God Save the King.”

The manufacturer said the design was inspired by china produced in the 1930s for the coronation of King George VI, Charles' grandfather.

“We’ve had (orders) as far afield as New Zealand and over the other side, America. It’s really reassuring that the royal family are so well liked in all these different countries,” Jason Simms, the company's managing director, said.

Simms said Duchess China has struggled in recent years, partly because of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. He hopes the coronation will restore some of the luster by showcasing Britain's ceramics industry and skilled craftspeople.

“We are using this as a real chance to get across a great British product out into a public domain across the globe,” he said.

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Climate Change Causing More Change in Rainfall, Fiercer Typhoons, Scientists Say 

People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
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Climate Change Causing More Change in Rainfall, Fiercer Typhoons, Scientists Say 

People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)

Climate change is driving changes in rainfall patterns across the world, scientists said in a paper published on Friday, which could also be intensifying typhoons and other tropical storms.

Taiwan, the Philippines and then China were lashed by the year's most powerful typhoon this week, with schools, businesses and financial markets shut as wind speeds surged up to 227 kph (141 mph). On China's eastern coast, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated ahead of landfall on Thursday.

Stronger tropical storms are part of a wider phenomenon of weather extremes driven by higher temperatures, scientists say.

Researchers led by Zhang Wenxia at the China Academy of Sciences studied historical meteorological data and found about 75% of the world's land area had seen a rise in "precipitation variability" or wider swings between wet and dry weather.

Warming temperatures have enhanced the ability of the atmosphere to hold moisture, which is causing wider fluctuations in rainfall, the researchers said in a paper published by the Science journal.

"(Variability) has increased in most places, including Australia, which means rainier rain periods and drier dry periods," said Steven Sherwood, a scientist at the Climate Change Research Center at the University of New South Wales, who was not involved in the study.

"This is going to increase as global warming continues, enhancing the chances of droughts and/or floods."

FEWER, BUT MORE INTENSE, STORMS

Scientists believe that climate change is also reshaping the behavior of tropical storms, including typhoons, making them less frequent but more powerful.

"I believe higher water vapor in the atmosphere is the ultimate cause of all of these tendencies toward more extreme hydrologic phenomena," Sherwood told Reuters.

Typhoon Gaemi, which first made landfall in Taiwan on Wednesday, was the strongest to hit the island in eight years.

While it is difficult to attribute individual weather events to climate change, models predict that global warming makes typhoons stronger, said Sachie Kanada, a researcher at Japan's Nagoya University.

"In general, warmer sea surface temperature is a favorable condition for tropical cyclone development," she said.

In its "blue paper" on climate change published this month, China said the number of typhoons in the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea had declined significantly since the 1990s, but they were getting stronger.

Taiwan also said in its climate change report published in May that climate change was likely to reduce the overall number of typhoons in the region while making each one more intense.

The decrease in the number of typhoons is due to the uneven pattern of ocean warming, with temperatures rising faster in the western Pacific than the east, said Feng Xiangbo, a tropical cyclone research scientist at the University of Reading.

Water vapor capacity in the lower atmosphere is expected to rise by 7% for each 1 degree Celsius increase in temperatures, with tropical cyclone rainfall in the United States surging by as much as 40% for each single degree rise, he said.