Using quenching and activation methods,97 porcelain samples were dated during the Tang Dynasty,Five Dynasties, Song Dynasty,Yuan Dynasty,Ming Dynasty,Qing Dynasty,the Republic of China era and during current times.The results indicated that the activation method was more accurate for the dating of current and relatively young porcelains from the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China era.The results from the two methods were comparable for porcelains of the middle and early Qing Dynasty and late Ming Dynasty.For relatively old porcelains,such as those form the middle and early Ming Dynasty and before (Yuan Dynasty,Song Dynasty,Five Dynasties and Tang Dynasty),the quenching pre-dose method produced satisfactory results while the activation method failed.Therefore,it is crucial to date porcelains of different ages with thermoluminescence techniques.