The 767 papers of this 3-volume proceedings were first presented at the Fourth China International Conference on High-Performance Ceramics, held in October 2005 in Chengdu, sponsored by the Chinese Ceramic Society and organized by Tsignhua University (where both the editors teach and carry out their research). The papers are not organized by topic, however, both keyword and author indexes are provided (in Vol. 3). Each paper includes a list of keywords, an abstract, and a list of references and most are illustrated with b & w photos, tables, and schematics. Scientists from 24 countries are the contributors, though the majority are based in China. The conference proceedings also incorporates the Second International Workshop on Layered and Graded Materials and the First Satellite Symposium on Thermoelectrics.