Shortly after the invention of celadon in the tenth century, the Korean people of the Unified Silla Dynasty learned about porcelain, an advanced commodity from China, through exchanges with the Tang Dynasty of China. In Korea drinking tea became fashionable among the nobility, students who had studied in the Tang Dynasty and Buddhist monks.

Furthermore, with the importation into Korea of celadon teacups and white porcelain teacups produced at the Yuezhou celadon kiln and the Jingzhou kiln in China, respectively, many people wanted to acquire a set of porcelain teacups. Around the same time, the Goryeo Dynasty was established and its ruling class began to import Chinese commodities via the west coast of the Korean peninsula; and as the demand for Chinese porcelain increased, it became necessary to produce porcelain directly in Goryeo.

Around this time, the small independent coastal kingdom of Wuyue in China, which was famous for making celadon and exported its products to Korea, was destroyed by the Song Dynasty in 978. It is thought that around that time a few celadon master craftsmen from the Yuezhou celadon kiln fled to Goryeo and transmitted their celadon production techniques to Goryeo craftsmen. This theory is supported by the discovery of a pottery kiln built with bricks of the same shape as Chinese kilns of the period. Among the diverse celadon wares made in Goryeo at that time were saucers with a halo-shaped foot, flower-shaped teacups, ewers, cups and saucers - all of which exhibited similar colors and shapes to the Chinese ones.