Porcelain flooring, Cambridge UK

Porcelain tiles and Porcelain in general are widely regarded as fragile and tender.

www.wikipedia.org

While this may be the case for decorative porcelains, like pottery, porcelain tiles are strong, firm and tough. They have to be, if you're looking to trample over them on a regular basis.

Science: Vitrification; the fusion of a body or clay following the firing process. Translation: heat = tough.

History: Porcelain, or to give it it's Italian name; Porcellana is often referred to as China, so as to confuse, one assumes.

Now we see porcelain everywhere, in John Lewis, when you're browsing the shelves, in charity shops when you're idling of an afternoon, but these tend to be in the shape of jugs, crockery or general earthenware. What we're talking about today, is porcelain tiling. As you can see below, these tiles have seen some wear, but it's not excessive, it's simply that, like other floors, these tiles have been used for their designed purpose and shy of the ingrained dirt (as comes from use) they have withstood breakage and cracking.