Why are tea cups called China?

Steel or glass cups are never called china cups, only made from china clay are called, because perhaps first of all the Chinese invented the art of making modern cups with clay found in china and mixing it with other materials like bones too so the name stayed to honor the inventor country though later on every country knew the art and made in this way.

China is merely an abbreviated word for Chinaware, and china and porcelain describe the same thing. ... Porcelain was first exported from china during the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD) when tea drinking became popular and trade into the west increased.