Awfully nice pal, or “china” (9)
I believe the answer is:
porcelain
'china' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'awfully nice pal or' is the wordplay.
'awfully' is an anagram indicator.
'nice'+'pal'+'or'='nicepalor'
'nicepalor' anagrammed gives 'PORCELAIN'.
(Other definitions for porcelain that I've seen before include "Fine white China" , "Fine ceramic ware" , "Fine white ceramic" , "Jasper, perhaps" , "fragile goods" .)