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Cultural Value of Bronze MirrorsIn ancient China, bronze mirrors were both functional items and works of art. Over the course of more than 4,000 years, the shape and patterns of bronze mirors continued to develop to become a rich bronze mirror culture. The development of bronze mirrors occurred much later than other bronze articles and jadeware. Therefore, as compared with the culture of the former two, the latter contains more mundane culture, an important feature of the bronze mirror culture. There were decorative patterns of dragon, phoenix or fish on bronze mirrors. They were totems in immemorial times. But on bronze mirrors, they were no longer totems, but a symbol of auspiciousness. Fish patterns first appeared in a time as late as the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234). Wishing that they could have a prosperous and prolific family with more sons and grandsons, people liked to use fish patterns to symbolize “having more roes” and “affluence” because in Chinese “fish” is pronounced as “yu,” which is homonymous to another Chinese character meaning “surplus” or “affluence.” Such patterns as the sun and moon and Heaven and Earth were often found on bronze mirrors. This is simply because they had a close relationship with the traditional ideas of Heaven and Earth and gods. But they chiefly mean what people knew about nature. The measured and scaled patterns on the bronze mirrors produced in the Han period reflect that people had known that the Heaven was round and the Earth was square. And stellar patterns were used to show the four directions and four seasons. The patter of a chain of arcs meant the beams of the sun and moon and the vault of Heaven. The eight-trigram patterns on the mirrors produced in the Tang and Song periods meant the organic combination of Heaven, Earth and man. Sometimes, characters were cast on the mirrors, for instance, "when the sun shines, it is bright daytime," and "as bright as the sun and the moon." During the Han Dynasty, the patterns of "four gods" (green dragon, white tiger, red bird, and black tortoise) and the 12 animals (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig, representing the 12 Earthly Branches) appeared on bronze mirrors. But they became obsolete in the Song period. They reflected ancient people psychologically seeking the protection from gods and taking animals as an auspicious symbol. These patterns also reflected their knowledge of geography, seasons, and the level of their understanding of nature. After the Tang period, patterns of flowers, grass and trees began to occupy a prominent position rather than served as embellishments in the design of bronze mirrors. Since the prime stage of the Tang, bronze mirrors with flower and grass as the main decorative patterns had appeared. The flower-and-bird mirrors, auspicious beast mirrors, and lucky bird mirrors were also matched by many flowers, grass and twig patterns to make animals and plants complement each other, to present a colorful picture as a whole. Patterns of flowers and grass and trees on bronze mirrors produced in the Song Dynasty were simple and graceful, and the pictures were clear and fresh, full of an idyllic tang. Human figures had appeared on bronze mirrors of the Warring States Period. During that time, people set great store by martial qualities. So on bronze mirrors there were images of warriors clad in armor. During the Han Dynasty, mythological stories were widely prevalent. Adaptations from fairy tales were commonly seen on mirrors. The images of fairies were often interwoven with the scenes of hunting, riding a chariot or a horse, and dance, strongly reflecting people's keen admiration of the life of a fairyland and the earnest pursuit for the life of the existing world. A fierce polo contest was vividly produced on Tang Dynasty bronze mirrors. The ball-kicking scenes on Song Dynasty mirrors and the weaving maids on the mirrors of the Jin Dynasty also reflect some aspects of the social lives of the time. To sum up, the greatest characteristic feature of Chinese bronze mirror culture is to reflect completely and artistically people's realistic lives and their yearning for a bright future. This can be evidently seen on mirrors produced in the Tang period, because at the time the socio-economic and cultural development had advanced and the prosperity of Sino-foreign cultural exchanges and the growth of the mutual influence of various cultures had appeared, enabling the bronze mirror culture and its artistic level to be promoted to a new height. For instance, the "twin-bird mirror" was quite popular in the prime and middle stages of the Tang Dynasty. A pair of birds carrying a ribbon in their bills expressed the people's expectations for good luck and happiness. The "hunting-scene mirror" vividly showed the hunters riding horses to hunt after deers. Hunting was an important event in social life at the time, because Emperor Taizong of Tang attached importance to hunting so much as to the prosperity and unification of the state. He took these three things as his great happiness and merits, something quite different from the hunting in later times as a pastime. The "immortal riding a flying cane" mirror was an artwork reflecting the Taoist mythological thought at the time. It may be said that the social life was very widely and extensively reflected in bronze mirrors. There are also inscriptions on the mirrors. On the mirrors produced in the Han Dynasty the implications of many love affair inscriptions were more than the love affair itself, embodying a profound social presentment. Other inscriptions directly expressed people's longing for a peaceful life. Philosophical ideas were usually induced from bronze mirrors in ancient China. According to the earliest records about bronze mirrors, almost all took mirrors as a means to learn a lesson from. And they were extended in meaning to learn a lesson from someone. A story in the Strategies of the Warring States says that one day when an official named Zou Ji of the State of Qi looked into the mirror before he went to pay respect to the king, he thought he was not so handsome as the noted handsome man Lord Xu at the time. But all his wife and concubines and friends said he was more handsome than Lord Xu. From the flattery Zou thought one should not be fooled by praises from his kinsfolk and should have self-knowledge. He told the king of the reasons. When he heard his explanation, the king felt he had learned something. He ordered that all his subjects should constantly make self-criticism about their own mistakes. And this had brought about a good influence politically. Later, an inscribed boards with the words a bright mirror hanging high above” was put up in the halls of many government offices, suggestive of pursuing a policy of drawing a distinctive line between fight and wrong, and of justice and selflessness. Tang emperors often granted bronze mirrors as an award and encouragement to those officials who had achieved merits in their work and were honest in working style. Some mirrors had such inscriptions as “honesty will always be maintained by my descendants,” “as a traditional family's heritage, honesty shall be kept in mind forever,” or “good manners or not, good will or not, one's appearance and mind can be examined through the mirror as well.” All these expressed an earnest wish of Chinese people seeking for an honest government and a lofty personality: In ancient times, Chinese bronze mirrors through trade or donation found their way overseas through the “Silk Road” or by sea. Mirrors made in the middle and later stages of the Western Han were unearthed in Korea and Japan. During the Three Kingdoms and the Western and Eastern Jin dynasties, as well as bronze mirrors, some Chinese craftsmen and even a great deal of materials were sent to Japan to produce mirrors there. During the early stage of the Tang Dynasty, in Chnag'an, as an economic and cultural center of the time in the world, exchanges between China and other countries took place very often. Tang mirrors were often found overseas, most of them in Japan. These are the best evidence of Sino-foreign cultural exchanges. Bronze mirrors have been also found in Korea, Mongolia, the former Soviet Union, and Iran. This proves how popular Chinese bronze mirrors were. At the same time, patterns like grapes and twin birds on Tang mirrors had a similar style to that of the patterns on Persian silk goods, that Chinese bronze mirrors had absorbed foreign culture to enrich itself when it was exported to other countries. The wide spread of Chinese mirrors abroad promoted the friendship between China and various other countries.
The Learning of Absorption and Assimilation
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