| The bronze mirror, like its modern glass counterpart, was a household article of daily use in which to look at oneself. Ancient Chinese began to use bronze mirrors in very remote times, at the latest about in the 20th century B.C. in the Qijia Culture. During the Han Dynasty, make and use of mirror entered prosperous period, the mirror became thicker and heavier, and the popular designs at the back were geometric patterns, supernatural beings, birds and animals. It was also in this period that simple, short inscriptions appeared, such as "keep me in mind, forget me not", "perpetual fortune, endless joy" or other words of good wishes.The bronze mirror not only used by Chinese people, and spread overseas through the Silk Road in the Han Dynasty, as an important part in Sino-foreign cultural exchanges. Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang are central districts of the ancient Silk Road in the northwestern regions, there are many mirrors of the Han Dynasty were excavated from the ancient tombs and ruins. Drawing on the data from the related archaeological reports, monographs and collection introductions and supported by the reached academic achievements, the author conducts a systematic and comprehensive exploration on the bronze mirrors from these provinces. The writer, through classifying the mirrors into different types and patterns, and making a comparative study with the mirrors of the Han capitals, concludes that a series of Han bronze mirrors in northwestern regions made a completely developmental sequence, and these mirrors as a part of the Han bronze mirrors reflected the uniform culture characteristic in the Han Dynasty and help us understand the evolution of the whole Han bronze mirrors better.The author also discusses the contact with alien in the Han Dynasty reflected by bronze mirror. These research and inquiry play an important role on the deep understanding of bronze mirror and its values in the fields of sociology, ideology, culture and religion. |
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