Bronze mirror is a type of daily life utensils used by the Chinese ancients for reflecting faces, it is probably known by the foreign students who takes interest in Chinese culture and are interested in taking a trip to learn Chinese in China that before the popularization of the bronze mirrors, ancient Chinese people used to reflect their faces through looking into the mirrors.
The features of the bronze mirrors made during the Later Han Dynasty are necessary to be introduced to those who need to study Chinese in China; the front side of the bronze mirrors is smooth, while the back side is decorated with different engraved patterns and inscriptions, which provides valuable materials and information for the investigation of the ancient vignettes.
It is interesting for friends who’d like to study Mandarin in China to find that the bronze mirrors of different dynasties enjoy different craftsmanship and artistic features, in the Chinese history, the evolution of the mirrors had experienced several periods of heydays, among which the Warring States period (475B.C-221B.C), the Han Dynasties (206 B.C-220A.D), as well as the Tang Dynasty (206B.C-220B.C) were the most prominent and outstanding ones.
It must be made clear for foreign students expecting to study Mandarin in China that the bronze mirrors of the Warring States period can be classified into two systems according to the workmanship and the decorations, the bronze mirrors in the north were simply designed with few decorations and there are not many of them being handed down. While to the amazement of everyone longing to study Chinese in China, the bronze mirrors in the south are plentiful in the patterning and decorations, with a comparatively larger number of them being handed down.
The bronze mirrors made during the warring states period were mainly circular shaped, with double-deck decorations, which incorporates the mountain design, double diamond design, beasts design, petals design as well as double arches design, among which the most unique ones are the double-diamond design and the mountain design, and after starting to learn Chinese in China, you can be provided with a large variety of topics of that kind.
The bronze mirrors of the Han Dynasty is also quite noteworthy for language learners dreaming of coming to study Chinese in China, since the Han Dynasty used to be a crucial stage for the technological improvement of the bronze mirror manufacturing.
The bronze mirrors had developed to be one of the major types of handicrafts of the Han Dynasty; there was a rich design of bronze mirrors which enjoyed high artistic and ornamental functions. In addition, as have had been expected by people who’d like to learn Chinese in China that the Han Dynasty had also established exclusive governmental officials to manage and supervise the manufacturing of the bronze mirrors which industry took up a large proportion in the bronze ware manufacturing.
It is worthy to be explored by scholars who are eager to study Mandarin in China that the bronze mirrors of the Han Dynasty enjoyed the greatest types of variety as well as works handed down, which are delicately and elegantly designed and could be considered to be the best among the best.
The Tang Dynasty was another summit for the manufacturing of the bronze mirrors to be noticed by friends who’d been to learn Chinese in China, due to the enhancement of metal casting techniques during the Tang Dynasty as well as the reasons in the manners and customs, the bronze mirrors of the Tang Dynasty were thick and stately, due to the increasing in the adoption of tins, the face of the mirrors are as smooth as silver and was a little bit out-curved.
As to the style, aside from the inheritance of the styles of the former dynasties, foreign students expecting to study Chinese in China would be able to discover that the Tang Dynasty had also created the styles with different shapes; the creation of handle mirror was a good example.
The bronze mirrors of the Tang Dynasty can be divided into several types according to its decorative motifs, such as the flowers and birds, the phoenixes and beasts, the human figures and well as dragons. In addition, due to the popularity of Taoism in the Tang Dynasty, it is understandable by readers wanting to study Mandarin in China that the manufacturing of mirrors decorated with eight diagrams was also quite popular.