In which dynasty did the first bronze mirror in China appear?

In which dynasty did the first bronze mirror in China appear? Shen Kuo once talked about a "strange thing" about "bronze mirror" in Volume 21 of Meng Qian's Bi Tan. Its words are as follows: "Give me an ancient mirror and follow it with your hand. When it is the center, it will sound like a turtle burning. People may say,' So is this mirror.' However, clips cannot be coerced and must overlap. The mirror is very thin and has no welding marks. I'm afraid it won't close. If you weld it, it will sound like a milling plug. Today, the button sounds far away from Ling Ran.

Ancient mirrors were not made of glass as they are now. Ancient mirrors were made of bronze, so they were called bronze mirrors, also called bronze mirrors. In ancient times, as now, bronze mirrors are also indispensable objects in daily life, and they are beautifully made, ornate in patterns and rich in inscriptions, and can also be called the treasures of our country.

Bronze mirrors began to appear in Shang Dynasty. The ancient mirror is not called a mirror, but a prison, which means a big basin. It's just that there was no bronze at that time, so the prison at that time was made of tiles, so there was no gold next to it. Bronzes became popular in Shang dynasty, and bronze swords began to appear. In fact, I still draw water in a basin and then look at myself with the water in it as a mirror.

The Song Dynasty was an era when traditional handicrafts were developed, and many craftsmen were now "at a loss". It is conceivable how exquisite the bronze mirror in Shen Kuo's hand is. It is no wonder that Shen Kuo specifically listed it as a "wonder" in Meng Qian Bi Tan.

China has made bronze mirrors for nearly 4000 years. Compared with China and Egypt, Egypt has seen metal mirrors such as gold, silver and copper 4500 years ago. The earliest bronze mirror found in the Central Plains should be the bronze mirror unearthed from Fu Hao's tomb in Yinxu, Anyang, Henan Province in the late Shang Dynasty.

Han Dynasty is the most important period for the development of bronze mirrors in China. At present, most bronze mirrors unearthed in China are Han mirrors. Many emerging mirrors appeared in this period, which also played a connecting role for later generations.

Before there were bronze mirrors, people in China had to borrow flat objects that could reflect their faces, such as still water. So at that time, if people wanted to look in the mirror, they had to go to the river, lie on the shore and see their faces from the reflection of the river. Later, pottery was invented, and it was easier to look at the water in the basin than to go out and look in the mirror by the river, and the effect was better than that of the gurgling stream.