The early days of slavery in China were in the Bronze Age. In the long-term bronze smelting and casting practice, people have realized the relationship between alloy composition, properties and uses.
bronze mirror
System, and can manually control the proportion of copper, tin and lead. The ancient book Kao Gong Ji recorded that "there are six kinds of gold", that is, the proportion of six alloys. The last one is together: "Gold and tin are half, which means it's the same." Is the proportion used to make bronze mirrors. "Sword" is a mirror with high tin content, because the bronze mirror has bright surface and silvery white color, and it also needs casting performance to ensure the fine pattern. Our ancestors made a beautiful "transparent mirror" more than 2000 years ago, which can reflect the beautiful pattern behind the bronze mirror, thus causing great excitement in the world. In order to solve the mystery of "transparent mirror", scholars at home and abroad have spent hundreds of years researching and exploring, and it was not until modern times that it was discovered that this was because the curvature of the mirror was slightly unequal to the back pattern after manufacturing and processing, and the back pattern was reflected. This fully shows the superb mirror-making technology and profound understanding of light reflection characteristics in ancient China.
In the ancient Greek and Roman times in Europe, a slightly protruding polished metal plate was also used as a mirror, and its non-reflective side was engraved with patterns. The earliest mirror was a hand mirror with a handle. In the 1 century, there is a big mirror that can take all the pictures. In the Middle Ages, hand mirrors were popular in Europe, usually silver mirrors or polished bronze mirrors. In the Middle Ages, small mirrors were placed in delicate ivory boxes or precious metal boxes.
Ancient mirror
From 12 to 13 century, the fashionable products of metal-coated glass mirrors appeared. By the Renaissance, Nuremberg and Venice had become famous mirror-making centers.
/kloc-At the beginning of the 4th century, Venetians made mirrors on the back of glass with tin foil and mercury, which were very clear. /kloc-In the 5th century, Nuremberg made a convex lens, and when making a glass ball, it was coated with a layer of tin amalgam.
Modern mirrors are made by the method invented by German chemist Libiger in 1835. Silver nitrate is mixed with reducing agent to precipitate silver and attach it to the glass. The commonly used reducing agent is sugar or potassium sodium tartrate tetrahydrate. 1929, the British Pilton brothers improved this method by continuous silver plating, copper plating, painting and drying.
With the development of technology, the cost of mirrors is reduced, and various curved mirrors appear, which makes the use of mirrors more and more extensive, and the use is more than the reflection appearance. For example, a spherical rear-view parabolic mirror used in automobiles, a parabolic mirror used for focusing light in telescopes, and a parabolic mirror used for reflecting parallel light in searchlights.
[Edit this paragraph] The historical connotation of the mirror
The ancient mirror means big basin, which is called prison. Shuowen said: "Prison can take the water of the bright moon, because it can do it, so it is thought."
Six dynasties mirror
Mirror. "At the beginning of the three generations, the prison was a tile system, so there was no gold beside the word prison in ancient times. In the early years of Shang dynasty, bronze swords were cast, and later the characters of the swords also had gold characters. In Shang and Zhou dynasties, although there were bronze mirrors, tile mirrors were still popular. It was not until the Qin Dynasty that bronze mirrors were cast. Because mirrors were better than mirrors in many aspects, water was no longer used as mirrors after the Qin Dynasty. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, mirrors were used more widely and made better. Its materials include gold, silver, copper, iron and so on. , with copper as the most, gold-plated silver, gold and silver on the back, or inlaid with gold and silver wires. Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there have been various patterns with handles and squares. It was not until the late Ming Dynasty that glass was used as a mirror. After Qianlong in Qing Dynasty, glass became popular among the people. Until the early years of the Republic of China, a few remote areas still used copper as a mirror.
Mo Mu, also known as the ugly girl. Five thousand years ago, in order to stop the tribe's "wedding robbery" incident, the Yellow Emperor deliberately chose an ugly woman (named Mo Mu) who was virtuous, gentle and ugly as his fourth wife. The Yellow Emperor also said: "Those who value beauty over virtue are not true beauty, and those who value virtue over color are true saints." Five thousand years ago, the Yellow Emperor fought against Chiyou, surrendered to Shennong, calmed the war, unified the three tribes, ended the barbaric era, and mankind just began to enter a civilized society. Dressing up, building boats and cars, and dressing up have also become essential things in everyone's daily life. At that time, in order to tidy up their unkempt appearance, our ancestors often faced a basin of water, or stood by a calm river or water to tidy up. So it is recorded in ancient books that this kind of "looking in the mirror" is called "watching the water". So, what does this have to do with Mo Mu?
According to legend, the first mirror used by human beings was discovered and made by Mo Mu. At that time, people in The Yellow Emperor's Palace often stood by the water to reflect their faces and dress up. Mo Mu thinks he is ugly, so he won't go to the water to dress himself up easily, and he won't show his face at festivals. All I know is that I revolve around the Yellow Emperor all day. On one occasion, Tong Yu's name was Mo Mu, and she went up the mountain to dig slate. Without further ado, Mo Mu went up the hill with the name of Tong Yu. Mo Mu has great strength and can dig slate faster than other women. I dug more than 20 pieces in less than half a day. At this time, the sun is already noon, and the sun shines on the earth. Mo Mu suddenly found a shiny stone in the pile, and the sunshine was very dazzling. Mo Mu bent down and gently dug it out of the ground with his hand. He was startled when he held it in his hand. What kind of monster is this? His ugly face is on this stone. Even she feels strange! She quietly hid the stone in her body and went back to the palace of the Yellow Emperor without telling anyone. When no one was around, she took out the stone again and found that the plane of the stone was uneven. The face reflected on it is strange. Mo Mu went to the factory that made stone knives and axes and found a millstone. He pressed the stone on it and rubbed it repeatedly. It didn't take long, and all the stone surfaces were smooth. She took a picture with it, which was much clearer than before. It's just that my face is still so ugly She grinded it for a while, picked it up and took another picture. She is still ugly. Mo Mu sighed to himself and said, "It seems that an ugly face can't blame a stone piece (mirror)." From then on, Mo Mu never went to the river or the water to make up. Get up every morning, according to the stone, tidy up yourself, and then hide quietly after use. Over time, Mo Mu also careless. On one occasion, Mo Mu helped Tong Yu cook the meat on the slate. Due to excessive firepower, the slate was blown up, and a piece of gravel flew up, breaking Mo Mu's face and bleeding profusely. Mo Mu hurried back, took out the stone tablet and put the medicine on his face. Who knows, the Yellow Emperor doesn't know when he will come back. He followed Mo Mu and found Mo Mu rubbing something on himself with one hand and sticking medicine on his face with the other. The Yellow Emperor walked behind Mo Mu and put his head close to Mo Mu's shoulder, ready to observe carefully. Unexpectedly, Mo Mu exclaimed! She found the face of the Yellow Emperor on that stone. Twist a head to see, just know the yellow emperor standing behind her. The Yellow Emperor asked Mo Mu, "What do you have in your hand?" Honest and upright Mo Mu, when he heard the question of the Yellow Emperor, knew that he should not cheat the Yellow Emperor, and poof, he knelt in front of the Yellow Emperor. Mo Mu told the Yellow Emperor from beginning to end that he had found this stone that could illuminate people, and begged the Yellow Emperor to forgive her. The Yellow Emperor smiled, held Mo Mu in his hand and said, "This is a great discovery for you. You are not only right, but also have made great contributions! " As soon as the Yellow Emperor said it, he immediately called Lei Zu, Lei Fang's family and Tong Yu's family, took out Mo Mu's impressive stone and asked his three wives to see it. Lei Zu smiled and said, "Huangdi, no wonder I haven't seen Mo Mu dressed up in the water for a long time. It turns out that she has this beautiful treasure. " Tong Yu immediately said, "Huangdi, this discovery should be attributed to Sister Mo Mu!" The Yellow Emperor said excitedly, "Of course, remember a merit!"
The use of mirrors by human beings began in the history of the Chinese nation.
No wonder, an ancient book "Yuan" said: "Xuanyuan is a mirror". The book "Biography of Xuanyuan" also said: "The emperor will be the queen mother and cast twelve mirrors. If you want to use them, you can use them." The book "Yi Shu" also said: "In Raozhou, it is said that Xuanyuan casts mirrors by the lake, and now there is Xuanyuan mirror grinding stone."
With the development of smelting technology, people invented iron mirrors and bronze mirrors. 4000 years ago, Egypt produced bronze mirrors. Later, bronze mirrors were unearthed in China. After Qin and Han Dynasties, the manufacturing level of bronze mirrors in China has become famous at home and abroad. Bronze mirror is not only an instrument for dressing and shaping, but also a beautifully shaped handicraft.