Magic mirrors of the Orient

This paper presents a brief history of the fabrication of bronze mirrors in China and Japan and gives a description of the "magical" properties of som e of them. Various viewpoints that explain these magical properties and exp eriments by which they were studied are discussed. It is shown that there a re differences of the mirrors fabricated in China and Japan. The creation o f souvenir copies of a magic mirror of the Han Period is described. (C) 199 9 The Optical society of America. [S1070-9762(99)01908-9].