Material Culture
Han dynasty objects surviving from or depicting the many facets of daily life are manifestations of the material life of Chinese people living at the time. Vessels for cooking food, such as "ting", "tseng", and "yen"; containers for drinks, such as "tsun", "ho", "hu" and cups; water vessels, such as "chien" and "p'an"; lamps for providing light; "po-shan" censers for making the air fragrant; and sheep-shaped weights for holding things down were all part of the necessities of everyday life. The sword, knife, seal, and jade ornaments, as well as a bronze mirror, were also what a gentleman would carry on him, revealing even more details about the material life of Han dynasty people.
  Jade horn-shaped drinking cup with dragon design |
 Pottery hu in the shape of a cocoon |
    Bronze chia-liang standard measure |
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Spiritual Culture
From the numerous traditions that developed during the previous Spring and Autumn as well as Warring States periods, people in the Ch'in and Han dynasties adopted a more regulated and eternal view of the cosmos, one which revealed itself in concrete terms through many of the decorative motifs used at the time. The popularity of such subjects as the phoenix and dragon as well as the Four Spirits reinforces the belief in the Yin-yang and Five Elements. The prevalence of cloud patterns, astrological images, mountains of the immortals, auspicious beasts, winged figures, and the Queen Mother of the West also demonstrates this worldview of cosmic order as well as life and death. In addition to expressing these views of a more abstract nature, Han dynasty spiritual life also dealt with more immediate and earthly desires, as reflected in such auspicious inscriptions as "Everlasting happiness", "Life without bounds", "Great luck all around", and "Filial descendants".
 Bronze mirror with figure motif |
 Jade his-pi small disk with dragon design |
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