ABSTRACT
Copy culture, produced a two-tier economy that was at the heart of social differentiation: the rich and cost-conscious acquired imported goods to signify wealth and status, while the poor and cost conscious were restricted to buying local imitations. This chapter focuses on one type of material only, namely glass. Ordinary glass may seem to be a fairly straightforward object, but a closer look shows how it acquired a range of meanings and uses in modern China. Plated glass was imported as early as the eighteenth century, stiff and strongly resistant oiled paper was commonly used to cover the windows. Imported mirrors made of glass were considered much brighter, clearer and shinier than local ones made of copper or tin. The camera was discovered in the 1860s by imperial envoys to the West: Linzhen referred to the camera as a 'magic mirror' and learned how to 'borrow light to capture flowers, birds and people'.
