Chungong mirrors, are they erotic or art?
By admin on 2014-12-23

Is a Chungong mirror, a copper mirror with a sexual image on the back used in ancient China, an erotic piece or art relic? Xuanwu district court in Beijing answered the question Tuesday.

Yang Hua, an antique dealer, was arrested and kept in detention for three days for selling a Chungong mirror produced in the Ming (1368-1644) or Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) at an antique market in March.

After being released from prison, Yang sued the police in the Xuanwu district court because she believed the Chungong mirror was a cultural relic and her detention was illegal.

But she lost her case against the police Tuesday as the court also ruled the mirror pornographic. According to Chinese criminal law, erotic books, pictures, movies or other things that depict explicit sexual behavior can not be sold.

Chungong mirrors were used to educate young couples by showing different sexual positions. They are an important part of ancient sexual culture.
Yang's lawyer said that criminal law also says literature or artworks which have an artistic value aren't erotic pieces although they may have some erotic content, reported the Beijing Youth Daily.

"Before making the judgment, the police should check whether it is a cultural relic," her lawyer said.

However, the police said they had checked and the results confirmed their suspicions, but they didn't explain the basis on which they came to these conclusions.

The case shocked Beijing's antique market, and many antique shops removed Chungong antiques from their shelves. "The police are paying a lot of attention to erotic antiques," a worker at the Panjiayuan second-hand market told the Global Times, "We dare not put them on public display."

"Different to simple erotic pieces, a curio with some erotic information can't be regarded as pornographic," said Zhang Zhiqiang, a famous lawyer in Beijing, "after all it was made hundreds of years ago."