A Shang-Dynasty (1600-1100 BC) bronze mirror will add more sparkle to an ongoing exhibition of ancient bronze mirrors in the Shanghai Museum.

The mirror has been donated by Gao Ashen, a retired Shanghai citizen who used to work in Northwest China's Gansu Province.

Gao bought the mirror in a waste recycling centre in the province's Pingliang city.

According to insiders, it is the first ever Shang-Dynasty bronze mirror in a national museum in China.

"Shang-Dynasty mirrors are very rare treasures. We only know of 10 in the world," said Chen Xiejun, director of the museum.

The museum's Vice-Director Li Chaoyuan said archaeologists have unearthed only six mirrors in China and most are now in the archaeological research institutes.

The late Ma Chengyuan, former director of the Shanghai Museum, was a world expert on bronzeware.

He appraised Gao's mirror last year and believed it to be from the Fuhao Tomb in Anyang, Central China's Henan Province, which was a tomb for the wife of a duke in that period.

Li said, "We think the mirror was among 400 bronzewares excavated from the tomb, which are of high academic value."

(China Daily May 25, 2005)