“Chinese optics” is the first of a series of workshops organized by Harvard CAMLab. It explores ways of constructing optical experience in Chinese art and culture, past and present. It seeks inter-disciplinary perspectives drawing on arts, sciences, and technology. Central issues to be explored include the relationship between eye and hand, the Chinese construct of huan 幻 that is not to be reduced to mere perspectival illusionism, the mediation of technological apparatuses in visual experiences, the relationship between media properties and cultural-historical experiences, and more.