Chair exhibitions show culture sitting pretty

"A dragon chair may seem small in a palace. But in the exhibition, it's as big as a double bed," says Yang.

"We closely monitor temperature, humidity and maintain the relics regularly, with infrared sensors in place to minimize any external impact."

At Deheyuan, furniture was arranged to re-create scenes from ancient paintings, while the display at the Summer Palace Museum focused on explaining the cultural significance of the furniture, including its ties to rituals and social traditions.

Compared to the Forbidden City, Summer Palace furniture feels more relaxed, featuring pieces like root-carved screens and root-made chairs, Yang says.

"Garden furniture often features natural designs like bamboo or plum blossoms and is arranged more freely," he explains.

One section showcased woodworking tools, along with illustrations explaining the process. Another highlighted how royal furniture was made, starting with a designer's sketch, followed by the emperor's approval before production began.

"We wanted this exhibition to appeal to everyone," Yang says, adding that many furniture makers attended the exhibition, with some seeing for the first time the original designs behind patterns they had been working on for years.

Alongside the furniture, raw materials like rosewood were on display. Visitors could identify wood scents and also try assembling 12 types of mortise-and-tenon joints.

Yang says the mortise-and-tenon structures on display for use were initially tight and tricky to handle, but after just one weekend of being used by children, they became much easier to manipulate.

"This exhibition and its interactive activities work together, making it one of the most successful events we've ever hosted," Yang says.

Another exhibition, titled Seat of Honor, is running at the Ou's Traditional Woodwork Exhibition Hall in Zhongshan, Guangdong province, featuring 50 rare chairs collected by Huang Dingzhong, an architect and collector of traditional Chinese furniture.

Curator Deng Bin, professor at Jiangnan University in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, emphasizes the significance of chairs in the evolution of Chinese furniture.

"From the Tang Dynasty (618-907) to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-960), the transition from sitting on the ground to using elevated seating like chairs marked a major shift in daily life in China. This adoption of high seating shaped living practices over 1,000 years ago," he says.