Ma Weidou: Why didn't there be hardwood furniture then? The first is the limitation of tools. Among all woodworking tools in China, the latest one is the flat woodworking tool planer, which is completely different from Europe. Our plane only appeared in16th century, and there is no evidence that China was used before16th century. Hardwood can't be leveled without a plane. Why did you paint furniture in the past? It is because the wood is scraped unevenly that it should be covered with hemp, dust, putty and paint. The invention of the airplane is the most important tool revolution in China's craft history. In China, hardwood furniture quickly occupied the market because of the appearance of plane. The second is the Qin Long switch. In the first year of Qin Long, due to the germination of capitalism and the increase of overseas trade, the Ming government was forced to open the customs to a limited extent. The smooth sea transportation has brought a large number of excellent timber into China. Because of these two reasons, Ming-style furniture in China, including precious Huang Huali furniture, red sandalwood furniture and chicken wing wood furniture, became popular in the south of the Yangtze River in the late Ming Dynasty, especially from Wanli to Chongzhen.
Our past judgments are biased, all based on feelings. We hoped that our hardwood furniture would appear earlier, but unfortunately it didn't. According to Tianshui Iceberg Record, during Jiajing period, there were thousands of pieces of imitation Yan Songjia furniture, among which only 40 pieces of "plain plum (pear) wooden beds" mentioned earlier, and ebony chopsticks were mostly painted furniture. All these evidences prove that the popularity of hardwood furniture in China was after Wanli, which is a standard judgment.
I believe this statement.