Brief introduction of seat
The Book of Songs has "its chair" and "chair" is "catalpa", which is the name of a tree. According to documents, the name of the chair first appeared in the Tang Dynasty, and the image of the chair can be traced back to Hu Chuang in the north of Han and Wei Dynasties. There are two people sitting on chairs in the mural of Cave 285 in Dunhuang. There are women sitting on square stools and cross-legged stools in the murals of Cave 257. There are women sitting on round stools in the stone carving of Lianhua Cave in Longmen. These images vividly reproduce the use of chairs and stools by bureaucrats and aristocratic families in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Although the furniture at that time had the shape of chairs and stools, people used to call it "Hu bed" because there were no chairs and stools at that time. In temples, it is often used for meditation, so it is also called a Zen bed. After the Tang Dynasty, the use of chairs gradually increased, and the name of chairs was widely used and separated from the category of beds. So when it comes to the origin of chairs and stools, we should start with Hu Chuang in the Han and Wei Dynasties [1].
Vintage seat
Song. Gao Cheng's "Ji Yuan Shi" quoted the customs boy as saying: "The Emperor Gaozu was good at it, and the master of the scene was Hu's bed. This was the beginning, and today it is also the top." Book of later Han dynasty "Five Elements of Meaning": "Emperor Han Ling loves Khufu, Zhang Hu, Hu Chuang, Zuo Hu, Fan Hu ... all the nobles in Kyoto do this." These two records can prove that the ancient chairs in China appeared in the period of Emperor Han Ling (168- 189).
From Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to Sui and Tang Dynasties, Hu beds were widely used. Rich and powerful families not only have to live in their own rooms, but also have to be taken around by attendants for temporary rest when traveling. At that time, Hu Chuang belonged to the category of high-grade furniture, and usually only the male host or VIP in the family was eligible to enjoy it. There are also many compliments and vivid descriptions among the Fang people. For example, in the Southern Dynasties, Liang Yu Jianwu's poem On Hu Chuang said: