The age of chairs.

Related information:

In the traditional etiquette of China, how to sit is a very important content. In the earliest days, there were no chairs. When people receive visitors, they all kneel on a mat or a big bed called a couch, with their hips on their heels. This is called squatting. Although uncomfortable, you must sit like this in formal occasions, otherwise it is impolite.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, a folding bench named "Hu Chuang", similar to Mazar-e, was introduced into the Central Plains from the nomadic areas in the north, which changed people's sitting posture for the first time. People gradually began to give up the uncomfortable sitting posture of kneeling. In the mid-Tang Dynasty, Hu Chuang gradually evolved into a chair with backrest and armrests, which could make our legs droop naturally, and it was widely popular in the Song Dynasty. The legs of ancient China people were finally liberated. The popularity of chairs not only changed people's legs and feet, but also had a considerable impact on the ancient culture of China.

This kind of quadruped furniture first impacted the sitting ceremony of China at that time. The change of sitting ceremony directly leads to the change of many social etiquette. Then the chair also influenced the interior style of the house. The most obvious change is the improvement of windows. In the past, people sat in a lower position, and the position of the window was also lower, so that the sitting person could see the scenery outside the window. The appearance of the chair made the position of the window significantly higher. The appearance of the chair also affects the interior style of the house. The traditional sitting ceremony requires the middle of the room to be as open as possible so that people can sit on the floor. After chairs appeared, people didn't need to reserve too much space to sit on the floor, so the number of furniture increased.

Before the appearance of chairs, people's sitting posture was so low that the furniture in our country was generally short, and the common situation was that it was almost as high as the kang table in rural areas of our country. After the chair appeared, people's sitting posture obviously increased a lot. Naturally, some tall furniture became popular, and tables came into being, gradually becoming the most important furniture for eating and reading in China. The appearance of tall furniture has caused changes in daily necessities such as tea sets and dishes. Tang people sit on the floor, sitting in a low position. In order to facilitate eating, they all use high-end tableware. Many cups, plates and bowls have several high supports at the bottom. Tableware in the Song Dynasty was placed on a high table, so the position of the body was different from the sight of people. It is difficult to see high-legged tableware again, and bowls, plates, cups and other utensils become exquisite and exquisite.

Before chairs appeared, it was difficult for people to eat around a table because of low sitting posture and few tables. Therefore, it is usually an independent dining system. At the dinner party, people sit behind their desks. Everyone has the same set of meals, sitting on the floor and eating at the same time. At the Hongmen banquet, Xiang Yu and Xiang Bo sat in the east, Fan Zeng in the south, Pei Gong in the north and Sean in the west. This is a typical dining system. The appearance of chairs and high tables laid a material foundation for sitting around and eating. People gradually began to sit around a table to eat, until the appearance of the Eight Immortals table, eating at a table has become a custom, and the system of separate meals has also become a system of combined meals.

The biggest influence of chairs is the hearts of Chinese people. Before chairs appeared, people had to kneel on formal occasions. This sitting position looks very uncomfortable now. I'm afraid it's hard for modern people to persist in this sitting position for half an hour. Therefore, ancient people had to undergo hard training to adapt themselves from childhood. The first etiquette a child learns is to kneel, which is similar to that of a recruit. Kneeling training, in addition to honing children's will, is more important to cultivate their own self-cultivation, because no matter how you train, you will be uncomfortable after sitting for a long time, and your heart will be restless. Therefore, kneeling posture training is the cultivation of one's own mind, so that one's heart and sitting posture can be harmonious and unified, thus achieving a perfect kneeling posture. Therefore, people who have been trained in kneeling have a tall and straight, capable temperament and a rigorous and tenacious character.

Before the chair appeared, kneeling was the correct sitting posture in social situations. Whether you are an emperor or a grass-roots man, you should kneel down. I'm afraid it's hard to imagine now At that time, the emperor discussed with his ministers, and when the ministers knelt down to the emperor, the emperor was almost kneeling. This approximate equality brought the relationship between the emperor and his subjects closer. At that time, the relationship between the monarch and his subjects was more like partners. Now kneeling has no low-level special meaning, but a manifestation of humility and piety. After the chair appeared, the meaning of kneeling changed greatly. The emperor sat down in a chair, while his subjects bowed to the ground. This great inequality in etiquette made the subjects grovel imperceptibly, psychologically consolidated the supremacy of imperial power and enslaved the psychology of the Chinese people.

Some people wonder why there are chairs in Europe that don't kneel, and why there is no such slavery tendency. In fact, the reason is very simple. In European etiquette, kneeling posture is rarely used. I don't kneel to anyone but God. Even if you see the monarch, you just kneel on one leg. In ancient China, kneeling was the most commonly used etiquette, not only between monarch and minister, but also between superiors and subordinates, grassroots and officials. As mentioned earlier, after the chair appeared, there was inequality in kneeling, which gradually played a role of slavery.

From the Northern Song Dynasty, it began to decline gradually, which coincided with the popularization of chairs. Is it just a coincidence? Just as the internet and mobile phones have changed the lifestyle of modern people, many seemingly insignificant inventions in human history, even simple small furniture like chairs, have actually influenced our culture to some extent.