The Study Of Western Influence On Qing Furniture

After a prosperous development in Ming Dynasty, traditional Chinese furniture stepped into its latter stage in Qing Dynasty, the last period of Chinese feudal society when the self-sufficient economy started collapsing whereas western influences on Chinese politics, economy and culture deepened. Specific social and historical settings determined its features of development: on the one hand, it was restricted by the consummate principles of construction developed till Ming Dynasty, on the other hand, it was pushed by the public taste to a pathway of "stressing form". Moreover, with the coming of foreign missionaries and the launching of Sino-westem trade, the influx of foreign commodities and cultures shocked Chinese culture including furniture. This paper reviewed the characteristics of Qing furniture and the input of foreign cultures, analyzed the objective and subjective reasons why Qing furniture was influenced by the western cultures, and then classified three styles of influence, namely the overpass style, the cocktail style and the mixed liquid of salt and sugar style. The significance of the first style lies in providing western prototypes and models for imitating and borrowing. The second leads to the mixture of Chinese and western styles, which is illustrated in this paper from the aspects of category, structure, form, and decoration. The third touches the ideological field, including aesthetic conceptions, humanitarianism, technical innovation and foreign trade awareness. Based on the above exploration formed a dialectical understanding towards the western influences on Qing furniture: on the one hand, the subjective efforts made by Qing furniture to get a better development by accepting western influences should be acknowledged, and the fact that the vitality of Qing furniture determined the differences in accepting western influences in different period of time should not be denied; on the other hand, the positive and negative effects of western culture on Qing furniture coexisted, and western influences should not be criticized as the key factor accounting for the decline of the traditional Chinese furniture. By comparing the domestic and foreign needs of present furniture market with that of the Qing Dynasty, the paper summarized the significance of appropriate combination of national tradition and modem awareness, the vernacular and the international, borrowing and creativity, and finally presented the thoughts on modern furniture with Chinese characteristics.