Chinese Beds

This post has been on the back burner now for almost a year. I'm working on implementing a solution for my photographic dilemma, so in the meantime, I offer you this post about traditional Chinese beds and other related stories.

According to an article that I read in the China Daily, nearly a year ago, Chinese beds were the largest and heaviest item of furniture in the house, and social status could be partly reflected in the shape of the bed and the craftsmanship. The beds were usually made of pine, Chinese fir, camphor, or gingko. According to local traditions, wealthy families would commission the best craftsmen in town to make a bed when a boy was born; sometimes work would continue on the piece of wood until the day he was married. The wood was carved with auspicious symbols and lasted for generations. The bed styles changed with each dynasty, but all traditional beds were three sided and were lifted at least a foot from the ground. They also had a very firm plank platform upon which there may have been a mattress of some sort; some of the beds in the museums have a woven mat over the wood.

When we moved into the apartment, one of the very cool features about it was the offer from the landlord to use the antique Chinese bed that she had acquired. This is not one of those truly ancient beds- and this is a good thing because frankly I was worried about sleeping on the darn thing for fear of breaking it. It is however a good example of art deco style adapted to a Chinese concept. When our landlord (hereafter: SL) offered us the choice between this Chinese made bed, and a regular bed, we took the opportunity to try something different. SL told us that she had the mattress custom made.

We tried it for a couple of months. While it was very cool to sleep on a piece of Chinese history, albeit a recent one, it had some limitations. It would have been fine for one, not too tall person, but for two people, it had some logistical challenges. For the inside person, night time exits from the bed required crawling over the first person in the dark (trying not to mash limbs or wake them up), jump down from the bed, and then do the whole thing in reverse when getting back in. It was not constructed for anyone over 5 foot 10. And then there were the mirrors....heart shaped and strategically located on all sides, it was a little weird to wake up to the reflection of your face on some days. Additionally, the bed did not hold together very well- occasionally the back part of the "crib" would fall off at one end. When I returned from my work in Vancouver, it was no surprise really, to find that it had been replaced.



As a footnote that I could not have added last year, I would like to make an observation about Chinese mattresses (one that many of my guests have made as well). We have found, that we the exception of high end hotels, all beds in this country have really firm mattresses. I mean reaaaaally firm. I like a firm mattress myself, but they are perhaps a little firmer than I would prefer. So if you are coming to visit- be forewarned. I'm not sure why this is the predominant style here. If I had to guess, I would say that this falls in the same category as warm drinks (it can be a challenge to find truly cold drinks in this country): cold drinks and soft beds are bad for your health.






Here are a couple of additional photos of different variations on the three sided Chinese bed. I took these last year when I was in Tong Li. I don't know which period they belong to, but they give an idea of some of the variations of the more recent kind.