Antique Chinese Furniture Becomes Trendy
By Shirley Chan

Traditional Chinese furniture is getting more popular and attracts many customers. In Macau, one of the main streets - Rua De S.Paulo-- is famous for antique Chinese furniture shops. During the past few years, more antique furniture shops were opened catering mainly to tourists who are interested in antique furniture.

The traditional Chinese furniture nowadays is divided into two types, the antique furniture and imitation furniture. The antique Chinese furniture has special styles whether in color, in drawing/carving or in wood materials. The major colors of the traditional Chinese furnitures are black, yellow and red. The red color symbolizes 'good luck' in Chinese customs. Some furniture also carries drawings. For example: a wardrobe design always has drawings decorated on it. It often depicts a royal and commoner's life in different dynasties of China. It reflects the traditional Chinese culture and social life in the ancient time.

The antique furniture commonly refers to the furniture styles coming from the Ming or Qing dynasties. The furniture of the Ming Dynasty uses expensive wood, such as red sandalwood, yellow rose wood and elm wood, etc. The style is quite simple and the size of furniture is made based on the shape of human body. So the appearance of Ming furniture gives a sense of beauty. Although the Qing furniture is similar to the Ming's, it is considered more grandiose. There are more color drawings and carvings on Qing's furniture.

As for imitation furniture, it is a remake based on the original styles of Ming and Qing furniture. It is also named as 'old wood new made' furniture. For example, a manufacturer would use the old wood that is collected from the crossbeam of an ancient building and remake some furniture out of it. In general, elm wood, camphor wood, black wood and yellow rose wood are in common use for antique Chinese furniture. These kinds of wood are always used for making wardrobes since the quality is hard. And camphor wood has a special smell and prevents woodworms. Chicken wings woods and burl woods are used for making jewelry box and carvings. .

Obviously, the prices of reproduction furniture are lower than original antiques. Joey Un, a shopkeeper of an antique Chinese furniture company says, "The main customers of our shops are foreign tourists, followed by Hong Kong residents, mainland Chinese and local people. Most foreigners usually prefer antique styles. They are fascinated by some pieces of antique Chinese furniture, some of them they had never seen before. They also have little knowledge about the original function of these things, such as: pillow boxes, a Chinese compass or opium scale, etc." However, Un points out that Hong Kong customers have a little bit different preference. "Hong Kong customers prefer imitation furniture. They can make their favorite pieces of furniture based on their own choices of size and style in our shops. The prices are lower than antique pieces. Moreover, Chinese people do not like to use second-hand furniture since it had been used by ancestors. This is one of the reasons they prefer the imitation furniture," Un says.

There are more and more young people who also like to purchase imitation furniture. Mrs. Cheung, a customer says, "Antique Chinese furniture has many carved patterns or designs, such as: dragons, Chinese lucky words, etc. Not only the styles look beautiful, but also reflect our traditional Chinese culture. In addition, the Chinese furniture is made of wood. Especially in hot weather, you feel comfortable and cool when you sit on a wooden rocking chair."

A Portuguese customer, Manuel Costa says, "Most of the furniture in my house is in the antique design. I like them so much, particularly, the painting and decoration on some of the antique furniture. It looks so graceful. I like to buy this type of the Chinese furniture in Macau. There are some guarantees in Macau shops which also provide shipping services. I do not need to worry about the delivery problem. In addition, the price is lower than other places."

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