中国古典家具屏风英语介绍.doc

Screens date back to China during the Eastern?Zhou Dynasty?period (771-256 BCE).[1][2]?These were initially one-panel screens in contrast to folding screens.[3]?Folding screens were invented during the?Han Dynasty?(206 BCE – 220 CE).[4]?Depictions of those folding screens have been found in Han Dynasty era tombs, such as one in Zhucheng, Shandong Province.[1] A folding screen was often decorated with beautiful art, major themes included mythology, scenes of palace life, and nature. It is often associated with intrigue and romance in the?literature?of China as, for example, a young lady in love could take a curious peek hidden from behind a folding screen.[1][2]?An example of such a thematic occurrence of the folding screen would be in the classical novel?Dream of the Red Chamber?by?Cao Xueqin.[5]?The folding screen was a subject that had often reoccurred in?Tang?literature.[6]?The Tang poet?Li He?(790–816) wrote the?Song of the Screen, describing a folding screen of a newly-wed couple.[6]?The folding screen surrounded the bed of the young couple, its twelve panels was adorned with butterflies alighted on?China pink?flowers (an allusion to lovers), and had silver hinges resembling glass coins.[6] Folding screens were originally made from wooden panels and painted on?lacquered?surfaces, eventually folding screens made from paper orsilk?became popular too.[3]?Even though folding screens were known to have been used since?antiquity, it became rapidly popular during theTang Dynasty?(618–907).[7]?During the?Tang Dynasty, folding screens were considered ideal ornaments for many painters to display theirpaintings?and?calligraphy?on.[2][3]?Many artists painted on paper or silk and applied it onto the folding screen.[2]?There were two distinct artistic folding screens mentioned in historical literature of the era. One of it was known as the?huaping?(Chinese:?畫屏; literally painted folding screen) and the other was known as the?shuping?(Chinese:?書屏; literally calligraphy foldin