The bed we often talk about today was two kinds of utensils in ancient times. "By the sofa, how can others sleep soundly?" Many people understand the couch in this sentence as a bed, but it is actually wrong. There is a difference between a bed and a sofa.

The origin of bed is platform, and the origin of couch is mat. In ancient times, there were no chairs and stools at first. People lived, sat and slept on mats on the ground floor. This way of life is called "seat life system". Straw mats are used in the north and bamboo mats are used in the south.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the nobles felt that sitting on the mat was not enough to show their aristocratic status. Perhaps they were afraid of hemorrhoids, so they invented wooden seats slightly higher than the ground. This kind of chair is shorter than the bed and easy to move. Usually in the living room or hall. This kind of seat is a couch, but the name "couch" appeared in the Western Han Dynasty. Later, there was an enlarged couch on which people could lie, which was the couch mentioned earlier.

There are three main differences between a bed and a sofa: in terms of shape, the bed is bigger and the sofa is smaller; From the use point of view, the bed is used for sleeping at night, and the couch is used for sitting, lying and lying during the day; From the placement position, the bed is generally placed in the bedroom, while the sofa is generally placed in the living room or living room.

Although reclining chairs appeared in China a long time ago, except for a few nobles who used reclining chairs, most people still continued the "seating system". It's just that the mat has gradually thickened, forming a so-called "feast". Banquets are generally made of straw: the lower layer is covered with rough materials, which is called a banquet; The softer material is spread on the upper layer, which is called a mat. Zheng Xuan in the Eastern Han Dynasty said in "Zhou Li Zhu": "A banquet is called a seat." The ancients often held banquets at banquets, so the word "banquet" later became synonymous with banquets. The banquet was later spread to Japan, and the Japanese also spread the banquet indoors, which gradually evolved into the later "tatami".

By the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the beds were getting higher and higher, and people began to sit on them. The Tang Dynasty was an era of absorbing foreign cultures with an open mind, especially the culture of northern Hu people.

The most representative event is Hu Chuang's popularity. Although Hu Chuang is called a bed, it is very small and can only accommodate one person, more like today's chairs. Hu Chuang is the origin of China's chair, and the word "chair" only appeared in the Tang Dynasty.

From the Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty, chairs evolved from Hu Chuang became more and more popular in China, and fauteuil chairs became popular in later generations. It is said that the invention of the plush chair is related to it, because it is also called the Qin plush chair, so it is called the plush chair. It was also during this period that the ancients completely bid farewell to the seating system.

Second, the origin and development of the bed

Bed is the bedding used by the ancients when they slept at night. As early as the Banpo culture period of matriarchal clan society, there was already the embryonic form of bed-Tutai, similar to today's Kang. In the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the shape of the bed was gradually established.

Real bedding was called "four-sided bed" in the Song Dynasty, and most of them had no fences on all sides. In Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, the bed developed into a bed with fences on three or four sides.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, scaffolding beds and trampoline became popular, and the beds became closed, like a small room.

However, it is rare to see the crib now, and it has become a cultural relic!