Chinese Interior Design
A Long Tradition of Formal Elegance
What westerners tend to think of as traditional Chinese interior design has primarily been the style of Chinese aristocrats and successful merchants. It emphasizes wealth and status, and tends toward formality. Symbolism is deeply embedded in many elements of Chinese culture, and this is true of not only the choice of style and materials used in home furnishings, but also of their placement in the home. Elaborately carved dark wood chairs, sofas, screens, and architectural details often incorporate repeating traditional Chinese motifs with deep meanings. Detailed silk brocades and carved and tasseled lanterns bring texture and drama. Textiles with gold threads and rich jewel tones—especially red, which is supreme among colors in China—display prosperity and radiate a sense of power and order.
A Second Tradition—One of Rustic Simplicity
Of course, the vast majority of Chinese people have never had access to great wealth or expensive decorative elements. Traditional Chinese interior design for everyday people was more rustic, a heavy emphasis on wooden architecture and furnishings, iron elements, and clay pottery. Bamboo—a plentiful, inexpensive, and sustainable material—was used in furnishings and kitchen implements. It was also planted in pots, or used to create screened areas outdoors.
Traditional rustic Chinese design elements can mix attractively with minimalist, industrial, and rustic farmhouse interior design styles, among others. They can even mix with some of the simpler elements of grander Chinese design traditions, creating a home that’s both elegant and comfortable. Combining pieces in this way can celebrate China’s vast and varied cultural traditions by appreciating them alongside each other.
For millennia (and even today), even the poorest of Chinese people have often taken feng shui principles into account as they built and furnished their homes. An ancient practice, feng shui involves careful placement of architectural and decorative elements in relationship to each other. Its primary purpose is to create a harmonious environment that enhances health and wealth. (See the section on feng shui below for details.)
Modern Chinese Design
Still detailed, but not as ornate
Modern Chinese interior design often combines luxuriously finished elements with more relaxed ones. It tends to be less formal than traditional aristocratic Chinese style. It may still include carved wood mirror frames, furnishings, or screens framed in wood stained dark or lacquered black. However, fabrics—even silk brocades—and woolen rugs are usually simpler in pattern or style than in past times. But while they may often be neutral, you’ll also find bold or colorful patterns—especially those that feature a traditional Chinese motif.
Modern Chinese style nods to traditional style in its harmonious use of natural elements. Designers planning interiors for Chinese clients will also be well versed in feng shui. However, today’s Chinese style is more international than in earlier eras, and may feature elements of multiple Asian and Western styles, incorporating them elegantly with elements from Chinese culture.
In modern spaces, traditional pieces may mix with more minimal, geometric furnishings, such as low, simple, pale wood coffee tables, or leather sofas in white or tan. Touches of black or red lacquer or glints of gold bring traditional drama while still looking fresh and modern.
Bamboo adds natural texture and appears in many forms in Chinese homes. For example, bamboo window shades bring a lighter touch to a room than heavy, dark draperies do. Incorporating traditional arts, such as simpler calligraphic pieces, into modern Chinese-style spaces also brings history to a room without adding heaviness.
Chinese Art Deco
Some Chinese design elements are similar to Art Deco motifs. You may see screens with white cranes on a black background, or wallpaper with shiny gold arches. These modern graphic elements bridge Eastern and Western traditions.
Not surprisingly, because the European style harmonized so well with traditional Chinese style, Art Deco was hugely influential on the architecture and design of Shanghai in the 1930s. Some of the remarkable Chinese Art Deco buildings of this era still remain standing in Shanghai today.
Symbolism in Chinese Design
Chinese characters often have multiple important symbolic meanings. It’s best to know the meaning of any decor pieces that feature Chinese writing (or any Asian characters, for that matter) before you display them. Startling Chinese guests with meaningless or inharmonious characters would be out of keeping with creating a balanced and respectful space.
Chinese calligraphy hung as art provides a room with an elegant simplicity. It brings poetry, history, and appreciation of Chinese culture into the home as well. Elaborate screens, scrolls, or embroideries add drama. These often feature traditional symbols or scenes, and create lively vignettes. Floors, often of light wood or stone, may be covered with rich wool carpets bearing traditional Chinese motifs.
Hidden meanings all around us
Symbolism is deeply embedded in Chinese culture. People brought up in Chinese societies or families often see importance and meaning in colors, words, objects, or natural elements that people from Western cultures are unfamiliar with. Colors are highly symbolic, and have important associations with planets, elements, animals, and personality traits. They also have rankings, and some are considered inherently lucky or unlucky.
Red is considered the most auspicious color, associated with life, joy, and success. It is used frequently for festive occasions, such as wedding celebrations and Chinese New Year. Red has a long affiliation with communism (hence Mao’s Little Red Book), but its popularity considerably predates the Communist Party. Symbolic of passion and reputation, red is said to keep evil away. However, because it represents the element of fire, feng shui practitioners say it can stimulate aggression, so they recommend using it in moderation.
Yellow is an imperial color, prestigious and beautiful. The Chinese say this powerful color is at the center of everything, and used it to decorate palaces and temples, and the clothes of people of great importance. However yellow is also important in Buddhism, as it represents freedom from worldly cares. While emperors wore yellow silks, Buddhist monks wear simple saffron robes. And though people in the West associate it with cowardice, in China this color symbolizes heroism.
Although black is the color of mourning in the West, white is China’s traditional mourning color. Black is the color of Heaven, the color most honored by ancient Chinese people. Feng shui practitioners say it’s a positive color of power and elegance. Black furniture figures prominently in many Chinese homes, as do black lacquerware decor items such as folding screens and tables.
Objects with multiple meanings
In the feng shui tradition, objects and materials are associated with particular colors, attributes, and energies. Many Chinese believe that objects bring their own power and energy to a space, and that their placement impacts health, wealth, happiness, fertility, and success. As a result, it’s common for Chinese people to look at the world and the contents of their homes very differently than Westerners do. When everything around us has important hidden meanings, the choice of decor and the placement of everything from furniture to mirrors to water features takes on additional importance.
Feng Shui: The Art of Placement
An ancient tradition
An important element of Chinese interior design is reliance on feng shui. This traditional practice began about 6,000 years ago as a way to site important buildings. It led builders to choose times and orientations that they considered auspicious. Placement of graves, palaces, temples, and other important structures was meant to focus energy forces. Believers said this helped individuals exist harmoniously with their surroundings.
Feng shui, which means “wind-water,” seeks to balance the five natural elements—wood, fire, earth, water, and metal. The practice is most often used nowadays by people who wish to align positive energies and increase harmony. Practitioners are said to channel the life force (known as qi, or chi) to bring good fortune. They often do so in search of greater health, wealth, wisdom, or happiness.
Modern uses of feng shui
Builders may use feng shui to place elements such as doorways, gates, or water features. Designers or inhabitants use it to adjust energies within a home. For example, people are said to invite or repel certain energies by strategic placement of furnishings. They often move mirrors, plants, desks, or beds in relation to doorways.
Feng shui practitioners warn against having clutter in the home, which they say can cause energy conflicts and block good energy from flowing freely and naturally. Because feng shui is an art focused on placement of buildings and their contents in relation to people, and is believed to enable greater health, happiness, and success, it’s not surprising that Chinese people so often take home design and decor seriously. Chinese people of all economic backgrounds have traditionally valued harmonious and beautiful placement of their furnishings.
During China’s Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, the Communist Party denounced feng shui as a superstitious practice. It didn’t align with party principles, so the party forbid its use. Feng shui practitioners hid their activities from authorities. Today, only about a third of modern Chinese believe in it. However, belief in traditional practices like feng shui has risen in China in recent years. This is truest in rural areas where traditional beliefs were harder to eliminate.
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Armorial screen from the Qing dynasty (detail), 1720–30, Guangdong province | Peabody Essex Museum via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0).
