The Roman curule chair made its way along the Silk Road to China, where it was adopted in various forms including the hu chuang (barbarian bed). In Han China, the folding chair was used out-of-doors in a military, rather than domestic, setting by the 2nd century A.D. Its foreign origin was addressed in a poem by Yu Jianwu, written about 552: By the name handed down you are from a foreign region coming into [China] and being used in the capital With legs leaning your frame adjusts by itself With limbs slanting your body levels by itself... |