THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF KINMEN INFLUENCING THE FURNITURE CULTURE

This study aims at the impacts of the Kinmen’s historical development on its overall furniture development. The methods include Document Analysis and Ethnography Research. The results indicate that there are two certain times, the Qing Dynasty and the Quest, that influence the development. From a political perspective, the style of furniture was united due to the rule of the Qing Dynasty. In a social aspect, the size of furniture varied according to the ranks of the official. Multiple forms of furniture were observed in the houses of businessmen at the time, as well. The other period was the Quest while a lot of Kinmen residences travelled to the Southeast Asia and came back after becoming illustrious and built majestic “fan zi lou (foreign buildings)”. They also brought back the popular furniture, which were stilled in these buildings, from the Southeast Asia and made the culture of Kinmen’s furniture more various.