Ping Fong (Screen)

Ping Fong or Screen is a movable piece of furniture designed as shelter from observation or draughts or excessive heat or light. Panels of wood screen can be used as partition to separate a big hall into different sections.

Ping Fong was an important piece of furniture. In ancient time where electricity was not yet invented, the Chinese people liked to hold major feasts outdoors (brighter outside the house). As a result, they used Ping Fong as a back-drop for the host whose table was put in front of the Ping Fong. His guests would be seated in 2 rows in front of him. Because of that Ping Fong was also seen as a symbol of power and authority. If you ever go to the imperial palace in Beijing, you would see that the emperor's throne is placed in front of an exquisitely made Ping Fong carved from the best timber in the land. It gives the person sitting in front of the Ping Fong a sense of power and security (no body can attack you from behind).

Today people tend to use Ping Fong as a partition to block out certain space in the house. For in stance, when you open the door and you don't want outsiders to have a close view of your living room; the best furniture to put is the Ping Fong which would block the outsiders' vision.

This huanghuali screen was auctioned for 25 millions

I have here a small Ping Fong made from a certain red wood. This Ping Fong is to be put on the table. But why do people put a Ping Fong on the table?

Well, as you know the Chinese people write in Chinese ink using brushes. So they have to grind the ink using ink stone with water on a stone-like platform. As water is used in the process, they need a Ping Fong to block out the droughts which may cause the water to dry up rapidly. Since they take a long time to write or paint using the brush and Chinese ink, the small Ping Fong is really handy to ensure they have a good time indulging in the art of calligraphy. Moreover, good Ping Fong can also serve as an interesting furniture for you to admire.

  A jade ink-stone plateform

If you like Cantonese opera, here is one you must not miss:

      http://youtu.be/5rgNRdbPdtg  帝女花之香夭 Fragrant Sacrifice

This is probably the most well-known excerpt from the most-watched Cantonese Opera in the world.
帝女花 is a Cantonese Opera first made into a movie in 1959, starring Opera singers, Yam Kim Fei (任剑辉) and Bak Suit Sin (白雪仙), both ladies, but Yam impersonated a man in all her movies.

The Emperor of the Ming dynasty had just approved of his future son-in-law who won the heart of his daughter with poetry. At that moment, The Qing army attacked and took over the palace. The Emperor committed suicide with his family but Princess Cheung Ping survived. To win the favour of his subjects, the new Emperor of the Qing dynasty adopted the Princess and proceeded with the grand wedding. To show their loyalty to the Ming emperor, the newly-weds take their own lives on their wedding night. The Cantonese Opera is too beautiful to be translated. Something will be "lost in translation." The Song here, 香夭 (Fragrant Sacrifice) is the grand finale of the opera, sung on the wedding night, the couple are dressed in exquisite finery. The Princess and her groom express their love for each other and their loyalty to the former dynasty, especially the late Emperor, before they take their own lives, drinking wine poisoned with Arsenic. (Reproduced from source)