{"id":188,"date":"2016-08-14T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-14T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pagodared.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/14\/fit-trim-the-art-architecture-of-chinese-joinery\/"},"modified":"2018-02-27T23:46:40","modified_gmt":"2018-02-27T23:46:40","slug":"fit-trim-the-art-architecture-of-chinese-joinery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pagodared.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/14\/fit-trim-the-art-architecture-of-chinese-joinery\/","title":{"rendered":"Fit &#038; Trim: The Art &#038; Architecture of Chinese Joinery"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"page-content clearfix\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We all know the physical and metaphorical truth of the idiom, \u201cThere\u2019s no use in trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.\u201d Did its origin come out of woodworking techniques? It\u2019s not a stretch to think so: For thousands of years, both Chinese woodworkers and Chinese architects have used mortise-and-tenon joints to join pieces of wood.\u00a0The technique involves a square-to-square or rectangle-to-rectangle tenon, or \u201cpeg,\u201d being fitted into a mortise, or \u201chole.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The dimensions of the tenon must be carved precisely to mirror that of the mortise for the two to successfully fit together. As a rule, nails and screws have never been used in this process. History has proven that furniture created with nails and screws often ends up wobbling, unlike a piece precisely joined with mortise and tenon,\u00a0in which individually carved pieces\u00a0fit fast into one another. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The mortise-and-tenon technique is superior in its strength, sturdiness\u00a0and seamless construction of wood joints. It is an elegant solution, and its longevity is a reason so many woodworkers still use it today. It\u2019s no wonder, then, that as Chinese architects used mortise-and-tenon joints for thousands of years to build houses, Chinese furniture makers employed the same technique to construct tables, chairs and cabinets\u2014ensuring that beautiful pieces were built to last.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Furniture design in China has been a revered craft for thousands of years. Yet, prior to the Ming period, no word existed in the Chinese language for objects we would call or describe as \u201cfurniture\u201d today. Beds, tables, cabinets, and chairs were referred to as \u201chousehold implements.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Doesn\u2019t have quite as nice of a ring to it, does it?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We all know the physical and metaphorical truth of the idiom, \u201cThere\u2019s no use in trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.\u201d Did its origin come out of woodworking techniques? It\u2019s not a stretch to think so: For thousands of years, both Chinese woodworkers and Chinese architects have used mortise-and-tenon joints to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.12 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fit &amp; Trim: The Art &amp; Architecture of Chinese Joinery - PAGODA RED Stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pagodared.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/14\/fit-trim-the-art-architecture-of-chinese-joinery\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fit &amp; Trim: The Art &amp; Architecture of Chinese Joinery - PAGODA RED Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We all know the physical and metaphorical truth of the idiom, \u201cThere\u2019s no use in trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.\u201d Did its origin come out of woodworking techniques? 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