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>>> John: Hi I'm John from ChineseAntiqueFurnitureShop.com. In this video we're going to talk about windows.
And people wonder how come there are so many window fragments available in China. It's
because the Chinese have been rapidly modernizing particularly in their cities. And they have
been tearing down old houses and replacing them with newer buildings. These windows are
removed from an older house.
This pair was part of a much larger original set but you can see that it is paint decorated
and has some wonderful symbols with a dragon and a horse included in it. The windows -
people ask well how can this be used as a window? In winter there is rice paper that
is put behind to help keep out the cold and in the summer the rice paper can be removed
to provide ventilation.
And obviously they come in a large variety of different sizes and also in different decorations.
And it's the different sizes and the different decorations that make these so easy for someone
to use to put up on a wall. The decoration in this one is interesting because instead
of using these posts to hold together the interior frame to the exterior frame they've
used the decoration to do it. Some windows actually have calligraphy written in them.
This is the Chinese calligraphy symbol for double happiness, which is, double happiness
is good fortune and longevity combined. This one again shows some of the original paint,
another interesting design but with the original paint. And again, people ask well how come
these windows always seem to be so well preserved if the houses are destroyed? Frankly not all
of them are. This little window panel was obviously part of a much larger window and
all that's left in good shape is this small little fragment that's left.
Likewise, this one had two posts that went straight through here, those have been destroyed,
nobody's repaired them but it has its original color. Thanks so much for watching this video
on windows and be sure to visit our site to see more examples. Please sign up for our
newsletter so we can alert you as to updates to the site and to more videos as they become
available. Thanks so much.