A symposium on Historical Sources for Furniture in Tianjin-Style Culture was recently held in Tianjin. The event focused on collecting historical records, cataloging surviving objects and reviewing documentary sources in order to trace the development of Tianjin-style furniture. Faculty and students from the College of Art and Design at TUST presented a series of reports based on more than a decade of research.

The symposium on historical sources for Tianjin-style furniture.

Tianjin-style furniture developed within the city's river, maritime and canal-transport culture. It combines the precise construction of Ming-style furniture with selected Western forms and functions. Representative objects include Tianjin cabinets, quilt cases and vat covers. These pieces provide evidence of urban customs and commerce in modern Tianjin and hold a distinctive place in the history of Chinese furniture.

A TUST representative presents the team's research.

Participants included Luo Shuwei, former director of the Institute of History at the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences; current director Ren Jidong; local historian Zhang Yongxiu; Gao Xiuzhi, president of the Tianjin Furniture Association; Lu Peixiong, president of the Century-Old Furniture Research Association; Hou Xueli, an inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Hou-family woodworking; Professors Sun Ge and Liu Qing of Tiangong University; and Associate Professor Sun Guangrui of TUST. Speakers discussed fragmented source materials, the need for a standardized research framework, the preservation of old furniture and craftsmen's notes, public exhibitions, comparative research on Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai styles, and the structure of a traditional barber's stool.

Tianjin-Style Furniture Culture

Group photograph of symposium participants.

The symposium identified three areas for further work: university-industry-research collaboration, public communication, and the development of early-career researchers. The TUST team has conducted field research for more than ten years, visiting the Tianjin Museum and more than 20 residences and measuring and cataloging over 100 pieces of old furniture. In 2025, it received approval for a Ministry of Education humanities and social sciences project titled Cultural Reconstruction and Cross-Regional Transmission of Tianjin-Style Furniture in the Republican Era. The team has published more than ten related papers in journals including Furniture and Interior Design and China Forest Products Industry. The college plans to continue the research as part of TUST's Pioneer Program.