East China's Suzhou is a prominent center of traditional Chinese furniture. Its products are famed for representing the zenith of Ming Dynasty carpentry. One recently opened exhibition in Beijing is giving the capital's residents a taste of this unique and beautiful art form.

This exhibition in Beijing is more than just a furniture showcase.

It tells the story of the history and development of a furniture-making tradition in the Suzhou region dating back five centuries, and in doing so, gives visitors a healthy dose of education on classical Chinese aesthetics.

YAO XIANGDONG, DIRECTOR CHINA SUZHOU-MADE RED WOOD CULTURE STUDY CENTER "We hope that, through this exhibition, the public can enjoy the beauty of our country's classical furniture and understand more about it. This kind of furniture is too expensive to enter the daily use of ordinary people, however, as a piece of China's intangible cultural heritage, knowledge about it should be passed down."

The Ming Dynasty-style furniture is treasured for its precious wood, comfortable design, simple decoration and superb craftsmanship.

The so-called "red wood", as the show points out, is a modern word, generalized from a range of durable woods with hard and tight textures, elegant colors and attractive lines.

Standing out among them are red sandalwood, yellow rose wood, chicken wing wood and "tieli" wood.

Furniture made in Suzhou is the product of meticulous artistic standards and grasps the essence of the minimalist motto "less is more", which is partly thanks to the influence of local scholars during the Ming Dynasty.

FEI YING, TEACHER SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, SUZHOU UNIVERSITY "Scholars in Suzhou and surrounding areas during the Ming Dynasty are differentiated from their counterparts in previous dynasties by their novel interest in furniture design, which helped it to throw off rigidity and develop cultural meaning. Their aesthetics led Ming furniture to follow an elegant and natural taste. In quality furniture, the texture of wood was fully used to reveal the material's natural beauty. In addition, historic references to furniture by scholars leave us valuable information. "

The exhibition is scheduled to run till October the 15th at the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Culture and History Museum in Beijing. SW, CGTN.