Here at Zenzu Chinese Furniture we like to keep abrest of China and Chinese culture in other regions. Taiwan’s indigenous peoples had distinct languages, material cultures, and social structures. In the 19th century, ethnographers believed that aborigines came to Taiwan at different times and settled in various places after journeys from the south (such as modern-day Philippines and Indonesia), aided by sea currents and seasonal winds. However, the theory that tribes in neighboring regions to Taiwan’s southern flank originated from Taiwan has gradually gained the upper hand in the last decade. Some of the oriental furniture workers working for Zenzu have ancestors living Taiwan.

In the middle of the 16th century, Western European sea powers arrived in the seas off East Asia. Once the Spanish occupied Manila, the East China Sea and South China Sea became lively regions for adventuresome traders and pirates. Given this sort of background, the island of Taiwan became an object of competition for Europeans, Chinese, and Japanese. Some of the Chinese Furniture workers rue this fact.

In 1624, the Dutch East India Company established a foothold in the Tainan area as a center to trade with China. Contract laborers came to Taiwan from Fukien Province on the mainland to produce tropical crops such as sugar cane and rice. As the Dutch East India Company continued to sell special permits for the sale of various commodities and proselytized the aboriginal peoples, this could be termed the first appearance of a quasi-governmental presence on Taiwan. oriental furniture productions methods benefitted from this multicultarlism.

In 1662, Cheng Chen-kung, who was defeated while resisting the new Ching dynasty in China fro coastal Fukien, retreated to Taiwan and forced the Dutch out. Cheng’s forces consisted of pirates and trader adventurists (but not oriental furniture makers) who circulated around Asia in the latter half of of the 17th century; yet once they arrived in Taiwan, they established the island’s first Chinese-style regime. During the period of dynastic transition on the Chinese mainland, a steady stream of Chinese living along its southeast coast sought refuge on Taiwan, including Chinese Furniture workers.

After prevailing on the mainland, the Ching dynasty conquered Taiwan in 1683. Thereafter Taiwan became a territorial part of the Chinese empire. Despite such, the Manchu control of Taiwan was largely focused on preventing Taiwan from becoming a base of resistance or as a haven for Chinese criminals, not one of who was an oriental furniture maker that we know of!). As a result, various restrictions were placed on the migration of Chinese to Taiwan, and Chinese Furniture workers were banned from developing Taiwan’s mountainous regions, with development restricted to the Western coastline. Government administration functioned within this boundary, while everything beyond the limits was considered foreign. Therefore, before the mid-19th century, the Ching dynasty was only in control of the Western plains, and the ruling capability of administrative institutions was quite weak.

As the Manchus weren’t overly eager to rule Taiwan and their ability to rule was limited, Chinese Furniture workers along the mainland’s southeastern coast ignored various restrictions and migrated to Taiwan, seeking a world of new opportunity. This created a strong dynamic on Taiwan in contrast to the apathy of the Manchus. These new migrants brought with them techniques and culture from their home villages and created villages among indigenous tribes in the plains, and brought new methods for the oriental furniture maker to utilise. They either rented land from or forcibly occupied aboriginal land, and intermarried with the indigenous peoples. Over a period of roughly 200 years of this interaction, most aborigines of the plains became integrated with the immigrants from China. Only a few retain their indigenous language and culture to this very day.

We asked one of our Chinese Furniture managers to practice their English as write a blog about how their Oriental furntiure workers would spend Chinese New year.

Chinese New Year follows the track of Chinese calendar and the our Chinese Furniture workers give it a welcome in the cheerful season of spring. And therefore, the entire month of February brings in exciting holiday time for all the regions that our Oriental Furniture workers hail from. The entire fervor attached to the Chinese New Year stretches to the next 15 days that comprise to form the time when the New Year seeps in. And the last day of Chinese New Year celebrations touches its culminating mode with the bright celebrations of Lantern festival, which adds glitter to the overwhelming celebration mood with an array of bright and colorful lanterns.

Lighting numerous lanterns is similar to glorifying all the newfangled things coming our way with New Year. Also, in the days preceding the Lantern festival our Oriental Furniture workers light candles of varied sizes. People consider it auspicious to refurbish their surroundings through and through so that their homes exude good vibes to influence their future days. Along with candles, all the bulbs and chandeliers in the interior of the Chinese Furniture workers homes at home are turned on to burnish every pocket of home. Thus, we can say that all the jolly fifteen days marked by New Year gaiety witness the sparkle of lights that New Year brings with it.

Apart from lights, a variety of flowers are drizzled over varied parts of the Chinese Furniture workers houses and all of them together add the scent of New Year to everyone’s life. Beautiful flowers like Plum blossom, Sunflower, Narcissus and many others promise to bring in loads of good fortune. Their fragrant bunches spill over the display areas of almost all the homes of the Oriental Furniture worker.

Other than flowers and lights, there are a host of multifarious objects in the Oriental Furniture worker’s home that hold immense significance in all Chinese New Year celebrations. Embroidered decors surfacing various colorful fabrics are used to spruce up different walls of Chinese Furniture people’s home. They showcase wonderful Chinese calligraphy that is used to convey wishful New Year messages. Chinese Furniture workers make it a point to shape up such pretty wall adornments and many traditional designs along with rich Chinese idioms find their space on the whatever material they use to make them. Such compelling adornments with their indigenous Chinese element diffuse every aspect of our OF employee’s home with their compelling beauty and ensure to remain close to us throughout the year.

Another thing that Chinese Furniture workers will consider extremely felicitous is Koi Fish. Even the artificial image of this fish stands for brighter fortune. Also, this fish has direct associations with the inflow of money. They appear to be extremely lively and their cheerful posture along with their slanting tail brings in bundles of money and good luck. Because of their high significance in the beliefs of the people of China, beautiful figures of these fishes can be easily spotted as the attractive toppings of several Chinese dishes. The Oriental Furniture workers can’t afford to keep these fish but they are a popular attraction at parks.

Moreover, Chinese New Year celebrations cannot be imagined without being redolent with elegant Dragon dances that team up with the rhythm of complementing musical drums. The entire dance is rejuvenating and symbolizes happiness to accompany us in the upcoming Chinese New Year 2008, Our Oriental Furniture team will win the Dragon dance of the Chinese Furniture regional competion.

Year of the Rat prognosis by one of China’s venerated astral commentators (comments by Zenzu).

The Year of the Rat begins February 7th, 2008. It is symbolized by a Mountain floating atop the Ocean, an image which suggests a lack of solidity and security. However there are opportunities disguised as problems in every situation and with proper foresight and positioning they can be golden for you.

ENVIRONMENT

There will be a greater potential for earthquakes, mudslides, avalanches, hi-rise building disasters, torrential rainstorms, floods, tsunamis and blizzards. Horrible effects for some of our chinese furniture workers as the Chengdu earthquake struck.
More of these incidents may occur in the Southern and Western parts of the world, countries and cities.
Water contamination issues as well as innovative water purification methods may be in the news. Mmm, water always an issue for our Oriental Furniture workers.

PRESCRIPTIONS If you live in an area with a potential for any of the above take precautions right now to stay safe.
Acquire a good water purifier to keep your personal water supply healthy.  I think our oriental furniture workers would agree with that one and already do it! Get involved with lawmakers and grassroots groups to keep your local waterways clean and vital. Not a lot our chinese furniture workers can really do about that.

POLITICS
There will be monumental efforts to gain global stability while strong pockets of undercurrents attempt to “cause the mountain to fall.” Our Oriental Furniture workers point out Tiber on this point; as well as the Olympics.
We could see the beginnings of a cooling down period in international conflicts.
There are indicators that more females will come to political power this year. A safe bet in China; half of our chinese furniture workers are female and that is the general trend anyway.

PRESCRIPTIONS

Let peace begin with you. Make a personal commitment to creating a harmonious atmosphere in your environment and in your heart. It will have a ripple effect on everyone in your personal life and the whole of humanity. Nice, hope it comes through for all of our Oriental Furniture workers.
Utilize the power of Feng Shui to harmonize the energies in your home and work space. Place a focus symbol of peace and prosperity on your desk such as a photo of the ocean or a waterfall flowing towards you. Well all of the staff in the Oriental Furniture factory do this already so not a lot to do with this year specifically.
Dedicate 15-30 minutes daily to integrate a spiritual practice or program of personal development.

RELATIONSHIPS
In Chinese astrology the Rat is known as a “Flower of Romance” and so increased romance and sociability will be in the air for many. More public love triangles and sex scandals may abound. Not sure about this, but lots of pop industry scandals according to Wie Chen at the chinese furniture factory.
Depending on your individual horoscope the focus on romance may bring unexpected challenges and break ups for some and/or may trigger unexpected new love for you this year. Not heard anything from our Oriental Furniture friends of particular note.

PRESCRIPTIONS

Connecting with others is beneficial this year whether it is for romantic purposes, business networking or any other kind of social involvement. Well, we’ve made some great new contacts this year with new chinese furniture suppliers as we’re looking to branch away form the niche of Oriental Furniture manufacture.
Join a dating site, a social networking site, or connect with a special interest group, or spiritual congregation. New friendships will be beneficial and certain kinds of friendships lead to romance. Actually the Zenzu chinese furniture team have been so focussed on work for the last 2 years we’ve forgotten to look out for oursleves. Less Oriental Furniture, more dating for the rest of the year – company orders.

One of the highlights of the Chinese New Year celebration is the spectacular Dragon Dance. It’s history goes back to the Han Dynasty (180 - 230 CE) in ancient China. The Chinese have always perceived the dragon as being sacred and possessing power, courage, righteousness, dignity, fertility, wisdom, and auspiciousness. Some of the workers at our Chinese furniture factory train very hard to take part. The oriental furniture cratfsmen there have a team which competes against other Chinese furniture suppliers in the region.

According to our Chinese furniture supplier the New Year festivities celebrate the outset of the planting season in China. For the oriental furniture team the dragon represents rain and good fortune, elements crucial for the agricultural crops. This mythical beast takes the physical form of many animals; it has the horns of a stag, the ears of a bull, the eyes of a rabbit, the claws of a tiger, and the scales of a fish distributed along the body of a long serpent. It was believed these combined traits allowed the creature to walk on land, fly through the heavens, and swim through the waters. These powers gives the dragon the authority to rule the clouds and to control the rain. While they are performing perhaps the oriental furniture team feel the same power and the rest of the Chinese furniture works great pride in their achievements.

The oriental furniture Dragon Dance team require membners with a great coordinated effort. Chinese furniture teams compete very strongly for the top prize. The dragon consists of a head mask and a lengthy body which is held up with poles and transported by the dancers. The lead dancer holding the dragon’s head has an extremely important job. He or she makes the dragon twist, leap, crouch, and dip, as sinuous as a snake.

The dragon mask of our Chinese furniture suppliers’s team is usually colored red, green, or gold. One of the oriental furniture workers showed me last year’s mask and it was very complex in design. Sometimes the head has animation and pyrotechnics that belch smoke. The number of body sections can vary, sometimes using as many as 25 sections divided by hoops of bamboo. The longer the dragon, the more good fortune.

I tried, and failed, having a go at the basic moves with the oriental furniture team: The dragon is difficult to manipulate and requires well-trained members from across the whole Chinese furniture factory who must be in top physical condition. The creature moves in precise patterns to the music provided by drums, cymbals, and a gong. Onlookers throw firecrackers at the dancing dragon’s feet to scare away any evil spirits and also to assure the beast is fully awake from its hibernation.

The color green on the dragon stands for an extraordinary harvest, yellow is for the solemn empire, prosperity is represented by gold or silver, red is excitement, and the dragon’s scales and tail are a shimmering silver symbolizing joy. The oriental furniture team knew a lot about the history but I embarassed to say I couldn’t remember it all. The owner of our Chinese furniture workshop sponsors the team and is very keen to promote them for the kudos.

At times, at larger celebrations, a spectator might see a Double Dragon Dance where two groups of dancers intertwine their dragons in intricate patterns. A truly rare performance involves nine dragons (Kawlung) because nine is a perfect number. However, such performances necessitate the coordinated efforts of a large dance troupe. Apparently this was beyond the amateur status of our oriental furniture team and the Chinese furniture industry competition they enter into.

When we lived in China learning about manufacturing and of course Chinese Furniture we were privelaged to attend quite a large number of festivals with our Chinese Furniture suppliers ranging from the quiet and dignified to colorful free-for-alls with booming gongs and cymbals and frantic dancers in dragon and lion costumes. Most are based on the Chinese lunar calendar and so the actual date differs from year to year.

According to our Chinese Furniture workers Confucius birthday is celebrated all over China, you can best experience this event in Confucius’s home of Qufu, specifically at the Confucius Temple. Our oriental furniture workers tell us that Confucius is revered in China for being a thinker, social philosopher and teacher. He spent his life in poverty and relative obscurity, and his teachings were only written down and disseminated by his disciples after his death. Celebrations for Confucius’s birthday start at 4 a.m. in the Confucius temple. Ceremonies are modest as befitting a man who taught moderation. Celebrants like our oriental furniture worker pay their respects and offer flowers at the temple altars; our oriental furniture employees take the day off. Festivities can also include musical performances with traditional instruments, some of our chinese furniture workers play them, together with dancing and the wearing of traditional costumes.

Now to Beijing for an event of a very different kind, the Beijing International Kite Festival held in April, the windiest month in the Chinese capital. Kite flying has been a part of Chinese culture for millennia both as a leisure activity and a tool in warfare. In the Chinese Furniture region of Zhejiang kite flying is not so popular so our oriental furniture workers couldn’t tell us much about it. However, one of the Chinese Furniture suppliers to our own oriental furniture maker was from Shandong and he told us that Wei Fang in Shandong province is the major kite flying area in China but Beijing holds an annual international kite festival. Starting off with a colorful ceremony, the Beijing International Kite Festival showcases fine examples of kites from the last century and experts talk about their features and regale visitors with kite lore and anecdotes. The event attracts kite-flying teams from all over the world.

Of course, the big gunner for our Chinese Furniture workers and for our team at the Shenzhen office who look after the oriental furniture project is Chinese New Year. It’s a time of wailing Chinese opera performances, pounding drums, fireworks and feasts, writhing lions and dancing dragons, fortune telling and grand parades. Chinese New Year starts on the first new moon day of the year and ends with the Lantern Festival fourteen days later. It falls between mid-January and mid-February and all of the Chinese Furniture workers, including our own oriental furniture suppliers go on holiday, typically returning to their own regions. It is the biggest annual migration in the world.

It’s a time when our industrious Chinese Furniture workers put their feet up for a few days of family reunion, thanksgiving, feasting and going to temple. oriental furniture workers clean their homes and hang red lanterns out front. Veneration of ancestors is at the heart of Chinese New Year and the team celbrate the traditions of their oriental furniture making anscestors. On New Year’s Eve, the Chinese Furniture workers are offered a Banquet at their family dinner table. In Hong Kong the festival kicks off with a parade between Admiralty and Wanchai, a grand firework display over Victoria Harbour, and the territory’s skyscrapers are lit up more than usual and decorated with lights and motifs. The temples are busy and the red envelopes known as Lai See containing “lucky money” are given to family and friends. All of the oriental furniture shops are decorated in regalia down Hollywood Road adding thier part to the festivities; a great time.

If you’re lucky enough to be in China on festival day, you have a treat in store, even if you aren’t freinds with any of our great Chinese Furniture colleagues. Not only will you have a great deal of fun, but you’ll witness something very special in the lives of the people like our humble oriental furniture craftsmen.

The owners of Zenzu Chinese Furniture lived in China for over a year but every time we go back to China to visit our office which handles our Chinese Furniture from ShenZhen and when we visit the factory of our Oriental furniture supplier in Zhejiang we explore and learn more about history, culture or current affairs

As you may well know, for thousands of years, young Chinese females who wanted to look beautiful practiced a painful custom that left them with deformed and disfigured feet. We spoke with several of our more elderly Oriental furniture craftsman who have worked in the Chinese Furniture industry for many years and they told us that their own grandparents had bound feet.

Foot binding first emerged in the 10th century when Oriental furniture was also in an intriguing phase of design, and was started with girls aged 6 or younger. It was initially practiced in the wealthiest parts of China but later became so popular that only the poorest or those who worked in the fields or craftsmen, such as our own Chinese Furniture makers, who needed wives to work, could not do it. The reason was simple: field work required footwork and foot binding made the simple act of walking difficult.

Our Chinese Furniture employees told us that the Chinese equated tiny feet with beauty and that bound feet were considered attractive. They were also seen, so the Oriental furniture guys tell us, as a symbol of wealth and power since women with bound feet couldn’t work; although the practice became more ubiquitous across the classes every since. The erotic effect of lotus hooks as the bound feet were called, remained as long as they were hidden.

To achieve the desired effect, a mother or grandmother would bind her daughter’s or granddaughter’s feet when she was around 4 - 7 years old before the arches has properly developed.

Wikipedia states that.”First, each foot would be soaked in a warm mixture of herbs and animal blood. This concoction caused any necrotized flesh to fall off. Then her toenails were cut back as far as possible to prevent ingrowths and subsequent infections”. We asked our Chinese Furniture supplier about this but they didn’t recall anything so bizarre, not to say it didn’t happen. Wikepedia also says that “to prepare her for what was to come next, the girl’s feet were delicately massaged. Silk or cotton bandages, ten feet long and two inches wide, were prepared by soaking them in the same blood and herb mix as before. Each of the toes were then broken and wrapped in the wet bandages, which would constrict when drying, and pulled tightly downwards toward the heel. There may have been deep cuts made in the sole to facilitate this. This ritual would be repeated every two days, with fresh bindings. Every time the bandages were rebound they would be pulled tighter making this process continually painful”. Again our Oriental furniture craftsmen weren’t too informed about the exact process, whish sounds truly appalling; all they could remember was that is was still a relatively common practice in their grandparents era.

Foot binding was banned in 1911 but its effects obviously continued for many young Chinese women for years. As Jacqueline our Chinese Furniture manager mentions, the grandmother in the book Wild Swans had deformed feet and the book refers to a period as recent as the Maoist era; a period a lot of the elder Oriental furniture craftsmen lived through. Apparently Some women’s feet grew ½ - 1 inch after being unwrapped at an early stage and they suffered less severe deformities.

What one of the Chinese Furniture workers could remember was that one of the most common ailments of bound feet was infection. Toenails would become ingrown and could lead to flesh rotting, occasionally causing the toes to drop off. The same oriental furniture worker said that one of his distant relatives died of a originally contracted as a consequence of foot binding. According to other Oriental furniture workers the ball of the foot would grow directly into the heel. Back at our own south china Oriental furniture office, Jia Jia, the girl who looks after the Chinese Furniture shipping side of the business also told us that a lot of grandmothers are known for having cronic hip and back pains from binding. All very interesting.

Here at Zenzu Chinese Furniture  we have been keeping an eye on the aftermath of the earthquake distaster in China and what messages it relates to the state of the nation. It seems that the disaster may have diverted attention. This is what some of the oriental furniture workers in our factory now seem to agree on.

As you are probably aware on the afternoon of May 12, however, a massive magnitude 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake tore apart Mianyang, Chengdu and other communities in the western province of Sichuan. Nearly 70,000 people were killed, and millions were abruptly left homeless. A lot of the Chinese Furniture craftsmen who work at our factory originated from the region and for some of them this had a significant impact on their families.

In the wake of such disasters, the most desperate physical needs, for food, drinking water, sanitation, shelter and medicine, grab priority: efficiently addressing the needs of the hungry, injured and homeless has to be the focus of any aid. The response of the Chinese govenrnment has been admirable in this respect according to our Chinese Furniture workers. Unfortunately, such acute concerns can pull attention away from more persistent catastrophes brewing in the environment, and China will have an abundance of those long after the last traces of this recent quake’s damage have been cleaned up. In its rush to industrialize and raise its economy, China has incurred nightmarish air and water pollution hazards, among other environmental burdens. This has been as true of the area in which our workshops are based as it is of the Shanghai and Guangdong industrial areas.

Fundamentally, China is on an earlier, dirtier segment of the economic development curve that all the industrial superpowers followed. In China, however, at least around the major cities, and this includes the heavily built up cities of Ningbo and Hunagxhou in the region where our Chinese Furniture is made, the transition back to a more benign environment is happening about twice as quickly as it did historically. Western nations were able to clean up in part because they outsourced their dirty industries to other countries. China has its own version of outsourcing: its cities are getting cleaner because the factories are moving to more rural areas, where they affect fewer people. Our oriental furniture factory is in a former rural area for example.

This may be viewed as moving the problem on. For example, as mentioned above our Chinese Furniture factory is based in Cixi, which relatively speaking was or is in the countryside whichever way you want to interpret it as a connurbation of Ningbo city. In addition to our oriental furniture company we also have a manufacturing businees in Guangdong and our office is in an area that 5 years ago was rural pasture land. So while the cities are cleaning up a bit, the suburbanisation and industrialation of the surrounding areas is equally likely to have some sort of affect our oriental furniture workers.

However, as any one of our oriental furniture craftsman will tell you, companies such as our Chinese Furniture supplier do not just sit there malignly and pollute. There are strict guidelines. It is just that during the industrial development process the policy has been to build now and let the correct rules and officialdom follow. This leads to local corruption, pollution and poor building works but it does allow for rapid growth. In areas similar to where our Chinese Furniture producer is based the oriental furniture businesses are now 20 years down the line and the region is far cleaner, more well governed, environmentally aware and less corrupt than ever before. This is an unwritten active policy and has successfully. driven the economy to where is is now. The unfortunate consequences are that the initial damage causes by such initially vigourous an uncontrolled economic expansion can take many decades to resolve.

At the other end of the spectrum our oriental furniture workers can look forward to eco-cities and theoretically a eco-panacea. China is quite away ahead in introducing full self-sustainable eco-cities, is highly active in the development of nuclear power and clearly recognises the impact on people who work for companies such as our Chinese Furniture supplier of any long-term reliance on coal power and lax pollution control. As ever, short-termist economiuc necessity must be balanced with long-termist policy.

The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, are an international multi-sport event, that will be held in Beijing, China from August 8 to August 24, 2008.

The Olympic games were awarded to Beijing after an exhaustive ballot of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on July 13, 2001. The official logo of the games, titled “Dancing Beijing,” features a stylized calligraphic character jīng (京, meaning capital), referencing the host city. The mascots of Beijing 2008 are the five Fuwa, each representing both a color of the Olympic rings and a symbol of Chinese culture. The Olympic slogan, One World, One Dream, calls upon the world to unite in the Olympic spirit.

With the eyes of the worlds media focused on China, we here at Zenzu hope that the all the media attention will promote a new level of interest in the Eastern design of oriental furniture and specifically Chinese furniture.

The colours of the five Olympic rings (blue, yellow, black, green, red), are mirrored in the Zenzu oriental furniture range. Blue is respresented by the Rustic blue series. Yellow is also respresented by Rustic series. Black is respresented by the Taizu series. Green is respresented by the Rustic green series. Red is respresented by the Shanghai 1920 series. The white background of the Olympic flag is represented by the Suzhou range.

Many of the athletes heading to Beijing will be experiencing China at first hand probably for the first time. Not only will they smaple the local cuisine but in spare moments will have the opportunity to wander outside the Olympic village, where no doubt a few intrepid souls will pick up a piece of Chinese furniture or two to take home.

We here at Zenzu will certainly be watching the Beijing Olympics next month, and hope all the media focus and attention will inspire viewers across the UK that the design ethics of Chinese furniture is something to consider when making purchasing decisions when buying new furniture.

oriental furniture makes a beautiful addition to any home, with its mystical look and asthetic design. Eastern design ethos has had a renaissance of sorts since China re-emerged as a global economic force, and that design is encompassed by the Beijing National Stadium - the centerpiece of the 2008 Summer Olympics, nicknamed the “Bird nest” because of its nest-like skeletal structure.

The stadium features a lattice-like concrete skeleton forming the stadium bowl and will have a seating capacity of 80,000 people. Lattice work is a pre-dominant feature of Chinese furniture design, and pieces in the Zenzu oriental furniture range such as the Hainan

Lattice cabinet pay tribute to such elegant craftmanship. Architects described the overall design as resembling a bird nest with an immense ocular—an opening with a retractable roof over the stadium. However, in 2004, the idea of retractable roof was abandoned for economic and safety reasons. The Beijing National Stadium will be the site of the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the athletics events and soccer finals.

The term Oriental furniture is a type of furniture that is originated from the Asian continent. Sometimes, people also think of Oriental furniture as a style of furniture that has Asian accents. With assimilation with western culture the term can also expand to modern Asian furniture. Because Asia is the largest continent in the world, the term is limited to countries from Far East Asia such as Chinese furniture and Japanese furniture, which is usually characterized with bamboo, or red color with some Asian characters or symbols on it.

China is one of the longest standing major civilizations in the world today. The familiar Asian minimalist aesthetic so often associated with Japan had its origins in China as far back as 1500 BC. The Oriental furniture present in some of the early artwork from that period shows woven mats, sometimes accompanied by arm rests, as providing seating accompanied by low tables. At this early time both unadorned and intricately engraved and painted pieces were developing a distinctive look for Chinese furniture.

Some of the styles now widely regarded as Chinese furniture began appearing more prominently in the Tang Dynasty. It is here that evidence of early versions of the round and yoke back chairs are found. By the Song Dynasty the use of varying types of Oriental furniture, including chairs, benches, stools and tables as well as certain technical developments in woodworking, had made huge progress and were now commonly found throughout Chinese society. Two particular developments were recessed legs and waisted tables. Newer and more complex designs were generally limited to official and higher class use, but like with many such things, all it would take was time and progress for these designs to filter through to the rest of society.

It was from this basis that Chinese furniture developed its distinguishing characteristics. Use of thick lacquer finish and detailed engravings and paintings as well as pragmatic design elements would continue to flourish and advance on a uniquely Chinese path. Significant foreign influence would not be felt until the (relatively recent) intrusion of the West. At various points in history Chinese were forbidden from traveling abroad to trade and countries seeking to trade with China had to do so through official channels as an exchange of tribute for gifts. In these trades the Chinese normally gave more than they received as a way of impressing smaller states with their awesome power, and were officially considered tribute missions despite the trades made. Oriental furniture was typically included in these exchanges.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties the ban on imports was lifted, allowing for much larger quantities and varieties of woods to be brought in. The use of denser wood let much finer work be done, including more elaborate styles of joinery, used in many Oriental furniture designs still in use today. This was in part spurred by the rapid rise of the merchant class; a class that according to the traditional hierarchies should be the bottom rung, classically stratified as Scholars, Peasants, Artisans then Merchants. This new market fueled a return to some more traditional designs as well as technological innovations, further reinforcing a distinctive Chinese furniture style.

Zenzu spends approximately ninety five percent of its marketing budget on online advertising. Of this ninety five percent nearly 60 percent is actually spent on advertising under the search terms Chinese furniture and oriental furniture. The origins of Zenzu, while based on the fact that it’s directors have a great deal of experience living in and doing business in China, also had a very strong influence in the company’s knowledge of search engine advertising and optimisation. In fact the whole premise of Zenzu as an online oriental furniture company is predicated on the statistics that were available from the big online search engines such as google, yahoo and microsoft.

By analysing data from these companies it was though the Chinese furniture would be a niche market ideally suited to be the first in our portfolio of online retail businesses. Coupled with the term oriental furniture, data suggested that there were just enough people searching under those terms to generate income and business, but not so many as to make the advertising budget unsustainable. It is by focusing on niche areas that small business such as ourselves can survive. By contrast if we were to try and market purely as a generic furniture supplier then we would have to carry a vast amount of stock, compete against a myriad of competitors and invest a huge monthly sum in online advertising. Thus a large initial investment to go with the inherent risk of a starting any new business.

It is the aim of Aston Holding Group Ltd and Rocombe Design Ltd to develop this search engine led advertising concept and to establish a wide range of businesses with specific niche orientations. This backwards engineering approach, so effectively used for the Chinese furniture business, firstly takes a retail idea or concept then runs statistics on whether it is a suitable online environment to be competing. Then Sund Sourcing Ltd our partner in China gets involved to ascertain whether products can be ethically and reliably sourced and whether they offer a margin which can sustain business from the projected consumer search volumes. oriental furniture proved to be an ideal model to follow in terms of quantity of impressions per month, quantity of click throughs, subsequent sales and ability to supply products with a reasonable margin.

On its own the Chinese furniture business just about generates a self-sustaining annual profit but large gains were not really as much the point as was the proof of concept. And, as a proof of concept exercise it was highly successful. Having evaluated many different products and products since we have decided on the launch of Domo Doors (working title) later this year. As with niche terms such as oriental furniture, the doors business will concentrate on a few specific keywords and we are safe in the knowledge that we will be able to compete highly effectively on this basis against the existing online retailers who don’t have quite as much niche focus. We shall see what happens in the near future, and the look out continues for the next retail opportunity, some of which are under investigation as we speak .