No place like home

Through seating and watercolors, two Beijing shows illustrate the social connotations of the spaces where we live. Lin Qi reports.

East or West, home is best. Two parallel exhibitions at the Beijing World Art Museum show the similarities and differences in how Chinese and Western interior furnishing bring dwellers comfort and security.

On the museum's first floor, visitors can appreciate the crafts of classical Chinese woodworking, especially Ming-style furniture, through the simple yet graceful lines that shape a chair. Upstairs at another venue of time and culture, people get to see the changing home decoration styles depicted in watercolor drawings of 19th-century Europe.