Wangong Sedan Chair

When visiting the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, a large sedan chair attracts many visitors to stop and watch. Ordinary sedan chairs are generally seen by people, even if they are rarely seen now, but they are occasionally used during Chinese-style weddings. But today I saw this eight-carried sedan chair called "Wangong Sedan Chair," which is difficult to see elsewhere. This is a red and gold wood-carved Ningbo sedan chair. This Ningbo sedan chair was built by ten craftsmen over ten years, with more than 10,000 working hours, so it is called "Wangong Sedan Chair," which is the highest-grade sedan chair and the most luxurious sedan chair in existence. The sedan chair is made of light and strong materials, so camphor, ginkgo, and other woods are generally used. The body of this sedan chair adopts a mortise and tenon structure, and the content is extremely rich, combining Chinese and Western styles, and combining rigidity and flexibility. This sedan chair is mainly decorated with red lacquer wood carvings, with hundreds of figures, flowers, birds, insects, and animals carved in the round or in relief, so it is also called "Baizi Sedan Chair." The pavilions and towers "perform" famous opera scenes such as "Water Margin," "The Story of the Washing Silk," "The Story of the West Chamber," "The Story of the Hairpin," and "The Story of the Jade Bracelet." As the sedan chair moves, the characters on the stage begin to rotate and "perform." The sedan chair's clothes embroidered with gold and silver and the small wooden palace lanterns rise and fall with the swaying of the sedan chair. The glass wind chimes make a pleasant sound when the wind blows. The double-layer glass paintings on the four sides of the sedan chair are selected from auspicious themes such as "Heavenly Palace Blessing," "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea," "Kirin Sending Children," "Hehe Erxian," "Golden Dragon and Colorful Phoenix," "Joy on the Eyebrows," and "Pomegranate Opening a Hundred Sons." The sunlight shines on the sedan chair, making it look like a golden shrine. This "Wangong Sedan Chair" is one of the top ten treasures of the Zhejiang Provincial Museum. If you have the opportunity to visit the Zhejiang Provincial Museum's Zhijiang Pavilion, you must go and admire this rare "Wangong Sedan Chair."