In ancient time, bed is a piece of furniture for people to sit and lie on, as was different from the modern bed, which is used solely for sleeping. In Paraphrasing Texts and Words, "Bed refers to a seat for one to settle down." Settling down just means making one's body feel secure and comfortable, thus bed can refer to anything that plays a supporting and steadying function. Bed is actually a base. Therefore in Chinese there are expressions like "lute bed", "machine bed", "lathe bed", and "pen bed". 

Esthetically, beds fall into thousand-procedure bed (with elaborate and massive work involved), folk-custom bed, culture bed, ambulatory bed and so on. With the increase in varieties and patterns, rigid specifications have developed for beds, some for entertaining guests, and some specifically for temporary rest. Definite formulations and stipulations also have come into being for the structures and shapes of beds. The forms of Chinese ancient beds are variegated, some small and exquisite and some luxurious and magnificent. Of the large variety of ancient beds, almost all are sculptured and painted with pictures ranging widely in auspicious subjects such as luckiness, blessing, good fortune, rank, longevity and happiness. Appreciating the sculptures on ancient beds is comparable to enjoying pictures depicting stories of historical figures. Acclaimed as the peak of perfection and leaving the admirers with lingering joy, these pictures provide rare material for the research into folk customs.