A chamber is the whole world for a traditional Chinese woman of the upper classes since she was not allowed to go beyond the gate. Since the age she was expected to be ‘sensible’, she was bound by a whole set restrictions such as: ‘ignorance is a virtue for women’, ‘walk without moving the shoulders,’ ‘don’t showing the teeth when smiling,’ to name but a few. Her daily life story went like this:

Everyday much time was spent dressing in front of her dressing table. Confined to her chamber, her own image in the mirror was the only companion with whom she could talk, play, or find fault with. Another faithful companion was the Qin (a kind of traditional stringed instrument) she played to find solace in its melancholy melodies. Endless days crawled by until one day she saw in the mirror a place-faced young maiden. It occurred to her that long gone was that carefree little girl with cherry lips and rosy cheeks. She had to hurry to prepare her dowry. Only if she could produce nice embroidery, would she be treated with some respect and thought to deserve a decent husband and a happy married life, which could in turn bring honor to her own family.

At last came the wedding day. Little had she expected that she had fled her confinement only to be confined to another chamber in her husband’s house--trapped again in the march of miserable days.  Day in, day out, she watched herself aging in the mirror. Her black shining hair grew gray, then white--snow crept over her once black and fair hair. Qin music no longer echoed in her chamber on sighs upon sighs.

On display in this chamber is Qin in front of a carved wooden bed, a dim oil lamp, a foot-binding rack, a bronze basin, a cumbersome locker and a dated vase.

Items in this exhibit are from Jiangxi, Shanxi, Hebei and Henan and reflect a time span: from the Qing Dynasty (1644) to modern times--about 400 years.