### 252580508 beds were a Chinese status symbol > That museum bed is also from the Qing dynasty, matching up with the time period you've referenced. It was indeed a practice going out of style in the 19th and 20th centuries, but still functioned as an obvious status symbol in more ways than one. There's the clear wealth to flaunt from the canopied bed's construction and adornments, for one. For another, you have to be rich in order to have a woman of the family never need to leave it. She wasn't merely lying down her entire life; if the canopied bed's occupant was the matriarch, she ran the household from her room-within-a-room. A woman's status in the household - whether wife, daughter, mistress, or concubine - was reflected in the type of bed she had. The rather lecherous book Jin Ping Mei, also known as The Plum in the Golden Vase, was written in the 17th century and exemplifies the importance of beds in the house of Ximen. Pan Jilian, his mistress, exercised her influence by demanding he buy her a bed just as expensive as the one his concubine Li Ping'er has. You better believe she gets it too, complete with silks, silver, and mother-of-pearl inlays. Beds were a huge deal. - [View Highlight](https://reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/r189so/looking_for_info_on_the_historical_practice_of?__readwiseLocation=0%2F3%2F0%2F4%2F2%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F4%2F1%2F0%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F5%2F1%2F0%2F3%3A0%2C4%2F0%2F4%2F2%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F4%2F1%2F0%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F5%2F1%2F0%2F3%3A0#:~:text=That%20museum%20bed%20is%20also%2CBeds%20were%20a%20huge%20deal.) - [[noble Chinese girls growing up without leaving their bed by pineyapples#252580508 beds were a Chinese status symbol|View in Vault]]