CN

China Open singles champions receive the honor of sitting in “first chair”

For the first time in China Open history, the men’s and women’s singles champions are being granted a significant cultural honor: a symbolic seating in a Chinese jiaoyi, a folding horseshoe-back armchair.

In Chinese history, the Imperial family and other influential individuals used this kind of wooden folding chair to convey their high rank in society. References to these chairs date back as far as the 12th century in paintings depicting servants carrying the chairs on their backs as they walk through the countryside.

This symbolism has continued into modern times, as the “first chair” (the Chinese saying “di yi ba jiaoyi”) projects status and is reserved for the most powerful and honored person in a public room.

Authentic historical specimens of this kind of folding chair are exceedingly rare and extremely valuable. An original late Ming-early Qing dynasty antique from the 17th Century was sold at auction in 2021 for about USD $8.5 million, and another fetched nearly double that amount in 2022.

The contemporary scented rosewood armchairs at the China Open were produced recently by Chinese company Longshuncheng, whose history and craftsmanship can be traced back to 1862 during the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty.

Carlos Alcaraz, champion of the ATP singles tournament, had the distinction of sitting in the men’s chair after defeating Jannik Sinner on Wednesday. Another honorary sitting in a similar chair awaits the women’s singles champion, either No. 4 seed Coco Gauff or unseeded Karolina Muchova.

Gauff hopes to have that opportunity come Sunday night. “Obviously it would be great to be there and sit on it and hold the trophy,” she said.

 

—Reporting by Jared Rubenstein