The sedan Chair (jiào zǐ 轿子) can be regarded as a special transportation vehicle in ancient China. It is lifted with shoulders and hands. Actually, it is a removable bed, desk chair or chaise lounge which is fixed on two poles with or without a tent.

The chinese sedan chair was very popular in many areas in history. In different ages and in different areas, the sedan chair has different names, for example, palankeen (jiān yú 肩舆), Yan Zi (yán zǐ 檐子), Dou Zi (dōu zǐ 兜子), Mian Jiao (mián jiào 眠轿), Nuan Jiao (nuǎn jiào 暖轿) etc.. The sedan chairs we know now are the Nuan Jiao, also called Wei Jiao (wéi jiào 帏轿). In Song Dynasty, sedan chair is the most common than that of any period. From the Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival (清明上河图), we can see there were many sedan chairs in the street of North Song Dynasty (北宋).

The sedan chair was one of the traditional vehicles in ancient Beijing. There are sedan chairs lifted by two persons, four persons or eight persons.

When it comes to its kind, the sedan chair can be classified in to three types: sedan chair for officials (guān jiào 官轿), the civilian (mín jiào 民轿) and weddings (hūn jiào 婚轿). As far as the purposes are concerned, the sedan chair has two types: one is for mountain roads, and the other for flat roads. According to materials, it can be classified into three kinds: wood, bamboo and rattan. The sedan chair can be lifted by manpower or animal stocks, such as camel sedan chair (tuó jiào 驮轿) and elephant sedan chair (xiàng jiào 象轿) which the emperor of Yuan Dynasty (元朝) had taken before.

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