Taozhao

　　During the Han Dynasty, people placed great importance on the kitchen stove. The Book of Han, chapter on the Five Elements, states: "The stove is the foundation of life." Han Dynasty people believed that death meant continuing life in another world, and the living should "treat the dead as if they were alive," therefore providing the deceased with a set of everyday necessities. Influenced by Daoist thought, stove worship became a means of seeking immortality. During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the emperor began to worship the stove, and this practice spread throughout the country.

　　In the early Western Han Dynasty, stove surfaces had minimal decoration, mostly plain. Some only had simple decorative patterns around the fire door on the front wall. This simplicity was mainly due to social factors at the time; years of war led to economic depression, leaving people with little energy to decorate their earthen stoves. From the mid-Western Han Dynasty onwards, stoves used as grave goods underwent significant changes. Decoration was no longer limited to the area around the fire door; exquisite decorations appeared on the stove surface and all four walls, and the chimney decorations also became more refined.