Bình phong đã có từ thời [[nhà Đông Chu]] (năm 771-256 trước Công Nguyên).<ref name="handler268">{{cite book|last=Handler|first=Sarah|title=Austere luminosity of Chinese classical furniture|year=2007|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-21484-2|pages=268–271, 275, 277|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-EKkblrm6sUC}}</ref><ref name="mazurkewich">{{cite book|last1=Mazurkewich|first1=Karen|first2=A. Chester|last2=Ong|title=Chinese Furniture: A Guide to Collecting Antiques|year=2006|publisher=Tuttle Publishing|isbn=978-0-8048-3573-2|pages=144–146|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=xswA02E02KwC}}</ref> These were initially one-panel screens in contrast to folding screens.<ref name="needham-v5">{{cite book |last1=Needham |first1=Joseph |authorlink1=Joseph Needham |last2=Tsien |first2=Tsuen-hsuin |authorlink2=Tsien Tsuen-hsuin |title=Paper and printing, Volume 5|year=1985|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-08690-5|page=120|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Lx-9mS6Aa4wC}}</ref> Folding screens were invented during the [[Han dynasty]] (206 BCE – 220 CE).<ref name="lee">{{cite book|last=Lee|first=O-Young|title=Things Korean|year=1999|publisher=Tuttle Publishing|isbn=978-0-8048-2129-2|page=135|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=9SZtiaK7-0YC|author2=Yi, Ŏ-ryŏng|author3=Holstein, John}}</ref> Depictions of those folding screens have been found in Han-era tombs, such as one in [[Zhucheng]], Shandong Province.<ref name="handler268"/>D
A folding screen was often decorated with beautiful art; major themes included mythology, scenes of palace life, and nature. It is often associated with intrigue and romance in [[Chinese literature]], for example, a young lady in love could take a curious peek hidden from behind a folding screen.<ref name="handler268"/><ref name="mazurkewich"/> An example of such a thematic occurrence of the folding screen is in the classical novel ''[[Dream of the Red Chamber]]'' by [[Cao Xueqin]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Tian|first=Jiaqing|title=Classic Chinese furniture of the Qing dynasty|year=1996|publisher=Philip Wilson|page=54}}</ref> The folding screen was a recurring element in [[Tang dynasty|Tang]] literature.<ref name=ha275/> The Tang poet [[Li He]] (790–816) wrote the "Song of the Screen" ({{lang|zh-hant|屏風曲}}), describing a folding screen of a newly-wed couple.<ref name=ha275/> The folding screen surrounded the bed of the young couple, its twelve panels was adorned with butterflies alighted on [[China pink]] flowers (an allusion to lovers), and had silver hinges resembling glass coins.<ref name=ha275>{{cite book|last=Handler|first=Sarah|title=Austere luminosity of Chinese classical furniture|year=2001|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=9780520214842|page=275}}</ref>
Folding screens were originally made from wooden panels and painted on [[lacquerware|lacquered]] surfaces, eventually folding screens made from paper or [[silk]] became popular too.<ref name="needham-v5"/> Even though folding screens were known to have been used since [[Ancient history|antiquity]], it became rapidly popular during the [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907).<ref name="vgulik">{{cite book|last=van Gulik|first=Robert Hans|title=Chinese pictorial art as viewed by the connoisseur: notes on the means and methods of traditional Chinese connoisseurship of pictorial art, based upon a study of the art of mounting scrolls in China and Japan|year=1981|publisher=Hacker Art Books|isbn=978-0-87817-264-1|page=159|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ZqkLAQAAMAAJ}}</ref> During the Tang dynasty, folding screens were considered ideal ornaments for many painters to display their [[Chinese painting|paintings]] and [[Chinese calligraphy|calligraphy]] on.<ref name="mazurkewich"/><ref name="needham-v5"/> Many artists painted on paper or silk and applied it onto the folding screen.<ref name="mazurkewich"/> There were two distinct artistic folding screens mentioned in historical literature of the era. One of it was known as the ''{{lang|zh-latn-pinyin|huaping}}'' ({{zh|c=畫屏|l=painted folding screen}}) and the other was known as the ''{{lang|zh-latn-pinyin|shuping}}'' ({{zh|c=書屏|l=calligraphed folding screen}}).<ref name="needham-v5"/><ref name="vgulik"/> It was not uncommon for people to commission folding screens from artists, such as from Tang-era painter Cao Ba or [[Song dynasty|Song-era]] painter [[Guo Xi]].<ref name="mazurkewich"/> The landscape paintings on folding screens reached its height during the Song dynasty (960–1279).<ref name="handler268"/> The [[lacquerware|lacquer techniques]] for the [[Coromandel screen]]s, which is known as ''{{lang|zh-latn-pinyin|kuǎncǎi}}'' ({{lang|zh-hant|款彩}} "incised colors"),<ref>{{cite book|author=張世南 (Zhang Shi'nan) |title= 遊宦紀聞 (yóuhuàn jìwén) |date=13th century |url=https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/遊宦紀聞/卷05 |language=zh |chapter=5 |quote={{lang|zh-hant|款謂陰字，是凹入者，刻畫成之}} (''kuǎn'' are inscriptions that are [[intaglio (sculpture)|counter-relief]], achieved by carving)}}</ref> emerged during the late [[Ming dynasty]] (1368-1644)<ref>{{cite book|last=Clunas|first=Craig|title=Pictures and visuality in early modern China|year=1997|publisher=Reaktion Books|location=London|isbn=978-1-86189-008-5|page=61|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Q06pemllwx0C}}</ref> and was applied to folding screens to create dark screens incised, painted, and inlaid with art of [[mother-of-pearl]], ivory, or other materials.<ref name="oldhouse"/>
