There are three problems needed to be answered for Chinese furniture designers,which are"What is modern furniture design?What is the modernity of furniture design,and what is the modernization of furniture design?"This article discusses Western modern furniture design and Chinese modern furniture design,respectively.In the early 20th century,from the beginning of bending chairs made by Thonet and then industrial design developed in the UK,a series of design theories and movements were explored in Europe,such as the Art and Craft movement,Art Nouveau,Glasgow's School,and Chicago's School.Finally,the base of modernism design was built by the De Stiji and the Bauhaus School in the 1930's,and modern furniture was beginning to be formed.On the other hand,society and the furniture industry were beginning to promote and pay attention to the innovation of furniture design since the reform and opening.In the middle of the 2010s,Chinese furniture designers began to explore the design of modern furniture with Chinese ethnic form—new Chinese style—which has not been growing to be a unique style of Chinese modern furniture for various reasons.This article also provides some suggestions and thinking about developing the design industry chain and building modern styles for the Chinese furniture industry.