Located in the old town of Dongshan, in Wuxian County, Suzhou, it was the mansion of the Jin family. It was rebuilt in the early years of Republic of China.
While adopting traditional Chinese design, the project also adopted Western materials and technology. Excellent carvings can be found everywhere inside and outside the structure. Besides woodcarvings, gold-carvings and bamboo carvings, there are also relief, round carvings, hollow-out carvings and positive-negative carvings.
Interestingly, on both sides of the archway are caved the images of Niulang (Cowboy) and Zhinu (Weaver Girl), characters in a legendary Chinese love story. As their background, there are patterns of grains, flying cranes and waling snakes, modifying good fortunes, and long and happy lives respectively.
(China.org.cn June 24, 2004)
