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Residence of rich and influential
official of salt commerce
According to the tradition that a residence should face south, with the house in front and garden at rear. The southern section was the owner’s living quarters and gate opens on Dong Guan Street. There stands a splendid screen wall with brick carvings in the opposite of the gate. Mr. Chen Congzhou in Collected Writings about Gardening, said: “A splendid screen wall facing the gate, being adhered with water-ground bricks on which patterns were sculptured. The word ‘happiness’ was set in the center of the screen wall just like that above the gate of Ge Yuan Garden and the workmanship is exquisite.” Jin Xuefang of the Qing dynasty once said: “Ge Yuan Garden is a place where the courtyard is throng with a galaxy of celebrities and their horses.” It is said that when Ge Yuan Garden was in its heyday, the three-way houses were named in the order of happiness, emolument, longevity, wealth and good fortune, they were separately arranged in file. Five magnificent houses here were built in good order and it had more than two hundred rooms originally. Though only three houses are now preserved, one hall or one beam or one pillar invariably confirms that the owner led a particular and luxurious life and confirms at the same time that Yangzhou’s salt merchants then had abundant financial resources.
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