A luxurious mansion with a beautiful garden.
The entrance to the mansion is not very large, and it looks like a shop front. The mansion was built in the 23rd year of the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty (1897) by Mo Fangmei, a wealthy man from Pinghu in the Qing Dynasty. The Mo Mansion faces south and is located along the street and river. It covers a very large area and is surrounded by a 6-meter-high firewall. The entire mansion has more than 70 large and small buildings, with a traditional layout of front halls and rear bedrooms, arranged in three groups of four.
The main buildings include the sedan hall, the main hall, the general pavilion, the hall and the women's hall. The sedan hall is where the Mo family welcomes guests and prepares tea. In the sedan hall, you can see well-preserved official hats, land deeds, and the business cards and envelopes of the Mo family at that time. Passing by the accounting room from the sedan hall, you can see a group of models of landlords forcing rent and some old measuring tools through the window, which tell a story of history.
The flower hall is where the host entertains relatives and friends, and it is also where they recite poetry and respond, or where they engage in elegant activities. The main hall is called "Chunhui Hall". It is not only the center of etiquette in the family, but also a place to entertain officials and VIPs.
The entire mansion is compact and exquisite, with east and west gardens, built-in rockeries, stalagmites, pools, and planted magnolias, osmanthus, wintersweet and banana trees. The east side has wall doors, ancestral halls, and kitchens, and the west side has study rooms, bedrooms, and corridors. The intervals are connected by lanes, patios, courtyards, and corridors. The buildings are decorated with dark paint, white walls, and colorful roof ridges.
It reflects the grandeur, elegance, and solemnity of the residences of wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River. The furnishings include furniture, calligraphy and painting, utensils, and antiques, showing the characteristics of the era and national culture.