The Qu Family Grand Courtyard includes 8 grand yards and 19 general yards, with 240 houses altogether. Each yard has its unique style and system. Architectures once gave a high opinion of the Qu mansion, saying it is a "synthesis of the styles of the Song (960-1279), Yuan (1271-1368), Ming, and Qing dynasties and collects the soul from all over the country."

Besides ingenious overall arrangement and majestic buildings as well as luxuriant paintings, this mansion also has many elaborate woodcarvings and stone carvings with excellent carving skill and deep implication. Each component in the Qu Family Grand Courtyard is a rare work of art.

The Qu family once was a renowned commercial finance capitalist entity during the Qing Dynasty. Each big city had its commercial finance shops, with a trade capital of over 10 million pieces of silver. Moreover, the Qu family was also warm-hearted, as it contributed to public welfare, education, and cultural development, therefore winning society's widespread praise and respect. To a certain degree, the Qu family was a miniature of the rise and fall of modern Chinese merchants.

On September 22, 1996, the Qu Family Grand Courtyard opened to the public. It included 7 series of exhibitions as well as 27 showrooms. By the use of practicalities, pictures, models, sculptures, and other modern medias, it showed the connotation of jin shang culture, and restored its past glory.

Author:Ivana

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