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Appreciating the Details

The threshold of a rich family's
house was as high as 50 centimeters, indicating the family's blue-blood
pedigree.

A stone
carpet in the dooryard, also called an "Auspicious Carpet." The pattern include
four bats on the corners, three coins in the middle, and four copies of the
Chinese character shou (which means longevity) inscribed in the corners of the
middle coin. It's considered good luck to step first on the bat (a homophony
with fu, or good luck), then the copper coin (money), the Chinese character
shou, the copper coin and the bat again.
The
chimney was built to ensure that smoke would not blow back into the buildings,
and to help prevent fires.
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