The Wu Family Reception Hall

This three-bay reception hall was originally part of a traditional Suzhou-style courtyard house located in the east Dongting district near the present town of Dongshan. Built in the early 1600s by the Wu family, it served as the main ceremonial hall (zhongtang) of a traditional upper-class home. It was a public space where elders carried out rituals honoring their ancestors, received guests, entertained family and friends, and celebrated family events like birthdays, anniversaries, and weddings. As the most important room in a Confucian household, it was set with grand examples of fine furniture, hung with calligraphic panels declaring Confucian values, and decorated with fine-art objects to express the social status and wealth of the family as well as its cultural refinement and artistic taste.