[Folk Residences]The Courtyard of the Gan Family in Nanjing(2012-09-10 16:09:25)

To the slow Kunqu Opera Peony Pavilion, "the cobweb is swinging with the breeze in the leisure courtyard", open the time-honored lattice window of the courtyard of the Gan Family, and you will see the golden and apparent sunlight shed on the pied walls, resembling a yellowing old photo but clearly marked with some sort of slightly melancholy mist. The Gan Family, a prestigious family in Nanjing, lived for generations in the large residence commonly known to have ninety-nine and a half rooms, in Nanbuting, Nanjing. The Jindai Building inside the residence has a collection of over 100,000 books. In the circle of Kunqu Opera in the early 20th century, Nanjing, the most prestigious was certainly Gan Gongsan, the owner of the Courtyard. Equally famous as Aisin Gioro Putong, also known as "Owner of the Red Bean Hall", a master of Kunqu Opera, Mr. Gan maintained a close relationship with Yu Zhenfei, the leading authority of Kunqu Opera. The Kunqu Society was then located in the Flower Hall, where the elegant, exquisite, and lingering Kunqu Opera was performed and accompanied by hardwood clappers and the bamboo flute. Today, walking on the quiet lanes in the courtyard, you can still hear the slow and elegant music played by the bamboo flute and the string instrument, gradually awakening the Kunqu dream that has been gone into the history. As time goes on, the physical world remains unchanged and those singing at the rosewood table in the Flower Hall look exactly the same as their predecessors.