Gan’s Grand Courtyard
Gan’s Grand Courtyard – a historical family complex surprised you with its richness in wealth and folk arts.
This 200-year-old grey-shingled white-walled estate is also called ‘99 rooms and a half’ to signify the vastness of the former home of a wealthy local Gan family. It occupies an area of about 1 hectare. Most rooms are restored to their early 20th century appearance. You could appreciate the grace and exquisiteness of traditional buildings and read the ups and downs of the whole family with a history of thousand years.
The real fun lies in the west wing where Nanjing Folklore Museum and Nanjing Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Center locate. You can explore abundant resources of folk-custom cultures and see over 90 valuable items of intangible cultural heritage. A dozen or more rooms carry exhibitions and interactive activities to display Chinese folk culture from marriage to child-raising. Master artisans showcase the making of traditional crafts, such as bamboo carving, opera mask painting, paper cutting, ultra-micro carving, etc.
RMB 20
9:00-18:00
- Almost all exhibits can be touched or tried freely. Some of them are real antiques.
- This is an ideal place to talk to folk artists and buy souvenirs hand made by them.
- You might catch up a traditional Chinese wedding ceremony here.
- Beijng opera, Nanjing Bai Ju and Bai Hua perform every Saturday and Sunday afternoon at 14:30 for free.
- In the third main room, on the left side of the ground, you can find a hole with a stone cover. Do you know what’s it for? Any idea why kitchen is placed at the backside of the complex? Why big water vats are always in the open courtyards... Many secrets in this old family complex are waiting for you to discover. English-speaking tour guides are humor and friendly. Take one of them and start your journey. You will immediately fall in love with this mysterious place.
Metro Line1 Sanshanjie (三山街) Station Exit 2. Walk straight on, after the first crossing, continue walking until finding a big round-shape stone carved ‘甘家大院’ on your left. Turn left accordingly and walk for 50 meters.