An enlarged version of the seal pattern Wu Changshuo made with characteristics of his common-law wife carved into the side, which appeared several times in his works. Photos by Jiang Nan / China Daily

Four of Wu Song's descendants received a Jinshi degree in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), which was the highest ranking in the three-yearly Imperial Examination.

The Wu family mansion originally covered an area of more than 2,500 square meters but only about 230 sq m of the eastern part was preserved following the wars during the late Qing Dynasty.

The mansion's architecture was in typical Hui style, with white walls and black tiles.

The remains of the compound include the front gate, a small pond, a screen wall and several houses including a lounge where visitors once rested and a bedroom where Wu Changshuo was born.

The pond was built in a half-moon shape to remind Wu family members to stay humble in accordance with the Chinese saying "the moon waxes only to wane".

One of the rooms is now used to display Wu Changshuo's works. The furniture in the rooms was collected from across the village and placed according to traditional style. Although the items might not have originally come from the mansion they all belonged to the Wu family, as the family was one of the town's most prominent and accounted most of the village's population.

To promote the traditional culture that the scholar represented, the local government organized an annual Wu Changshuo cultural festival. The event, which started in 2008, includes folk art shows, painting and photography contests and tourism promotion campaigns.

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