When the honorable guest is personally greeted at the door by Xu Da!

Zhanyuan Garden was the Wu King's Mansion before Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, ascended the throne. It was later granted to the founding hero Xu Da as his residence. Named after Ouyang Xiu's poem "Looking up at the jade hall, as if in heaven," it is the oldest surviving Ming Dynasty classical garden in Nanjing. The 1987 version of "Dream of the Red Chamber" and the Zhao Yazhi version of "New Legend of the White Snake" were both filmed here. 💃💃💃💃 Every Saturday, there is the Jinling Dream-seeking performance, where "Xu Da" personally comes to the door to greet me, and calls out the future Empress of the Ming Dynasty to dance for me, while the young lady Xu Miaojin plays the zither for me. The performance is just so-so, but the less crowded Zhanyuan Garden is worth a fortune. The swans that occasionally swim by make me sigh—being a swan here is truly the best of the best.