Once home to over 1,000 family members, this relic from feudalistic China, with its huge surrounding wall complete with battlements, gateways and guard towers, is more like a little city than a family house.
Steep staircases lead to airy terraces and darkened wooden rooms with low ceilings.
Shaded corners are adorned with inscriptions, carvings and small altars used to bum incense and leave tasty little food stuffs as sacrifice to the ancestors. Behind the front gate, a huge open square breeds laziness, and perched behind the homes, at the top of the hill, a moon gate leads into a garden that is certain to have bred something more titillating in decadent former times. Today the Wang Jia Da Yuan serves as a window into the Chinese feudal era, and a movie set of the finest caliber. As at other old compounds in Shanxi, it is not uncommon to stumble upon the making of a Chinese film or TV show while visiting the home. Depending on how you feel about such things, the dozens of costume clad Chinese people bouncing around the place is a welcome touch of spirit to an otherwise quiet history museum.