More than 600 years ago,a man named Wang Shi came to Jinsheng Village in Linshi from Taiyuan to seek temporary jobs and to
sell bean curds.For hundreds of years,one gen- eration after another of the Wang family tilled by day and stud- ied at night,making progress step by step and accumulating wealth little by little,until they became wealthy enough to build a compound of connecting
courtyards. Twenty-eight
generations of the family lived in this treasure land,farming or doing business or studying to make an official.The hard-working and honest family members carved the family instructions on woods,stones,horizontal boards or couplets,urging their later generations to keep them in mind. The once prominent Wang family began to wane in the first years of the Republic of China with the fam- ily member scattering and roving all over the country.Only the imposing courtyards built 2 or 3 hundred years ago survived the flames of war and the“Cultural Revolution” The remnant high walls,faded col- ored paintings and remaining sculptures are still there,warmly welcoming tourists in the rustling autumn wind.