Third lunar month: Spring delights at the Pavilion of Deep Autumn
Among the four surviving Cup-floating Pavilions in Beijing, the Pavilion of Deep Autumn at Prince Kung's Palace Museum is unique as the only one located within a princely residence garden. More than just an architectural rarity, it embodies the refined aesthetics of literati life in ancient China.
On the third day of the third lunar month — the Shangsi Festival — the Pavilion of Deep Autumn transforms into a stage for reviving the elegant customs from the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420). The mansion’s residents and their guests would perform qu shui liu shang — floating cups of wine along a winding stream while composing poems — amid seasonal delights such as wisteria cakes, meats, fruits, nuts, and the soothing melodies of the guqin zither.
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