The Former Residence of Xue Fucheng Wuxi, China To reach the mansion’s modest entrance gate, where tasselled lanterns hang like fuchsia blooms, you have to wade a sea of toxic fumes, where gloomy thoughts refuse to dissipate. For those who’ve come across this sickly tide the mansion’s gate assumes a welcome look. Its narrowness suggests a cosy nook in which to shelter from the smog outside. But once you squeeze in through the entranceway you soon reclaim a sense of open space. Inside, the courtyard boasts an airy grace— and bonsai gingko trees in pots of clay. Grotesquely weathered, full…