During the Tianxi period of the Northern Song Dynasty.
In and outside Kaifeng City, if someone asks who the governor of Kaifeng Prefecture is, passers-by may not be able to answer for a while, but if asked who the richest man in Kaifeng Prefecture is, even a child can blurt out that it is of course Baifu.
Go south from the Imperial Street in front of the Xuande Building in the center of the city, and go eastward to Nanmen Street, passing Daxiangguo Temple, Gaoyang Zhengdian, Second Tianshui Lane, Tongshuzi Han Family, and Thirteen Rooms Building. After exiting the Old Song Gate and going southeast along the Bianhe River, not far away, you will find Baifu, which occupies an exclusive corner of more than 100 acres of land.
The most famous thing in Baifu is not the lush green trees and gleaming exotic flowers, the white stone railings and the nine-curved verandahs, nor the winding clear streams and stone-stepped corridors, but the five scattered and exquisitely arranged gardens and terraces. The structure and construction of each courtyard are ingenious.
At that time, there was a poem that said: The mansion is in the middle of a clear river, and the eaves can be seen thousands of miles away.