Carved sculpture

1. The Path to Wealth, a three-leaved screen, vividly displays Shen's wisdom that led to wealth.

2. Building Walls in Nanjing, a carved sculpture. Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), decided to enlarge Nanjing as his capital in spite of a shortage of money. Shen agreed to be in charge of building walls from Jubao Gate to Shuixi Gate, as well as other projects including streets, bridges, Shuiguan wall, and government offices.

He employed first-rate builders and daily supervised the building sites. Therefore, his walls were completed three days earlier than the royal ones. His millions of gold rewards to military forces finally irritated Emperor, who deprived Shen of his belongings and sent him to Yunnan province.

Models of real settings

Shen employed Wang Xing as his children's private teacher at the Yin Zibin site. Owing to Wang's excellent teaching method, he received Shen's gold rewards. Shen understood the benefits of learning for his children since then they could freely negotiate with foreign traders and enlarge his estates.

The model “Reading Loudly in Rhetoric Building” presents the scene of Wang Xing teaching the children while Shen watches attentively through a window.