Nanyang Prefectural Office (Nanyang Fu Office)

Walk north off the shopping street of Nanyang’s old town and the noise drops away: a large field of grey brick and grey tile appears, fronted by an archway whose plaque reads “First Prefecture of Southern Henan”. Beyond the second gate, the ceremonial gate at which a newly appointed prefect had to dismount, six side offices surround the main hall. Inside that hall, set into the floor before the warm chamber, lie two stone slabs — the plaintiff’s stone and the defendant’s, the latter slightly larger.