"Feng had transformedfromartist to collector, from awriter to anencyclopedist," Meyerlaments, barely concealing a nonstandard sneer at this formerhousinghero's sellout.
Over the centuries, its guests have included the Marquise de Sevigne, whose letters documented 17th-century French society, and Enlightenment thinker and encyclopedist Denis Diderot.
Just to the right of the party box is Song Yingxing, a conference room named for the Chinese encyclopedist, which has more recently adopted the "Mushroom Kingdom" name, owing to a slew of gaming consoles and peripherals housed inside.