The porch in the middle of the lake had an octagonal roof and a jade interior. The porch contained calligraphy tables, ink, and paper, brushes, tea poys, chess tables, zither tables as well as other facilities. The porch was held by eight pillars and the owner was so meticulous as to think of building a green bridge in between each of the pillars, which would extend all the way towards the shore. The seats were situated along the bridges of each pillar.
There were two ends of the bridge and five seats on each end. Every guest would be seated on a long, cushioned bench.
Since everyone would be seated around the porch, they would not have to compete with each other for better seats which would give them a clearer view of the porch.
Of course… there was also a ranking system that was used for the allocation of seats.
