An architectural bridge between two worlds

The uncertainty is part of the answer. Her generation does not necessarily have to reproduce the form of the previous one. It has to decide what is worth carrying forward, and find its own means of doing so.

For Anna, Suzhou Museum carries a particularly personal meaning. She describes it as "a symbol of my grandfather's and my father's love for Suzhou", their way of leaving "a permanent heart" in a city that has been part of the family story for more than six centuries.

Her own bridge may ultimately take another form — through archives, art, cultural exchange and the preservation of memory.

That may be the more enduring lesson of the Pei family's story: continuity does not require repetition.