The Tan Family Flower House

The Tan Family Flower House

The Tan Family Flower House is a cultural heritage site protected by the government of Hunan Province.

Welcome to visit and explore the Tan Family Flower House, a provincial-level cultural heritage site of Hunan Province. Some visitors may not find this modern-era building particularly impressive at first glance, and might wonder why the government protects such an ordinary-looking residence. Let me start by telling you a true story.

In the late 1930s, when Japanese forces invaded North China, war spread rapidly and chaos ensued. “So vast was North China that not even a single desk could fit,” as higher education in China nearly ground to a halt. The Chinese nation faced the threat of extinction. A young and talented professor traveled thousands of miles from Shanghai to teach in Lantian, a small ancient town in Lianyuan. He lived in the residence of a local landlord near his school. In this seemingly ordinary house, he wrote much of his book "Talks on Art" and conceived the idea for a brilliant novel of wartime literature — "Fortress Besieged." The famous line, “People inside want to get out, while those outside want to get in,” perfectly captured the frustration and confusion of Chinese intellectuals during the war. Who was he, and what connection did he have with this old house? Today, let me take you inside the Flower House to find out.

Yes, the protagonist of this story is the erudite literary master — Qian Zhongshu. The residence where he lived is the Tan Family Flower House.

In late 1938, the renowned educator Liao Shicheng, following orders from the Nationalist Government, was tasked with relocating the National Teachers College (the predecessor of today’s Lianyuan No.1 High School) to a safe location in the rear area during the war, in order to cultivate educators for the Chinese nation. At that time, Mr. Lu Ligang, principal of Changsha County Middle School in Lantian Town, was a good friend of Liao’s and strongly recommended Anhua Lantian (now Lianyuan Lantian) to him. Culturally speaking, Anhua symbolized “stability of culture,” while Lantian implied “surpassing the blue.” After conducting an on-site inspection, Liao found that Lantian was located upstream along the Lian River in the Xiang River basin, embraced by mountains, with beautiful scenery, mild climate, distinct seasons, and simple folkways. Since ancient times, it had been a place rich in natural beauty and talented people. Ancient poets once praised Lantian with the verse: “Gladly we gather indigo here, and plant jade in the ancient Lantian.” With a long history and pleasant scenery, it also left behind the beautiful legend of “Five Horses Galloping to the Trough,” and sights such as “Layered Greenery of Fu Mountain” and “Ancient Bridge over Blue Creek” that still captivate visitors today. Moreover, Li Garden in Lantian Town (the former residence of Li Xiehe, a founding father of the Republic of China, which was a large traditional estate) had spacious houses suitable for running a school, so the campus was arranged there.

In November 1939, at the invitation of the president of the National Teachers College, Liao Shicheng, and the call of his father, Qian Jibo, Qian Zhongshu traveled from Kunming at Southwest Associated University via Shanghai. After more than a month of arduous journey, he arrived in the then remote town of Lantian to serve as the head of the English Department. It became a celebrated story in the education circle that he and his father — the master of Chinese studies Qian Jibo — both served as department heads at the same university. Jinpen Garden and the Tan Family Flower House, being close to Li Garden, were subsequently used as faculty dormitories for the National Teachers College, where renowned professors and scholars such as Qian Zhongshu resided.

The Tan Family Flower House is located in Guangmingshan Community, Lantian, Lianyuan, on the beautiful west bank of the Lian River, east of Li Garden. The old house faces south with its back to the north, built with blue bricks and wood. It features a central hall as the axis, with symmetrical rooms on both sides, showcasing a neat and rigorous structure. This layout reflects the aesthetic principle of the “Doctrine of the Mean” and demonstrates the former owners’ deep understanding of Confucian ideals of moderation. There is an open front yard, wing rooms on both sides, and a central courtyard. The house has two stories, with a total depth of 29.4 meters and width of 24.5 meters, comprising 24 rooms of various sizes, covering an area of over 1,000 square meters. The roof is covered with small blue tiles, and the central ridge decoration features carved cloud patterns in the shape of a precious vase, symbolizing peace and safety. On both sides are tall horse-head walls, with whitewashed brick surfaces and double-layered blue-tiled eaves, creating a striking contrast between black and white, simple yet elegant. On each horse head sits a lion, one crouching with its head raised, facing the other, standing proudly with bared teeth, one paw pressing down on a stone and the other on the ground, its tail spread like a banana leaf — vivid and majestic, expressing the owner’s wish to use these auspicious beasts to guard the home against fire.

From the front, the house appears to be single-storied. Passing through the entrance hall, you’ll find latticed windows with exquisitely carved double happiness patterns. A hollow wooden door separates the entrance hall from the inner courtyard, with the central courtyard visible from all sides. The second floor of the house corresponds to the rooms below, although the left wing room has collapsed and now a row of five-story private homes stands in its place. Half of the wooden railings on the second floor remain. The small room where Qian Zhongshu stayed after joining the college is located to the right of the hall on the upper floor. The space is cramped, barely fitting a bed and a desk, with sunlight only filtering through carved stone lattice windows. It’s hard to imagine that in this humble room, lit only by flickering oil lamps, Qian wrote the first half of his timeless literary critique "Talks on Art," conceptualized the storyline for "Fortress Besieged," and had his poetry collection "Recent Poems by Zhongshujun" printed at the Knowledge Bookstore on the street. A small portion of the tiles on the eaves has fallen off, but the remaining corner of the inner firewall resembles a sparrow’s tail, slightly upturned, delicate and lively, hinting at the refinement of its past.

Behind the latticed window lies the courtyard. In front of the courtyard, adjacent to the entrance hall and facing the ancestral hall, are wing rooms on the east and west, forming a shape akin to the Chinese character “回” (return), designed for optimal lighting. Traditionally, the courtyard served for lighting and drainage and was often square-shaped and small. However, the courtyard here includes a square flat area paved with bluestone, large enough to accommodate four or five eight-immortal tables, and also usable for drying grain, combining the functions of a yard and a courtyard for great convenience. The recessed areas around the courtyard form drainage channels. The bricks lining the long-used channels are slick with moisture and covered in green moss. In the southwest corner is a round hole with a square inner opening — the house’s drainage outlet. Rainwater from the eaves flows into the drainage channel and exits the house through this outlet. In those days, Mr. Qian would stand in the courtyard, basking in the sun, chatting with friends about history and the world.

Behind the courtyard is the main hall. The most well-preserved feature is the shrine, located on the back wall of the hall, divided into upper and lower sections. The upper section bears the inscription “Heaven, Earth, Sovereign, Parents, and Teachers.” The gilded wooden doors and windows of the shrine are well preserved, with three horizontal square windows above decorated with openwork carvings of ruyi and magpies, among other floral and bird motifs. The middle section consists of four hollow lattice windows shaped like the Chinese character “亚” (Ya), adorned with bat patterns, and below them are four decorative panels carved with ancient mythological tales. The lower section is situated on the skirt board beneath the windows, close to the ground, also inscribed with the same text as the upper section, framed within vertical lattice windows. On both sides of the shrine are side rooms, with the Tan family residing in the right-side room. Above the doors and windows was once a golden plaque inscribed with “Three Scholars Return Home” and matching golden couplets, unfortunately destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

The outer walls of the old house carry a strong sense of the era. Where the eaves meet the wall, the surface is coated with white plaster, outlining the shape of the eaves with fine lines. A triangular area is painted white, adorned with colorful floral patterns that contrast beautifully with the blue bricks, as if the wall is wearing a floral hat. The wall itself is built from blue bricks, with three windows cut into it. The left window is a vertically striped wooden one; the other two are hollow carved lattice windows. These windows are perfectly rectangular, featuring “回” (return) patterns and designs of immortal plants. The addition of carved windows breaks the monotony of the walls, creating a play of solid and void in the facade, while also improving ventilation and lighting. The eaves of the carved windows were originally designed to shelter a corridor from rain, and their black tiled edges resemble a skirt, adding liveliness to the exterior wall.

Qian Zhongshu lived in this old house for nearly two years. But moving from bustling Shanghai to a remote small town didn’t affect his teaching. His lectures were vivid and free-flowing, full of lively depictions of characters by famous authors. Elegant and humorous, he was very popular with students. Life in the remote town was limited and modest — simple meals were the norm, and treating themselves to a bowl of noodles in town was considered a rare treat for the professors. In winter, they would gather around a stove, wrapping eggs in paper and roasting them in a makeshift way, using the opportunity to chat intimately.

It was precisely this harsh environment and unique life experience that became an indelible mark on Qian Zhongshu’s life, serving as the cradle for the birth of "Fortress Besieged" and providing rich material for the novel. It can be said that the character Fang Hongjian embodies traces of Qian’s own extraordinary experiences — both returned from overseas, both had been in Shanghai before moving to teach in a remote town. The author spared no detail in describing Fang’s difficult journey from Shanghai to the small town, referred to as “reduced to skin and bones, exhausted in body and spirit.” The Sanlv University where Fang taught was modeled after the National Teachers College, which the author deliberately described as a “cradle of talent”: “This ‘cradle’ was well chosen, located in a local landlord’s garden in the countryside of Pingcheng County, facing the creek and backed by the mountain.” Lantian, where the National Teachers College was located, was just such a town. This “garden” refers to “Li Garden,” the “creek” is the Blue Creek, a tributary of the Lian River that flows gently by the college, and the “mountain” is the scenic Guangming Mountain. This town was by no means a strategic location, so the Japanese paid it no mind, allowing the author to vividly depict the peaceful and prosperous scenes of the town, witnessing Lantian’s transformation into “Little Nanjing.” The professors who were close to Fang Hongjian in the novel also embody traits of several real-life professors at the college. The tough life in the Flower House and at the National Teachers College did not dull Qian Zhongshu’s spirit; instead, it provided rich and vivid material for his writing.

As the ancients said, “A mountain need not be high — it is famous so long as there is a deity. A lake need not be deep — it has spiritual power as long as there is a dragon. This is a humble abode, but my virtue is fragrant.” At a time when the survival of the nation was at stake, it was the murmuring Lian River that accompanied Qian Zhongshu through difficult times, watched over the ancient town of Lantian, and gave birth to "Fortress Besieged." And it was his disregard for personal prospects, choosing to devote himself to scholarship and education in a remote town, that breathed new life into the Tan Family Flower House. Today, as time flies, Li Garden and the buildings of the National Teachers College have long vanished in the tide of modernization. Only the Tan Family Flower House, a witness to literary creation, remains almost entirely intact, providing invaluable historical artifacts for the study of Qian Zhongshu and wartime literature. It is a treasured legacy of the people of Lianyuan and the Chinese literary community.

References

"Research on Large Residential Architecture in Lianyuan, Central Hunan during the Qing Dynasty"

"Folklore Implications of Roof Decorations in Ancient Jiangnan Architecture"

"The Cradle That Gave Birth to Fortress Besieged" & "Research on Traditional Residential Gable Walls"

"Research on Architectural Decoration Patterns of Suzhou Residences during the Ming and Qing Dynasties"

Lan Tian Subdistrict: Lan Tian Subdistrict Office is located at 105°6' east longitude and 29° north latitude, covering an area of 42.99 square kilometers. It lies in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. To the east it connects with Qicao Subdistrict Office, to the southwest with Linyu Subdistrict Office, to the north with the Yangtze River, and to the south with Mianhuapo Township of Naxi District. Administratively, it belongs to Jiangyang District, Luzhou City, Sichuan Province. The terrain is higher in the south and lower in the north. The southern part is hilly, while the northern part consists of sandy alluvial plains, which are flat and characterized by a subtropical climate with abundant rainfall. It governs 16 villages and 4 communities, with 15,630 mu of cultivated land and a total population of 44,322... More detailed information on Lan Tian Subdistrict++

Further Reading:

· Ninth Batch of Hunan Provincial Cultural Heritage Sites