The Hall of Thorny Trees

　　The Hall of Thorny Trees was originally called the Thorns Tree Study. It served as the study room for Tian Qiao and Tian E, the seventh-generation brothers of the Tian family. Tian Qiao, styled Yunyue and also known as Zongfu, was a scholar who passed the imperial examination and excelled in literature. His younger brother, Tian E, styled Douyue and also known as Zhanfu, was a successful candidate in the imperial examination during the Wanli Year of Wuyin. He was skilled in poetry and calligraphy. Both were renowned scholars in Caozhou and maintained close friendships with cultural figures of the time such as Dong Qichang, Mi Wanzhong, and Xing Tong. Together, they authored the collected works titled *Collected Writings of the Thorns Tree Study*, which had a profound influence and earned them the reputation of “One Dong (Qichang) in the South, Two Tians (Qiao and E) in the North.” Their sons and descendants also achieved great success—“with numerous official seals and honors, they continuously excelled in both civil and military examinations.” “The family grew wealthier, with fertile lands and splendid houses, and ranked first among the prominent households in the county.” They became a distinguished and influential noble family. With a solid economic foundation and a rich cultural environment, the Tian family “pioneered the establishment of an ancestral hall, crafted ritual vessels, and gathered people to hold regular worship ceremonies.” They then expanded the study, renovating and enlarging it, and renamed it the Hall of Thorny Trees. The names Thorns Tree Study and Hall of Thorny Trees originate from the historical tale of “the Tian family dividing their property, and the thorny tree in the courtyard suddenly withering.” In ancient times, three brothers—Tian Zhen, Tian Qing, and Tian Guang—lived together. Their wives wanted to divide the family property and proposed splitting the large, lush purple thorn tree in front of the hall into three. One morning, they suddenly noticed the tree’s leaves drooping and withering, which shocked everyone. Tian Zhen said to his brothers, “The tree shares one root; if we divide it, it withers—how much more so for people? If brothers can part, then people are inferior to trees.” Deeply moved, the three brothers wept in each other’s arms under the thorny tree and decided not to divide the family. From then on, the family lived in harmony, and the thorny tree flourished once again. The Tian family named their ancestral hall “Hall of Thorny Trees” to remind future generations of their ancestors’ story, to encourage unity, mutual respect, and kindness—“Under the Hall of Thorny Trees, brothers live in harmony; in the green-clad courtyard, children bring joy to their parents.”

　　The backyard of the Hall of Thorny Trees originally had a study hall, and to the northeast stood the Temple of Grandmother Wang. Grandmother Wang was the benefactor who rescued Tian Zicheng, the ancestor of this branch of the Tian family, and his son. The Tian family originally came from Qingzhou. In the early Ming Dynasty, Tian Zicheng, a military commander of Qingzhou, was slandered for offering advice and thus resigned from his post. Carrying his young son on a shoulder pole, he sought refuge with his elder brother, who had earlier settled in Tianjiazhuang Village in Juye County. One evening, Tian Zicheng overheard his sister-in-law asking his brother through a curtain: “Is your second brother here temporarily or to stay for good?” Sensing her intentions, Tian Zicheng informed them that he would leave after washing up. That night, amid howling winds and heavy snowfall, the wife of Wang Chengfu, a wealthy local man, dreamed of two fierce tigers lying under the bridge at Shuangbei Pool (now northeast of Tianqiao Village, Tianqiao Town). She suddenly awoke at midnight, puzzled, and called her servants to investigate. Under the bridge, they found a shoulder pole with a father and son huddled together. She then took them into her home. Wang was impressed by the refined demeanor of Tian Zicheng and his son and, feeling pity for their plight, kindly took them in. She treated Tian Zicheng like a brother and regarded his son Fu Shun as her own child. Wang had only one daughter, and when Fu Shun grew up, she arranged for him to marry her daughter in a marriage-by-adoption. Later generations of the Tian family never forgot the kindness of Grandmother Wang, their maternal grandmother, and thus set aside a space within the ancestral hall to build the Temple of Grandmother Wang. The poetic calligraphy and inscriptions of Tian Qiao and Tian E were engraved on stone slabs and inlaid on the walls, creating a spectacular display.

　　Having withstood over four hundred years of history, the Hall of Thorny Trees has survived against great odds. From the 1950s through the Cultural Revolution, the Temple of Grandmother Wang and the study hall were successively destroyed, ancient books and collections were burned, and many stone engravings were damaged or scattered. In recent years, descendants of the Tian family have actively sought out lost relics. Four stone engravings and some handwritten works by Tian Qiao and Tian E have now been collected and preserved in the Hall of Thorny Trees. In 2002, clan members pooled funds to renovate the existing structures, adding further luster to this historic site.