VAN CHI TEMPLE

Van Chi temple has the official name as “Van Chuong Linh Tu” (meaning the Sacred Temple of Van Chuong) and is located at branch alley no. 27, Van Chuong alley, Van Chuong ward, Dong Da district, Hanoi. In 19th Century, this land site belonged to Huu Nghiem sub-district, Tho Xuong district, Hoai Duc sub-province, Hanoi province.

According to folk legends and stories by the elders, Van Chi temple is the place where Nam Phuong Xich De (The Red King in the South, who is worshipped as the Tutelary God of the Village in Van Chuong communal house) was dead. In this area, there is still his tomb. Beside the tomb of Nam Phương Xích Đế, the people built Van Chi temple for worshipping him and later the Mother Goddess too.

“Nam Phuong Xich De” (the Red King in the South), also called “Xich De”, “Chu Tuoc” God, “Viem De” God, has real name Dao Cong. He was born on 27th February of Giap Ngo year of lunar calendar. When he was small, he showed his smartness over normal people. Growing up, Dao Cong became a preeminent hero in the country. At that time, King Hung enrolled talent people to the Court; Dao Cong participated into the competition and was selected and nominated as the Military Commander General. The King Hung intended to abdicate the throne to his son-in-law Son Tinh. Hearing that, the King of the Shu state brought the troops to attack Van Lang, King Hung assigned Dao Cong to bring the army and fight against the enemy. After only 10 days, the Shu army was defeated. King Hung recalled Dao Cong back to the capital, held party to celebrate the success, granted rewards and allowed Dao Cong to visit his hometown. When he came to the area which is now Van Chuong village, he magically transformed into a five-color cloud. That day was the 14th of February. The King commemorated and conferred him with the title “The First Good Genius”, and allowed the Dong group of Van Chuong villagers to set up a temple for worshiping him.

Besides Nam Phuong Xich De, Van Chi temple is also the place for worshiping the Mother Goddesses. This is Vietnamese belief which existed from the old days and varied to adapt to the social changes. Mother Goddesses worshiping belief means worshipping the “Homeland” Mothers, such as the Earth Mother – Water Mother – Au Co Mother, with the desire of health, good fortune, luck and is an essential demand in religious life of Vietnamese people to bring about belief, strength and courage in the life. The Mother Goddesses worshiping tradition originated from ancient time when the Vietnamese people worshipped natural Mother named Mother Goddess. Through thousands of years, the Mother Goddess worshipping tradition in our country has developed to form the belief of Mother Goddesses of Three Realms (Heaven – Earth - Ocean), the Four Palaces (Heavenly Palace - Mountains’ Palace - Watery Palace - Earthy Palace). In 16th Century, on the basis of the Mother Goddesses of Three Realms, the Four Palaces, with the appearance of Lieu Hanh Mother Goddess, a young local religion has been formed. The Mother Goddesses worshiping belief is attached to the art of Chau Van, also known as Hat Van, a folk traditional artistic form of Vietnamese people which has been recognized as National Intangible cultural heritage.

It is not clear now when the item started to be built. Based on the letters on the temple’s entrance gate: “Van Chuong linh tu” with the ornamental patterns and remaining relics, we can suppose the tomb of the Tutelary God of the village existed in here from the very old days. In 19th Century, the people built the Van Chi temple for worshiping him. After that, Van Chi temple was restored and repaired many times. The latest repair was in 2008, which resulted in current scale and architecture.

The entrance gate of the temple is in form of four pillars. The two main pillars are connected to each other with 4 curving roofs which look like sabre tips. The roof top has embarked dragons flanking to the sun, below which is the arch. The gate has an embarked ornamental ancient scrolled paper book with characters saying “Van Chuong linh tu” (meaning Sacred Temple of Van Chuong), and “Van Chi temple” below. The two side pillars are shorter; their tops are embarked with a pair of “nghê” (lion-like creature) flanking to outside direction with the meaning of supervising the spirit of the visitors before they enter to kowtow the god.

The tomb of the Tutelary god is built outdoor with mortar; the side of the tomb is in form of throne arm. The two sides of the throne are carved with pattern of dragons flanking to the sun, ornamental ancient scrolled paper book, pen and sword which represent literature and military, Thọ () character, parallel sentences, tiger face, etc. The throne bed has 3 character “Nam Phương cường” (meaning the Powerful God in the South).

Van Chi temple lies in southwest direction; in front of it is Van Chuong alley; on the two sides of the temple are residential areas. The temple has a humble scale, with layout of Đinh (丁) character, consists of 2 storeys with 3-compartment Front Hall, 1-compartment Back Palace which are built of reinforced concrete in modern style. The first storey is for worshiping the Tutelary God, the second is for worshiping the Mother Goddesses.

The vestige still preserves some relics and worshiping objects, such as: ceramic Incense thurible in artistic style of 18th Century, worshipping throne, worshipping cubicle, horizontal lacquered board, parallel sentences, altar, inscribed separation curtain, etc. with ornaments of traditional subjects such as Four supernatural creatures, for seasons, tiger face in artistic style of 19th – 20th Century.

Van Chi temple lies in the ancient land area with age-old history where there were villages and hamlets intermixed with lakes and ponds. The temple also lies in an area with plenty of historic – cultural vestiges such as: The Literature Temple - Imperial Academy, Huy Van pagoda – shrine – temple, Van Huong communal house, Ling Quang pagoda – communal house, Trung Ta communal house – temple, etc. which together create an attractive place in the tour to research and study about the vestiges of Thang Long – Hanoi.

The temple was classified as the City’s Historical – Cultural Vestige in 2016.