Hung Hoc Communal House historical relic currently worships two tutelary deities, Venerable Huyen Quang Ly Dao Tai and Dong Hai local deity Vu Hoang Dao; designated as a National Relic, it is a source of pride for the people of Quang Yen.
Travel to Quang Ninh, explore the Hung Hoc Communal House historical relic
Hung Hoc Communal House is located in Dinh Hamlet, Hung Hoc Village, Quang Yen Town; the local people named the communal house after Hung Hoc Village. Hung Hoc Village changed its name several times: when first established, it was called Huyen Quang Village, later changed to Ta Quan Village due to a naming taboo, then Quan Village, Huong Village, and subsequently Hung Hoc Village.
Hung Hoc Communal House. Photo: Quang Ninh Newspaper.
Hung Hoc Communal House was built around the end of the 18th century. Today, the communal house has undergone multiple restorations and possesses quite a unique architectural art. It was originally built near Hung Hoc Pagoda; not until the reign of King Thieu Tri in 1841 was it reconstructed at its present-day location.
The sanctuary of Hung Hoc Communal House. Photo: Quang Ninh Newspaper.
The communal house was restored in 1875, 1935, and 1994, yet it still preserves the typical architectural and sculptural form of a Vietnamese village communal house, with brackets, beam ends, cantilever heads, tier beams, and purlin-supporting bearing blocks all artistically carved and exquisitely embossed with traditional four mythical creatures motifs and stylized flora bearing the Le Dynasty art style.
Tutelary deity Vu Hoang Dao. Photo: Quang Ninh Newspaper.
The communal house still preserves many valuable artifacts, such as 6 royal decrees dating from the reign of King Tu Duc to King Khai Dinh, stone steles, parallel couplets, horizontal lacquered boards, village conventions, etc. Alongside these are several ancient worship objects of historical value preserved fairly intact at the communal house.
Among them are a set of 6 wooden swords with red-lacquered and gold-gilded scabbards, 3 wooden ancestral tablets, a wooden prayer board, and 2 bronze vases embossed with dragons and phoenixes of the four mythical creatures.
Photo: quangninh.org.vn.
According to legend, when building the communal house, the villagers requested relics of Venerable Huyen Quang Ly Dao Tai, the third patriarch of the Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen sect, from Con Son Pagoda to build a stupa in the village pagoda grounds, brought his incense ashes to worship at the communal house, and petitioned the king to confer upon him the title of village tutelary deity.
In addition, Hung Hoc Communal House also worships the deity Pham Ba Linh, also known as Pham Nhan, a defeated Yuan general. Legend has it that when the villagers suffered from an epidemic, they had a dream where the spirit appeared and requested them to worship him in exchange for ending the disease.
Set of wooden swords. Photo: quangninh.org.vn.
The villagers then built a shrine dedicated to the deity right next to the shrine of Venerable Huyen Quang Ly Dao Tai, with the intention of using Buddhist teachings to enlighten the spirit to protect the villagers.
As for the local tutelary deity Vu Hoang Dao, he was the fifth-generation ancestor of the Vu clan in Hung Hoc Village and served as a National Academy (Quoc Tu Giam) student during the Le Dynasty. Around the late 15th and early 16th centuries, he helped the people clear wasteland to found Hung Hoc Village, and was one of the 19 pioneering founding fathers of the region.
A pair of bronze vases. Photo: quangninh.org.vn.
The stone stele of the Vu clan placed at the ancestral hall also clearly states his divine title as Thien hoang thuy te Vu Hoang Dao Ton than. Upon his passing, he manifested as the Dong Hai deity, a sea god who blesses people traveling by river and sea with safety and wards off epidemics for the villagers.
The land-clearing and settlement-founding deeds of tutelary deity Vu Hoang Dao are clearly reflected in the content of the parallel couplets at Hung Hoc Communal House. In gratitude for his merits, the villagers of Hung Hoc carved a statue and erected a shrine known as Chinh Phu Shrine. The deity was conferred by King Khai Dinh the title of Dong Hai Deity, a local Tutelary Deity of Middle Rank, possessing intelligent demeanor.
Dai Ky Phuc Festival at Hung Hoc Communal House. Photo: Quang Ninh Newspaper.
To reach the communal house, visitors travel by road from Ha Long City onto the Ha Long – Hai Phong Expressway to the Hoang Tan – Tan An interchange, drive about 6 km, turn into the center of Quang Yen Town, and then cross Song Chanh Bridge for about 2 km to arrive at the Hung Hoc Communal House historical relic.
