The ancient village of Dong Son from the early twentieth century to present = Làng cổ Đông Sơn từ đầu thế kỷ XX đến nay

Besides, in order for this thesis to be successfully completed, the author would also like to thank to the local authority of Dong Son ancient village, local council of Ham Rong street,

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES

NGUYEN THI LIEN

THE ANCIENT VILLAGE OF DONG SON FROM THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY TO PRESENT

MASTER THESIS MAJOR: VIETNAMESE STUDIES

HANOI, 2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES

NGUYEN THI LIEN

THE ANCIENT VILLAGE OF DONG SON FROM THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY TO PRESENT

Master thesis, major: Vietnamese studies

Code: 60 22 01 13

Supervisor: Prof.Dr Ngo Đuc Thinh

Hanoi, 2013

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This thesis is seen as the result from having studied at Institute of Viet Nam studies & Development of Science – Hanoi National University along with having spent most of the time on practical inspecting experience throughout the studies

The author would sincerely like to express the grateful to those beloved lecturers who have directly lectured those Master classes for the year of 6 specialized in Viet Nam studies and beloved teachers who are in the Management Board of Institute, Department of Education for offering all necessary help under any conditions throughout the course of the studies so that this highly-expected thesis was successful completed

Especially, the author would like to thank so much to the professor Ngo Duc Thich for his thoughtful in guiding and spending most of his valuable time

to exchange ideas and direct for the author During the instruction time under his close surveillance and instruction, the author has gained so much of both theoretical and practical experience in terms of working style, planning skill and serious attitude towards works

Besides, in order for this thesis to be successfully completed, the author would also like to thank to the local authority of Dong Son ancient village, local council of Ham Rong street, the Management Board of vestiges and landscapes

of Thanh Hoa …furthermore thanks to the people of Dong Son ancient village for providing a lot of useful information

Last but not least, the author would like to thank to the Management Board of Hong Duc University – Thanh Hoa; those beloved teachers in the Head

of Department of Social and Science, family members, close friends who have always been there for me to make this thesis done successfully

My most sincerely thanks to all!

Hanoi, date 02 month 05 year 2013

Author

Nguyen Thi Lien

UNDERTAKING MINUTES

I would like to guarantee that these content and material, data used in this thesis are true and collected, performed by me only All these works were done under the close supervision and directly instructed by the Professor Ngo Duc Thinh All references used in this thesis were extracted from mentioned specified sources

Author

Nguyen Thi Lien

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 8

1 Rational of the study 8

2 Objectives and scope of research 10

3 The purpose of the thesis 10

4 Research situation related to the thesis 10

5 Research methods 12

6 New results and contributions of the thesis 13

7 Organization of the thesis 13

CHAPTER 1: APPEARANCE OF DONG SON ANCIENT VILLAGE IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 15

1.1 Some basic concepts 15

1.1.1 The concept of village 15

1.1.2 The concept of ancient village 15

1.1.3 The concept of traditional village 16

1.2 Dong Son – riverside and half-mountain half-plain village 17

1.2.1 Geographic location 17

1.2.2 Natural condition 17

1.2.3 Landscape 22

1.3 The long tradition of the Dong Son ancient village 26

1.3.1 The history and development of the Dong Son ancient village 26

1.3.2 Traditional economics 28

1.3.3 Traditional culture 31

1.3.3.1 Tangible culture 31

1.3.3.1.1 Resident organization, cuisine, apparel, travel 31

1.3.3.1.2 Historical relics 35

1.3.3.2 Intangible culture 37

CHAPTER 2: SOME TRANSFORMATIONS OF DONG SON ANCIENT VILLAGE FROM AUGUST REVOLUTION TO PRESENT

51

2.1 The theory of social transformation 51

2.2 Transformations of Dong Son ancient village in the war against America (1954 – 1975) 52

2.2.1 Context of the transformation 52

2.2.2 Expression of the transformations 53

2.3 Transformations of Dong Son ancient village from Doi Moi (1986) to present 61

2.3.1 Context of the transformation 61

2.3.2 Expression of the transformation 62

2.3.2.1 Economic transformation 62

2.3.2.2 Social transformation 66

2.3.2.3 Cultural transformation 75

CHAPTER 3: CONSERVATION, DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURE IN THE ANCIENT OF DONG SON VILLAGE WITHIN THE CONSTRUCTION OF NEW RURAL AT PRESENT 83

3.1 Awareness and role of citizens and local government in preservation and construction of culture 83

3.1.1 Awareness, role of people 83

3.1.2 Awareness, role of the Party, State and local government 85

3.2 Current situation of cultural conservation and construction in the ancient village of Dong Son at present 87

3.2.1 According to the movement of cultural village 87

3.2.2 According to the proposed projects 94

3.2.3 According to 19 criteria of new rural construction of the Prime Minister 95

3.3 A number of solutions and proposals 96

3.3.1 A number of solutions 96

3.3.2 A number of proposals 99

CONCLUSION 102

REFERENCES 104

INTRODUCTION

1 Rational of the study

The village is a community or a basic clustered human settlement of Vietnamese people It has an origin of old since the disintegrated process of the primitive communal mode And then, it has become social classes and a first state in Vietnam In the history, Vietnamese village associated with the length of the country’s history It is the process of continuous development, not only improve and adapt to the natural world, but combat against also foreign aggression and domination In the process, the country has sometimes lost, but the village has not lost It still maintained and developed until today

It not only plays an important role in the history of the country, but is also home, active school, and closely connected place with everyone in Vietnam In the spiritual and deep concept of Vietnamese people, the village represents the ancestral land, is also home to acknowledge success and reputation of everyone Thus, the research about Vietnamese village is necessary to know about the process of formation, development, contribution, location, and role of village in the local history

There are many researches in and out country, which studied about Vietnamese village They provided a lot of documents and new information, which contribute to better understanding of Vietnamese villages and society However, the results of these researches have still not fulfilled the demands of Vietnamese village nowaday Because of urban life, Vietnamese society as well as village is changing rapidly Therefore, it is necessary to have more studies about Vietnamese village to find solutions for retaining the beauty of the Vietnamese village before its changes in recent years

Ever Dong Son ancient village has known as the first place that has found out the Dong Son culture – a brilliant culture in the nation’s history

Other subjects of the Dong Son ancient village is not actually known or studies by people as well as researchers The research into Dong Son village will give us a comprehensive view of a village in its stature in the world

Dong Son village as well as many other Vietnamese ancient village, is

a community of the residents, economics, culture, and society, appears very early, and has a special position in the close relationship among family, village, and state, which took place during the process of national construction and defense over thousand years Moreover, it has different characteristics from other villages

However, in the nowadays, because of developing trend of humanity, Vietnamese village in general and Dong Son village in particular is facing to fierce challenges between tradion and innovation, ethnic and modern Although, it needs to innovate, it still needs to retain and preserve special identities of the village It is an extremely important requirement that need to get attention not only of the government, but get also awareness of everyone who is living in the village as well as in the community Thus, the study in depth about the Dong Son ancient village in early twentieth century to the present is essential It can show more detail about the changes in all aspects of people’s life in the village, and contribute to conservation and promotion of typical cultural values in the village As a result, everyone knows how to make their homeland to become a better place step by step

As urbanization process, the typical identities of village was being eroded and lost from time to time Therefore, I chose the Dong Son village for

my research to learn about its changes and to contribute to rediscover its distinctions

2 Objectives and scope of research

Object of the research is to study all aspects of people’s life in the Dong Son ancient village

Scope of the research

Scope of the problem: study about the appearance of the Dong Son ancient village in early twentieth century to see unique characteristics of the village as well as its changes And, giving recommendations to preserve, conserve, restore, and build the Dong Son ancient in the construction of new countryside nowadays

Location: Focus on the Dong Son ancient village, and compare with other villages

Time: From early twentieth century (1900) to 2010

3 The purpose of the thesis

Based on the appearance of the Dong Son ancient village in early twentieth century, compare with the other ancient villages at later stages to see its transformation

Study about the awareness of local people and government about cultural conservation as well as conservation status, cultural construction in the Dong Son ancient village today And then, give out recommendations to preserve the Dong Son ancient village before infulences of urbanization process now

4 Research situation related to the thesis

There are many researches which studied about Vietnamese village both internal and external country in recent years And, there are many valuable results of these researches, which helped a lot of Vietnamese people

to have a better understanding about their community in which they are living However, the Dong Son ancient village is not really attracted by many

scientists to participate in research Hence, there are only a small number of researches that related to the Dong Son ancient village such as

“History of Ham Rong Ward Party (1945 – 2010)” – Thanh Hoa

publishing house, which refered to some aspects of the Dong Son ancient village such as the process of establishment’s village, monuments and landscapes, and traditional history of village

“Folk games forum in the Dong Son area” – Postgraduation’s thesis of

Tran Thi Lien, which studied about basic characteristics of Dong Son folk games in the common situation of folk games in Thanh Hoa province

In the “Collection of materials of Ham Rong and and of Ham Rong

victory” published by the Library of Thanh Hoa province, with the first, the

second, the third, the fourth and the fifth episode, there are a number of articles about Dong Son ancient village such as the one about ancient houses, Ham Rong bridge, fighting spirit and winning over the American invaders

In 2004, Department of Culture and Information of Thanh Hoa

province organized “Scientific conference celebrating 80 years of discovering

and researching Dong Son culture (1924-2004)” and published the book

“Antiquities of Dong Son culture in Thanh Hoa” In above work, there are

some articles related to ancient Dong Son village, for example: “80 years for

detecting Dong Son archaeological location and Dong Son culture: Research achievements, conservation and promotion of values” written by Ngo Hoai

Chung; “About a museum of Dong Son culture in Ham Rong region” written

by Nguyen Van Ngoc and “History of discovering Dong Son culture” by

A.Prof.Dr Pham Minh Huyen

In the article “Kết chạ in Thanh Hoa” published in the journal of Past and present, No 342 in 2009, the author Trọng Đạt refers to the custom of Kết

chạ of Dong Son villagers with Giang Hen ones Through this traditional

custom, the author highlighted the unique in the spiritual life of the people of Dong Son village

A number of research works of the author Hoang Tuan Pho such as

“Landscape of Dong Son - Ham Rong” (2004), “Sacred spirit of Ham Rong”

(2009) refer to the formation history of Dong Son village as well as its landscapes

The book “Ham Rong, historical clash” published in 2010 on the

occasion of the 45th anniversary of Ham Rong victory raised the significance

of location of Dong Son village in wartime as well as in peacetime It is also the first place where they found relics of bronze age

It is an omission in the history of issue if we do not refer to the book

“The ancient village of Dong Son” by Luong Dai Dung being the editor The

book gave the readers information about daily life of its inhabitants However, there is no comparison between the earlier time and present time to see the change in all aspects of the village

In addition to above works, there are others ones such as “Pagodas of

Thanh region”, “Folk songs of Thanh Hoa”, “Monography of Dong Son”,

"Monography of Thanh Hoa, the episode 2, 3" These works mentioned some aspects of the daily life of Dong Son villagers before

Method of system – structure: Village is a separate system, so when we use this method, we can see an interactive relationship between internal

elements of its and some aspects Thanks to this method, the Dong Son ancient village can be show up as a unified entity

Interdisciplinary research method and study area: it helps researcher to have a full view of social and cultural space of the Dong Son ancient village

In addition, there are some research methods such as observation, comparison, statistics, interviews, etc, which were also used in this research to get a comprehensive and objective view of the Dong Son ancient village

In the process of researching, the author delivered 150 questionnaires and implemented 17 in-depth interviews in the ancient village of Dong Son, which is in order to collect accurate and objective information for the research At the same time, it will give readers useful information of people living here

6 New results and contributions of the thesis

The research is the first study that has a systematic view about the Dong Son ancient village from the early twentieth century to nowadays It provides for researchers with extensive and reliable information

The research has also an objective perspective about conservative issues as well as giving some solutions and recommendations to preserve, conserve, and restore culture of the Dong Son ancient village in the construction of new countryside today

Results of the research also contribute to suggest for further studies about an old Vietnamese village with special characteristics

7 Organization of the thesis

Beside the introduction, conclusion, reference, and appendix, the research includes three chapters:

Chapter 1: Appearance of Dong Son ancient village in the first half of the twentieth century

Chapter 2: Some transformations of Dong Son ancient village from the August Revolution to present

Chapter 3: Conservation, development of culture in the of Dong Son village within the construction of new rural at present

CHAPTER 1: APPEARANCE OF DONG SON ANCIENT VILLAGE

IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

1.1 Some basic concepts

1.1.1 The concept of village

There are many different concepts of village which is very familiar to

everyone Some people considered villages as “living cells of Vietnamese

society, a natural product created by the process of settling and residing together of Vietnamese people who cultivated” [69, pp 11-12] Some people

considered villages as “units possessing and distributing public land It is also

the social unit of villagers gathering around the village temple, communal house with religious of its gods to become the cultural unit (festival) and sometimes/often the administrative unit of commune - local level (the commune is the first and the village is the second)” [78, pp.16-20] According

to Phan Huy Le, he said that village is “the settling community of small

farmers who cultivate rice and doing crafts and small businesses based on the model of rural commune gradually turning into feudal system” [38, pp.3]

Thus, depending on the way of approach, each person recognizes the village

with different characteristics However, it can be said that the village is “the

basic settling community in rural Its inhabitants are mostly farmers engaging agriculture, settling in alleys or cramped campus compared with cultivated fields surrounding the village There is autonomy expressed clearly by village rules or village convention There are rituals, customs and traditions called village's culture”

1.1.2 The concept of ancient village

The concept of “ancient village” is not popularly used as the concept

of “village” A village considered as an ancient village must satisfy a number

of criteria as follows:

Firstly, in terms of the formation history, the village must be aged 200 years or more

Secondly, organizational form of residing by descent

Thirdly, the systems of epitaph, genealogy, conventions, decrees, relics

of the village prove the existence of the village since its establishment

Thus, a village considered an ancient village when it fully meets the specific criteria, in particular here, it is Dong Son village

1.1.3 The concept of traditional village

Vietnamese villages beginning to appear along with the disintegration

of the clan commune has a history of about 4000 years The concept of

“village” have been mentioned by many researchers, however the concept of

“traditional village” does not really attract many people In this thesis, basing

on research of Professor Nguyen Quang Ngoc the author offers a number of criteria to identify a traditional village

Firstly, each village has a certain geographical area as living space including resident area, land, hills, mountains, rivers, ponds used by the village community or the members of the village community

Secondly, residents of the village are members of a community having

a strong attach to each other by many relationships such as neighbor one (villages, hamlets, Lane ), blood one (family, kinship), the professional one, relationship of beliefs and relationship of supporting or helping each other (corporation, group)

Thirdly, culturally, each village usually has communal house where its tutelary god is worshiped as well as pagodas, temples, shrines , public spaces for cultural activities, festivals and beliefs

Fourthly, in terms of management, it may be the council of old villagers, the Council of family heads managing, in addition to this, management is carried out through conventions

Thus, it can be seen that a traditional village must fully has above criteria

1.2 Dong Son – riverside and half-mountain half-plain village

1.2.1 Geographic location

The Dong Son ancient village “is located in the 22 0 6 north latitude,

114 0 93 east longtitude” [15, pp.12], belongs to Ham Rong ward, Thanh Hoa

city, about 4,5 km north-northeast of city center, on the bank of Ma river Thus, there are many different transport systems such as cars, motorcycles, boats, which can help to transport quickly and rapidly

The village is the central area of Thanh Hoa plain area in which is accreted by alluvia of Ma and Chu rivers However, in around the village is surrounded by rocky and soil mountains that is a special feature of the village compare with other villages in the northern delta in general and Thanh Hoa plain in particular The Ma rive locates in front of the village, and mountains stay behind of the village, the feng shui of the village is very good

Geographically, it is bordered by Thieu Duong, Nam Ngan and Dong Tho ward, Dong Cuong commune, and Ma River in the North, South, West, and East respectively

1.2.2 Natural condition

- Topography

Dong Son village is a peaceful idyllic village, but its landscape is totally different from other villages It has Ma River flow through, undulating mountains from far, and fields between river and hills lead to spectacular

sight for this area Therefore, it dominates among big plain of Ma River with

“charming mountains and rivers”

Ancestor of the Dong Son village chose a good location to build the village First, there are mountains surrounding the village These mountain

systems were spreaded out by folk that “ninety nine mountains” both rocky

and soil extending, bend, and bobbing on the Ma River They have origin from the Duong Xa village (Thieu Hoa district) with different names as

“Truong mountain, Long Ham mountain” [5, pp14] When it comes to Dong

Son – Ham Rong, there is a prominent mountain, so local people called Dragon Mountain And, other mountains are named such as peacock, the behind village mountain, elephant mountain, lobster mountain, phoenix mountain, etc It is not really sure that whether there are 99 mountains or not, but people in Dong Son village still believe that Dong Son is located in the

land of “99 mountains” with phoenix bird figure, elephant kneeling, huzhou

These are 99 mountains in the East; there is one mountain that faces to Dragon Mountain, which is Ngoc Mountain, and people call Nit Mountain In the previous stage, this mountain system is also in line with Truong Mountain, but because of Ma River separated Ngoc Mountain out This is handed in the folk until now

“Ninety nine mountains at the east side And the Nit mountain at the river is not come Ninety nine mountains are crowed And the Nit mountain is not yet back east side 1 ”

It can be said that the mountainous terrain in this place has created the good landscapes for Dong Son in particular and Ham Rong area in general

This is shown the most clearly in the eyes of the old man “Ham Rong

mountain – Long Hao mountain and in formerly Dong Son called Truong Son The mountain from Ngu Hoa in the Duong Xa commune leads to consecutive flexibility as dragon, finally floating jumped a high mountain, the rock pile, on the mountain in which has Long Quang cave Under mountain has a protruding rock on the river, which looks like the sucking sand and absorb water dragon” [70, pp.222]

Ma River means Mother River follow Vietnamese language Thus, we can sure that it is a huge river It starts from Dien Bien area through Son La province, flows through the northern of Lao, and then comes to Thanh Hoa at Tam Chung commune, Muong Lat district, and finally goes to East Beach via Hoi gate (Sam Son beach) and two sub-gates include Len and Lach Tuong gate It has 3,5km length when it flows through Ham Rong ward include Dong Son village It is a big water source for cultivation and livestock as well

as supplies enough demand of fishing source for local people In particular, it has a big contribution to transport between the plain and mountain, between upland and lowland areas

“As northern delta, Thanh Hoa plain is created by modern alluvia that spread out on the large surface, and slightly inclines toward the sea at the side of the Southeast In the edge of the North and North West is composed by old alluvial of Ma and Chu River – from 2 to 15 m high” [58, pp.200] Hence,

in the plain still remains a lot of various soil and rock Dong Son village is not

an exception in the Thanh Hoa delta system As a result, land area in the Dong Son village not only uses for rice cultivation, but uses also for vegetable crops and animal husbandry Especilly alluvial soil, it is accreted regularly by

Ma River, so it brought many advantages for people in the village

- Climate

Thanks to to topography as above, the climat in the Dong Son ancient village has characteristics of coastal plain and the monsoon tropical climate

with 4 seasons include spring, summer, fall, winter “The annual average

temperature is around 23 0 C to 24 0 C, the highest temperature is 41,5 0 C, and the lowest temperature is below 10 0 C” [5, pp.18] “The annual average humidity is quite high from 80-85% The lowest humidity is 50% when having North-East monsoon and West Wind; it sometimes has humidity reach to 90%

at the end of winter” 2 We can see that in the Dong Son village receives a big number of temperature and humidity in around year, so it is good for developing agriculture, forestry, and fishing Forestry develops very strong with many classes; cultivation develops average from 2 to 3 seasons per year; there is no abandon land However, the most serious climatic issue for agricultural activities in Dong Son village is high relative humidiy, which encourage disease problems on both cultivation and livestock Moreover, there are some natural disasters that comes to suddently such as flood, and the water of Ma River stays in high level quickly result in that there are many difficulties for agricultural production and people’s living However, there are many advantages more than disadvantages

In the Dong Son village is quite hot in the summer season due to surrounding mountain systems, so it is difficult for wind come to inside lead

to lacking of air exchange between inside and outside of the village In the winter, the village is quite warm because there are mountain systems which limit North and East-North wind

- Natural resources

+ Land source

Land area of the Dong Son village is about “4000ha, and have only 1/5

for cultivation land, 4/5 land area left is mountainous area [15, pp.25] It

means that cultivation land comprised 800ha of total land area in the Dong Son village Rice land is not only land for one crop, but also has land for two crops In the land for one crop, people can grow other crops such as vegetables, corn, and so on to support people’s life Besides, in the village still has alluvial land in bank of river, garden land, and land in the hillside People can grow food crops such as maize, potatoes, cassava, and plant short-term industrial tree such as mulberry, cotton, pineapples, beans, and so on It supplies demands of local people as exchange of goods with other villages + Water source

In the early years of the twentieth century, there is lack of pond, lake, and well system in the village In whole village, there are only some ponds of landlords, rich peasants, which used to fish as well as used to fire Water for daily activities is taken from one well in front of the village, but water is limited, so water from well is used only to cook Bathing, washing, water was taken from water of Ma River In the bank of Ma River, people made rocky step to serve their daily activities If how much water in the well is lack of,

Ma river can provide enough water demand of people in the village, so it can

be said that Ma River helped people to overcome problem of water shortage

in the early years of the twentieth century

+ Forestry source

Forestry and mountains in the Dong Son village comprised a quite big area with a variety of precious wood such as Erthrophloeum Fordi Oliver,

Bullet wood, Chukrasia tabularis, and so on as well as animals such as rhinoceros, deer, tigers, and so on Forestry brought many benefits for people

in the Dong Son village They can go to the forest looking for firewood or timber to build houses or hunting animal for family meals However, in the early twentieth century, the forest of the Dong Son village is no longer as before, it became to hill garden of people in which planted crops Now, the Dong Son village does not have natural forests instead of forests of everyhousehold and follow to the control of the Party and State And, it was bringing profits for people as well as contributing to balance environmental ecosystem

1.2.3 Landscape

- Cua Roong Mountain (C4 Hill)

Cua Roong Mountain is one of tops of Ham Rong Mountain; it is a place for people in the Dong Son village plant crops In the war with the United States, this hilltop put an anti-aircraft artillery battalion 37 (4 battalion,

228 regiment is known as C4) C4 is the horror of US air force when

bombarded on Ham Rong In the short time, “C4, other units, and local

militia shot doen 116 American aircraft together” [15, pp.103] Thus, C4 was

awarded the title of hero unit of the armed forces and the name of the Cua Rong mountain loss intead of C4 hill Results of war expressed deep gratitude between C4 militia and people in the Dong Son village Now, C4 hill has been embellished with a convenient way to go to relic Foothill is two large stone tablet in which record victories and the list of soldiers who sacrificed here In the top of hill is a system of combat service includes 6 cannon tunnels (K1- K6), 3 commander tunnels (2 D tunnels, 1C deputy), 1 tunnel for scouting service, nurses, gas military, radiation machine These works have been built

soild concrete In 1994, C4 is one of relics of the national monument by decision No.974 dated 07.20.1994 with a protected area of 9600m2

- Canh Tien Mountain

Canh Tien mountain is one of two mountains that created the feng shui

“Dragon in the left side, white tiger in the the right side” for entire region

This mountain is located in the south of the Dong Son village Canh Tien was named follow to the shape of the mountain, and according to the legend, it involves white fairy and giant Vom spouses After tricking white fairy came

to cave, the couple ripped one side of wing and buried with one side of wing left in the Dong Son village After some time, there sprang up a mountain with the shape of fairy wings Canh Tien Mountain progresses from high to low in the East –West direction This is one of the mountains in which people

in the Dong Son village planted crops and livestock to create delicious famous products for region such as cassava, yam, taro, mountain goat, etc

In the Vietnam war, Canh Tien Mountain was also known by another name Quyet Thang because in the halfway up the mountain toward East has

put the word “Quyet Thang” by stone; it shows the will of Thanh Hoa

military and people Thus, Canh Tien Mountain not only brings in itself values in term of sights, but also brings values of cultural history

- Mat Rong Cave (Mat Rong cave, Long Quang cave)

Mat Rong cave as “huge eyes through the forehead dragon, while the

left eye looks to left side of Ma river, the right eye looks toward the Thanh Hoa city Dragon eyes also emitted toward and twisted the Hoa Chua pearl and bossed across many villages of Hoang Hoa district” [48, pp.289] Cave

has name Long Quang cave; gate of cave is spacious; inside of cave is high and airy We can go inside via many ways, for example, the way from South-West starts the line connecting the southern bank of the Ham Rong bridge

along the ridge of Rong mountain, and then comes inside via right eye of Dragon or come to cave from North-East via the left eye of dragon

Mat Rong cave has been known long time ago with its primordial beauty, purity, and captivated a lot of literators, hold on footsteps of many imperial orders and poets Formerly, the king of the later Le had a routine every few years come to Son Lang to cult – in which the start of the later Le

In 1478, Le Thanh Tong is a famous bard who stopped enjoying the charming mountain and rivers of Long Quang cave In front of wonderful landscape, the king poetized and carved on a grinding ceiling between the stone roofs with decorative wire arounding This poem named Mat Rong cave, but its content likes a picture overview Rong mountain, and the most dominant thing is Mat Rong cave

Long Quang cave

Translator:

“Fret with the wonderful scenery, Looks far clearly surrounding from top of mountain

Remember landscape when visit Ngoc Kiem tomb,

Thought I lost to Dao Nguyen

Cloud idle land flooded, do not sweep, Regular line in the sky, sun up

Beauty make forest, headline slot,

As defending invited to visit individual”

(Hoang Tuan Pho)

- Tien Son Cave

“Plants such little dust Entrance to not know that near or far Beauty instead of interesting galaxy Who onwer of peach garden is”

In Thanh Hoa, it seems that any mountains have magical traces Tien Mountain is a place for fairy excurse; Tien cave is a place for fairy practice medicine; Tien Well is a place for fairy combs her hair and mirror Tien cave not only located in the midland (Ho Cong cave), coastal land (Tu Thuc cave), but also in the delta (Tien Son cave)

Tien Son cave is located in inner of Muon mountain; the way goes to the cave on the southwest of halfway up the mountain, and called with different names such as Moi cave, Doi cave According to the legen, Tien Son cave is a place that a lovely fairy was detained by giant Vom spouses because

in the past, God sent his generals to beat these spouses She tricked to take her wings and locked into the cave In her own world, she built house to stay, seweed clothes to wear, created lake for bathing, digged well to use and mirror while brushing hair by herself

Tien Son cave is extremely deep, no one could dare claim that having a

full discovery “Let every cell, every cell … suddenly open, dual suddenly,

through off the road, but the entrance is sometime wide, sometime narrowing from this room to other rooms look like an endless world” [49, pp.61] In

inner cave has a way to go to Ham Rong cave and go to other caves in the 99 mountains Every cave in here is a captivating fairyland There are many emperors who used to stop their steps and created poetry For example, Tran Nghe Tong had to stop on the bank of Ma River, climb to mountains and go

to Tien Cave, and then visit Lieu Nhien cave Thus, he created a poem about Lieu Nhien cave

Vong Dong Son Lieu Nhien cave

Translator:

“Temporary boat forced into trees, Slot in a quiet house pillow fight

Next year who knows who is healthy?

Visitors welcome this old mountain scenery”

(Hoang Tuan Pho)

In a word, we can see that the Dong Son ancient village has a favor of

nature with stunning landscapes converge to make a “Ha Long Bay on the

land”, and hold on many poets’ soul It makes the Dong Son ancient village

to dominate on the center of Thanh Hoa area in particular and in the North delta in general

1.3 The long tradition of the Dong Son ancient village

1.3.1 The history and development of the Dong Son ancient village

At the beginning of BC under the Han Dynasty, the Dong Son village belongs to Cuu Chan district with Tu Pho administration This is stated

clearly in the Geographic book “Cuu Chan district opened in Nguyen Dinh

year sixth Han Vu De Dynasty, administration of district is Tu Pho, Vuong Mang changed Hoan Thanh” [2, pp.49] This may be a dense prosperity at

that time The reason why we can say that due to from 20 years of the twentieth century to today, archaeologists discovered in Dong Son and Thieu

Duong have bronze cultural sites “These findings showed that on the right

bank of the Ma River, from the Giang village to Ham Rong has had flourishing places of Lac Viet residence in the Bronze Age In these places, people have discovered the relics of Tay Han dysnesty and have also some ancient tombs from the Eastern Han Dynasty surrounding” [2, pp.53] This

land is still under the Cuu Chan in the Tuy – Duong dysnesty

In the Ly –Tran dysnesty, this region was known by various names In the Ly dysnesty called Thanh Hoa (Ai Chau before) and the name of Thanh Hoa was mentioned first time In the Tran dysnesty 10th Quang Thai year

(1397) “Ho Quy Ly is main admistrator, modified the mode of government,

changed highway into town: Thanh Hoa is Thanh Do” [2, pp.126] Dong Son

district at that time is under Thanh Do and thanks to this situation, Dong Son was known

After national hero Le Loi drove Minh, restore national independence,

on the unity territory, he has divided the country into 5 areas “In 7 th Quang Thuan (1466), to strengthen administration unity, Le Thanh Tong divided the country into 12 direct admit, changes the government, changed the town In the 10 th year, the re-map of the country added the government districts up the states” [2, pp.172] The Dong Son ancient village now is period Dong Son

district, Thieu Thien government, Thanh Hoa state

In 1740 Post-Le dysnesty under the reign of Le Hien Tong, Trinh The Loi was required to go to Thanh Hoa in hide and seek land for fighting against external and internal enemies He was found in the land of the Dong Son in which has good conditions for economic development and bases construction It is located in the valley with a large area, surrounded by mountains and the Ma River Thanks to support and assistance of people in the lowland Dong Cuong (Canh Da Den) and upland Duong Cuong (Ba Khe), Trinh The Loi established Dong Son village3

After the establishment of village, he carried out demarcation of village

boundaries and delimitation of place for each family “Therefore, everyone in

the family is born to live on the same land together, rely on each other, and responsible for each other” [48, pp.286] When a theft occurs or having

enemies, there must unite to fight the invaders, protect the family, clan and village He not only takes care of the stability of everyday life, but also takes care of the epiritual life of people in the village Thus, Dong Son people were living in a peaceful setting of Vietnamese village To commemorate Trinh

The Loi, people respected him as village royal and built a temple in the center

of village named Nhi

According to the legen, the Dong Son ancient village was established

before the time Dinh – Le dysnesty At that time, “Duong family sent a

thousand adopted children to discover land, practice martial arts, close the war boat, prepare for food, and wait for large career in Dong Son village Although the village is located in the riverside, it has mountains and forests around three sides result in that the enemy set up in the Tu Pho district near Duong Xa cannot keep track and detect traces of generals” [48, pp.258]

Since the early nineteenth century to before the august 1945 revolution,

Dong Son village belonged to “Dong Son commune, Tho Hac, Dong Son

district, Thieu Thien, Thanh Hoa province” [73, pp.107] Thus, the Dong Son

ancient village has a long history, the people in the village from generation to generation still reside here There are many generations of people who have grown up here and brought fame to the village as well as the country

1.3.2 Traditional economics

- The situation of land

Situation of land in the Dong Son village before the August revolution

is similar with the situation of almost villages in the North of Vietnam The land is mainly in the hands of landlords, rich peasants There are landlords in the village own up to 7-8 arces, while each household has about 1-3 acres or land less This leads to a large number of farmers have to work for landlords

or tenants to lease the landlord’s fields and then submit taxes to them Of course, in the process of hiring farm, farmers are always suffered disadvantages that are they only hire bad plots, difficult cultivation lead to low productivity Beside, there are many natural disasters such as storm,

flood, drought, etc, so farmers had to work very hard in around the year, but are still not well off

Although the land is mainly in the hands of landlords, among clans as well as temple in the Dong Son village also own a piece of land These fields are assigned to their relatives in the village to take profits to support activities and offerings such as festivals, temple worship Thus, the funds are guaranteed to help to work through, and not make more difficult for people in the village

Beside rice area does not change, the area of other crops such as cassava, sugar cane, peanuts, and soybeans increase continuously because people in the Dong Son village regularly break out the hills around the village for cultivation This has contributed significantly to the fight against hunger

of people in the Dong Son village

- Agricultural economy plays a key role

The Dong Song ancient village is located in Dong Son culture, it has affected, impacted to the people’s life in the village, especially in the production activities In the past, famers have planted 1 rice crop, and later they learn about weather rules, accumulated practical experience in the field, there are two rice crops and intercropping on the rice land or tools of production are more varied and more suitbale for the production lead to increasing productivity in working

Traditional labor was the Dong Son people followed in the early years

of the twentieth century This is shown very clear by development of the agricultural economy Residents of rice farming are emerged Rice land area

is exploited completely This is reflected in that the fields is not only used for

1 crop (Nguoc field, Xuoi field, Cach Can field), but also used for two crops (Dong field, Me field) These fields will be grown other crops after harvest

That planted the short-term crops mainly maize and potatoes for everyday meals as well as for livestock and poultry During the labor process has accumulated experience, and has innovated methods of water into the field It

is taking advantage of the river tides push water up into the field for rice cultivation or irrigate for crops Later, irrigation developed, farmers no longer apply this method in the cultivation process

Beside rice area, the village also has a large area of hilly land thanks to people exploited to plant crops Mostly they are planted short-term industrial crops for daily life and exchange with other regions On the hills, low mountains planted beans, cassava, yam, pineapple, mulberry, cotton, etc There are some well-known products such as yam, cassava, and was handed praise

“The best cassava in the Dong village The best cotton in the Vac village” 4

Commodities and rice have helped generations of the Dong Son people

to overcome hunger, cold The most terrible famine took place in 1945, when there were more than 2million people who died in the starvation People in the Dong Son village still hold on with rice mixed with potatoes, cassava even both pennywort porridge and bran porridge

Cultivation associates with livestock Livestock plays an important role

in the daily life of the residents in the village In the past, every household had

at least one sow and rose freely without barns On the hills, beside cultivative activities, those are places for grazing livestock such as cattle, goats Livestock activities, now, are still maintaining, but the structure of livestock has changed In the past, cattle are mainly livestock, and goats are the most common livestock now These changes are results of changes in the economic

values of the animal As a farming village, small industry is mostly undeveloped There are only some careers that support directly daily life and production activities such as carpentry, weaving, and tile terracotta Making

Giang career is the most emerged Type of Giang in Dong Son village is very special and famous in around area “Cot in Giang village; Giang in Dong

village” Giang Dong Son is tied with rattan, eight fibers with four wires, on

the top of Giang has shape of canarium, on the bottom of Giang has a piece of cow-hide, so called skin-head Giang This Giang is only in Dong Son result in that there are many people in other villages who brought material for people

in Dong Son and learn how to do Giang such as Dong Tho village, Giang village

In a word, the traditional economy of the Dong Son village in early twentieth century is agricultural economy with mainly rice planting People in the village always lie on fields, gardens to produce agricultural products in order to serve and ensure for daily life

each time point for people in the village know to control daily activities in family suitably At that time, the Dong Son village does not have clock, so to notice accurate gap between two times, they used Nun straw to count the time One time is equivalent to two of Nun straw and burnt two belt means to

a new time, so they knocked to let people know the time

+ Hamlet gateway

In the Dong Son ancient village, there is not only village gateway, but also has hamlet gateway in every hamlet Hamlet gateway was built in the early years of the twentieth century with materials both brick, stucco plastered stone, simple decoration with two dragons flanking a moon (two dragon flank

a moon in the center), but they are decorated gorgeous Currently, the village

is still two gates in Tri hamlet and Nhan hamlet, others broke

+ Country lane

Country lanes of the Dong Son village is structured follow to bone include a main road running from the village to the end of the village with many small streets cross each other and to the main road This type of layout is the same as other Vietnamese north villages such as Duong Lam ancient village or Cu Da ancient village The reason explains why people arranged country lane like that is to facilitate in travel as well as security gruarantee in daily life As if the village is stolen, it will be hard to escape because all entries are crossed together, and people stay in everywhere At the first time, country lane is made by soil, after that it is made by stone The big piece of stone is taken from mountains, is chosen and paved the way There are gutters which run parallel to the lane for drainage Thus, thanks to this structure, people’s life in the Dong Son village became more convenient in activities as well as production With clean lane, people can travel, transport,

herring-or dry agricultural products mherring-ore convenient Or good drainage will help the

plants in gardens, which are not flooded lead to death and revenure of people

is not lost

+ Housing

According to the village elders told, before the August Revolution, people live mainly in the thatched cottage, bamboo house, and some wooden house The owners of those wooden houses are rich in the village at that time Currently, there are only some wooden houses in Dong Son village, and some

of them have been recognized as cultural historical relics with kinds of artistic architecture relics It should be interested here is that how to preserve and protect the wooden house from the urbanization process

General structure of housing in the Dong Son village has 5 compartments in the main house or 3 compartments with two gables and having pavement On the every roof has drains, when it rains, water from the roof flows directly out into the field Two compartments in the gable are places to rest as well as to keep family belongings Three remaining compartments with a compartment in the center is a place to set up the ancestral altar and to welcome guest Two compartments next to central compartment can put mahogany, tea sideboard, or couch and add up bed for the host or guest

Houses of people in the village, there are some sub-houses beside main houses Those sub-houses play a major role in activities of every family It is usually each family to add a sub-house with 2 -3 compartments use to cook and keep labor instruments or other equipments in daily life It is sometime a place for female members in the family to sleep

In this living space is not only the main house, sub-house, but is also roof to meet wind, yards, gardens, fences, gates, which make distinctions for villages in the Thanh region

- Cuisine

In the past, people in the Dong Son village cooked brown rice, depended on economic viability as well as daily habits to eat two or three meals per day Rice is usually eaten with eeg-plant, fish, fish sauce, shrimp, fiddler sauce, or sometimes with meat These items are self- support and eat regularly in the whole year Fish and kinds of fish sauce that are made by seafood comprised a large part of meal structure of people in the village At the time of hunger, rice is often mixed with glory-morning, cassava, sweet potatoes And, on holidays, festivities, people in the Dong Son village used sticky rice, pork, goat meat to worship the holy, ancestor, and then to give for children

A big difference in the cuisine of the Dong Son village in particular and other villages of Thanh Hoa in general is drink In the period, all people in the village drank raw water; there are only some families who drank lid Eugenia tea On the festivities, people drank cassava wine which was made by people

in the village cooked In the years before the August revolution, in the Dong Son village is not still appear kinds of drink that have characteristics of beverages such as tea or soft drink

- Apparel

As many other villages, costumes in the villages are distinctive between weekdays and holidays, between men and women In the weekday, women wear brown skirts (made by cloth, brown dying, and mud plaster), overalls (coveralls collar rotation for the elderly, old overalls cut off for young people), sashes, worn beams of 4 wires, conical hats, barefoot or wooden clogs, cow leather sandals On major holidays, festivals of the year, women wear more beautiful with silk skirt, four-panel traditional dress, green scarf, and terrace hat Men’s apparel at work, they wear a loin-cloth, naked, on

about 40 years of the twentieth century, they wear shorts, a short T-shirt with two or three bags, barefoot, wearing a conical hat In the daily life, their apparel like above, on the solemn occasions such as kinship activities, village activities, men wear long white trousers, two-panel shirt, wear wooden clogs

or bamboo clogs These costumes are made by people in the village, there are only few family hire someone to sew costumes for their family This shows that self-reliance of Vietnamese villagers in general and the Dong Son village

is very high

- Travel

In the early twentieth century, people in the Dong Son village are only walking, boat, to transport something people can carry or move via boat on

the water In general, walking is the most common travel in the village

Through the organization of residence, food, clothing, and transportation, tangible culture of the Dong Son village early twentieth century is shown clearly; we can know how they wear, how they eat, how they live, and how they travel As a result, we can understand about some part

of their spiritual life

1.3.3.1.2 Historical relics

The historical relics of Dong Son village were randomly discovered in

1924 “by a fish farmer founding some bronze objects exposing at river banks

after the rains” [29, p.28] Since the discovery of relics to present, there are

seven excavations including six official ones and an unofficial one Through over seven excavations, thousands of relics have been found and have been classified into groups such as team working tools, weapons, domestic utensils, jewelry and musical instruments Group of working tools include axes (stone axes, bronze axes), plows, hoes, shovels, sickles, chisels …., especially axes

with oblique blade This is “a typical product of the Dong Son culture The

most interesting thing is that obliquity of axes’ blade is imbued local traces Axes with oblique blade of the Dong Son – Ma river type have oblique blade being similar to the shape of shoemakers’ oblique knife Another with less quantity but being also imbued local traces is axes with curved blade as the same as crescent shape including beautiful decorative patterns of the dancers, the boating, the deer, and crocodile These are probably the bronze objects which are considered logos rather than the tools in actual using” [54, p.14]

Group of weapons is divided into the ones for close combat (swords, daggers, spears, axes ), and the ones for distance combat (knives, arrows )

In which, the number of spears occupies the largest Spears are divided into many types such as the one with the part for fitting handle being a half or one – threes of the length of spear blade, or the one with the shape of sugarcane leaves Especially, they found out daggers and swords with handle of people

shape The interesting is that “these shapes are the shapes of women With the

face, posture, dress, full of luxury and imposing jewelry, they are clearly women to be honored and respected in society Through these beautiful swords, they can recognize the spirit of the Dong Son culture with self-esteem, confidence and mighty” [54, p.14]

Group of domestic utensils including pots, vases, plates, bowls … The popularity and diversity of these instruments referred that the daily lives of the Dong Son people were more stable and wealthy

Group of jewelry including bracelets, anklets were made of metals and stones, earrings, brooches, feathers … These show the rich and diversity of the Dong Son people not only in material but also in the spiritual aspect

In particular, of relics of the Dong Son village, it is drums which are more prominently as well as are expressions of artistic and technical talent of the owners of Dong Son culture The drums and the patterns engraved on

them helped us to imagine something about the lives of the ancient Vietnamese There are many styles of patterns on the drums but mainly they are in the form of stars, especially stars 12 wings in the middle of drum’s face Between the wings of stars, they are motifs of peacock’s feather or the cross bars with interlocking triangles Surrounding the stars, they are the shapes of people, plants, animals and geometric patterns All these things have become scientific basis of classification drums as well as portraying traits of economic affairs, culture and society of Dong Son people at that time

1.3.3.2 Intangible culture

- Belief, religion

+ Ancestor worship belief

Ancestor worship of Vietnamese people was born long time ago, based

on the belief in the immortality of the soul after death, believed that the dead people can go back to visit, bless for their family members Since long time ago, ancestor worship has become a culture, moral and human principles It is also an important part of the spiritual life of Vietnamese people, especially living in each household and family in the Dong Son village In the village, altar is placed in the most formal, high, clean place in house The large family

in the village such as Luong Trong, Luong Tri, etc, ancestor worship is contucted in their worship hall, while smaller families, ancestor worship is conducted at the head of a clan Ancestor worship is an important task, so descendants should be never neglected; need always to remain each other to fulfill filial piety Descendants’ heart with ancestors is presented at any time, any where, especially in festivities, and Tet holidays In particular, when mentioning about ancestor worship in the Dong Son village, we cannot but mention the even of 2st March lunar year Annually every lunar 2st March, every family in the village brought banquets to Nghe communal house (the

Holy temple) to sacrifice At that time, solemn bustling atmostphere takes place in every street, household as well as in everyone On 2st March, everyone has to go back with their relatives to offer feast to their ancestor even staying wherever and doing anything When the preparations were finished, all descendants of the family gathered into Nghe communal house to hold a ceremony And, we can see very fast attachment of everyone in the Dong Son community First, people came to communal house not only to hold a ceremony, but also to meet, communicate, and learn more about each other They can share and overcome difficulties together To have a fund as well as the heart of descendants with ancestors, in every family of the Dong

Son village often have a common property that is called “cult-portion part”,

and is delivered for the patriarch, detailed head, or a household in the family

to preserve and do From these common fields created common profits for whole family This is the main funding source in holding ancestor worship of every family in the Dong Son village This money is used to specific jobs such as church repairing, buying the cult and things in the holidays and anniversary Thus, ancestral worship not only presents the filial piety of descendants, but is also a profound education for the next generation about the cultural tradition of ancestors and nation

+ Divine worship belief

In the belief life of the people in the Dong Son village, beside ancestral worship, they have a divine worship We can mention a number of gods, saints such as Church of the Great Holy, Church of village Royal, Church of Lieu Hanh mother

Temple of Le Uy – Tran Khat Chan

Temple of Le Uy – Tran Khat Chan is located in Dong Son village to worship Tham Xung Ta Quoc – Chang At Dai Vuong He was the yougest

son of Le Ngoc (Le Coc), cinese governor of Cuu Chan district (now Dong Hoa commune, Dong Son district) When Duong dysnesty overthrew Tuy dysnesty, Le Ngoc companied with three sons against the enemy In the fighting process, Mr At has sacrified To commemorate his merits, there are many places in which set up the temple, and the Dong Son village is not an exception People in the village took his anniversary on 3rd March lunar year

to celebrate village festival In the jubilant atmosphere of the festival, people

in the Dong Son village organize Cha eating festival with people in the Giang Hen village This festival is not only a commemoration At Dai Vuong sacrifice, but also shows very fast attachment of people between two villages

as well as to remind future generations refer to his bright mirror

Besides, this temple is also a place to worship general Tran Khat Chan

He was born in the Ha Lang village, Vinh Ninh district (now Vinh Loc district, Thanh Hoa province) He was a famous general of Tran Nghe Tong and was promoted to superior general In 1399, Ho Quy Ly has killed him along with 370 otheres and burried at Dun Mountain People mourned over and worshiped in the Le Uy temple Therefore, the temple is also known by another name that is a temple of two holy

The temple was originally built in the in the Ma Tat area, and on 20thAugust 1789 – buffalo year, the temple was moved to Ma Yen mountain (where the rest of the horse) Temple area is 400m2 on the campus of almost 7000m2 under MaYen mountain foot, the back of temple lies on the mountain, temple face looks toward West with a lot of architectural items such as yard, appreciated subject, martial entertainment, forecourt, semicircular pond harem, etc With a huge campus, it meets the demands of people in the village

as well as other villages come to celebrate This is a famous temple of the sacred not only in Thanh area, but also across the North Central region, so

people come to the temple more and more Besides, when people go through the temple, all of them open hat to show their respect to divine

Nhi temple

Nhi temple in the Dong Son village is a place to worship village Royal – Trinh The Loi He is credited with unifying upper Dong Son village and

down Dong Son village to become Dong Son village today “Nhi temple is

located in the center of the village, placed in the highest ground compare with other positions of resident land in the village, the back of temple lies on the Dragon Mountain, the face of temple looks toward West, and covers whole Dong Son village” [15, pp.87] Nhi temple was built in the 1800s on a

campus in which is not very large, but it is ancient and hallowed, saves a lot

of precious relics such as two stone dogs, two stone horses People in the Dong Son village often come to Nhi temple when their family has bad and sad things to find the peace of themselves and their family Especially, on holidays, carnival on 15th November is the anniversary of his death Village organized offering at the Nhi temple in a solemn, hallowed atmosphere to show respect and gratefulness to meritorious officials who found a state of the village The people who undertake this work is organized by villag official, village authorities, and elders Gifts offered to him, which is the product that

is made by people in the Dong Son village such as sticky rice, pork, chicken, goat meat, etc Besides, when the village comes into festival, people organize

to take him from Nhi temple to Duc Thanh Ca temple to join in village festival with other gods and people

Van Thanh relic

Van Thanh was built in the nineteenth century reign of King Tu Duc to worship Khong Tu and 72 of his best disciples Besides, it can also be used to organize examination for the candidates of the North Central region and also