Thuy Huong Temple

Thuy Huong Village, Noi Bai Commune, Hanoi City

Thuy Huong Temple is located on the bank of the Ca Lo River, in Thuy Huong Village, Noi Bai Commune, Hanoi City; the temple faces south, and the river flowing in front creates a 'long cuon thuy' (dragon rolling water) position, giving the temple a picturesque riverside landscape. Thuy Huong was formerly called Gia Ha Village and, together with Huong Gia, was one of the two villages of Gia Le Commune; in 1824 Gia Le Commune was renamed Huong Gia, and in 1912 the western village of Huong Gia was separated to form Thuy Huong Village. The temple has a construction area of about 255 m² and a usable area of 355 m², with a ground plan arranged in the 'front in the shape of the character nhat, rear in the shape of the character cong' style — a layout common in Vietnamese religious architecture from the 17th century onward.

Thuy Huong Temple worships two famous generals, Truong Hong and Truong Hat, talented generals of Trieu Quang Phuc during the resistance war against the Liang invaders. According to the spirit record copied in 1735 and still kept at the temple, the Truong siblings included four brothers (Hong, Hat, Lung, and Lay) and one sister (Dam Nuong), children of Mrs. Phung Tu Nhan from Van Mau Village; they recruited soldiers to follow Trieu Quang Phuc, defeated the Liang enemy, and were appointed generals. When Ly Phat Tu usurped the throne, the two men upheld their loyal and righteous spirit, refused to serve two lords, and chose to follow the royal boat and die for their loyalty; later, people from more than three hundred villages along the Cau River, Ngu Huyen Khe River, and other rivers built temples to worship them and honored them as Saint Tam Giang. Their divine power is also linked to the legend of the sacred poem 'Nam Quoc Son Ha' resounding on the Nhu Nguyet River defense line during Ly Thuong Kiet's resistance against the Song army.

Not only a place of worship, Thuy Huong Temple also bears the marks of many revolutionary historical events: before the August Revolution of 1945, Viet Minh cadres once met at the temple to discuss plans to seize power in Phuc Yen Province; during the resistance war against the French, the temple was an operating base for cadres and guerrillas; during the resistance war against the Americans, it was an evacuation site for the air force command of Noi Bai Airport and a place where experts and pilots from friendly countries worked and studied. In particular, on the first day of the Dinh Mui Lunar New Year (09/02/1967), President Ho Chi Minh visited and met with air force cadres and soldiers right at the temple. With these outstanding historical, architectural, and cultural values, Thuy Huong Temple was ranked by the Ministry of Culture and Information as a National-level Architectural and Artistic Relic in 1990; it is both a place of religious practice and an address for educating the community in historical and revolutionary traditions.