Dai Dong Communal House

Commonly called Dai Dong Communal House, Dai Dong 1 Village, Thach That Commune - Hanoi, about 35 km from the center of Hanoi city; travel is convenient by motorized vehicle. The communal house was recognized as a national architectural and artistic relic under Decision No. 1460/QĐ/VH dated June 28, 1996.

The communal house worships three tutelary deities of the Chu family from Ba Trung (China), who came to Vietnam during the Eastern Han period, under Emperor Xian. The eldest was Chu Can, the second Chu Khiem, and the third Chu Dam. The three Chu brothers established a resting palace in Dai Dong village and chose beautiful land in Thuy Lai village as their burial place. During their lifetime, the three Chu brothers contributed to reforming customs, opening schools, and practicing medicine to save people, so people in many villages along the Tich Giang River built shrines and temples to worship them. The overall architecture of Dai Dong Communal House remains fairly intact, notably the Dai Bai hall and the Hau Cung, which are 17th-18th century Le dynasty architectural works. In the Nguyen dynasty, additional items such as Tien Te, Ta Mac, and Huu Mac were built, and a surrounding wall was added outside the courtyard. The land for the communal house is elevated like a lotus flower. The communal house faces south toward a wide round well, making the Dai Dong communal house landscape more open. The three-bay Tien Te building is built in a two-tiered, eight-roof style, creating eight curving roof corners. The four sides of Tien Te are not walled but left open. On the roof-supporting trusses are wooden wind boards and wooden carved trusses featuring ancient stories or themes of the four sacred creatures (Dragon, Qilin, Turtle, Phoenix), the four noble plants (Pine, Chrysanthemum, Bamboo, Apricot), and stylized floral patterns. The Dai Bai building is a Le dynasty architectural work, including seven main bays and two side bays. The trusses are made in the gia chieng style. The main columns supporting the roof are 5.5 m high, and the subsidiary columns are 3.60 m high. The interior of Dai Bai is decorated with many horizontal plaques and couplets, creating a solemn, ancient atmosphere. The Hau Cung building is structured in a two-tiered style using traditional joinery methods; the skilled carpenters of the past created three roof tiers with two layers of roof corners, with an elegant, soaring shape like a tower, the top resembling an artistic flower, stylized and lively against the sky. It is noteworthy that although Dai Dong Communal House has a tube-like Hau Cung connected to Dai Bai, the thrones and tablets of the three tutelary deities are not placed there; instead, a suspended altar is made in the middle bay of Dai Bai. This shows that the Hau Cung is a work created after the Dai Bai, the main item of Dai Dong Communal House, and that the construction of Hau Cung has something of an artistic work rather than a religious work where deities are solemnly arranged. The Dai Dong village festival is held annually on the 6th day of the first lunar month. At the end of 1946, Uncle Ton Duc Thang (a veteran Vietnamese revolutionary, later President of the State) came to work at Dai Dong Communal House. He talked about the Party's resistance policy against French colonialists with local people, creating an unprecedented revolutionary atmosphere.