Noi Chau Communal House

Noi Chau Communal House is located at: No. 3, Lane 200 Au Co, Hong Ha Ward, Hanoi City.

This was originally Xuyen Bao village; during the Tran dynasty it was divided into four chau: Noi Chau, Ngoai Chau, Xuyen Chau, and Van Chau. It was later renamed “Tu xa”. During the Le dynasty it was called Tam Bao village, and Noi Chau belonged to Noi canton, Vinh Thuan district. During the Nguyen dynasty, after many name changes, in 1910 it was renamed Noi Chau commune. Before 1945 it belonged to Phuc Lam canton, Hoan Long district, Ha Dong province. From 1961 it belonged to Tu Lien commune, Tu Liem district, in the outskirts of Hanoi. From 1996 it belonged to Tu Lien ward, Tay Ho district, Hanoi City; today it belongs to Hong Ha Ward, Hanoi City.
According to the hagiography, Noi Chau Communal House worships the village tutelary gods, three blood brothers: Bao Trung (the Elder Saint, whose taboo name was Nguyen Huy Bao), Minh Khiet (the Younger Saint, whose taboo name was Nguyen Huy My), and Saint Lady Y Hanh (whose taboo name was Nguyen Thi Phuong), all born at the Hour of the Rat on the 28th day of the 6th month of the Mau Dan year.

Noi Chau Communal House faces southeast and has a dinh-shaped layout. It includes such items as: the ceremonial gate with pillar inscriptions, left and right corridors, the Dai Bai, and the Hau Cung.

According to the accounts of the elderly, the communal house originally stood at this same location and was an ancient wooden communal house. In February 1947, the French army organized a large pursuit operation aimed at destroying the Regiment. Enemy naval and air forces swept across a vast stretch of alluvial land, burning and destroying Tu Tong; fierce flames burned the villagers’ houses and the boats carrying the Capital Regiment. By 1960, people gathered and established a school collective on the communal house land, which served as the regiment’s working place and also as the place for ferrying the regiment across the river. The Zone B self-defense force was deployed to keep watch on French troops stationed at Noi Chau Communal House. Throughout the night of February 17 and at dawn on February 18, 1947, 1,200 officers and soldiers of the Capital Regiment, together with their weapons, were secretly transported by the self-defense force and the people of Tu Tong across the Red River to the middle sandbank in Zone B safely. Through many historical upheavals and the nation’s resistance wars, the scale and appearance of the communal house changed greatly from when it was first built. The current architecture is the result of renovations in the 20th century, including a five-bay Dai Bai, a one-bay, two-wing tube house, and a three-bay Hau Cung, forming the shape of the character “cong”.