Phung Cong Communal House, Hoa Binh Hamlet, Thuong Tin Commune, Hanoi City

The Phung Cong Communal House relic was built quite long ago, but through natural and social development, the relic no longer retains documents about the year the communal house was founded. To determine a relative date for the relic, we can rely on the following bases: Based on the accounts of elderly villagers and artifacts still kept such as a Tho Ha ceramic incense burner of 18th-century art, Phung Cong Communal House was established during the Le dynasty.

Through the ups and downs of history, the local government and people have restored and repaired it many times in the following years:

- First time: Ky Ty year 1925, repaired the square communal house and rear sanctuary - Second time: 1997

- Third time: 2007

- Fifth time: 2012, left and right side halls and courtyard.

Located at the southern gateway of the capital, Thuong Tin is a district with a distinctive historical and cultural tradition, long known as a land of 'famous villages' and a heroic district. In the struggles of the Vietnamese nation, this land bears many historical marks.

This place has many archaeological sites such as the Neolithic, Dong Son cultural period, and many place names recorded in history such as Chuong Duong Do, the Ha Hoi battle defeating the Manchu Qing invaders... and is also a district with a renowned scholarly tradition, with lists of doctoral graduates across dynasties such as Nguyen Phi Khanh, Nguyen Trai, Ly Tu Tan, and patriots in the patriotic movement such as Luong Van Can, Luong Ngoc Quyen... who are the most outstanding figures of human history and World Cultural Celebrities.

In addition, there is a system of ancient relics such as Dau Pagoda, Mui Pagoda, Nguyen Trai Temple... In terms of intangible culture, the district still preserves many local proverbs, folk songs, festival activities with folk games... The people of Thuong Tin are industrious, creative, and talented in labor and production in what has long been considered one of the country's oldest 'cradles of craft villages.' Therefore, Hoa Binh Commune is one of them.

Hoa Binh is a land in the Red River Delta, formed thousands of years ago by alluvium from the Red River, Nhue River, and To Lich River. The people here have a tradition of solidarity, industriousness and creativity in labor, and an indomitable, courageous spirit in fighting to protect and build their homeland.

Despite many changes in administrative boundaries, the villages and communes of Hoa Binh today have never been separated and have always remained a unified block. Every rice field and bamboo hedge of the homeland is soaked with the sweat and blood of generations of Hoa Binh Commune people who contributed to building it. In the 15th century, the first settlers put in much sweat and effort to reclaim fields and expand riverbanks. In the past, Hoa Binh was wasteland, muddy, and some high mounds. The fields of Doc Sau Trong and Doc Sau Ngoai, Duong Huong, Trung Chua, Dong Co... were all flooded. Scattered on the high mounds were Son Nam and Duong Nam mounds, with many fragmented, small fields. From generation to generation, the people here joined forces and hearts to transform the land into fertile fields, planting wet rice, continuing the tradition of the Red River civilization.

Besides agriculture, handicrafts appeared in Hoa Binh Commune from the 15th-16th centuries. Products such as wooden items in Quan Hien and Phung Cong, as well as the horn comb-making craft in Thuy Ung Village...

Through the process of building and defending the homeland and country, the people of Hoa Binh have still preserved cultural heritage with a distinctive system of communal houses, temples, pagodas, and ancestral halls... and Phung Cong Communal House remains among those relics.

Through field surveys at the relic, accounts of elderly villagers, and artifacts still kept at the relic such as horizontal plaques and couplets, Phung Cong Communal House is a place of worship for Duc Linh Lang Dai Vuong of the Ly dynasty.

One day, King Ly Thai Tong went on a royal tour to Ha Khau Ward and met a girl with a graceful bearing, sparkling phoenix eyes, a jade-like face, powdered cheeks, red lips, and a beauty that made birds fall and fish sink. Upon inquiry, it was learned that her name was Hao, she was eighteen years old, her father had died early, and she and her brother were living with their aunt in Thi Trai Ward (now Thu Le).

The king fell in love with her and brought her to the palace, making her the ninth concubine. One day, the concubine went to West Lake to wash silk and bathe, and suddenly saw a dragon approach, coil tightly around her, spray saliva over her body, and give off a strong fragrance. After that she became pregnant; before giving birth, she dreamed that a great man wearing a dragon crown, a royal robe, and a jade belt came before her and said:

- I am a son of the Dragon King, named Hoang Lang, and have been ordered to be reincarnated as the king's child; please accept me, Concubine.

Having said this, he disappeared. Heaven and earth suddenly moved, lightning flashed brightly, and fragrance was abundant. The concubine went into labor and gave birth to a son, on whose back was a dragon-shaped mark and 28 moles like the 28 constellations, on whose belly was the Big Dipper, with phoenix eyes, tiger eyebrows, a dragon neck, a swallow's jaw, and a wondrous appearance, clearly a person of noble destiny. Seven days after birth, following the dream omen, the king named him Hoang Lang, with the courtesy name Hoang Chan, later conferred the title Linh Lang.

It is said that Prince Hoang Chan ate well and grew quickly; before he was one year old, hearing that there were Trinh Vinh rebels in the south, he stretched and grew tall, becoming a strong warrior, rode an elephant into battle, and in the blink of an eye defeated the enemy troops. When the Song invaders came to invade our country, they were stopped by Ly Thuong Kiet at the Cau River defense line. According to Ly Thuong Kiet's plan, the two princes Hoang Chan and Chieu Van used 400 warships to land troops on the north bank and attack the Song army's line at the Khao Tuc River section (the Cau River near Nham Bien Mountain).

The two princes urged their troops to attack fiercely in order to attract the enemy's forces, creating conditions for Ly Thuong Kiet to unexpectedly cross the river and launch a surprise attack on the enemy camp.

The Song army could not react in time and was utterly defeated. Our army won a great victory. In that important battle, the two princes Hoang Chan and Chieu Van both died heroically.

The story goes: The body and bones of Prince Hoang Chan had fallen, but his soul had not departed and told the three armies: 'Take me back to the sacred stone where heaven once decreed.' Hearing the news, the king had Hoang Chan brought back to the stone, where the concubine had once bathed and encountered the dragon by West Lake, and built a temple there. That place is now Thu Le, in the capital Hanoi. Many other places also set up memorial tablets and worship Linh Lang Dai Vuong.

Hoa Binh Village worships Linh Lang Dai Vuong at the communal house, honoring him as the village tutelary god, the spiritual king of the village, one capable of protecting the spiritual life of the people. From then until now, incense smoke in the communal house has never ceased, and the people of Hoa Binh have prospered and continuously developed. The feudal dynasties of the Le and Nguyen both issued titles to the god.