Thai Binh Communal House

Thai Binh Village is also called Coi Thai Duong Village. Like Yen Thanh Temple on Phan Huy Ich Street (Ba Dinh District) and many other ancient communal houses and temples in the North, Thai Binh Communal House worships the unfortunate noblewoman Ly Chieu Hoang (Chinese characters: 李昭皇; 1218-1278, born in the ninth lunar month, died in the third lunar month). The Queen's real name was Ly Phat Kim, the youngest daughter of King Ly Hue Tong and younger sister of Princess Thuan Thien Ly Ngoc Oanh. She ascended the throne at the age of 8 when Grand Preceptor Tran Thu Do plotted to force King Hue Tong to leave and become a monk; several months later, Phat Kim was married to Tran Canh, who was also 8 years old.

Immediately afterward, Phat Kim had to yield the throne to her husband, officially handing the Ly dynasty's realm over to the Tran dynasty and becoming Empress Chieu Thanh (昭聖皇后). Her misfortunes did not end there: after many years (1226–1237) living with King Tran Thai Tong (Chinese characters: 陳太宗; 1218–1278, born on the 16th day of the sixth lunar month, died on the 1st day of the fourth lunar month) without having a child, Phat Kim was even deprived of the empress title when she was only 19.

At the age of 40, she was married to General Le Phu Tran as a kind of reward. Fortunately, the ending was happy and gave this elderly couple two children: a talented son and a beautiful daughter. Nevertheless, according to many documents, at the end of her life she also left to become a nun like her father, and when she departed this world in Bac Ninh at the age of 60, her face still retained its rosy, benevolent appearance.

Not only did people in many places establish shrines to worship and call her Queen Mother to express their affection and sympathy, but subsequent feudal dynasties also issued edicts conferring noble titles on her. At Thai Binh Communal House, she is honored as Nguyen ly than hieu, Phat Kim thuong hoang thai hau linh ung, Phu quoc hien huu khang dan chi than, and was bestowed the beautiful title of Cong than.

Thai Binh Communal House faces southeast, looking across the dike to the crop fields on the alluvial land along the Duong River, where there used to be a grove of fig trees. When I first went to school, the breach of Mai Lam Dike was a shocking event that could not be forgotten; afterward the forest was cut down entirely. Many soldiers sacrificed their lives while rescuing people in the swift current.

The communal house's three-entrance gate is built in the nghi mon style with tall, large pillars and raised-relief couplets; the two side gates have two tiers of false roofs covered with tubular tiles. On the outer face of the gate are a pair of elephant reliefs, and on the inner face are a pair of horses. Behind the three-entrance gate is a large brick yard; the left wall is shared with Dien Phuc Pagoda and connected through a side door, while on the right there is a guest house and another two-tiered false-roof side door opening up to the dike slope.

The front hall is as wide as 5 bays with 2 side bays; although it has deteriorated, it still looks very beautiful. The ironwood columns are all large and tall, and the communal house's interior can easily hold hundreds of people. The rear sanctuary has 3 bays and connects with the front hall to form a “Dinh” character layout. Behind there is a yard, kitchen, and auxiliary area, along with a rear door opening onto the village road.

The communal house still preserves a number of valuable artifacts such as the deity genealogy, edicts, horizontal plaques, couplets, and valuable ritual objects.

On August 22, 1967, the communal house was bombed by American aircraft, and many places as well as valuable documents were destroyed and lost. Fortunately, many exquisite woodcarvings in the artistic style of the 18th–19th centuries and several ancient steles are still preserved. The stele “Ly gia linh thach” engraved in the Canh Hung year (1793) records that the mother of King Ly Cong Uan was from the Pham family in Hoa Lam. The stele “Hoa Lam Tam Bao thi,” composed by Do Dong Nhan Phai (1581–?), a doctor in the Mau Thin examination (1628) from Thiet Ung Commune, Dong Ngan District, discusses the restoration of Tam Bao Market, etc.

The people of Thai Binh village still organize three solemn village communal house festivals every year, attracting a great many visitors. The spring festival season includes the birth ceremony at Qingming on the 12th day of the third lunar month. Coi village festival is said to have often lasted up to 5 days in the past. In addition, there is the deification ceremony held in winter on the 12th–13th days of the twelfth lunar month and the dream ceremony on the 25th day of the seventh lunar month.

On January 31, 1992, Thai Binh Communal House and Dien Phuc Tu Pagoda were ranked as a National Historical, Architectural, and Artistic Relic by the Ministry of Culture and Information.