Ba Lieu Temple (Hai Duong City) worships the mandarin who helped the king fight the Song invaders.

Legend of the City God

According to documents still kept at the communal house, during the Ly Dynasty, in Tay Lieu village, Truong Tan district, there was a family named Doan, whose courtesy name was Nghia Son, and whose alias was Doan Tinh, and whose wife was Trinh Thi Loan. At an old age, the couple gave birth to a son, handsome in appearance and brilliant in talent, so they named him Minh, with the posthumous name Doan Nghia Am.

Since childhood, Doan Nghia Am often stayed at home quietly to study and read books. When Doan Nghia Am was 13 years old, both of his parents passed away. Doan Nghia Am mourned for 3 years, showing his filial piety. During the reign of Ly Thanh Tong, in the 3rd year of Long Thuy (1056), an examination was held to select talented people. Doan Nghia Am and his uncle's son both took the exam and passed. The king granted him a flag and banner of honor, and an edict was issued for the village to welcome him.

At that time, the Song invaders invaded the South. King Ly Thanh Tong summoned him to the capital to discuss with the court how to fight the invaders. The king appointed him as “Do Ho Ba Su” and led his troops to fight the invaders in Dien Loan. Fighting bravely, he died on the battlefield.

King Ly brought his body back to perform a ceremony according to the regulations, gave him the title of Bach Linh Than, built a tower, wrote a royal decree, gave money to build a temple, worshiped him as the village's tutelary god, exempted him from taxes, ordered the people to do labor, and changed the name of Tay Lieu village to Ba Lieu village using the word "Ba". Later, he was sacred and had the merit of protecting the country and protecting the people, and was given the beautiful title and honored by the dynasties as "Trung Dang Phuc Than Dai Vuong".

The stele at the site records that Ba Lieu communal house was built quite early to worship the village's tutelary gods. In 1760, the communal house was renovated, and many villagers contributed, including the late Tran Quy Cong, whose given name was Huu Du and whose title was Phuc Tan. In 1785 and 1893, the communal house continued to be renovated. The building has a Dinh (J)-shaped architecture, including 5 main worship rooms and 2 rear rooms made of ironwood.

Restore, preserve

The traditional festival of Ba Lieu communal house is held on January 9 every year, commemorating the birthday of Thanh Hoang Doan Nghia Am. According to the handwritten records, in the past, the village held 3 festivals a year, however, the January festival was the longest and most solemn, taking place from the 7th to the 15th. The villagers contributed money according to the number of men to slaughter pigs, cook sticky rice, buy incense, flowers, betel, and wine to worship Thanh Hoang, then divided the portion according to the hamlet.

On the main festival day (the 9th), the villagers organize a procession of the Thanh Hoang Doan Nghia Am statue from the communal house to Dong Giao Quan, welcoming the procession of Phu Tao communal house to Ba Lieu communal house to hold a ceremony with the meaning of friendship between the localities. In addition to the procession and ceremony, the communal house festival also features folk games such as cockfighting, human chess, wrestling, and artistic performances such as Cheo singing, Quan Ho singing... attracting a large number of people and tourists from all over the country to participate.

In 1979, the five main halls of the communal house were demolished to use as building materials for local welfare projects. In 1981, villagers contributed money to restore three main halls on a small scale.

Due to the need for beliefs and expansion of worship space, in 2007 Ba Lieu communal house was rebuilt as spacious as it is today on a campus of nearly 1,400 m2.², made of reinforced concrete in the style of angled Chinese knives, the foundation and walls are built of bricks, the roof is covered with pointed tiles. The main rafters are designed in the style of gong frames, the decorative motifs are painted in the traditional leaf motif. The communal house still retains many valuable antiques from the Le and Nguyen dynasties such as jade genealogy, stone steles, royal decrees, worshiping thrones, large inscriptions...

With its historical significance and remaining cultural values, in 2010, Ba Lieu communal house was recognized by the Provincial People's Committee as a historical and cultural relic. In recent years, the local government and people have contributed their efforts and money to restore and build auxiliary items such as the dance floor, communal house gate... to expand the space of the relic, contributing to preserving local cultural values.