Hai Duong Stele System - Valuable historical and cultural documents

On one's own moatCon Son Tu Phuc Temple

Among those steles, Con Son Tu Phuc Tu Bi is the only stele associated with the image of President Ho Chi Minh, when he read the stele on February 15, 1965. In the midst of the fiercest resistance war against the US to save the country, Uncle Ho visited Con Son and read the stele. He both translated and explained the content of the stele. The image of Uncle Ho reading the stele was associated by poet Te Hanh, when just looking at Uncle Ho's eyes intently reading the stele, it was as if he saw the image of history printed on them.

The unique decoration of the Con Son Tu Phuc Tu Bi stele, with specific dates and clear content, contains special cultural, historical and artistic values. The stele is being preserved by the Con Son - Kiep Bac Relic Management Board. The stele records concisely and succinctly the restoration of Con Son Pagoda in 1607, presided over by the Zen master of Con Son Pagoda, Mai Tri Ban.

The content of the Con Son Tu Phuc Tu Bi stele has great value when studying the history of the Con Son special national relic site, the Truc Lam Zen sect and contributing to the study of Vietnamese culture and society in the early 17th century. Con Son Tu Phuc Tu Bi was recognized as a national treasure in the 6th batch on December 25, 2017 according to Decision 2089/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister.

Enriching the cultural heritage system

Along with Con Son Tu Phuc Tu Bi, Hai Duong also has a series of steles with great historical and cultural value, such as: Thanh Hu Dong stele (Con Son pagoda), Thanh Mai Vien Thong tower stele (Thanh Mai pagoda), the system of ghost stele in Kinh Chu cave (Kinh Mon), Sung Thien Tu stele (Dau pagoda, Gia Loc)...

Of which, Thanh Hu Dong stele, Long Khanh era (1372-1377) under Tran Due Tong, was recognized as a national treasure the earliest (December 25, 2015), according to Decision 2382/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister.

Thanh Hu Dong Stele is associated with Tu Do Tran Nguyen Dan (1325-1390). Around 1372-1377, he asked the king for a piece of land in Con Son to build a place to retire and rest. Nguyen Phi Khanh recorded in “Thanh Hu Dong Ky”: “A drum beat, thousands of people gathered, cleared the bushes and leveled the hill, so the source was clarified, the grass and rubbish were cleared, workers of all trades built without rest... the whole area was collectively called Thanh Hu Dong”.

After the cave was built, King Tran Due Tong visited and wrote the three words “Thanh Hu Dong” engraved on the stele, praising the cave of Tu Do Tran Nguyen Dan as a pure and ethereal place like a fairyland. In the 15th century, the Ming invaders invaded our country, and the Con Son relic site was devastated by the invaders, but the Thanh Hu Dong stele still remained. In 1602, monk Mai Tri Ban, while renovating Con Son pagoda, discovered this stele and brought it back to Con Son pagoda as it is today.

Thanh Hu Dong is a Tran Dynasty stele, the earliest of the 16 remaining steles at Con Son Pagoda.

In the system of steles in Hai Duong, it is impossible not to mention the system of steles in Kinh Chu cave, including 47 steles, dating from the 14th-20th centuries. This system of steles is valuable for studying the history of place names in Kinh Mon district as well as the history of Duong Nham pagoda and Kinh Chu cave. During the resistance war against the Yuan-Mongol army, King Tran Nhan Tong stationed troops on the mountain to block the enemy's water attack.

The Kinh Chu cave stele system preserves the writings of many famous people, many literati, authors from kings, intellectuals, monks, officials of all levels to stonemasons... recording their feelings when visiting, including famous people such as: Pham Su Manh (Tran Dynasty), Le Thanh Tong, Vu Can (Le Dynasty), Truong Quoc Dung (Nguyen Dynasty)...

In terms of the textual value of the stele, with 47 steles carved on the cave walls, Kinh Chu Cave is the best in the country in this regard. Kinh Chu Cave is a special museum in Vietnam, preserving a collection of Han Nom scripts with unique value, with exact dates, in the same location, in a specific space.

Of the 8 national treasures of Hai Duong today, 5 are stone steles. This further highlights the value of steles in the cultural heritage system that Hai Duong is preserving. In particular, the steles in Con Son, Thanh Mai Pagoda, and the system of steles in Kinh Chu Cave also deepen the heritage profile that Hai Duong, Quang Ninh, and Bac Giang built and submitted to UNESCO to recognize Yen Tu - Vinh Nghiem - Con Son, and Kiep Bac as cultural heritages of all mankind.