Visiting Luoc Vac village and Hoach Trach temple

Hoach Trach Temple was built during the Ly Dynasty to worship the village's tutelary deities. In 1986, the temple was seriously degraded, and the government and people repaired some of the construction items.

Nearly ten years later, the temple continued to be repaired on a small scale. In 2010, with funds contributed by local people, Hoach Trach temple was restored and embellished as it is today.

Hoach Trach Temple worships four tutelary deities: Huong Thien Cu Si, Nguyet Thai Princess, Dong Hai Dai Vuong and Nam Khe Dai Vuong. The temple faces southwest, in the shape of the Chinese character Nhi, including 5 main worship rooms with angled Chinese knife-shaped roofs covered with pointed tiles. The truss system is in the shape of a gong-shaped frame, the decorative panels are painted with the theme of flipped leaves. The 3 rear rooms include two trusses built like the main worship room.

In the temple, there is an altar to the founder of the bamboo comb craft (squash comb) village, Doctor Nhu Dinh Hien (1659 - 1716). He passed the doctoral exam in 1680, became an official of the Ministry of Justice, went to China as an envoy and brought the bamboo comb craft back to teach the people of Hoach Trach village.

The temple still preserves many antiques such as horizontal lacquered boards, scrolls, large characters, tablets and stone steles that have value over time. In addition to the main structure, the relic also has a number of items such as: outer gate, inner gate, co tower, giai vu, and auxiliary area. In front of the temple are two ancient banyan trees and a pond creating a cool landscape.

In the past, the Duong An stele was placed in the stele house on the land of the temple in Hoach Trach village. The stele "Tu dien xu cung tien" was engraved in the 11th year of Tu Duc (1858) and is currently kept at Hoach Trach temple. The stele has information: The ancient temple area consists of a 3-room central building, 5 outside rooms, two courtyards, and four sides built of brick walls. Over time, the construction items of the temple area gradually deteriorated and were damaged.

In the 70s of the 20th century, Hoach Trach village organized the population to move to a new residential area, the land for the memorial was divided for households to build houses. The memorial stele was left on the street, no one managed it, the people used it to thresh rice, blocking the way.

In 1990, some people moved the stele to erect at Hoach Trach temple yard. Knowing that this is a precious stele, in 2007, Binh Giang District People's Committee invested funds to build a protective stele house in the Hoach Trach pagoda grounds.

In 2024, the land area for cultural purposes was approved by competent authorities for planning a new location (in front of the pagoda) with an area of ​​8,200m2.²and the stele also moved to this location (about 60m southwest of the old stele).

Currently, the Duong An inscription stele is placed in the stele house, measuring 135 x 68 x 17 cm. The stele was erected in the 4th year of Thieu Tri (1844), with about 1,800 characters, engraved on both sides. The front and back have 5 large Chinese characters: "Duong An inscription stele" (Duong An inscription stele) and "Lich dai tien hien bi" (stele recording the sages of each dynasty).

The front of the stele shows the process of construction, restoration and the people who participated in this special project. The back lists the names of 108 people who passed the imperial examinations and those who made great contributions to the education of Binh Giang district. Currently, some of the Chinese characters on the stele have faded.

The relic complex of Hoach Trach communal house - Duong An stele is a place for spiritual and cultural activities of the people of Hoach Trach village in particular and the people of Thai Minh commune in general. The people and tourists from all over have contributed a lot of effort and money to protect, restore and embellish the relic as it is today.

On December 27, 2024, the People's Committee of Hai Duong province issued a decision to rank the Hoach Trach communal house relic complex - Duong An stele as a provincial-level historical and cultural relic. This is the 61st relic of Binh Giang district to be ranked.

According to Mr. Nhu Dinh Thang, Chairman of Thai Minh Commune People's Committee, Hoach Trach Temple and Duong An stele being recognized as provincial-level historical and cultural relics is an honor and pride for the local people. The commune identifies preserving and promoting the cultural value of the relic cluster as a very important task. The locality hopes to receive more attention, support and investment to continue to embellish, restore and complete the relic's construction items according to the approved master plan.