Vietnam history begins with Van Lang state established by the Hung Kings. Hung Vuong dynasty is the first one of a country existing in thousands of years with ups and downs but still remaining strong beside Pacific Ocean. For the meaning “the heart” of a country, Phong Chau citadel is the first capital city; Thang Long - Hanoi is the current capital city of a civilized  country Vietnam. The history of our Hung Kings and Ly Cong Uan Era contains many interesting things…

·         From the story Hung Kings choose the land to set up the capital....

Van Lang is the name of Vietnam from the era that Hung King started setting up the country. Van Lang is called for the country and the capital city of Hung King era as well . Van Lang capital city is the land being located in the cultural space of Viet Tri, Phu Ninh, Lam Thao, Phu Tho province currently.

There is no history written by the Imperial court, so the knowledge about this era  besides the study of  archaeology, ethnology, anthropology is based on traditional legends that according to the late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong – the legend “ the core nature is the truth of history”.

Folk literature researcher Nguyen Khac Xuong – the son of Tan Da Nguyen Khac Hieu can be deserved the fame as “the historian of Hung Vuong era, and Hung Temple”  of Phu Tho – who is 88 now years old, but he still has a sound mind when telling legends of Hung Kings choosing land to locate the capital city. 

At that time, our ancestors were careful in finding land to set up the capital land of Van Lang. Our King himself went to many places in Phu Tho belonging to Thanh Van, Dong Linh, Tham mountain (Thanh Ba); Ao Chau (Ha Hoa) Xuan Loc (Thanh Thuy) nowadays. Finally,he chose the land of the T-junction of Bach Hac River to surrounding mountain of Nghia Linh to set up the capital city.  The legend of Hung Kings by Nguyen Khac Xuong says “our King went to many places but could not find one to set up the capital city. When he came to a region in which there are three rivers converging, the two sides have Tan Vien, Tam Dao, and mountains near and far, slits and rivers surrounding, the land looks like the position of horse running and dragon flying. In the middle of the green mountain, there is a mountain suddenly emerging as a mother elephant lying among her children.  Our king sees the good terrain: green trees surrounding four sides. He was very happy and determined that this land was suitable  for setting up and keeping the country in all generations. Hung King located the capital city there and called Phong Chau citadel”. The scale of Van Lang citadel lasts from the T-junction of Bach Hac river to Nghia Linh Mountain. This holy land is the top of the triangle of Red river delta which is wide and convenient for transportation and trade by water way and hold the risky position to fight against enemies.

On Van Lang capital city, there are many cultural heritages – hundreds of historic relics, tangible cultural heritages and folk festivals, village festival games, ritual folk songs, performances and songs of village festivals, legends, proverbs attached to customs and believes of common people. 

From a long time ago, Van Lang capital city – Viet Tri was recorded into history and had the strong mark of conquering the nature, developing life of people. Each region in Viet Tri attaches to one legend: the T-junction of Bach Hac is the place that Lac Long Quang and Au Co said goodbye to each other to lead their children to explore the country. Got station is the place where the male fairy went fishing and thought how to name 100 sons of Lac Long Quan; Hung Temple is the holy worshipping place of Hung kings. This place is also attached to daily activities of Hung kings; Trung temple is the place where kings with paladins, military chiefs discussed the state issues. Hung temple is the place the mother Au Co gave birth to a bundle of eggs of 100 sons; Thuong temple is the place where Hung King sacrificed the earth and the heaven and also the place where An Duong Vuong built up the promising stone pile. Gieng temple is the place where Tien Dung, Ngoc Hoa looked at the mirrors and combed their hair; Upper and Lower palaces are the banned places of royal palace, Minh Nong where Hung King taught common people how to grow rice, Tien Cat is the place where the king built up the palace to choose son in law; Huong Tram is the sticky rice field used for making cake to offer the king to sacrifice the earth and the heaven, especially Ca village relic area the vestige of the capital city in a glorious era and also the vestige of a society ranking strongly poverty and richness and layers as well.

Thousands of years after Thang Long – Dong Do – Hanoi being the land of the holy place, it has become the key converged place of 4 directions of the country and the best capital city of kings in all generations and the national capital city of autonomy feudalism of Vietnam. This is the center of politics, economics, and culture of the country and keeps the role up to now – over 10 centuries. After Thang Long keeping this role, for thousands of years, that center was located in Van Lang, Viet Tri. This is the glorious historic era of Vietnamese nation – the era our Hung Kings setting up the country.

In ancient letters, Van Lang was confluent of 3 rivers: Red river, Lo river, Da river, including a large land from Ba Vi to the foot of Tam Dao belonging to Phu Tho, Vinh Phuc and a part of Hanoi, Tuyen Quang, Yen Bai currently. In such regions, the archaeologists have discovered many relics of cultural system of Phung Nguyen at the beginning of the  bronze age. Viet Tri city – Van Lang capital city in the center of Van Lang, contained archaeological relics with the thick density including full of 4 phases of culture from Phung Nguyen, Dong Dau, Go Mun, and Dong Son.

The discovery of archaeological relics Phung Nguyen with four times of excavation has opened for the study of determining the immigration of our ancestors from the era setting the country in Phu Tho. Archaeological places belonging in the cultural phase of Phung Nguyen, Dong Dau, Go Mun is allocated in thick density surrounding Hung temple, the cultural vestige of Dong son which is also discovered in many places in Phong Chau (including Lam Thao, Phu Ninh, Tam Nong) and stretching to the T junction of Bach Hac, Viet Tri. 

Ca village is a famous relic area with 10 Hectares which is both the accommodation and the tomb area. For three times of excavation, 311 tombs in Dong Son era with many precious real objects have been discovered. Especially, in a tomb, a lock of the belt was discovered with the shape of 4 couples of tortoises. The relation between Van Lang – Viet Tri and Thang Long – Hanoi is the pervasive of archaeological relics, the vestiges of the population growth and the move of people, from the top triangle of the Red river delta with Phong Chau – Viet Tri being the first center of the era setting the country and later Thang Long Hanoi.

Here, according to the ancient letters of Vietnam and China, it is the first converging place of people of Van Lang – the center that Hung kings had the credit for setting up the country that Uncle Ho already summed up at Hung Temple on 19^th September 1954.

·        ... To the view “Thang Long – Hanoi” by Ly Cong Uan

The old story says that Hong river (or Trau Vang pond, Lang Bac river, Dap Hoi river) the connection point is at the river mouth – Bai Say (Truc Bach river nowadays). In 1010, Ly Cong Uan King rowed a boat upside down the Red river to here, he saw a Dragon flying to the sky and consider it a good omen. He conferred the royal proclamation moving the capital city as follows:

“ For long time ago, Thuong dynasty and Ban Canh King moved the capital city for five times; Chu dynasty and Thanh Vuong King also moved the capital city for three times. For the purpose of a prosperous country, the capital city should be located in key place and obeyed the rule of the god’s will. However, Dinh, Le dynasties looked down on the god’s will, not followed the samples of Thuong, Chu, still located the capital city here which made many dynasties not acceptable. Ly Cong Uan King analyzed the good points of the place to show his mandarins to express the desire to move the capital city and they were all convinced. The movement from Hoa Lu to Dai La was taken place in 1010 – one millennium ago. Ly Cong Uan changed the name as Thang Long.

At that time Thang Long capital covered the area of 4km2 in the South and South East of Dam Dam pond; To avoid the capital city being flooded, annually, an irrigational work was built up in two dynasties Ly and Tran. Nearly 2000 kilometers were built up, which protected the Tonkin delta from flood. In Thang Long capital city, the dyke prevented the Red river from Dam Dam pond. In the later Le dynasty, Ma Canh dyke connected from Yen Quang to Yen Phu ( or Co Ngu street, Thanh Nien street nowadays) was created to prevent Dam Dam pond from the river mouth of Bai Say, forming Truc Bach river, completely separating from West Lake.

In term of geomancy, on the map, the systems of mountains has the shape of a fan from the West to the East all converging in Thang Long. The range of converging mountains as such create the converging air stream. The air streams create the whirlwind and fly and create the image of dragon flying. The whole of the rivers run and converge into the main river which is the red river which is the converging place of civilizations. That is the converging position. A wise person like Ly Cong Uan king, with the intellectual contributions of the great teacher Thien Su Van Hanh, soon discovered the position of the land having the precious geomancy, the conferring of the royal proclamation to move the capital city is an intelligent and exact decision.

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