Old-Time Vietnam – A Final Walk in Hue
On this final day in Hue, I decided to take a look at some special sites in the city. An easy stroll around the city would do for me.
The An Dinh Palace
You can’t miss the luxury and the preoccupation with all things western at the An Dinh Palace, for Emperor Khai Dinh had his hand on it.
The complex was first built in 1902 at the present location. Originally it was a wooden structure with three compartments, two wings and auxiliary buildings. It served as the private residence of Khai Dinh, the oldest son of Emperor Dong Khanh. An Dinh Palace was then known also as the Mansion of the Eldest Prince.
In 1917, Khai Dinh ascended to the throne. He rebuilt and expanded An Dinh Palace into a more spacious European style. Construction completed in 1918. An Dinh was Khai Dinh’s palace away from the imperial palace. In 1919, Khai Dinh granted the mansion to his son Prince Vinh Thuy, who later became Emperor Bao Dai, and also the very last of both the Nguyen Dynasty and Vietnam. During both of Khai Dinh and Bao Dai’s reigns, the An Dinh Palace hosted banquets and events to entertain foreign guests.
Eventually, Emperor Bao Dai and his royal family lived in An Ding Palace after his abdication in 1945, until later they settled down abroad.
A quick walk outside the building reveals the ample glory that once adorned this mansion. The Trung Lap Pavilion, golden with eclectic architecture, stands in the front yard. Inside the pavilion a bronze statue bearing the image of Khai Dinh poses with flair.
The golden facades of the building with their embossed stucco are in the Vietnamese neoclassical style, with Romanesque columns on the sides of the wooden windows, which adds a classy touch and texture to the mansion. The painted interior shows a fusion of European and Vietnamese motifs, consistent with Khai Dinh’s penchant for all things western. For the small exhibition that it hosted, the An Dinh Palace did tell the story of the last emperor of Vietnam.
Although the building does look in need of restoration at the time that I visited, it still gleamed an aged glory under the generous sunshine of the day. Lying on the main axis to the mansion’s front and the Trung Lap Pavilion is the main gate to An Dinh Palace. Its elaborate sculptures of dragons and phoenixes, and the porcelain embossment of all things auspicious, represent the very best of Vietnam’s traditions and craftsmanship. The main gate was built in the same vein as the beautiful and elaborate gates of the Imperial Enclosure.
I was quite curious to learn about what happened to Vietnam’s disfavored royalty. After a tumultuous, disruptive reign, Bao Dai settled down abroad. I thought the last queen, Marie-Thérèse Nguyễn Hữu Thị Lan, was beautiful. Emperor Bao Dai died in 1997 in France.
For some time the An Dinh Palace was the premise of a restaurant. It then closed until 2008 when the German Conservation Restoration and Education Project began to restore the complex. In 2012, it reopened its doors with antique furniture and restored interiors.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church (the Redemptorist Church)
Our lady of Perpetual Help Church was in the vicinity. It was designed by Vietnamese architect Nguyen My Loc, who received his education in France. Construction began in 1959 and completed in 1962.
The architecture is a fusion of Vietnamese and western styles. Made of concrete and stones, the entire cathedral is in the shape of a cross. The tiled roofs are in a bright orange colour, perhaps along with the curviness they soften the sharpness of the steeple and the protruding spires of the stained glass throughout the structure. There is a three-storey bell tower. Like the frontal façade that leads to the nave, the bell tower has assumed the shape of a pagoda.
Outside of the cathedral, there is a notable statue of Jesus Christ, perhaps it is a much smaller version of the Jesus the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro of Brazil. There is a grotto with Santa Maria as well.
Despite its grand posture, this cathedral was perhaps representative of a history of great religious strife in Vietnam. It was constructed at the behest of the Archbishop of Hue, Ngo Dinh Thuc, who was the brother of President Diem. As such, it does speak to the influence of religion in Vietnam’s national politics. Needless to say, Catholicism came to Vietnam via French colonialism. After the final removal of Bao Dai from power in the 1950s, President Ngo Dinh Diem, originally with backing from the United States as a catholic statesman, served as the President of the Republic of Vietnam. His discriminatory policies against the Buddhists in particular have caused great animosities that were religion-based. The Buddhists responded with extreme acts of protests. One of the most infamous incident of which was monk Thic Quang Duc’s self-immolation in 1963.
The Cao Dai Temple
I then realized that the Banh Beo Ba Cu was right across the street, but it closed on the day that I visited. That was too bad. The Banh Beo is a gluey rice cake wrapped in lotus leaves and dipped in fish sauce. It is a very popular street food in Hue.
I decided to visit the Vinh Loi Cao Dai Temple as the last site to see in Hue. That was closed too, so I say “I been there” with a picture.
As compared to Cao Dai’s Holy See in Tay Ninh, where the religion was born and rose to a national scale, the Vinh Loi Cao Dai Temple in Hue was of a much smaller scale. When I visited the Cao Dai Temple in Tay Ninh, I observed a session of worship there and it was eye-opening. Let me try to explain this (in my opinion, odd) religion here.
I guess from the standard Christian point of view Caodaism is a new age cult. It is a fusion of all sorts, including Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism and ancestral worship. It was born in the 1920s, after three principal members of the religion (mediums) claimed to have received visions from God. New-age as it is, Caodaism has exited for a century now. In this time the followers of Cao Dai have made their mark in Vietnamese history. Perhaps I can quote the Wikipedia here for a brief introduction:
Officially called the “Great Way of the Third Time of Redemption” (Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ), it became popular in its first few decades, gathering over a million members and converting a fifth to a fourth of the population of Cochinchina by 1940.
During the First and Second Indochina Wars, members of Cao Đài were active in political and military struggles against both French colonial forces and South Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm.
Their criticism of the communist forces until 1975 was a factor in their repression after the fall of Saigon in 1975, when the incoming communist government banned the practice of Caodaism. In 1997, Caodaism was granted legal recognition and unrestricted practice once again. (Wikipedia)
The Indochine Palace next door could have stolen the shine with its grand, modern style, but the colors of the Cao Dai Temple easily drew the first attention of the tourist. I was happy that Hue left me with a memory of colors, the sight of this temple brought me back to the memories of Tay Ninh and southern Vietnam.
The Worldview of a Grab Driver
After an uneventful train ride, I found my way back to Danang. I did some shopping in the morning before my afternoon flight. I had an interesting conversation with the grab driver.
Even by just riding in the back of his motorbike I could sense the bright and cheerful spirit in this man. He asked me where I was from, and I said, Hong Kong, China.
No, no, Hong Kong no China! Hong Kong friend, China no friend.
Why don’t you like China?
China “cong can” Vietnam, China “cong san” Vietnam!
Judging from the context of this conversation, the way that he used “cong san” in his sentence, and the way it sounded, I suspected that what he literally said was China “communism” Vietnam. When I went home, I searched for the Vietnamese word for communism. That confirmed my suspicion, the Vietnamese word for communism was “cong san.” I think he meant that China wants to take over Vietnam. In Chinese, “communism” is composed of the two words together meaning “communal property.”
Before I left, he showed me a photo of his young son, while smiling ear to ear. He places all his hope in his son. Before I left, I shoved all my small change into his hands.
Sources
The Rough Guide to Vietnam, Rough Guides (2015)
Vietnam, Marco Polo (2019)
The Wikipedia on Caodaism.
Erin R. McCoy, A War Tour of Viet Nam: A Cultural History (2022) at 56.
The Wikipedia on Bao Dai.
In a Hue Palace, European Style Meets Asian Traditions, Nhandan online.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church (Redemptorist Church), Thua Thien Hue Portal.