Old-Time Vietnam – The Dien Tho Residence and The Royal Reading Room
The Dien Tho Residence
The Dien Tho Residence was where the Queen Mother of Vietnam’s Emperor lived. The lives of women have always interested me, and so I chose to go westward for a walk. Indeed, in this morning hour there were few tourists there. The peace and quiet in that part of the Imperial Palace was very soothing.
According to the descriptions on site, the Dien Tho Residence was the home of the Queen Mother or the Vietnamese Emperor’s grandmother.
“At one time, this area consisted of about ten wooden buildings, including houses, a store house, a pleasure pavilion and a Buddhist temple. A roofed corridor connected these buildings with the corridor of the Forbidden Purple City. The Dien Tho Residence was partially restored during 1998-2001.”
These quarters were part of the Imperial Enclosure when it was first constructed in 1804. It has well served its purpose, as it became the last imperial residence for Vietnam’s last Emperor, Bao Dai.
Cung Dien Tho was the Queen Mother’s Residence, but after the other structures were destroyed, the last Emperor Bao Dai has resided here too, during the 1940s. This building now hosts an exhibition of royal artefacts.
There was an exhibition of royal artefacts in this part of the tour. I found most interesting the video of an interview with a woman, who served the last Queen Mother of the Nguyen Dynasty. She told viewers about the Queen Mother suffering from high humidity, and she raised the foundation of her abode in order to alleviate the humidity-induced illness.
Queen Mother Tu Minh’s Rickshaw
Photo: According to the auction records, Emperor Thanh Thai donated this rickshaw to his mother, Queen Mother Tu Minh, for walking in the royal park. The Thua Thien Hue Province purchased it at an auction held by Rouillac Chateau de Cheverny (Republic of France) in 2014 for the price of €55,800. Financial support from overseas Vietnamese in France and philanthropists in Vietnam made this purchase possible.
This area was certainly beautiful, although restoration was not complete. The Trung Du Pavilion belonged to the group of structures that came later in 1849. It served as the Queen Mother’s pleasure pavilion for fresh air. I certainly breathed deeply for my share of fresh air there, though certainly not as the Queen Mother.
The Cung Truong Sanh also served as the Queen Mother’s residence.
A Ranking System for the Concubines
The Queen Mother oversaw the harem of the Emperor. Each royal lady began her time at the Palace by learning royal etiquette and domestic science. If they did well, they could be conferred royal ranks in nine levels. This ranking system began during the Minh Mang reign.
Throughout the Nguyen dynasty, only two ladies were conferred the Queen title during their lifetimes. These were the Queen of Emperor Gia Long (the founding Emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty, who took Hue as the national capital and ordered the construction of the Imperial Palace) and the Queen of Emperor Bao Dai (the last Emperor of Vietnam).
These ranks of the concubines have practical consequences on the ladies’ livelihood. The head of the first rank received 1,000 quan and 300 phuong of rice. The ones in the lowest rank received 180 quan and 48 phuong of rice respectively. Perhaps these disparate treatments were intended to give incentive for the women to thrive in their roles.
Photo: traditional ao-dai for the Vietnam’s royal women.
The Phuc Tho Temple was a Buddhist temple and a shrine. The Queen visited this temple on the 1st and 15th of each lunar month and on religious annivesaries. Dated 1831, this structure was restored in 1849 and 1900.
The garden space within the Imperial Enclosure
The Royal Reading Room
I went eastward and came to the Emperor’s reading room (Thai Binh Lau). The Emperor used to retreat to this beautiful two-story building to read or write letters.
I liked the idea that there was one whole structure dedicated to the Emperor’s reading. The construction of the royal reading room began by the order of Emperor Thieu Trie in the 1840s. Emperor Khai Dinh furthermore redesigned this building. In any event, suffice to say that the crossfires of the French or the Americans in Vietnam’s ongoing wars during the modern era have never touched this building. It stands as the only surviving structure within the Forbidden Purple City of Vietnam.
Sources
The historical descriptions on site.
The Lonely Planet on Vietnam.
The Hue Citadel: Inside the Walls of a Lost Imperial City, Sailing Stone Travel.
The Wikipedia on The Hue Imperial City (Chin).