Old-Time Vietnam – The Royal Mausoleum of Khai Dinh
As the taxi was pulling in, I saw the royal tomb of Khai Dinh from afar and I was awed. What is this? Khai Dinh, the driver said.
Khai Dinh as a Nguyen Emperor
Born Nguyen Phuc Buu Dao, Khai Dinh (ruled 1916-25) was the second-last Emperor in the Nguyen Dynasty. He was the son of Emperor Dong Khanh. Dong Khanh was the most submissive of the Nguyen Emperors to French colonialism. After the French expelled the patriotic Emperor Duy Tan, they chose the son of Emperor Dong Khanh to be the nominal ruler of Vietnam. As such, Khai Dinh’s was a puppet government for the French. His reign title means “the auger of peace and security.”
Not too surprisingly, the Vietnamese considered Khai Dinh to be a sellout to the French. One relevant policy as related to the Vietnamese language was that Khai Dinh allowed the Romanization of Vietnamese in 1919. This replaced the previous use of Chinese as the official language. As such, Vietnamese became a writeable language, and, to be fair, it may not be such a bad thing.
Khai Dinh’s rule continued to enrage the Vietnamese people. In 1923, he allowed the French policy of raising taxes on the peasants and caused significant hardships to the people. Part of the raised taxes would pay for this stately Royal Mausoleum of Khai Dinh.
As a puppet for the French, Khai Dinh’s government suppressed the Vietnamese’ resistance movements against colonial rule. There was, indeed, lots of ill will toward Khai Dinh from the people of Vietnam.
The last Nguyen Emperor Bao Dai was Khai Dinh’s one and only son. It was believed that Khai Dinh was homosexual, as he rarely slept with his wives, but instead slept with his male bodyguard.
The Royal Mausoleum of Khai Dinh (Lang Ung)
There is flair in the very structure itself. The Royal Mausoleum of Khai Dinh has a remarkably different appearance from the classical structures at the Royal Mausoleums of Tu Duc and Minh Mang. It seemed to be a stone structure (it is actually a concrete structure, unlike the other royal tombs that are brick structures). Conspicuous dragon pillars line the two sides of every gate.
The outward appearance of the Royal Mausoleum of Khai Dinh
The surface area of the Mausoleum of Khai Dinh is much smaller than the other two Nguyen Emperors’ royal tombs that I visited. In fact, it is the smallest royal mausoleum of the Nguyen Emperors. Yet none other rivals the extravagance of Khai Dinh.
Because the last emperor Bao Dai abdicated his throne, the Royal Mausoleum of Khai Dinh is the very last royal tomb for the Nguyen Emperors. Construction for this tomb lasted for 11 years between 1920 and 1931. The buildings were constructed with French imported materials, such as cement, iron steel, ardoise tiles, along with traditional Vietnamese materials such as mortar and terra cotta.
According to the Lonely Planet, Khai Dinh was so into European culture that even the mandarins in the courtyard bear a mix of European and Asian features on their faces. I actually could not tell if these mandarins wear a foreign expression.
At the Salutation Court, the Imperial Elephants and the Civilian and Military Mandarins
As with the Royal Mausoleum of Minh Mang, the main structures of the Royal Mausoleum of Khai Dinh line up on a straight main axis, but the difference is they are on an ascending order of five terraces, ending with the very last structure, which is the Thien Dinh Palace, on the upper-most level. There are 127 steps to climb before one reaches the Khai Thanh Temple at Thien Dinh Palace.
Photo: Ascend 127 steps to go to Thien Dinh Palace
Photo: the Stele House at the Royal Mausoleum of Khai Dinh
The three middle halls of the Thien Dinh Palace are the royal crypt and the altar hall. The flooring inside the Palace are granite. Elegant inlaid ceramic and glass fragments bas reliefs adorn the walls. Inside the Khai Thanh Temple, a bronze statue of Khai Dinh sits above the burial. This bronze statue was cast in France in 1920. The whole arena is glistening in gold.
Photo: The granite walls and wall decors inside the Thien Dinh Palace
Photo: the burial of Emperor Khai Dinh, with a bronze statue cast in France
Some Thoughts at the Royal Mausoleum of Khai Dinh
I really did marvel at the Royal Mausoleum of Khai Dinh, especially because I had no prior knowledge of Khai Dinh’s penchant for all things French. The royal tomb’s stature was remarkable. The décor inside the Thien Dinh Palace was so amazing that my heart raced at the sight of its beauty. It would not be an exaggeration to say that this is a mini-Versailles in Vietnam.
That said, it would not require any imagination to know that this grandiosity was equivalent to wastefulness. As I “wowed” through the royal tomb, I decided that I did not like it.
Because it embodies the disgrace of both imperialism and colonialism.
Khai Dinh’s flair was diametrically opposed to the theme of humility exhibited in the royal tomb of Tu Duc. The stark differences between the royal tombs of the Nguyen Emperors that adhered to Confucianism and Khai Dinh as a puppet king for the French are perfect expressions of the fundamental differences between the orient and the occident in the turn of the 20th Century. For it was the heyday for colonialism, when the West claimed superiority over all things eastern.
But as a work of architecture, art and craftsmanship, the Royal Mausoleum of Khai Dinh does present the finest in Vietnam.
When I left the royal tomb of Khai Dinh, I took a minute to ponder why the taxi driver drove me to the three tombs in the sequence that he did. I suspect that it was purely a concern of proximity. Yet I thought that the calm and classical beauty of the Royal Mausoleums of Tu Duc and Minh Mang might have paled in comparison to the blown-away glamour of Khai Dinh. Were I to visit the Royal Mausoleum of Khai Dinh first, I might not have had the same appreciation for the royal tombs of other Nguyen Emperors.
As much as I liked bling, I shared in the common Vietnamese view that Khai Dinh was not a good emperor. When the lavish Royal Mausoleum of Khai Dinh is informed with a historical perspective, the appreciation becomes much more nuanced. This beautiful structure is in the appearance only. There is nearly no merit in the king’s reign to support such grandeur.
I ended this tour of the royal tomb with a slightly uneasy feeling. The appreciation of Vietnamese history will be intense and perhaps a little painful the next day. For I have scheduled a one-day tour at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
Sources
Historical descriptions on site.
The Lonely Planet on Vietnam.