Ly family in South Korea comes home

      On the occasion of the Do Temple Festival, descendants of the Ly family in the Republic of Korea have returned to Dinh Bang village, Bac Ninh province, to commemorate the eight Ly Kings.
This time, besides Ly Hi Uyen, the chief of the Ly Hoa Son family in South Korea, there are three members of the Ly Tinh Thien family returning to Vietnam.
At a press conference held by the National Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs on April 8, Ly Chang Kil, the chief of the Seoul sub-branch of the Ly Tinh Thien family, said he is the 35th descendant of the Vietnamese Ly King. His family went to South Korea in 1125.
According to the family’s annals, the ancestor of Ly Tinh Thien family is Prince Ly Duong Hoan, the son of King Ly Can Duc. After a business trip to China and Korea, the prince decided to settle down in northern Korea.
However, Vietnamese and South Korean historians say that the ancestor of Ly Tinh Thien family is Prince Ly Duong Con, the younger brother of Prince Ly Duong Hoan, who was an adopted son of King Ly Nhan Tong. In 1150, naval admiral Ly Duong Con and his family went to Korea by boat to avoid being killed in the fight for the crown at that time.
Ly Tinh Thien is the combined name of family name Ly and the name of the place where Prince Ly Duong Hoan settled down. The Ly Tinh Thien family has been living in South Korea for more than 900 years.
During this trip back to their home country, three members of the Ly Tinh Thien family, Ly Chang Kil, Ly Man Su and Ly Chul Sik, expected to witness the changes in their home country and to meet with and collect more historical documents about their ancestors to supplement their family annals.
Ly Chang Kil said he is trying to gather members of the Ly Tinh Thien family to set up a separate association of Ly Tinh Thien family and invest in some projects in Vietnam.
So far, many descendants of the Ly family in South Korea have returned home to do business, for example Ly Xuong Can and Ly Tuong Tuan. In the future, Ly Hi Uyen hopes to have projects invested in by the Ly family.
The Ly family in South Korea has around 3,600 members.