A century of misty eyes

      Nestling for nearly a hundred years in the bustling markets of Chinatown, Le Chau Hoi Quan in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 5, is the oldest shrine to the pioneering goldsmiths of southern Vietnam.
In the last years of the 19th century, when Saigon was already an important industrial zone, gold fabrication flourished at Cho Lon, whose name translates as “big market.”
At the peak there were more than 30 goldsmith shops in and around the Chinese market.
With business going so well, the goldsmiths got together and raised enough money to buy a piece of land in Rue des Marins (street of sailors), now called Tran Hung Dao B Street, and build a temple dedicated to their profession’s pioneers.
Construction began in 1892 and finished in 1896. The temple underwent an overhaul in 1934 and has had nine facelifts since.
The name “Le Chau” can be understood in two ways, either as “gems and jewelry” or as “tears” in Chinese to express fond remembrance, grief and gratitude.
Two rows of pillars lead to the temple’s main building, which has a redbrick wall and double-tile roof and is divided into three halls.
The three altars inside are decorated with glyphs of dragon, phoenixes and flowers gilded with gold, like much of the lesser ornamentation.
Other notable displays include a large drum and a sizeable bell that was cast in 1895.
History buffs should be interested in the two decrees by the Nguyen kings Khai Dinh (1885-1925) and Bao Dai (1913-1997) canonizing the temple’s most revered goldsmiths: Cao Dinh Do (1744- 1810) and his son Cao Dinh Huong, who died in 1821.
According to 74-year-old Ha Van Moc, guardian of the shrine for the past ten years, virtually no records remain of Vietnam’s first goldsmiths.
The earliest writings about the profession say that Cao Dinh Do was born in the northern province of Thanh Hoa, learned the craft from the Chinese, and became the chief goldsmith of King Gia Long (1762-1820), the founder of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945).
After Do’s death, his son Huong continued teaching the techniques to six acolytes who later emigrated to the south and flourished. These disciples are also worshipped at Le Chau Hoi Quan.
The best time to visit the temple is during the annual rites commemorating the first goldsmiths on the sixth, seventh and eighth days of the second lunar month. The colorful pageant is the biggest annual gathering of the nearly 1,800 members of the Southern Fine Art and Jewelry Association.
An interesting detail of the event is that most of the offerings are duck meat as goldsmiths consider duck to be clean poultry and “clean” is the most important characteristic of a gold fabricator.
Le Chau Hoi Quan, which is located at 586 Tran Hung Dao B Street, also houses the head office of the Ho Chi Minh City Association of Fine Art and Jewelry.
It was formally listed as a National Historical Relic in 1998.