Self-preservation society

Visiting Cong Hoa village offers tourists a fascinating insight into the traditional architecture of rural Vietnam.
If you are looking to escape the frantic pace of modern life in Hanoi and take a step through time, you should visit Cong Hoa village, just 40km from the city centre.
Located by the side of the Hat river, Cong Hoa village retains the typical features of an old Vietnamese village. Strolling through the thin streets between red-brick walls under the shade of lush green trees is an absolute pleasure and offers visitors a fascinating insight into the traditional architecture of rural Vietnam.
Here and there you can see plenty of modern materials – cement walls, a piece of corrugated iron, electrical wires hanging from telegraph poles. But in general most of the houses belong to what the rest of the country would consider a forgotten era.
“Many of the houses in the village were actually built hundreds of years ago,” says Pham Van Tai, whose house was constructed four months ago. “But [in modern times] it has also been an unwritten regulation that new houses must be made in a traditional way.”
Tai’s house was only recently built and is entirely constructed with traditional materials. On the wooden beams there is Chinese script detailing Tai’s family’s moral discipline.
“We want to teach our children that whenever they make mistakes, they must look up to their ancestors’ teachings,” says Tai, who works for Hanoi’s Tu Liem Power Company.
A long tradition
Nowadays traditional roads are being covered by cement and asphalt. Urbanisation has swept across the land. But Cong Hoa village has stubbornly resisted change. The streets are made in the traditional fashion with slanted red bricks.
Nguyen Van Bach, an 81-year old villager, lives in a house that was built sometime during the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945). “I don’t know exactly when it was built, but I know I am the sixth generation in my family to live in this house,” Bach says.
The house is in good condition and looks set to shelter his family for a few more generations. Covering a space of 80sqm, the walls are made with baked earthen-bricks. The structure of house, which faces south to receive fresh wind from the south, is made out of wooden pillars. On the right side of the yard of the house, which is surrounded by an orchard, there is an extension for storing farm tools and rice. On the left of the house sits an earth well.
According to Bach it was designed to stay warm in winter and cool in summer. Like most houses in the village, the house is a one-storey structure with curved tiles on the roof.
Many of the houses have gardens and in the middle of their yards there is always a small wall with carved reliefs featuring lotuses, conifer trees, apricot blossoms, bamboo, tigers or dragons. According to the principles of feng shui, the wall’s motifs will prevent bad odours from entering the houses.
Watch your step!
At the threshold there is always a raised bar of wood, which you have to step over when entering the house. It is said that the raised threshold symbolises life’s difficulties. If you put your foot on the threshold when entering the house, this means that you will be unable to overcome obstacles in your life and will always meet with failure!
Local heroes
The village’s thousand-year-old-communal house sits by a semi-circle-shaped lake and features beautiful decorative designs and carvings.
According to a text retained by the communal house in 932AD an old couple by the name of Cao Hien and La Thi A lived in the area. They earned their living by fishing on the river.
They were kind-hearted but sadly could not conceive a baby. One day they went to a nearby sacred temple and prayed for a child. Feeling pity for the couple, the river genie enabled A to give birth to three young male sons, who were all named Hien (Gentleness).
At that time, the country was in turmoil as 12 clans battled to gain control of the country. The three brothers joined the army of Dinh Bo Linh (926-980), who defeated his rivals and founded the Dinh dynasty (926-980) before declaring himself King Dinh Tien Hoang.
The three brothers acquitted themselves admirably and directly saved Linh’s bacon on numerous occasions. It is said that when the brothers were celebrating the Dinh clan’s victory in 968 at what is now the location of the communal house, a red silk sheet floated down from the sky then flew away again. Then the three brothers suddenly died.
On hearing the news, the king ordered the locals to build a temple to worship the brothers, while conferring on each them a title of Nguyen Soai Dai Vuong (Royal Highest Marshal).