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The statue of woman-general Bui Thi Xuan |
Annually, scores of people everywhere flock to Tay Son district, the birthplace of King Quang Trung, to attend the Dong Da festival, which falls on the fifth day of the first lunar month.
The festival was held at Quang Trung Museum located at Kien My hamlet in Tay Son district’s Phu Phong town, which is 40 km far from Quy Nhon city. Those who come here could visit historical relics belonging to the Tay Son dynasty, including the ancestral temple worshipping Bui Thi Xuan, a woman-general during the Tay Son Uprising.
From the town travelling back to the east on the national highway No 19 visitors will come to Phu Hue hamlet in Binh Phu commune. Along the highway there is a big sign showing the way to Bui Thi Xuan’s temple.
The temple is a tile-roofed house in which all furniture is made of iron wood and there are a main altar in the middle, a pair of parallel sentences, and a picture of Bui Thi Xuan. A 1-metre stone stele on which her merit was carved is positioned in front of the yard. There is also another smaller ancestral temple of Bui family nearby.
Visitors coming here will be able to hear her stories relating some relics, such as Vuon Dinh, Go Dinh, and Truong Vo.
Legend has it that Vuon Dinh is Bui Thi Xuan’s palace behind her ancestral temple. It was no longer in use for a long time but it now become a school with many coconut trees around.
From the ancestral temple going to the east tourists could see Go Dinh on the left of the national highway. According to legend, this was the place where Bui Thi Xuan trained her war elephants. It was called Go Dinh for there had been a big communal house here.
About 500 metres from Go Dinh to the east is Dong Sim bridge. On the other side of the bridge there is a 2-hectare cultivated land on the right, that is, Truong Vo. It is said that Truong Vo was the venue where Bui Thi Xuan’s soldiers were trained.
Visiting Bui Thi Xuan’s hometown at the beginning of a new year is to review the tradition of the land of martial arts: “Whoever visits Binh Dinh would see its women practising martial arts.”
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