Che Thang Phu Nhan Temple

A temple stands near the Kỳ Ninh inlet in southern Hà Tĩnh, facing the sea. Its full name is the Temple of Chế Thắng Phu Nhân Nguyễn Thị Bích Châu. People in the area also call it the Hải Khẩu Temple or the Bà Hải Temple.

The woman honored here is Nguyễn Thị Bích Châu, who lived in the late 14th century, under the Trần dynasty. The Trần dynasty ruled Vietnam from 1225 to 1400. Her given name was Nguyễn Cơ, and she was known as Bích Châu. She came from Bảo Lộc, in Hải Hậu. That area was in the old Nam Định province, now part of Ninh Binh province. When she grew up, Emperor Trần Duệ Tông chose her for his palace, and she later became a Noble Consort.

What set her apart was not beauty or the emperor's favor. It was a document called Kê minh thập sách, which she presented to him. It set out ten points on ruling the country and keeping the people at peace. She wrote it while the Trần court was in turmoil, hoping the emperor would change his course. A woman of the court who dared to put her thoughts on governing in writing was uncommon in that society.

But the emperor had military ambitions. In 1377 he led an army against Champa. Champa was an ancient kingdom on the central and southern coast of what is now Vietnam. Bích Châu asked to go along and guard him. In the fighting she was struck by a poisoned arrow, and she died at the hour of Tý on the 11th day of the second month that year.

Her coffin was carried by sea toward Thăng Long, the city now called Hanoi. When it reached the Kỳ Ninh inlet, heavy rain and wind rose, and the boat could not go on. The court had her buried there and built a shrine, so that the people of the area could keep burning incense for her.

Nearly a century later, in 1470, Emperor Lê Thánh Tông led an army against Champa. Emperor Lê Thánh Tông ruled from 1460 to 1497. Passing the Kỳ Ninh inlet, he heard the story of Bích Châu. Hà Tĩnh sources record that he gave her four words, "Nữ trung hào kiệt," which mean the most gifted of all women. After he won and returned, the emperor ordered a temple built, granted fields to pay for the rites, and conferred on her the title Chế Thắng. From then on the temple has carried the name Chế Thắng Phu Nhân Nguyễn Thị Bích Châu.

In 1991 the Ministry of Culture and Information recognized the site as a national historic site and scenic landscape.

A stone tablet carved with Kê minh thập sách stands before the temple gate, set up during a restoration in 2018. The lower hall has a carved design of two dragons paying homage to the moon. It also has a lacquered board in red and gold, with the words Thánh Đức Lưu Phương. Three rooms honor the generals who guarded the Lady Chế Thắng, and they were built new in the same restoration.

Every year the anniversary of her death is marked on the 11th and 12th days of the second lunar month, and pilgrims come from many places. During the observance, Hải Ninh ward floats lanterns on the Vịnh River in her memory. In 2026, on the 649th anniversary of her death, 5,000 lanterns were released.

Her story fits in the four words that Emperor Lê Thánh Tông gave her, "Nữ trung hào kiệt." The words themselves are no myth and no exaggeration. The name came from people of a later age, who knew enough of her life to choose it. More than 600 years on, the temple at the Kỳ Ninh inlet still stands facing the sea.