Chu Van An Temple

Two emperors once called the same man their teacher. That man also sent the court a petition that everyone knew might cost him his life. When the emperor would not listen, he quietly took off his official robes, handed back his seal of office, and climbed a mountain.

We are climbing Mount Phượng Hoàng now. It is the mountain Chu Văn An chose for the last years of his life, and the place where he rests for all time.

The Chu Văn An Temple has a formal name in Chinese characters, Phượng Sơn Linh Từ, which means "the sacred temple of Phoenix Mountain." It has been a National Monument since 1998. Since July 1, 2025, it belongs to the new Chu Văn An ward of the city of Hải Phòng. The ward is named for the great teacher who is honored here. In 2019, UNESCO named Chu Văn An a World Cultural Figure, one of very few Vietnamese honored at that level.

Chu Văn An was born in 1292, in a village called Văn. It lies in Quang Liệt commune. Today that area, Thanh Trì, is part of Hanoi. He was not born in Chí Linh. He opened a school while he was still young, and his pupils were many and well known. News of his talent and character reached the court of the Trần dynasty, which ruled Vietnam from 1225 to 1400. Emperor Trần Minh Tông invited him to serve as Tư nghiệp of the Imperial Academy. A Tư nghiệp was the official in charge of the national school, the highest position in education at that time.

During those same years, he taught the princes who later became Emperor Trần Hiến Tông and Emperor Trần Dụ Tông. So he was honored as "the emperor's teacher," an extremely rare title in Vietnamese history.

But the story told most often about Chu Văn An is not about teaching emperors.

It is the Thất Trảm Sớ.

By the reign of Emperor Trần Dụ Tông, in the middle of the 14th century, the dynasty was growing weak. Seven treacherous officials abused their power at court, and the emperor did nothing about them. Chu Văn An, who had once been the emperor's own teacher, submitted the Thất Trảm Sớ. This petition asked the emperor to behead the seven officials to save the dynasty. Its name means, word for word, "the petition to behead seven people."

Emperor Trần Dụ Tông would not listen.

Chu Văn An resigned. He spoke not with words but with action. He left behind every rank and every salary and went to Mount Phượng Hoàng in Chí Linh. There he lived in seclusion and went on teaching until he died in 1370, at about 78 years old.

He did not speak bluntly to win the emperor's favor, and he did not speak smoothly to win the officials' favor. He spoke for what was right for the country. In Vietnamese Confucianism, this is the spirit of the loyal official, honored most highly of all.

The pupils of Chu Văn An matched him in character. One of the finest was Phạm Sư Mạnh, who came from Kinh Môn. He became a great minister of the Trần court. His title was Nhập nội Hành khiển, and he held it under the two emperors Chu Văn An had taught. After the administrative reform of 2025, a new ward in Kinh Môn was also named Phạm Sư Mạnh ward. That is where the Cao An Phụ Temple stands. The teacher has a ward of his own, and the pupil has one too. It is an unusual way to keep history alive in the names on an administrative map.

Now we stand before the main temple, looking up at its architecture.

The temple is laid out in the shape of the character Nhị, two blocks side by side. Its roof has two tiers and eight faces, in the style called chồng diêm, with eight corners curving upward. This is typical of traditional temples in northern Vietnam. The front hall of offerings has five bays, and the rear sanctuary has one.

The carvings show the four sacred creatures, dragon, Ly, turtle and phoenix, and four plants, pine, chrysanthemum, bamboo and plum. On the y môn, finished in red lacquer and gold leaf, there is a special motif: dragons paying homage to chrysanthemums in full bloom. In East Asian culture, the chrysanthemum is a symbol of a person of noble character.

The path up here passes through a forest of old pines. Mount Phượng Hoàng is shaped like a phoenix, which is how it got its name. By old feng shui, the temple sits exactly at the phoenix's eye. In front, Mount Ngọc serves as a screen. Behind, Mount Phượng serves as a backrest. On either side, Mount Kỳ Lân and Mount Phượng Hoàng bow toward the temple. People of old believed this was the most sacred ground that could be chosen to honor a great teacher.

Every year on November 20, Vietnamese Teachers' Day, thousands of teachers from all over the country come here to offer incense. It is the only temple in Vietnam whose festival is tied to the day of the teaching profession.

Among the old pines, with the eight corners of the temple roof reaching into the blue sky, one name has lasted through the centuries. Vietnamese people still call Chu Văn An "Vạn thế sư biểu," the teacher of all ages.