Lord Sai Nguyen Phuc Nguyen

On the bank of the Thu Bồn River, a sail glided in and the anchor rope creaked. Beside the landing stood a small house called the Ty Tàu vụ. The lord had set it up to look after the merchant ships of many countries that stopped at the port. Thanks to it, Hoi An grew busy, with ships moored side by side and sails of every color drying in the sun. The man who opened this harbor to the sea was a gentle lord known as Chúa Sãi.

His real name was Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên. He lived from 1563 to 1635. He was the second Nguyễn lord of Đàng Trong, the southern realm then ruled by the Nguyễn lords. He was the son of Lord Nguyễn Hoàng, who had gone very far to open a new homeland for his descendants. The father opened the land, and the son kept it. His father put him in charge of the Quảng Nam region, and he worked hard to turn it into a thriving place of trade, full of laughter and the sound of bargaining.

The name Chúa Sãi sounds strange, yet people say it with affection. The lord was gentle and devout, a follower of the Buddha, and he ruled with compassion. He wanted his people to be well fed and at peace. Because of that kind nature, the people honored him as Chúa Sãi. In some places they fondly called him Chúa Bụt, a lord as kind as the Bụt of the old fairy tales.

What people remember most about him is the harbor at Hoi An. He opened the sea gate wide and gladly welcomed merchant ships from many countries. Ships came from Japan and from China, and others had crossed the sea from far away in the West. They tied up at the harbor to buy, sell and trade. One account records that this lord closed his door to no country. Little by little, a small riverside town on the Thu Bồn River grew into a rich international trading port of Đàng Trong.

The harbor in those days was full of sound. There were street cries, laughter and voices in every foreign tongue, all blending together like a piece of music. The whole harbor smelled of ship timber and of unfamiliar goods from far away. A place once quiet now rang with the voices of people, all because one lord knew how to open his heart to friends.

The lord also had a very gentle way of keeping peace with neighboring countries. He formed family ties by marriage, as close families do to warm a friendship, so that countries could draw closer like bridges. A daughter of the lord boarded a ship for a distant land, carrying a wish that the two countries would become one family. In 1620, his daughter Ngọc Vạn was given in marriage to the king of Chân Lạp, to the south. Chân Lạp was the old Vietnamese name for the Khmer kingdom of Cambodia. Then, 11 years later, his daughter Ngọc Khoa went to the king of Champa, on the border. Champa was an ancient kingdom on the central and southern coast of what is now Vietnam. These bonds helped keep the borderlands calm, and people on both sides crossed over to make their living.

A land that wants to prosper also needs able people. The lord knew how to value talent. He trusted capable men, among them Đào Duy Từ, a gifted man who helped the whole southern land become more orderly and steady. Thanks to this, in his time the fields grew green, the markets filled with people, and life grew a little better for ordinary families every day.

Some people leave a great mark in ways other than walls and ramparts. Chúa Sãi was one of them. He only opened one gate to the sea, and a quiet riverside town turned into a meeting place for many countries. When a door is open, friends come. When a heart is open, friendship between peoples can grow. One door opened onto the sea, bright with laughter.