Nghe Temple of Hai Phong

Hải Phòng is a port city, and every city has someone who gave it its start. The land of An Biên Trang, the forerunner of today's Hải Phòng, was founded by a woman. Her name was Lê Chân.

Nghè Temple is where she is worshiped. Its name in Chinese characters is An Biên Cổ Miếu, the old shrine of An Biên. It is a national historical and cultural site, and one of the most important spiritual places in Hải Phòng.

One account explains the name Nghè this way. In old Vietnamese, nghè meant a doctoral laureate, a scholar who passed the royal examinations. It was a respectful title of high honor. By this account, when the villagers say Nghè Temple, they use the most respectful word in their language for Lê Chân.

Legend and local records place her birth in An Biên, in the Đông Triều area. Today that area is part of Quảng Ninh. This was in the early years of the Common Era, under Chinese rule. A governor named Tô Định ruled the land with cruelty, and he harmed her parents. She had to leave her homeland and flee south, to the river mouths of the Cấm and the Tam Bạc. There she and other settlers cleared wild land and founded a new hamlet called Vẻn. It was later renamed An Biên Trang, after her old home, because she did not want to forget her roots.

From that hamlet grew the port city of Hải Phòng.

In the year 40, the Trưng Sisters began an uprising against Chinese rule. Lê Chân led troops from An Biên Trang to join it. The Trưng Sisters gave her the title of princess, Thánh Chân Công Chúa, and put her in charge of guarding the northeastern frontier. In the year 43, General Mã Viện of the Eastern Han came with an army to take revenge. The Eastern Han was the dynasty then ruling China. The uprising was defeated. The Trưng Sisters took their own lives. Lê Chân took her own life as well, rather than be captured.

This is mostly legend and the family records of the Lê clan. The official histories record the background of the Trưng Sisters' uprising, but they hold few details about Lê Chân. Still, legend or history, one thing cannot be denied. She became the Thành Hoàng of Hải Phòng, the guardian spirit of the city. The founder of the land.

The birthday of Lê Chân is the eighth day of the second lunar month. That is why the festival of Nghè Temple runs from the seventh to the ninth day of that month every year. The rites include the ceremony of cáo yết, the offering of incense, and a procession. A palanquin is carried from the temple to nearby Lê Chân Square, where the monument to the woman general stands, and then back again. The festival also has a country market selling Hải Phòng specialties, an exhibition on the life of Lê Chân, and folk games. Tens of thousands of people from Hải Phòng take part. It is one of the biggest festivals in the city.

Stepping into the temple, you first reach the worship hall, five bays wide. Its 16 lim ironwood columns each stand on a finely carved stone base. In the center, the Chinese characters An Biên Cổ Miếu are raised in relief. This building dates from a major restoration, from 1924 to 1927. The temple went through another major restoration from 2007 to 2009, funded by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The temple also has a Tứ Phủ area, for the worship of the Mother Goddesses. It honors Mẫu Thượng Thiên and Mẫu Thượng Ngàn. Mẫu Thoải and Mẫu Địa are honored as well. In this faith, Lê Chân is worshiped alongside them as a Holy Lady, or as Tướng Mẫu, the General Mother. This blend of beliefs is common in northern Vietnam.

For Hải Phòng, Nghè Temple is more than a place to visit. It is the spiritual source of the city. One woman had to leave her homeland, came to an unfamiliar land, cleared it from the beginning, and then rose to fight for her people.