Princess Dien Binh

Just inside Đuổm Temple, at the foot of a green mountain in Thái Nguyên, stands a small hall for two princesses. The temple climbs the slope in tiers, its roofs leaning against the cliff. One of the two women honored in the hall is Princess Diên Bình. To see why a princess of the royal capital is remembered so far up in the mountains, we go back almost 900 years, to the time of the Lý dynasty. The Lý dynasty ruled Vietnam from 1009 to 1225.

In those days the country had a vast region in the north called Phú Lương. It spread over the lands now called Thái Nguyên. It ran on through Cao Bằng and Lạng Sơn. Tuyên Quang and even Phú Thọ lay within it too. It was a land of high mountains and deep forests, of villages tucked beside streams.

A capable leader governed all of this land. His name was Dương Tự Minh. He was a Tày man, born in the village of Quan Triều, on the soil of his own homeland. The Tày are one of the peoples of northern Vietnam. According to the story of Đuổm Temple, he watched over the northern border region for more than 30 years, so that people could count on good harvests and the villages could live in harmony.

Down in the lowlands, the royal capital heard of this leader. The emperor wanted the lowlands and the mountains to grow close, like one family. And in those days, the finest way to join two families was a marriage. So the emperor gave Princess Diên Bình in marriage and sent her up to the mountains as the wife of Dương Tự Minh.

She had grown up in a splendid palace, used to silk and music and busy streets. Yet she was willing to leave all of it behind and travel far, to a land she had never set foot in. That was no easy journey. It took great courage.

She crossed mountain passes and forests and clear streams. The farther she went, the more distant the town streets became, and the closer the mountains stood. At last she reached her new home and became a daughter-in-law among the Tày villages. There she slowly learned the new way of life and came to know her neighbors, who were plain-spoken and kind.

That marriage was like a bridge. On one side of it stood the capital of the lowlands. On the other stood the forests of the highlands. The young princess was the bridge that joined the two regions. From then on the lowlands and the mountains were friends and kin. People on both sides came and went and lived together in peace, and there were no more disputes.

Thanks to her good heart and his skill, the whole wide border region was kept calm. The harvests were rich and the villages were at peace. Dương Tự Minh was so able and so valued that, later on, another Lý emperor gave him a princess as well. Her name was Princess Thiều Dung. Few men in Vietnam's history have married two princesses of the throne.

So at the foot of Đuổm Mountain, two princesses of the royal capital chose the mountains as a second homeland. The people held them dear and remembered their kindness. When they built Đuổm Temple to honor Dương Tự Minh, they set aside one hall for the two women. That hall is the Lower Temple, where incense still rises for Princess Diên Bình and Princess Thiều Dung.

Today the temple still rests against the mountain wall, its dark brown roofs under a blue sky and leaves rustling around the yard. Here the old story seems to return: a young princess who bravely left her palace, crossed forests and mountains, and made two distant lands into one shared home.