Temple of Le Chan

In the middle of the port city of Hải Phòng stands a bronze statue taller than a two-story house. Upright and steady, she faces the heart of the city. This is the monument to the woman general Lê Chân, the symbol of a whole city.

The statue is cast in bronze. It is 7.5 meters tall and weighs 19 metric tons. Work on it began in 1999. It stands on Lê Chân Square, right in front of the city's Exhibition and Fine Arts Center. This is the most central spot in Hải Phòng.

The city has given her name to this square, to a ward and to a street. The reason lies in who she was.

Legend and folk tradition say that Lê Chân lived in the 1st century of the Common Era. She came from An Biên, in the area of Đông Triều. Today that area is part of Quảng Ninh. In the early years of the Common Era, she moved to the mouths of the Cấm and Tam Bạc rivers, where the city stands today. There she cleared the land and founded a new village called An Biên Trang. That land was the first seed of the later city of Hải Phòng.

In the year 40, the Trưng Sisters led an uprising against the Eastern Han. The Eastern Han was the dynasty then ruling China. Lê Chân brought her troops to join them. She was honored with the title of princess, Thánh Chân Công Chúa. But three years later, in 43, Mã Viện led the Han army and defeated the uprising. The Trưng Sisters took their own lives. Lê Chân followed their example.

For this reason, generation after generation, the people of Hải Phòng have honored her as the Thành Hoàng of the city. She is its protecting spirit and the soul of this port land.

Two major sites linked to her stand within a few hundred meters' walk of here. Nghè Temple, on Lê Chân Street, is her main temple. It was recognized as a National Historic Site in 1975. An Biên Communal House stands off Hai Bà Trưng Street. In this old village communal house, she is worshipped as its protecting spirit. It is also a National Historic Site. Farther away, in the former An Lão district, another temple to her stands at the foot of Núi Voi. Tradition holds that she once kept her base of resistance there. Together, the four sites form what the people of Hải Phòng call the Lê Chân Heritage Complex.

What links all of these sites is the traditional festival of the woman general Lê Chân. It is held every year from the seventh to the ninth day of the second lunar month. The middle day, the eighth, is her birthday. In 2016, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism listed the festival as National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The high point of the festival is a linked procession. It sets out from Nghè Temple and passes An Biên Communal House. Then it moves on to the statue on Lê Chân Square and returns to Nghè Temple. The procession carries palanquins and flags. Women in costume recreate the troops of Lê Chân from the time of the Trưng Sisters. Musicians play traditional ceremonial music, and a group of local farmers takes part. Tens of thousands of people from Hải Phòng and visitors from every region pour in to watch.

After the rites comes the festival fun. A country market sells traditional Hải Phòng specialties. An exhibition shows photographs and documents about the woman general. People play folk games such as Chinese chess, wrestling, tug of war and swinging on tall swings. And there are art performances. There is chèo, a traditional form of Vietnamese theater. There is ca trù, a form of sung poetry from northern Vietnam. There is hát chầu văn as well, which is tied to Tứ Phủ, the worship of the Mother Goddesses. All three are old traditions of the Vietnamese in the northern delta.

Hải Phòng honors a woman general from the 1st century with special devotion, and there is a reason. She was a heroine, and she was also the one who cleared this very land. Her An Biên Trang is Hải Phòng itself. The ward where this square stands was once called An Biên ward, after the name she gave her own village. In the administrative reform of July 1, 2025, her name was kept for the new Lê Chân ward. It is one way Hải Phòng honors her through the names on its map.

The bronze statue rises 7.5 meters. Her face looks ahead, steady. Behind her lies a whole city that grew from the village she named. Nearly 2,000 years have passed, and the An Biên Trang of Lê Chân has grown into one of the largest seaports in Vietnam. And every year, on the eighth day of the second lunar month, tens of thousands of people from Hải Phòng come back here. They wear silk, carry palanquins and beat drums, to remember the woman who laid the first brick of their city.