Tran Bien Temple of Literature

In 1698, a nobleman set foot in the land of Biên Hòa, in Đồng Nai. His name was Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh, and his title was Lễ Thành hầu. There he set up the administrative unit of Trấn Biên, for a region that the Vietnamese were settling as they moved south.

Then, 17 years later, in 1715, Lord Nguyễn Phúc Chu had the Trấn Biên Temple of Literature built. He was one of the Nguyễn lords, a noble family who ruled southern Vietnam from the 16th to the 18th century. This was no chance decision. It was a statement. The new land was not only a place to develop the economy. It was also a place that would keep learning and the cultural tradition alive.

The temple stood in the village of Tân Lại, in Phước Chính. This comes from the notes of the researcher Lương Văn Lựu, quoted in a provincial document of Đồng Nai. To the south it faced the Đồng Nai River. To the north it leaned on Long Ẩn Mountain. By traditional feng shui, this is the right position: back to the mountain, face to the water, a setting that is steady and open.

The Trấn Biên Temple of Literature went through two major restorations, in 1794 and in 1852. Then in 1861, French colonial forces attacked and took Biên Hòa, and the temple was torn down. For 137 years after that, the building was completely gone.

Only on December 9, 1998, did work begin to rebuild it. The building was finished on February 14, 2002. On August 18, 2016, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism signed Decision 2894, ranking the temple as a national historic site.

The rebuilt complex today has all the parts of a traditional temple of literature. Along the main axis come first Văn Miếu Môn, the entrance gate, and then Nhà Bia, the house of the steles, where tradition is remembered. Next is Khuê Văn Các, a symbol of the scholarly spirit. In the middle of the line lies Thiên Quang Tĩnh Lake. Beyond it, Đại Thành Môn leads into the main worship area. At the very end stands Nhà Bái Đường, the hall of worship.

The Đồng Nai government portal once quoted a guide at the site on the name Khuê Văn Các. The word Khuê recalls the star Khuê, which in old belief was the star in charge of literature. The reason a newly settled land needed a temple of literature lies in a wish. It wanted to build a community of knowledge, one that respected talented people and kept learning alive.

In the Nhà Bái Đường, the central bay honors President Hồ Chí Minh. The other bays honor figures of Vietnamese culture, and figures tied to Biên Hòa, Đồng Nai and the South. This way of arranging the worship reflects the spirit of the rebuilt complex. It joins the old Confucian tradition of honoring teachers and learning with the gratitude and education of today. It also echoes the saying about remembering the source of the water one drinks.

The Trấn Biên Temple of Literature invites a thought about the settlers. When the Vietnamese moved south more than 300 years ago, the first thing they carried was not only swords, hoes and spades. It was a whole set of values about study, courtesy and respect for talented people. The temple of literature is the building that gives those values a physical form.