Phu Xa Temple is located in Hai An District, Hai Phong City, about 130km from Hanoi city’s center. The temple worships Hung Dao Vuong Tran Quoc Tuan – the famous general of Tran Dynasty who made the great victory defeating Chinese Mongolian aggressors in the thirteenth century. When he died, he was venerated as “Thanh Vuong” (‘King God’).
Legend of the locality has it that, Tran Quoc Tuan set up many granaries in the area to prepare for Bach Dang campaign in 1288. Here also was the place where Tran Quoc Tuan had given a feast to deserving soldiers before mustering troops to Van Kiep base.
Also at the location of this ancient temple, local people worship a woman named Bui Thi Tu Nhien who was responsible for ordnance supplies and provisions management for Tran Dynasty military at that time.
It is said in a legend that, when aggressors were defeated, Ms. Bui Thi Tu Nhien settled here to help local in producing and constructing village. In 1320, the village was devastated by a deluge, local people had to travel to another places to earn living. When the water level went down, people came back to reconstruct their village, Ms. Bui Thi Tu Nhien mobilized them to repair Tran Quoc Tuan worshiping temple.
Phu Xa village originally was named Phu Luong, later renamed as Phu Xa under the reign of King Tu Duc (1848-1882) for avoiding similar to the posthumous name of Ms. Bui Thi Tu Nhien’s husband. Initially, Phu Xa Temple was very small and made from bamboos, tree-leaves; up to now, after many times of reconstructions, Phu Xa Temple becomes a disciple architectural work with “noi cong, ngoai quoc” design in which engraving decorations represent the style of Nguyen Dynasty in late nineteenth century to early twentieth century.
According to the local tradition saying “Ancestor’s death anniversary in August”, annually on the twentieth day of the eighth lunar month, local people prepare worshipping objects and clean statues of God Tran and Ms. Bui Thi Tu Nhien to receive visitors and tourists from localities throughout the country. Phu Xa Temple was reckoned as a relic of national level in 1990.
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