The Hmong King Palace is located in the Sa Phin commune, Dong Van district, Ha Giang province in the northeast Vietnam. In the early nineteenth century, the Vuong family controlled the entire region and Vuong Duc Chinh, head of the family, proclaimed himself “king of the H’Mong”. To reinforce his power, King H’mong built a palace-fortress. During his reign, the charismatic king attracted a lot of attention when he and other Meo residents joined forces with Ho Chi Minh to gain national freedom.
Legend has it that the king who built the palace first consulted a Chinese feng shui master to decide on a location for the structure. The site in the Sa Phin Valley was supposedly chosen as the terrain resembled a turtle shell, the turtle representing a long life and wealth in local lore.
The construction of the Hmong King Palace began in 1920 and lasted eight years. The architecture of the building bears highly artistic value imitated the Chinese ancient architecture (Man Thanh dynasty). It was not only a building but also a fort in the middle of rocky highland.
Tall sa moc trees surround the palace that is built from stone, fir wood and terra-cotta tiles in the Chinese architectural style of the Man Qing era.
Covering a total area of 1,120 square meters, the palace was used as a residence and fortress during the Vuong Dynasty.
The two storey, 50 meter long palace that took eight years to build has four long houses and six wide houses with 64 rooms for the king’s wives, children and soldiers.
All the walls are 50-60 centimeters thick. Surrounding it is stone barrier which is 2 meters high and 80 centimeters thick.
The H’mong King palace is divided into many areas such as dining room, bed room, kitchen, marijuana store, rooms of his wives, a prayer altar and an area for criminal executions.
This residence is now the cultural and historical heritage of the country since 1993 and is registered in the National Heritage Country.
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