Kinh Dương Vương
Kinh Dương Vương is a legendary ancient Vietnamese figure, mentioned in the 15th-century work Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư by having unified all the tribes within his territory into one state, and as the founder of the Hồng Bàng dynasty. He is considered the first sovereign of the Vietnamese people.
According to the 15th-century Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, he ruled over the state of Xích Quỷ starting in 2879 BC. Kinh Dương Vương's father was Đế Minh, a descendant of Shennong. Kinh Dương Vương is believed to having married Thần Long, the daughter of Động Đình Quân and given birth to Lạc Long Quân.
Today Kinh Dương Vương features with other ancient figures such as Thánh Gióng, Âu Cơ, Sơn Tinh and Thủy Tinh are a part of the elementary school texts. A popular shrine, and presumed tomb of Kinh Dương Vương, is located in the village of An Lữ, Thuận Thành District, Bắc Ninh Province.
Legends
According to Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, a book written in a Confucian perspective, Kinh Dương Vương originates from China: Emperor Ming, the great-great-grandson of the mythological Chinese ruler Shennong, went on a tour of inspection south of the Nanling Mountains, settled down and married a certain Beautiful Immortal Lady, who then gave birth to an intelligent son named Lộc Tục.After Emperor Ming passed the throne to his eldest son, Emperor Ly(釐) to be king of the North, and Lộc Tục was appointed to be king of the South, his title Kinh Dương Vương. Kinh Duong Vuong was king and ruled from about 2879 BC onwards. The territory of the country under Kinh Dương Vương was claimed to be large, reaching Dongting Lake in the north, the Husunxing country in the south, the East Sea in the east and Ba Shu in the west. Lĩnh Nam chích quái recorded the legend that the king vigorously expelled a murderous god named Xương Cuồng.
He married the daughter of the King of Động Đình Lake, named Thần Long, who gave birth to a son named Sùng Lãm. Sùng Lãm would later succeed Kinh Dương Vương as ruler, titled Dragon Lord of Lạc.
Worship
Worship of Kinh Dương Vương in Vietnam is not as popular as worship of Shennong, the deity who is Hùng Vương's ancestor and a very respected one in Vietnam's agricultural beliefs; Đàn Xã Tắc was established annually by feudal dynasties to worship.Thượng Lãng communal house in Minh Hòa commune, Hưng Hà district, Thái Bình province is the oldest relic worshiping Kinh Dương Vương; Legend has it since the Đinh dynasty.
The Kinh Dương Vương Mausoleum and Temple in Bắc Ninh have long been classified by the Vietnamese feudal dynasties as shrines to worship the emperors, each time the National Ceremony will bring to the army to worship and worship people solemnly. In 2013, Bắc Ninh province announced a plan to preserve, embellish and promote the population of national historical and cultural relics of Mausoleum and Kinh Dương Vương Temple with a total investment of more than 491 billion VND. The project is divided into 4 main construction categories, including: relic conservation space, focusing on repairing and embellishing the relics of the Mausoleum and Kinh Dương Vương Temple, temple grounds, tomb gardens; relic value space includes: ancestral monument, cultural festival square, cultural display...accompanied by ancillary services to develop spiritual cultural tourism, attracting tourists and technical infrastructure, leveling, roads, electricity lines. At present, the Kinh Duong Vuong tomb and temple relic is worshiped in Á Lữ village, Đại Đồng Thành commune, Thuận Thành district, Bắc Ninh province.
Other theories
Many historical researchers suspected that Kinh Dương Vương was a legendary figure based on elements from the novella Story of Liu Yi. Historical researcher Trần Trọng Dương pointed out that:This view has been expressed by many Vietnamese historians since the 18th century: for example, Ngô Thì Sĩ in Prefatory Compilation to Đại Việt's Historical Records
as well as the Nguyễn dynasty's historians in The Imperially Ordered Outlined and Detailed Texts Thoroughly Mirroring of the History of Viet
Consequently, Emperor Tự Đức of the Nguyen dynasty decided to exclude King of Kinh Duong and Dragon Lord of Lạc from their historiography as this did not conform with the Confucian ideals of the country.