Cat King's Palace

Cat King's Palace

King Meo's Mansion, also known as Vuong's Mansion, is located in Sa Phin valley (Xa Phin), Lung Phin commune, Dong Van district, Ha Giang province, about 125km from the city center and about 125km from the city center. The famous Dong Van stone plateau is only 15km away. This ancient house is associated with the life and career of two Mong people, the Meo King Vuong Chinh Duc and Vuong Chi Sinh (or Vuong Chi Thanh). Mr. Vuong Chinh Duc (1886 - 1962) was the head of the feudal land government in the mountainous areas of the Mong people, so he was also known by the powerful name of King Meo. His son, who followed the revolutionary path, thanks to his contributions to the country, was elected as a National Assembly deputy for the first two terms. Construction began in 1898 and was officially completed in 1907, costing a huge sum of 150,000 Indochina white silver coins, equivalent to 150 billion VND today. The mansion was designed and built by Chinese Yunnan workers in combination with Mong ethnic people, creating a project larger than 1200m2 on an area of ​​about 3000m2. Thanks to its long history and indisputable cultural value, King Cat Palace was ranked a national monument by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 1993, after nearly a century of existence. In addition, this mansion also took up to 5 years to start construction, all were built with human power and did not use any mechanical means. King Cat's mansion is located at the foot of a valley surrounded above by a high land. With this type of terrain, the entire structure is protected by mountain arcs called turtle shell positions, providing very good defense support during times of fierce war. After more than a hundred years of existence, everything in the mansion is still as intact as the first day. The architecture inside the mansion is extremely unique, the crystallization of three different cultures including the Mong, French and Chinese. The project includes 4 horizontal houses, 6 vertical houses divided into 3 areas: front palace (for guards and slaves), middle palace and rear palace (place to live and work) with 64 small rooms divided into 2 floors. . To meet the criteria of solidity, the builders used green stone to help the mansion stand firm against enemies and time. The roofs, walls and pillars are made of wood to add majesty and flexibility to the rooms. Another material used is terracotta for building tile roofs to make shaping easier but no less sturdy. To this day, the Cat King Palace is one of the few buildings that meets all the requirements for a place to live, work and become a defense base whenever a war occurs. Despite the combination of three cultures in architecture, many people commented that the Vuong family mansion is extremely harmonious, flexible and rhythmic as if forming a unified block without being restrictive or forced. In addition, although it is a project built on a land area of ​​up to 3,000 square meters, the mansion is not as large or massive as many people imagine because it is composed of small subdivisions, with a simple, rusticity of folk architectural culture. The design with the principle of low inside and high outside makes the overall Villa even closer to the surrounding landscape. In general, most of the furniture and items associated with King Cat when he was alive have been kept and well preserved until today. Only a few chairs and wooden furniture were made of stone pine, which was later replaced by our government with ironwood and crushed wood to prevent it from gradually disappearing over time. The wooden structures have a rich local cultural identity by carving native flower patterns such as peaches, poppies... The pillars are crafted to resemble the fruit of the opium poppy, a plant that King Cat does business to make money to build a mansion. Some Western-influenced items in this project include a stone goat milk bathtub, glass shutters next to the fireplace, and the entrance is made of marble connected by a frame. Iron flowers are bold in French architecture. Source: Ha Giang Tourism Newspaper

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