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HISTORICAL
INTERESTS
DUCTHANH
SCHOOL
DucThanh
school was built in 1907 (also the year when DongKinhNghiaThuc
school was built), located in the area of ThanhDuc village now 39
TrungNhi street, DucNghia quarter, PhanThiet city. In order to respond to DuyTan movement
instigated by Mr. PhanChauTrinh, Mr. TranQuyCap and Mr. HuynhThucKhang. This
school founded by Mr. NguyenTrongLoi and
Mr. NguyenQuyAnh (the patriotic poet writer - two children of Mr. NguyenThong ). The
purposes of DuyTan movement and DucThanh School
were to develop the people's intellectual standards and to arouse
the people and the race's sense. This was a private school with the
most progressive teaching content in BinhThuan at that time. In
1910, on the way to find the solution to save the country, teacher
NguyenTatThanh (later was President HoChiMinh) came to PhanThiet
and stopped his feet to teach at DucThanh
school according to the introduction of Mr. TruongGiaMo
-
a
holder of doctor's degree in Sino - Vietnamese classics. The
school had about 60 pupils and 7 teachers in charge of the subjects:
Chinese, French, Sports, etc.
Teacher
Thanh taught the second class, mainly the national language and
Chinese. During the time of teaching at DucThanh
School, besides the teaching contents, teacher Thanh also
propagated the love for the country and the ancestor's race to his
pupils with his love and sentiment as a teacher as well as an
older brother. In extra - curricular activities in free time, he
took his pupils to visit and enjoy PhanThiet town's beautiful sights
at that time such as ThuongChanh beach, Thieng village's cavern, DucNghia
village's communal house.
In
about February 1911 teacher Thanh left DucThanh
School and PhanThiet to SaiGon, crossed
the ocean in order to find out the way to liberate our people and country. A few years later, Mr. NguyenTrongLoi
passed away, Mr. NguyenQuyAnh moved to SaiGon, no one in charge more and because of many other objective reasons, the
school was closed in 1912.
The old school where Uncle Ho taught was broken and knocked down a
long time ago. But among the pupils teacher Thanh taught before,
four have still been alive. They are doctor NguyenQuyPhau, doctor
NguyenKimChi, Mr. TuTruongPhung, and Mr. NguyenDangLau. After the liberation, the people's
expectation was to restore the old DucThanh School in order to show their gratitude to our beloved Uncle Ho and
to educate the tradition of loving the country to the present as
well as the future generations.
Thanks to Uncle Ho's former pupils memories and remembrance, the
school position and the interior and exterior architectural part
were formed through the plans and rebuilt from the years 1978 to
1980.
Ngu house was built in 1906 and since 1908 it has been used as the
pupils' boarding place and now it was also restored.
"Ngoadusao" was
the house of Mr. NguyenThong built in 1880. In the
final years of his life, he stayed in this house to recite poems, to
comment prows and to discuss the business with the patriotic
cultured people. When staying at this school, teacher Thanh read
books, prepared the lessons at "NgoaDuSao", now it has
also been improved because its commodities inside have been
disordered and stolen quite a lot.
The thistle
tree and the well
related to Uncle Ho's teaching life at DucThanh
school are also the main points in this place of historical
interest. The
original exhibits from the time teacher Thanh taught have still been
preserved until now: A set of sofas, a wooden bed, a high desk, a
wardrobe, a wooden container of documents, an ink grinding, ink
stone, 3 small glasses, an ashtray.
All of them are old but they have been kept and preserved well.
Those are the sacred memory objects combining with teacher NguyenTatThanh's short teaching day’s time and history in PhanThiet.
Beside the Area of DucThanh
School, the Display House of Uncle Ho's revolutionary activities and
life was also built and opened in 1986. DucThanh
place of historical interest was classified as the National
place of historical interest by the Ministry of Culture -
Information according to the Decision number 235/QD - BT on the
12th of December, 1986.
THE
PRINCE'S CASTLE
The Prince's castle consists of a community of the hills,
the mountain, the river, the sea and the tower pagoda
creating an area of beautiful sights with the salient
points of comparatively high "Co" mountain top and 4 up -
and - down hills next to the sea; the most beautiful are "Co"
mountain, BaNai hill, PhuHai coastal estuary and the beach
with the old fishing villages 7 km North East of PhanThiet
city.
In 1911, a French prince as well as De Montpensier from
France came here for traveling and hunting in the nearby
hills, he realized the sights of mountain and water here
were very beautiful, so he decided to buy a plot of land
here to build a villa also used as a place where he could
rest when hunting and traveling later. The French authority
in BinhThuan (Ambassador Gamier) agreed to sell him BaNai
hill according to his expectation.
On the
21st of February, 1911 this villa was started to be built
and completed nearly one year later, with the area of 536 m2
and 13 rooms. The villa area was built at the place nearby
100 meters South of Cham tower temple group Poshanu. In the
process of transporting the materials up to build the villa
area, the French destroyed the wall in front of the Tower's
main door. This was a beautiful and comfortable villa with
electric generators at night; under the villa there were a
lot of tunnels containing rainwater enough for the people
living in the villa in a year, this villa was considered as
the most modern one in BinhThuan at that time. From then on,
PhanThiet people have been used to calling this area "LauOngHoang
- Prince's Castle" hill, because on this hill there used to
be a beautiful big villa area built by De Montpensier.
Now The Prince's castle is an attractive tourist community
including: the ancient Cham tower group, beside the tower is
the time - honored ancient BuuSon pagoda, under the hill
foot are the seashore, PhuHai coastal estuary, "Co" mountain
where there is poet NguyenThong's tomb. All of them have
combined with one another into a community of the cultural
place of historical interest and beautiful sights in PhanThiet city.
THUY
TU FISHERMEN'S ASSOCIATION
ThuyTu
fishermen's association was first established by ThuyTu fishermen
in 1762 for worshiping "CaOng" (the whale) with the central
chamber, the house for worshiping "TienHien”, the one for
Song - Dance group, they were arranged in the form of the word Tam
with the main side toward the East. When it was just finished, its
gate was very near right the seashore. Nowadays the seashore is over
100 meters far from here. Now ThuyTu fishermen's association is
situated on NguOng Street, DucThang quarter, PhanThiet city.
Different from the village's communal house often built for
worshiping the village's Tutelary God and located in the
agricultural village, the fishermen's
association
is often constructed for worshiping the whale (CaOng) and located
very near right the seashore of the fishing village. Most of BlnhThuan's
fishing villages have got fishermen's
associations
and temples for worshiping the whale (CaOng)
- the God who has helped and saved fishermen when they meet
accidents on the sea according to their opinion. And this God is
always loyal to fishermen; therefore they love and respect this God
all the time. The folk religion has connected with the job religion
from this generation-to-generation according to fishermen's customs
and traditions.
Since the day of finishing until now, ThuyTu fishermen's
association has contained nearly 100 bone skeletons of whales and
many other species of the same family. Over half of them have got
the epoch of over 100 to 150 years; among them the big bone
skeletons have been worshiped solemnly. In its campus, there is a
large land bridge used to bury the whale when he "dies"
and drifts onto the seashore from the sea. And his bone skeleton
will be placed into a tomb according to the custom after 3 years'
burial service. Among the fishermen, if anyone sees "Ong"
first, this fisherman will become " His" eldest child and
have to hold a funeral perfectly and 3 years of mourning... and so
on. That shows fishermen's customs and behaviors toward " CaOng" - the whale - according to their religion are nearly the
same as the relationship between people and people.

ThuyTu fishermen's association is one of the most ancient one in BinhThuan's fishing villages, the
local fishermen consider it as the first sea ancestor of the sea
fishing job. It has contained many Chinese - Vietnamese cultural
heritages related to the sea fishing job, expressing the worshiping
content in the shrines, worshiped statues, horizontal boards
inscribed with Chinese characters, parallel scrolls, in the bell
record of the Great Bell. ThuyTu fishermen's association is one
of the ancient places of historical interest with a large amount of
nominations granted by Nguyen Dynasty's Kings for worshiping "
CaOng" - the whale and the Sea Gods because in the feudal
war against TaySon righteous volunteers, Nguyen Dynasty's
generals and commanders were once rescued many time by the whale on
the sea. It has got 24 nominations granted by the Kings: ThieuTri,
TuDuc,
DongKhanh, DuyTan, KhaiDinh,
privately King ThieuTri
(1841
- 1847) granted 10 nominations and this is the rare thing compared
with other places of historical interest.
The
Government classified ThuyTu fishermen's association as the
National Historical place of interest in 1996.
KHEGA
LIGHTHOUSE
KheGa lighthouse was built on the top of KheGa island with the area
of 5 hectares in the seaside at TanThanh commune, once belonging
to HamTan district, now HamThuanNam district, about 30 km
South East of PhanThiet city. KheGa Lighthouse was built by a
French design engineer named Chnavat to direct boats and ships to
travel, it was started from February, 1897 and opened at the end of
the year 1898, now there is still a big granite sheet right in
front of the gate leading to the Lighthouse with the number of
1899 KheGa Lighthouse officially worked in 1900. The managing
officers were a French man (the head) and 8 Vietnamese people
guarding the light. In the marine history of this area, in the
previous generations, there were so many wrecked travel ling
merchant ships because they could not define coordinates and positions,
So KheGa Cape has been considered as an extremely dangerous and
important position of the seaside from PhanRang to VüngTau. Due
to this seaside's dangerous and important position, and in order
to meet the increasing transportation need of the French army as
well as foreign merchant ships coming here, some French people
studied to build KheGa Lighthouse. In the building time, so many
people died from accidents; nowadays here there is still a cemetery
burying the people who had died in this project.
KheGa Island is 500 meters from the seashore; on the low water days,
we can wade to the island from the seashore. When tidal flow and
windy, it is very hard to travel. On the island, this Lighthouse
was built comparatively huge; probably this is the highest one in
our country with its octagonal granite pole. The origin of the
granite used to build KheGa Lighthouse by the French people has
been unknown because there is not this kind of granite in the
area. And all of these cubic meters of granite are not only normal
with 4 angles but also carved and sculptured into each square, each
concrete form and side fitting with each other. It means that there
was nearly a ready - made available granite tower, when building
they only installed it in the right orders and angles and sides from
low to high and they only needed to use mortar to make this granite
tower stick without having to plaster or render or repair. (This
granite tight tower is 35 meters high, the total height from the
ground level to the light top is 41.5 meters, the height from the
light range to the sea level is 65 meters, and the size of the tower
side is 2.60 meters. The thickness of the tower wall from the bottom
to the height of 6 meters is 1.6m, when higher the thickness
decreases from 1.5m and the thinnest at the tower top is 1 meter).
On the tower top, there is a big light of 2000w used as a signal to
direct boats and ships. Besides
this Lighthouse, there is also a square big house with each side of
40 meters, under it is a 3 meters deep water - containing tunnel, in front of it is a well called
the Fairy well. From
the sea water level to the Lighthouse are scores of steps. Two lines
of jasmine along the isle and around the Lighthouse bottom planted
by the French people at the end of the previous century have been
still the same until now, giving shadow all the year round. All of
the 184 steel spiral stairs leading to the Lighthouse top and scores
of 3 steps
staircases
leading to the light top have been brought from France,
including
the light on the top and the generator. Nowadays KheGa Island and
the Lighthouse have become an attractive tourist point for
travelers, because KheGa Lighthouse is both a beautiful sight and
a unique architectural place of historical interest.
TACU
MOUNTAIN PAGODA
This
pagoda is located on the top of TaCu mountain, so they call it TaCu
mountain pagoda to distinguish it with some pagodas on the other
mountains in BinhThuan province. This mountain pagoda was built in
1879 but many years before, there was a thatch - roofed pagoda
worshiping Buddha's. The pagoda belongs to the area of TanLap
commune, HamThuanNam district, about 30 km South East of PhanThiet
city. The head monk of the mountain pagoda is Buddhist priest
TranHuuDuc, the pagoda - building site chosen by him is now at the
height of 475 meters; all the year round there are green trees,
flowing streams, singing birds and apes beside the pagoda. Later
because of many different reasons, the pagoda has been separated
into two, the upper one still at the old place has got the name of
"LinhSonTruongTho" and the lower one "LinhSonLongDoan", both of them are called the Mountain Pagoda.
TaCu
Mountain Pagoda has combined and alternated with the forest and
mountain making an area of famous beautiful sights since formerly.
Its whole sight is an architectural overall including: 3-door gates,
temples, statues of Buddha’s, tomb towers, the First's
Ancestor's grotto... well-concealed under the all-year-round green
fresh ancient tree forest.
From
the foot of the mountain are hundreds of steps along twisting roads
through the jungle leading to the pagoda. Here the air is cold and
fresh, the steam radiates from the rock mountain with the
attractive cool air even in summer.

The
beautiful sights of TaCu Mountain pagoda are famous for the poetic
majestic scenery of the mountain and forest. On the other hand,
human hands through many generations in turn have built up the
unique huge art architectural projects in the province as well as
the nearby ones. That's the huge giant statue of "ThichCaNhapNietBan" lying on the highest position about 100 meters
from the pagoda. By the skill and talent, techniques of sculpture
and veneration, the artisan-artists created the rare statue in the
history of the Vietnamese Buddhism. This work was presided in 1962
by engineer TruongDinh Y.
About 50 meters from the statue of Buddha is the group of Tam The
Buddha’s: ADiDa,
QuanAmBoTat, DaiTheChi; all of these 3 statues are about 7 meters
high, with mild faces looking over the whole world as if they were
ready to save and support human beings. Every
season in the year, there are always pilgrims coming to visit
Buddha’s, to watch the beautiful sights of the pagoda and mountain
forest; especially on the occasion of Spring and New Year, ten
thousands of people come to the pagoda, following each other to
climb the mountain like
dragons and snakes. Recently every year they organize a mountain -
climbing competition attracting many young people from the Eastern
provinces. In the next future here they will carry out the project
of hanging cables in order to bring travelers up and down to visit
the pagodas more conveniently. The TaCu Mountain Pagoda with the
forests in the Natural Preserve Area has classified as the
national beauty spot by the Government in 1993.
COTHACH PAGODA
Grotto
pagoda named " CoThachTu" was built at the beginning
half of the nineteenth century, located in the grottoes on CoThach
mountainous hill at the height of over 64 meters, belonging to the
area of BinhThanh commune, TuyPhong district, BinhThuan
province. CoThach is a large stone mountainous area consisting of |