One afternoon in Da Lat, we visited the tomb of Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen Huu Hao, located on a beautiful pine hill, easy to find with Google maps. According to documents, this is the burial place and worship place of Mr. Nguyen Huu Hao and Mrs. Le Thi Binh, the parents of Queen Nam Phuong.
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PHOTO: PROVIDED BY PUBLISHING HOUSE
From the entrance with four pillars, we followed the steps up. The afternoon sun was still bright and the scene below did not have the gloomy look of a mausoleum. However, the higher we went, the more we felt the loneliness, desolation, and coldness of this place. Everything was simple from the stone lion statue to the stele house, tomb… In the large yard there was a stone stele engraved with Chinese characters. On the roof of the main tomb there was a cross. Inside there were two rectangular stone tombs. An altar between the two tombs. Behind there was a large square door overlooking a small stele house with a stone stele engraved with Chinese characters.
Visiting this place reminded me of some interesting information I had just read in the book Following the footsteps of Queen Nam Phuong and King Bao Dai . According to the Vietnamese Women's Publishing House, the two authors Vinh Dao and Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy spent three years making many trips to places where King Bao Dai and Queen Nam Phuong were in Vietnam, as well as trips to France, to places where the king and queen had passed through and lived, to find documents, meet witnesses and descendants of their contemporaries, and interview many witnesses at home and abroad...
There is a lot of new information in the book explaining in detail the date of birth and real name of Queen Nam Phuong with specific and convincing analysis. Accordingly, the date of birth of Queen Nam Phuong is not December 4, 1914 as announced by the Hue court, but exactly November 14, 1913 engraved on her tombstone.
In addition, the birthplace of Queen Nam Phuong, previously believed to be in Go Cong (former Tien Giang province), was also confirmed to be "a mistake in place name". After researching the family of Mr. Nguyen Huu Hao - Queen Nam Phuong's father, the authors determined that she was born in a place called Go Cong in Thu Duc (HCMC) today.
Wikipedia says that Nguyen Huu Hao was a wealthy landowner. He married Le Thi Binh, daughter of Huyen Si (Le Phat Dat), one of the richest people in Vietnam at that time. However, in the book, "According to the marriage declaration made at the Saigon Governor's Court on November 12, 1902, Mr. Nguyen Huu Hao, 32 years old, born on July 1, 1870 in Tan Hoa commune, Cho Lon, occupation: teacher at Taberd school, residing in Saigon, son of Nguyen Van Cuong and Le Thi Thuong, both deceased; Marie Le Thi Binh, 23 years old, born on February 17, 1879 in Saigon, residing in Tan Hoa commune, Cho Lon, daughter of Philippe Le Phat Dat (deceased) and Agnès Huynh Thi Tai, owner, residing in Tan Hoa commune, Cho Lon, currently present... After marrying the daughter of Huyen Si Le Phat Dat, with the help of his wife's family and with his business ability, Mr. Pierre Nguyen Huu Hao in more than ten years from nothing accumulated a considerable fortune".
Mr. Pierre Nguyen Huu Hao had two daughters: Marie Agnès Nguyen Huu Hao, Vietnamese name Nguyen Thi Huong, born on August 13, 1903 and Jeanne Mariette Nguyen Huu Hao, Vietnamese name Nguyen Thi Lan, born on November 14, 1913 (later Queen Nam Phuong).
One special thing, "When Mr. Nguyen Huu Hao passed away, his family found a place to build a mausoleum for him. The land chosen was a pine hill near Cam Ly waterfall. The road from the foot of the hill leading up to the mausoleum consisted of 158 steps. The mausoleum was built in the East Asian architectural style, with a blue glazed tile roof. Inside the mausoleum, two large, parallel, rectangular, flat-topped, blue stone tombs were built, about 30 cm high. Standing inside and looking out, the tomb on the right buried the remains of Mr. Nguyen Huu Hao, the tomb on the left was reserved for the burial of Mrs. Le Thi Binh later. Construction began in 1937, and was completed four years later, in 1941... More than 20 years later, Mrs. Le Thi Binh passed away in France in 1964 and was buried in the cemetery of the town of Neuilly-sur-Seine, on the outskirts of Paris. The tomb on the left in the Dalat mausoleum is still empty. On the windy pine hill, Mr. Nguyen Huu Hao is forever alone" (page 218).
Our visit to the tomb of Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen Huu Hao in Da Lat, therefore, left us with feelings of sadness and full of thoughts.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cau-chuyen-ve-long-my-quan-cong-nguyen-huu-hao-185250711225620128.htm
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