Bui Giang wrote two beautiful poems about Hue , but they raise many questions:
Yes, sir, Hue now.
Mount Ngu still stands on the banks of the Perfume River.
Some have praised him, saying, "With just two lines of lục bát poetry, poet Bùi has erected an eternal monument to the lyrical beauty of the imperial city."
But some also say: "Mr. Bui is from Quang Nam, so his criticism of Hue is quite clever: no matter how you look at it, Hue is just 'Mount Ngu and the Perfume River'. It will always be the same, now or forever."
No one knows for sure what hidden meaning the poet Bui intended in those two lines of poetry, but one thing is certain: he recognized the Perfume River and Ngu Mountain as two "fundamental elements" that make up the enchanting charm of Hue.
Indeed, when speaking of Hue, it's impossible not to mention the Perfume River, the river that creates Hue's beauty; the river that plays a "backbone" role in shaping the face of Hue's culture and defining its character. To me, the Perfume River is truly a remarkable river.
A river, from the point where it leaves the forest to where it meets the open sea, is only a little over thirty kilometers long; naturally, its water should be deep and its current strong.
However, the Perfume River is not deep; the water flows very slowly, as if reluctant to merge with the moss-covered ramparts and not want to merge with the ocean.
A river with a capricious nature: in summer, the river's water occasionally changes direction, flowing upstream, bringing the salinity of the ocean all the way to the foot of Ngoc Tran mountain, causing hardship for the people of the ancient capital due to "brackish water," contaminating rice fields, and leaving fish and shrimp struggling to breathe...
But when winter comes, the river seems to conspire with the heavens, pouring down water to submerge the city walls, palaces, temples, houses, and fields... causing devastation and hardship for the people. This led the musician Pham Dinh Chuong, out of compassion for the people of Hue, to lament: "...the heavens inflict floods every year, causing suffering to permeate Thuan An, turning it into a vast sea..."
A river that Nguyen Du likened to "a sliver of moon reflecting the sorrows of the past and present" (Huong Giang Nhat Phien Nguyet. Kim Co Hua Da Sau).
As for Cao Bá Quát, he saw it as "a sword standing in the blue sky" (Trường giang nhất kiếm lập thanh thiên).
A river that Thu Bồn subtly recognized:
The river lingers, the river does not flow.
The river flows into the heart of Hue, making it very deep.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Trong Tao harbored the following wish:
The Perfume River turns into wine, and we come to drink it.
We are awake, while the temples and palaces sway in drunken stupor.
The Perfume River is peculiar because, compared to many other rivers throughout Vietnam, it is only considered the "youngest sibling" in terms of length, depth, drainage basin, and water flow; and it lacks the majesty and grandeur befitting a MOTHER RIVER of a land chosen by the Nguyen dynasty as the capital of the entire country.
Yet, no river in Vietnam has been so deeply ingrained in poetry, painting, music, literature, and the hearts of people (both locals and visitors alike) as the Perfume River.
That river is also strange because its very name has prompted countless scholars, writers, and historians from ancient times to the present day to delve into its origins and engage in debate:
Some believe that this is because a fragrant herb called calamus grows abundantly along both banks of the river upstream.
It was the fragrance of this grass that permeated the river, making its water sweet and fragrant. Hence, the river was named the Perfume River: the river of fragrance. That's why Westerners translated the river's name as Rivière des Parfums or Perfume River.
Legend has it that after succeeding to the throne from the previous lord Nguyen Phuc Tan (1648 - 1687), Lord Nguyen Phuc Thai (1687 - 1691) still established his capital in the Kim Long - Ha Khe area.
One night, the king dreamt of an old woman with white hair who told him: "Your Majesty, light an incense stick, then from Ha Khe hill, walk along this river downstream. Wherever the incense stick burns out, that is where you will establish your capital, and your dynasty will endure for generations."
The Lord awoke with a start, considering it an omen, so he lit incense and went downstream as instructed by the fairy in his dream.
When the incense stick in the lord's hand burned out, it was the moment he found a land with a very beautiful location: in front, a mountain looked like a protective screen; a large river surrounded it to the south; and two smaller rivers encircled it to the north, creating a "horizontal dragon" and "four waters converging" formation, truly a "auspicious place".
The Lord, overjoyed, decided to leave his old residence and establish a new one here, called Phu Xuan Palace (in 1687). From here, a prosperous era began for the entire Dang Trong region.
And to commemorate the kindness of the fairy who showed them how to light incense and find land to establish their kingdom downstream of the legendary river, the lord named the river the Perfume River (Sông Hương).
However, historians explain that the river's name comes from the name of the district. The book "Ô Châu Cận Lục" by Dương Văn An (written in 1555) states that the Hương River was originally the main river flowing through Kim Trà district, hence it was called the Kim Trà River.
Later, Kim Tra district was renamed Huong Tra district, so the name of Kim Tra river was also changed to Huong Tra river. The name Huong river is simply a shortened version of Huong Tra river that the people of Hue used.
In a passage about the Perfume River found in the first collection of imperial poems, Emperor Minh Mạng stated: "This river is the Hương Trà River, named as such because of its mild sweetness."
"No river in the south can surpass it. Originating from the undulating mountains, hundreds of miles away, it splits into two branches flowing downwards, named the Left and Right Trach sources. They merge again at La Khe village and are called Huong Tra" (Huong Thuy, translated by Vinh Cao).
Po Dharma, a French scholar of Cham origin, when attending the Conference on the Preservation and Promotion of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Hue Region in March 1994, argued that the place name Hue originated from an ancient Cham word discovered in a stele.
This ancient Cham word, transliterated into Latin as Hue, means fragrance. According to Po Dharma, the word Hue in the aforementioned ancient Cham inscription refers to "a city of Champa near a river."
The city's name - Hue - means "fragrance." It turns out that the name of the Perfume River is linked to the name of an ancient Cham city through which the river flows, which is now the city of Hue.
Just a name, yet it has consumed countless pages of writing and the intellectual efforts of scholars for centuries. Even at the end of the 20th century, Hoang Phu Ngoc Tuong still exclaimed in astonishment, "Who named this river?" And to this day, no one has been able to answer his question. That too is a strange thing about this river!
2. One day, exactly 15 years ago, I accompanied Professor Tran Quoc Vuong on a field trip to the upper reaches of the Huong River. While wading across the Huu Trach stream near Trem hamlet in Huong Tra district, he suddenly told me to stop and showed me a broken pebble he had just picked up from the shallow riverbed.
The teacher said, "This is a prehistoric end-chopper. Your Perfume River has had its owners for a very long time. From the artifacts discovered in Ngoc Ho, A Luoi, and Nam Dong during previous field trips, and now with this end-chopper, I suspect that the ancient inhabitants of Hue once lived somewhere in the caves of the Kim Phung mountain range, or on the sandbanks upstream of this river. If possible, we should organize a field trip deep into the upper reaches of the Perfume River and the Kim Phung mountain range; we will surely discover many interesting things about them."
Sadly, we didn't get a chance to carry out that field trip before our teacher passed away.
I remember that while resting below a waterfall, we met a logger leading three rafts of bamboo downstream, and we also stopped to rest.
He said, "If you go to the Ta Trach source, you have to cross more than fifty large and small waterfalls; if you go to the Huu Trach source, you have to cross fourteen very dangerous waterfalls before you can reach Tuan Wharf. All of us raft-travelers know the rhyme about crossing the waterfalls. The rhyme lists the names of the waterfalls and gorges from the source to the end, so whenever we go to the waterfalls, we just recite the rhyme and know where we are. By the time we finish the rhyme, we'll have arrived at Tuan Wharf."
Ben Tuan is the local name for the Bang Lang junction, where the Ta Trach and Huu Trach rivers merge to form the Perfume River. This name comes from the fact that in the past, there was a patrol station of the Nguyen dynasty here, specializing in controlling forest products and collecting taxes from loggers.
According to scholar Vương Hồng Sển, because the scenery here is so picturesque and charming, when passing through, King Minh Mạng was inspired to compose a poem in Nôm script:
A drink that reflects the sky.
Whose boat is this, a leaf floating on the water?
The high mountains look towering.
The blue stream seems to be running low.
Scolding the Thuong Lang melody
The traveler enjoys playing.
Waiting for the storm to pass.
Let people come and go as they please.
Later, the king had the poem written and illustrations drawn on imperial porcelain bowls bearing the Japanese character (日), with the design originating from China.
At Bang Lang, the Perfume River begins its meandering journey, flowing through tranquil villages and hills shaded by ancient pine trees, before suddenly turning northward.
That sudden turn created a bend embracing the foot of Ngoc Tran mountain and a deep abyss right below the Hon Chen temple.
In the pre-Vietnamese period (according to Professor Tran Quoc Vuong), this was a place of worship for the Cham goddess Po Inu Naga. When the Vietnamese took over the two provinces of O and Ly, they also accepted the Cham goddess as the MOTHER OF THE LAND and respectfully called her Thien Ya Na Holy Mother.
They restored the dilapidated Champa temple into the Hon Chen Palace, then added Vietnamese goddesses such as Princess Lieu Hanh, the Four Holy Maidens, Mau Thoai (Water Goddess)... and worshipped them in the palace, thus giving birth to a religion unique to Hue: Thien Tien Thanh Giao, which the people informally call the spirit possession religion.
The Hon Chen Temple and the spirit possession rituals have given this stretch of river a tranquil, mysterious atmosphere, along with the lively ceremonial chants and the mesmerizing, frenzied dances of the "spirit mediums" on the nights of the Mother Goddess festival in March and July.
Conversely, the Perfume River, like a masterpiece of nature's brushstrokes, adorns the temple, creating a picturesque landscape that prompted a poet visiting the ancient temple to exclaim:
The green river meanders like a dragon.
The deep mountains gaze upon the seated tiger.
Leaving Ngoc Tran Mountain, the Perfume River meanders through the Vong Canh - Huong Ho hills, then flows gently between lush green rice fields, orchards laden with fruit, and gardens of pure white lilies in the villages of Long Ho, Luong Quan, Nguyet Bieu..., before changing course once again in front of Linh Tinh Gate of Hue Confucius Temple, where Confucius is worshipped and 293 doctoral laureates of the Nguyen dynasty are honored.
Right in the middle of that bend, the Perfume River generously splits, creating the Bach Yen tributary that flows behind the Ha Khe hill, irrigating the fields in the Cho Thong, An Hoa, and Duc Buu areas, before merging back into the Perfume River at Bao Vinh and Tien Non.
Meanwhile, the Perfume River continues its meandering journey downstream, gently caressing the foothills of Ha Khe, where the evening bells of Thien Mu Pagoda, the famous national temple of Hue, echo faintly. There is a legend about a Heavenly Goddess (Thien Mu) who prophesied that Doan Quoc Cong Nguyen Hoang would be the true ruler to establish the Southern Kingdom when he visited this place in the summer of 1601.
The Perfume River, flowing past the ancient temple, gave rise to a beautiful riverside dock. The Nguyen dynasty emperors, captivated by the beauty of this dock, had a fishing pavilion built there for them to fish, not for killing, but to admire the scenery and contemplate the rise and fall of worldly affairs.
The Perfume River has blended with the landscape of Ha Khe region, creating a land formation resembling a dragon returning to its ancestral home, like a dragon stretching out into the abyss and turning its head to look back at its mother mountain.
It was this very beauty that prompted A. Bonhomme, the French Resident of Thua Thien during the French colonial period, to exclaim: "The crystal-clear and pure water of the river flowing around the foothills makes one think of the vast ocean of Buddhism, and standing on the top of the tower and seeing the mountains leaning against each other, one will think of the peaks of Mount Merou" (Inscription on Thien Mau Pagoda, BAVH 1915. Translated by Le Quang Thai). And Father Léopold Cadière, when studying the national temple Thien Mu, also affirmed: "Thien Mu Pagoda is the beacon of the imperial city of Hue."
After several bends and changes of course, from Thien Mu Pagoda onwards, the Perfume River seems to embrace the auspicious land of Hue Imperial City, becoming a mirror reflecting the palaces and ramparts.
Besides its status as the main river of the capital, the Perfume River now also serves as the "auspicious path" for the Hue Imperial City, while the two small islands on the river, Con Hen and Con Da Vien, become the "left green dragon" and "right white tiger" paying homage to the Imperial City.
During the construction of the Hue Imperial City (1805 - 1833), King Gia Long also ordered the digging of additional moat canals on the east, west, and north sides, connecting them to the Perfume River and creating a harmonious water flow (where water sources merge) to enhance the auspiciousness of the land where the Hue Imperial City is located.
According to feng shui principles, a piece of land with winding, meandering mountain ranges and surrounded by water sources is considered to have a concentrated dragon vein and abundant vital energy. Perhaps this is why King Gia Long decided to build the capital city in the location chosen by Lord Nguyen Phuc Thai nearly 120 years earlier, as a way of showing filial piety and obedience to his ancestors.
Flowing through the heart of Hue, the Perfume River is adorned with the jewels of Hue's imperial architecture and holds timeless legends: the Nghênh Lương Pavilion and its mournful poems about the patriotic King Duy Tân; the Phu Văn Lâu honoring the scholars of the Nguyen dynasty; the Thương Bạc Viện closely associated with the Tứ Dịch Quán, where the Nguyen dynasty received foreign delegations; and the Trường Tiền Bridge, likened to a silver comb adorning the soft hair of the Perfume River...
Each of these architectural structures is associated with a series of legends and historical accounts, both ancient and modern, captivating generations of people in Hue.
And on its journey downstream to Tam Giang Lagoon before emptying into Thuan An estuary, the Perfume River continues to be nourished by legends related to the temple dedicated to Ky Thach Phu Nhan at Sinh Junction; to Hoa Chau citadel and the historical events of the Tran Dynasty in Thuan Hoa; and the bloody battles at Thao Long Tam Dieu during the war with the French in 1883. Even as it merges with the East Sea, the river still seems to cling to the legend of Thai Duong Phu Nhan turning into stone at Thuan An estuary...
3. The Perfume River is a river inextricably linked to the history and culture of Hue for generations. This legendary river originates from vast forests; steep rapids and waterfalls; meanders through secluded hills; flows through lush green sandbanks and gardens; gently meanders between moss-covered citadels and bustling towns, and then bursts forth into the vast ocean of water.
The river is a treasure that nature has bestowed upon Hue; it is the ceaseless source of Hue's cultural flow, past, present, and future.
Instead of simply telling stories about the Perfume River through legends, the people of Hue need to take practical actions to protect and honor it. Let's not allow the Perfume River to flow only in legends, never reaching the sea, as some have warned.
Source: https://danviet.vn/song-huong-ky-la-bau-vat-thien-nhien-ban-cho-hue-om-chan-nui-tao-vuc-nuoc-duoi-dien-hon-chen-20250115154843996-d1205805.html
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