Visit the ancient village with the most PhDs in Vietnam

Through many ups and downs of history, until now, Mo Trach villagers still preserve the most basic traditional features toeducate future generations about the tradition of studiousness of their ancestors.

Legend of the founder of the village of scholars

One summer day in June, Thanh Nien Newspaper reporters had the opportunity to visit Mo Trach village (Tan Hong commune, Binh Giang district, Hai Duong province), an ancient village with a thousand-year history associated with the tradition of studiousness.

At Mo Trach Temple, the campus is surrounded by rows of cool green ancient trees. Inside the temple's guest house, Mr. Vu Quoc Ai (75 years old), Head of the Mo Trach Village Education Promotion Association, is arranging documents to talk to us (as previously scheduled).

Flipping through the old pages, Mr. Ai talked about the origins of Mo Trach village. According to the genealogy of Mo Trach village in the late 8th and early 9th centuries, there was an official of the Tang Dynasty, from Fujian province, China, named Vu Cong Huy (his wife was Luu Thi Phuong, they were over 60 years old but had no son), who resigned from office and went to Vietnam for a trip. After that, Mr. Huy asked a matchmaker to marry a village girl from Thanh Lam village, Nam Sach district (Hai Duong) named Nguyen Thi Duc.

After that, Mr. Vu Cong Huy took Mrs. Duc to Fujian (China). On January 8, Giap Than year (804), Mrs. Duc gave birth to a handsome boy with an unusual appearance and named him Vu Hon. By the age of 7, Vu Hon showed himself to be a child with unusual intelligence compared to his peers, remembering everything he learned. At the age of 16, when participating in the Royal examination, Vu Hon passed the golden list. Vu Hon served as an official during the Tang Dynasty with many different positions such as Le Bo Ta Thi Lang, Do Dai Ngu Su, Giao Chau Thu Su, and then An Nam Kinh Luoc Su.

Mr. Vu Quoc Ai tells about the origin of Mo Trach village, the place with the most doctoral graduates in the country.

Traveling to many places, during his time as an official in An Nam, he visited his grandfather's grave in Nam Sach. When he arrived at Lap Trach village, he saw that the feng shui here was beautiful, with five horses paying homage, and that he would surely be successful in his studies. Furthermore, Vu Hon was knowledgeable in astronomy and geography, and was considered a feng shui master at that time, so he planted a plot of land and named it Kha Mo.

After being an official for more than 20 years, Vu Hon resigned from his position and brought his mother from China back to Vietnam to live in Kha Mo village. He tried his best to recruit people, advised everyone to do good deeds, eliminate harmful deeds, and gave gold and silver to the people so they could buy fields and settle down.

In 850, Vu Hon's mother passed away. He buried her remains in Kiet Dac village (now Van An ward, Chi Linh city, Hai Duong), a place with a sacred land and talented people, with the Phuong Hoang mountain range overlooking the Luc Dau river.

"On December 3, Quy Dau year (853), Vu Hon died without illness, at the age of 49. The villagers buried his coffin in the north of the village, in a pre-selected plot of land. But strangely, after just one night, termites had invaded Vu Hon's grave, turning it into a large tomb.

The villagers were terrified and reported to the district magistrate. The district magistrate thought it was a sacred thing, a good omen for the villagers, so he built a temple to worship it. From then on, Vu Hon became the ancestral god, the village's tutelary god. The name of Mo Trach village also originated from here," Mr. Ai recounted.

Mo Trach Temple, the place to worship the village guardian spirit of Vu Hon village

In 2009, the Mo Trach communal house and temple relic worshiping Vu Hon, the founder of the village, was recognized as a National Historical Relic by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Every year, to commemorate Vu Hon's merits, Mo Trach villagers hold a traditional festival on the 8th day of the first lunar month, which is also his birthday.

The village with the most PhDs in Vietnam

It is not for nothing that the title 'village of doctors' is associated with Mo Trach village. According to documents preserved to this day at the Mo Trach relic management board, during the feudal period, Mo Trach village had 36 people who passed the Confucian doctoral exams, including 1 first-class doctor and 11 second-class doctor. At the village's The Khoa church, the Vu family had the absolute majority of doctors with 29 people, 5 doctors from the Le family, 1 doctor from the Nhu family and 1 doctor from the Nguyen family.

In the past, all the boys in the village studied hard in the hope of one day passing the imperial examinations. To be able to go to the capital to take the examinations, all candidates had to register in the village examination book and definitely had to pass the mock examination at Ky Anh restaurant at the entrance of the village. In this examination, the village's scholars were responsible for examining and training their children so that they had enough capacity and qualities before competing with the world.

The first exam in which a person from Mo Trach village passed the doctoral exam was the exam in the year of Giap Thin (1304) under the reign of King Tran Anh Tong. Both brothers, Vu Nghieu Ta and Vu Han Bi, passed the doctoral exam.

In particular, in the Binh Than year examination (1656) during the Le Dynasty under King Le Than Tong, the whole country had 3,000 candidates taking the exam, selecting 6 doctors, of which Mo Trach village had 3 doctors: Vu Dang Long, Vu Trac Lac and Vu Cong Luong.

Stele house, where a stele was erected to commemorate 36 doctors of the feudal dynasty in Mo Trach village.

During the reign of Lord Trinh Trang (1623 - 1657), Mo Trach village had 17 people who passed the imperial examinations and became mandarins, so there was a saying: "Mo Trach held village meetings in the middle of the capital".

Mo Trach village is also famous for the family of Mr. Vu Quoc Si, who had 5 children working as mandarins for the royal court, 3 of whom had doctoral degrees, including prime minister Vu Duy Chi, minister Vu Phuong Truong, royal doctor Vu Bat Tuy, doctor Vu Cau Hoi, and high-ranking mandarin Vu Tu Khot.

In the village, there was also a case of three eldest sons who all passed the doctoral exam and became mandarins under the reign of King Le Thanh Tong, namely Vu Bat Tuy (grandfather), Vu Duy Doan (father), and Vu Duy Khuong (grandson). Because of the family's tradition of learning, the king bestowed the two words "The Khoa" in the family temple.

Mo Trach village is also the birthplace of Chess champion - Vu Huyen, Math champion - Vu Huu, Physics champion - Vu Phong, Running champion - Vu Cuong Truc and Writing champion - Le Nai.

The doctoral stele is built clockwise, following the progress of history.

During the feudal period, the last examination in which a person from Mo Trach village passed the doctoral exam was the examination in the year of Giap Tuat (1754), and doctor Vu Huy Dinh was honored on the golden list.

Of the 82 remaining steles at the Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam in Hanoi , there are 18 steles engraved with the names of 25 doctors from Mo Trach village.

Preserving the tradition of learning for future generations

According to Mr. Vu Quoc Ai, since the renovation period until now, Mo Trach village has had 15 more PhDs, bringing the total number of PhDs in the village to 36. Since 2005, to promote the tradition of learning of our ancestors, Mo Trach village has established a learning promotion association with the aim of educating the younger generation to enhance the spirit of learning associated with the thousand-year history of the village. The whole village has more than 10 clans, each clan has established a learning promotion fund with the motto: everyone learns, every family learns, the clan learns, the society learns.

Every week and every month, the village's education promotion association goes to each household to encourage students to study hard to become successful and contribute to the development of their hometown and country.

In addition, every summer, the association also mobilizes lecturers, teachers, and students from the village to open free classes for students from primary to secondary school.

For 11th and 12th grade students, before each end-of-school-year exam, the association holds conferences to provide career counseling for them, so that they can make the right choice for their future career.

"Mo Trach village has more than 900 households with more than 3,000 people. As of April 30, 2023, the whole village has more than 500 people passing the regular university entrance exam. Mo Trach village is a purely agricultural village, people mainly live on rice and agricultural products. There are no traditional occupations in the village, so studying is the only way to develop yourself and bring honor to your family and clan.

With their successful children, they have made certain contributions to the development of the locality such as building schools and roads. All three kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools have met national standards and are always at the top in terms of education quality in Binh Giang district," said Mr. Vu Huy Cuong, Party Secretary and Chairman of Tan Hong Commune People's Committee.

Certificate of national historical relic ranking for Mo Trach communal house and temple

Up to now, the Vu family's branches have spread everywhere, passing exams and achieving success everywhere, but everywhere people remember their ancestors Vu Hon who once reclaimed the land to establish villages and hamlets. The leaders and intellectuals of the village, or those from Mo Trach village, or those from the Vu family in Mo Trach, include former Minister of Education and Justice Vu Dinh Hoe; PhD in atomic physics Vu Khac Thinh; PhD Vu Tuyen Hoang; Dang Vu Phuong Nghi, a female professor teaching at Sorbonne University in France...

Today, behind Mo Trach Temple is a stele house, in which 36 doctoral steles are erected clockwise, simulating the flow of history, from the first doctorate to the last doctorate of the feudal period. This is also the place where Mo Trach villagers bring their children every day to educate and imbue them with the studious spirit of their ancestors.

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