Hà Chương Hội Quán
Hà Chương Temple or Assemby Hall
霞漳會館

Hà Chương

Chinese Structure / Outside

And in this Temple, they Worship Holy Mother Empress, we called her Mazu

according to historical research, Chinese moved to VN by ship, and you know, they actually did a long journey and dangerous in the sea form south chinese to south vietnam, it`s more than 3200km.

at the right side is the place you can buy incense, they also use candal for the Altar, you can donate to buy old and keep it light

ah, one more interesting thing, this is round incense, they sell it by single piece, if you buy something that mean you help the temple maintenance it self

they have the place to fire the Joss paper at the outside incase you want to use.

ah, I seem to forget these fascinating things to you

here, they are 4 dragon collums in total in the temple, how fantastic they are. You see,These dragon figure be sculpted delegate, so I think the craftsman making these beautiful collums own a master skill.

beside it, we also see the rock drum and 2 unicorn at 2 side of the door

and Mazu, from ancient, chinese believed that she will help fisherman safe from storm and avoid disaster on the sea

Hall là 1 cái building / large room để ng ta tụ tập ( Assembly)
hội quán này là tổ chức dc tự thành lập, mới có assembly là những ng đứng đầu đc bầu chọn để quyết định sự việc nào đó, Assembly còn là nơi gặp gỡ của 1 nhóm ng với mục đích cụ thể

so at the end of their journey, they built this temple for thanksgiving Mazu and this temple also become the place to support the new chineses people who coming to VN later

Hà Chương Hội Quán

Hà Chương Temple or Assemby Hall

霞漳會館

Hi, Today let me take you to one of the oldest temple in Saigon.

it`s located in district 5

it was built by Chinese immigrants coming from Hokkien Province, Chinese. when they moved to Vietnam at late 1700

according to my memory, it finished at 1809 , it`s mean the temple over 200 years old, most of parts created in china and they brought it to VN then reconnected together, and it own an area of 1500 square meters

I`m cantonese but I specialize like Ha Chuong assembly hall eventhough it belong Hokkien people

this carved wall depict the story about Mazu and her servant going to help people

It is a place for religious activites and meetings

and two vent at right and left side represent for Sun and Moon

A style of architecture comefrom Hokkien, you can see the typical Hokkien structure from the outside by the red orange tiles roof of the temple

Architectural Bilateral symetry with the main gate in the midle and two compartment at two side, in Chinese structure, it so signify balance and you know, the other fact that most of Chinese Ancient structure were built with an emphasis on breadth, and less on height.

next, if you notice the hierarchy of building, not too hard to realize the midle compartment is higher the rest and it connected with one another through verandas

in District 5, this is Chinatown of Saigon, therefore you can found this kind of structure everywhere

They notice about sunrise and air exchange, so Chinese architectures always enclose open spaces within themselves.

They also use lot of vent around the structure to serve in venting the building complexes, here , you see, it`s two vent next to the Main gate, and you know, these vent represent for Sun and Moon in Chinese cultural

Ah, and one more importance thing you should take a look, that`s the Talisman and the imagery of chinese door god, Menshen. Menshen were often painted on either side of a doorway to guard against evil demons or ghosts.

As ancient traditional manner , we should stop in front of the door for a second and take three bai before stepping inside the Front hall, and as you see, it was build by ancient chinese architecture with 3 compartments included : Front, Rear and Main Hall at the end of the Temple.

The roofs with a sweeping curvature and this kind of roof just be reserved for temples and palaces, and in Hokkien architecture, the hype sweeping curvature make the roof look like the Boat, and this unique roofs making the big contrast with besides construction

The ridges of the roofs are decorated with ceramic figurines and at the peak of the roof are Twin drawon with the Pearl in the midle

Timber frames

do you see this Skywell ? almost the Chinese Temples in Saigon have to a skywell like this, This is the Place people send their prayer to the sky, in a other word, the skywell like a port to connect heaven and the human world

And, yup, have you ever had the questions like how they build chinese temple or palace? i`m sure it will make you suprise, it is well structured with timbers and pillar, all the heavy roofs were stand by these wood pillar load-bearing columns, and it was constructed with JOINTNARY and DOWELING, each of them connect together with Mortise and Tenon

They ususally decorated the pillar with symetric sentences with the Ancient Hanzi Character

Entire the middle of the Main hall, is the place people enshrine Mazu statue, it`s luminated with gold and redlights and glittering candles.

I actually can find the solemn atmosphere every single time I visited this temple, I enjoy the feeling at moment the smokes are flying and bringing the prayers to the sky. Especially in the raining day, the
slendering smoke make me feel peacefully.

you should take time to go around District 5 and visit the another Temples like Tue Thanh Hall , Nghia An and Hai Nam Hall

combine small ceramic pieces together to form and depict different figures or characters in .... religion


They were originally made by the Chinese in Vietnam.
for example: Characters from The legend of the journey to the West



Tripitaka

Pigsy

Sandy

The White Dragon Horse

God's Army

It is believed that your prayers will be sent to the Gods in heaven through the sky well.

sincerity

Giant

Big size

incense stick

symbols like stonesdrums and inkstones
the drum symbol indicates that the house is belonging to wu Official
the inkstone symbol....Wen official


another information is wooden cylinders with special patterns and designs, it sticked to the beam at the front door. On the two sides of the front door , you can find...,
when you see the stone drum infront of the temple, that`s mean that temple might being worship one ore many wu officials inside.
from Han Dynasty , they was in Imperial China they had a nine-grade controller system, from Rank 1 - Rank 9, and just the Official from Rank 3 to upper can stick the Cylinders infront of there door , and through out Han Dynasty >> Tang Dynasty >> Song Dynastic >> Ming Dynasty >> Qing Dynastic
they kept it to the end of China imperal.




Dougoong, In the traditional Chinese structures, you can find dougoong ....
it`s capturing the weight of a larger surface area of each beam and transferring it vertically through the column.
a structural element of interlocking wooden brackets
used in palatial structures and important religious buildings became more ornamental than structural
Dougoong is used in palatial structures and important religious buildings, it became more ornamental than structural.
It depends on the greatness or the palatial magnificence, the framework will consist of more dougoong.