TEMPLE OF POINSETTIA BACH LIEU  - HUNG NGUYEN DISTRICT

From Ben Thuy (Vinh City) upstream Lam Giang, through the villages along the dyke, we come across a temple of modest scale, hidden at the foot of Lam Thanh mountain. It is the temple of Poinsettia Bach Lieu  in Hung Phu commune, Hung Nguyen district.

Poinsettia Bach Lieu  (1236-1315) was in Nguyen Xa village, Dong Thanh district (now called Ma Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, Nghe An province). He came from a poor, patriotic family, his father worked as a teacher, herb-doctor. He was a  person who "accumulates the family's merit", taking humanity as the root. When he was a child, Bach Lieu was famous for being a prodigy: at the age of 6 he could read, at the age of 7 he could write poetry, at the age of 8 he could write and at the age of 15, his fame was famous all over the world. Legend said that "He has a memory that is second to none, has sparkling eyes, vision of power, reads 10 lines of books in a blink of an eye". He passed poinsettia in the 9th year of Thieu Long (1266), was the pioneer for the land of Nghe. Although he did not become a mandarin, he made many contributions in teaching literacy and training people. In particular, with the famous "Three Chapters Transformation" plan, he made a worthy contribution to the great resistance war of the nation against the Nguyen - Mong invaders in the 13th century.

Poinsettia Bach Lieu died on January 24, year of Yi Mao (1315), at the age of 79 years. He was ordained to become a great lord  governing a regionand by King Tran and was built a temple by the People to commemorate and honor his great contributions to the people and the country.

Originally, the ancients said, when the poinsettia died, their descendants built a temple on Dong Son mountain (today known as Ma Thanh commune, Yen Thanh). During the Le Dynasty, tigers in the forest often entered the village to harass. Seeing that there is no peace here, the descendants decided to migrate to Phu Dien village (Hung Phu commune) to earn a living and move Poinsettia Bach Lieu’s temple to the new land.

Up to now, the temple and tomb of Poinsettia Bach Lieu  have always been carefully preserved and preserved by the descendants of the Bach family-clan. These are valuable spiritual and cultural works, which preserve and commemorate the first Poinsettia of Nghe, who made many contributions to the country under the Tran Dynasty. Bach Lieu Poinsettia’s Temple in Hung Phu commune, Hung Nguyen district, Nghe An province, has been ranked as a national historical-cultural relic by Ministry of Culture and Information, according to Decision No. December 16, 1993.