Nhân vật dương vân nga – lịch sử và truyền thuyết tt tieng anh

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

HOANG THI HONG THAM

DUONG VAN NGA CHARACTER
- THE HISTORY AND THE LEGENDS
Specialized in: Folk Literature
Code: 9.22.01.25

DISSERTATION PHILOLOGICAL

HA NOI – 2020


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This thesis has been completed
in Hanoi National University of education

Scientific Guide: Associate Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Bich Ha

Judge one: Prof. Dr. Le Chi Que
Judge two: Prof. Dr. Nguyen Xuan Kinh
Judge three: Associate Prof. Dr. Tran Duc Ngon

This thesis will be reserved in research and recognition Committee
of Hanoi National University of Education on …..hour….date,
…..month…year

This thesis can be looked for in National Library of Vietnam
or Library of Hanoi National University of Education


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LIST OF AUTHOR’S WORKS
1. Hoang Thi Hong Tham (2016), “The assassination of Dinh Tien
Hoang’s king, from the history to the legends”, Collection of
research works in Literature, Volume 2 (Graduate Scientific
Conference in Literature – 2016), Hanoi University of Education
Publishing house.
2. Hoang Thi Hong Tham (2018), “Continuing making interpretations
on the queens of Dinh Tien Hoang”, Jourrnal of Science and
Technology, Danang University, 2 (123).
3. Hoang Thi Hong Tham (2018), “Dương Vân Nga – two opposite
opinions from the public” Journal of Science, Ho Chi Minh city
University of Education, 15 (2).
4. Hoang Thi Hong Tham (2018), “Some comments on the role of the
field trip method when having a field trip about a legendary person
who has opposite opinion from th public”, Training and retraining
Literature teachers before the requirements of general education
reform (Proceedings of national workshops), Hanoi National
University Publishing house.


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FOREWORD
1. Reason for choosing topic:

The Xth century was a volatile century with great events in
national history and also witnessed continuous change of throne,
foreign victories. Resounding, beating up the rebellion, unifying the
country to one. In the century, there was a character that played an
important role in transferring power from the Dinh dynasty to Tien
Le dynasty, but that character was not honored as historical figure at
the same time because there were suspicion and opposite opinions. It
is the mother of king brought Duong's family name, whose life later
called Duong Van Nga. With outstanding contributions in the general
development process of history, she deserved the posterity to
remember merit and honor.
Mother of king brought Duong's family name was the Queen
of king - Dinh Tien Hoang, but after the king was murdered, the court
was in turmoil, she handed over her son's throne to the Chancellor Le Hoan and remarried to him. With this action, feudal history used
to criticize her, but the major folk legend praised her, acknowledging
her merits to the people and the country. The system of temples and
shrines is a vivid testimony to the people's gratitude for her. The
opposite in assessment, different views in recording merit and
impeachment of posterity has created an interesting of the “doubledynasty's queen”, this suggests us to approach this character from the
perspective of folk legends.
Considering the Vietnamese legend system, the approach to
the group of people which has mixed opinions in general, the case of
Duong - queen in particular is in the aspect of legend is necessary for


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the teaching and research of literature current folk. Hoping from the
realm of legend, the topic will contribute a new perspective on one of
the special phenomena of Vietnam history.
2. Research purposes

- The thesis aims to find out the similarities and differences
between history and legends, from that we can see the views and
attitudes of folk authors towards this character, and at the same time
desire to learn more deeply and fully about the genre of legends,
supporting our research and teaching legend at the University level.
- From the perspective of legends, we place this character in a
wider range than contemporary culture and society (specifically:
spiritual culture, political culture, contemporary art and literature and
existing cases) aiming for a fuller appreciation as well as seeing the
vitality of this particular historical figure in the course of time.
3. Researching tasks
- Systematizing historical documents and legends about Duong
Van Nga
- Finding out more or redefine available resources about
Duong Van Nga's character through fieldwork in the communal
houses and temples
- Learning history of Duong Van Nga's character research and
theoretical issues about legend and history and along the time axis
from the past to the present
- Identifying the theoretical issues which are related to
legends to support the research of this thesis
- Researching Duong Van Nga legend through basic motifs


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- Comparing similarities and differences (or difference)
between the history and the legend of Duong Van Nga and explain
the causes
- Giving, explanation and assessment of Duong Van Nga
character from a contemporary research perspective

4. Object and scope of research
The scope of research is character Duong Van Nga from areas:
history and folk legends.
Regarding the scope of documentaries, we have surveyed 27
legends (including 13 collected and published legends, 14 legends
still exist in folk) which related to Duong Thai hau, combined to find
where having traces, autographs history of this character. About
historically, we are interested in the historical books on her people
and times such as Dai Viet historical summary, Multisides of Vietnam
history (Ngo Si Lien), and Dai Viet early compilation history (Ngo
Thi Si), Vietnam history through small sentences (Ngo Thi Si),
Imperial chronicle history outline (National history of Nguyen
Dynasty) to have an overall and systematic assessment of her - a
witness of history and humanity wrestling of folk legends.
The research space of the project focuses on Ninh Binh and
extends to Nam Dinh, Ha Nam, Thanh Hoa and Nghe An provinces,
everywhere has legend or worship her.
5. Researching methodology:
We use some of the following methods: countryside method,
comparative method type, secondary document analysis method, folk
language study method and interdisciplinary research method.
6. Expected contributions of the thesis


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The subject of Duong Van Nga's character - the history and
the legends is the first project to recreate and systematize the legend
of the Duong queen in the Dinh and Le dynasties. Based on the
method of comparative type, we also searched and analyzed the seven
basic motifs that structure the Duong Van Nga legend. These motifs

have shown the similarity between the legends Duong Van Nga and
some other legends, as well as vivid proof of the common characters
of folk tales.
With 27 legends about Duong Van Nga that we have codified,
with

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separate

monuments

and

worship

her,

with

the

systematization of contrary ideas and opinions about her ... this
dissertation will be a useful references about Duong Van Nga
character, and contributed to enrich the legend system of Vietnamese
historical characters.
The analyzing process of seven main motifs, mapping the plot
structure model and comparing the similarities - the difference
between our history and the legend of Duong Van Nga to highlight
the value of the legend group also as a folk opinion in this complex

way of evaluating this historical character.
Researching this topic, we want to give her a more worthy
position in culture and society life today. From a cultural perspective,
the dissertation has approached the aspects: spiritual culture, political
culture and contemporary art and literature, at the same time
analyzing the two existing cases of the Duong Thai hau to see that the
arguments concerning her in contemporary society are still vividly
present in the cultural life of Vietnamese people.
7. The thesis structure


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In addition to the Introduction, Conclusion, Reference,
Appendix, the thesis consists of 4 chapters, as follows:
- Chapter 1: Overview of researching situation and basic
theoretical of the topic
- Chapter 2: Researching historical documents and legends about
Duong Van Nga's character
- Chapter 3: Duong Van Nga's character through the legend of the
author
- Chapter 4: Duong Van Nga's character in contemporary cultural
and social life


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CONTENT
CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF RESEARCHING SITUATION
AND BASIC THEORETICAL OF THE TOPIC
The central task of chapter 1 is to summarize the situation of
research and to present basic theoretical issues. About researching

history and documents concerned to Duong Van Nga's character
include chronicles and independent research works. On the
theoretical basis, we will present the basic issues, which underlie the
topic such as: the relationship between legend and history, the
relationship between legend and worship, legendary issues and
legendary textualization with some other theories.
1.1. Historical overview of research topics
- In terms of history: the Middle ages, except: Dai Viet
historical summary, Multisides of Vietnam history and Dai Viet early
compilation history, Vietnam history through small sentences,
Imperial chronicle history outline....were very harshly critical
actions: Duong queen crowned and became the queen of Mr. Le
Hoan. In the modern era, one of the first people to defend the Queen
was Song Coi (Hoa Bang) in 1942, followed by researchers such as
Van Tan (in 1971), Nguyen Danh Phiet (1981), Nguyen The Giang
(1982), La Dang Bat (1998), Lee Seon Hee (2000), Tran Trong
Duong (2019) ... many seminars such as The context of Thang Long
capital and career of Le Hoan (2005), Identity, career and monument
of Le Dai Hanh - Duong Van Nga (2007) ...There have been
objective, new comments, which are mostly praised, affirming the
Queen's merit in the context of a country hang by a single hair.


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- In terms of legends, the stories told about her appeared in
the cast singing medieval period (Hoan Vuong history song, Thien
Nam continental language, Dai Nam national history); narratives of
collectors and editors in the modern period such as Nguyen Van Tro,
Truong Dinh Tuong, Nguyen Thi Kim Cuc ... Besides, there are
legends about her currently circulating among the people,

concentrated in the localities where her temples such as Ninh Binh,
Nam Dinh, Nghe An ... This piece of legend is currently mainly used
as an adjunct in social and historical studies of the Dinh - Le period
but has not really paid attention to the central character of the story,
Duong Van Nga. This is a suggestive way for us to implement the
thesis topic.
1.2. Many concepts, terms:
- The legend concept: The thesis uses the legendary concept
of researcher Kieu Thu Hoach: “Legend is a form of oral narrative, in
the form of folk narratives; its plot content is to retell stories of
historical figures or explain the origins of local artifacts from the
people's point of view; Its popular artistic measure is rhetoric,
exaggerating, and at the same time it uses fictional, magical elements
such as fairy tales and myths; it is different from fairy tales in that it
is not intended to reflect family conflict, social life and personal
destiny, but often reflects matters of a broad national and ethnic scale;
it is different from myth in the way of shaping nature and society on
the basis of concrete historical truth, not entirely in imagination and
in imagination ”
- The name Duong Van Nga: Surveying the history books of
large feudal chronologies and some modern history books, we found


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that during the Dinh and Le dynasties, there was not any queen
named Duong Van Nga. However, this name is popular in folk and
used by many researchers. An interesting coincidence is that history
has recorded many Queens named Duong in Vietnamese feudal
dynasties. Besides, the emperor's name of Dinh and Le dynasties was
changed and was associated with her different positions in history.

From the above reality, we use the name Duong Van Nga in our thesis
to aim at a unity in the name of this special character.
1.3. Theoretical basis
- Relationship between history and legend: This close
relationship has been mentioned by researchers such as Dao Duy
Anh, Pham Van Dong, Kieu Thu Hoach, Chu Xuan Dien ... in their
articles and researching works. The relationship between history and
legend has created a mutual interaction between these two categories.
There is a historical phenomenon that goes into legend and is painted
by folk writers, expanding the amplitude of creativity. On the
contrary, there is also a historical phenomenon, those are characters
and events that were not historically brought into the history books
by the later historians, creating a certain degree of blur in both history
and legend.
- Relationship between legend and worship: From the
fourteenth century, the political writer Ho Tong Thoc had noticed the
relationship between “customary” and “temples of worship”. Later,
researchers such as Kieu Thu Hoach, Nguyen Bich Ha and Tran Thi
An continued to mention the close relationship between legend and
worship. Legend is a prerequisite for the existence of worship and
vice versa, worshiping helps the legend to exist and is widely


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circulated, leaping through time and space. That relationship shows
the inseparable existence of these two elements. The rite of worship
brings sacredness to the legend, whereas, the legend explains and
formalizes the worship. Both of these elements have contributed to
affirm, honor and sacred characters being worshiped.
Besides the two above said theoretical, legendary problems

and legendary textualization is also used in the thesis. Folklore in
general, legends in particular are handed down and received in two
ways: oral transmission and textualization. The process of legend
became easier and more sustainable when it was fixed in writing, but
it is also “cut”, adapted to the ideas, conceptions of the era or the
scribe. In the process of researching the dissertation, in addition to
the main theories mentioned above, we also apply many other
theories when dealing with the contents of each part or each part of
the thesis such as the theory of type and motif, the theory of symbols,
the theory of reception and the theory of literary comparison.
Summary conclusion of chapter 1:
In the first chapter, we have presented: regarding the
historical overview and theoretical issues. Regarding the historical
overview, Duong Van Nga is mainly learnt in terms of history, which
focuses on the role of transferring the power and her queen position
of two kings in the Dinh and Le dynasties. Theoretical issues that we
have presented, will be the fulcrum for us to research the character of
Duong Van Nga in the legend as well as put this character in the
match between legend and history books. These contents are
important opening lead us to reasearch deeper and more details about
the character Duong Van Nga in the following chapters.


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CHAPTER 2: RESEARCHING HISTORICAL
DOCUMENTS AND LEGENDS ABOUT DUONG VAN NGA'S
CHARACTER
As we presented in the theory (chapter 1), history and legends
are two categories that are closely related. Within the scope of the
thesis, that relationship is vividly expressed through the history and

folklore about Duong Van Nga / Duong queen of Dinh-Le dynasties.
Therefore, we used the whole chapter 2 of the dissertation to survey
historical documents and legends about the Queen of two dynasties.
Our survey of historical documents is not intended to define history
but only serves as a fulcrum and bridge to study the legend of the
Duong Van Nga's character. That is the main target that the thesis
aims to.
2.1. Duong Van Nga's character through historical documents
2.1.1. Historical, social and cultural context of Vietnam in the 10th
century
Historically, the Xth century was a volatile century with great
events in national history and also witnessed continuous change of
throne, foreign victories. Resounding, beating up the rebellion,
unifying the country to one, during this period, the central monarchy
was formed but still simple, not ensuring its intrinsic principles.
Feudal dynasties of this period also paid attention to building a
culture of national identity. Although Confucianism has invaded
Vietnam since the beginning of the Northern domination, in the 10th
century, it still didn't position in Dinh - Le dynasty society. The
phenomena such as giving the throne, taking the queen of the preemperor in marriage... the phenomena of history that more or less


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attached to the cultural and social font of that period. Therefore, the
Vietnamese context in the 10th century will be the basis for explaining
some issues related to the topic of the thesis.
2.1.2. Theories about Duong Van Nga's background and political
position
To now, there have been many hypotheses about the
background, the origin of the Duong Queen of Dinh and Le

dynasties. The history books have recorded the event that Dinh King
established five Queens but did not explain the names and
backgrounds of theirs. There have been a number of researchers
looking for a solution to this question but so far the problem still
remains in doubt. Regarding the background of Duong Van Nga,
through the way of political alliance with the marriage of Dinh
dynasty, we leaned on the hypothesis that she belonged to Duong
Tam Kha, a contemporary ethnic caliber range. Regarding the
political position in the royal family, through history books and
fieldwork practice, we think that she is only the queen of the two
dynasties - Dinh and Le. The reason for the complexity of her
judgment on the status and political position is due to the overlap
between historical events, the brief recording of historical writers
plus the setback of the time taken to clarify the name of the famous
queen in the history of Vietnam feudal dynasties has become a
challenge for posterity.
2.1.3. From work of conferring the Queen position of Dinh Tien
Hoang's story came to “one queen got married to two kings”
After coming to the throne, Dinh Tien Hoang got married 5
Queens: Dan Gia, Trinh Minh, Kieu Quoc, Co Quoc and Ca Ong. We


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think that Dinh king established many queens as a manifestation of
the marriage model - political alliance and also proved that he was
not really dominated by the concept of Confucianism. In the history
of Vietnam feudal dynasties, it is not uncommon for a queen to have
two husbands but a queen had two husbands who were both kings
and had a great political role in both dynasties, Duong Van Nga is a
unique phenomenon. This phenomenon does not only reflect the

current historical and political context but also shows the existence of
the “liberal margin” of ancient Vietnamese culture.
2.1.4. Duong Van Nga, who transferred power from Dinh dynasty
to the Tien Le dynasty
After successive events under Dinh dynasty, Duong - mother
of king and courtiers had established Le Hoan to be king. The act of
her has caused many controversies and compliments. In our opinion,
this transfer of power stems from the historical reality at that time:
dissonance, division within the Dinh dynasty, the situation of widow's
mother - the orphan of Duong - mother of king, the invasion of the
Tong dynasty, the pressure of opposing forces (the central faction
with the Dinh and Le Hoan factions) and the tradition of respect for
talented people still exist in Dai Co Viet society. It can be said that
the event “turning dynasty” of Dinh - Le comes from a historical and
social context, but it is impossible for an individual with selfish
attempts to change the current political situation.
2.2. Duong Van Nga's character through legendary documents
2.2.1. Collection data:
Through the fieldwork process, we have collected 14
narratives. In terms of form, there are some stories (such as The


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legend of Dong Ben temple, Hanging the king’s and queen’s dresses
at grave visiting festival, The statue being beaten and sweating ...)
are not really a true stories but only stories, however, we are still in
the scope of the survey because they will contribute to making the
Duong Van Nga legend system more complete and comprehensive.
2.2.2. Resources for reference and research
From the collected written sources, we have classified and

selected 13 versions of Duong Van Nga.
2.2.3. Comment on the survey results
Regarding the scope of the survey: The total number of survey
legends is 27 storytelling and 7 motifs.
Regarding the circulating space, the focus of convergence of
Duong Van Nga legend is in Ninh Binh and spread to other localities
such as Nam Dinh and Nghe An.
In terms of structure, based on Kieu Thu Hoach's classification,
we classified Duong Van Nga's legends into the character legend group.
Summary conclusion of chapter 2:
Beng the contemporary of the tenth century, Duong Van Nga
witnessed the fluctuations of history during this period, and also
participated in the great events of two dynasties - Dinh and Le. From
the harem place, she was forced to enter the politic itself, taking
responsibility for the court and the country when history selected her.
The history of choosing her but also made her suffer from beer for
thousands of years when historians did not overcome the vision of the
era, merely evaluating her by “virtue” of a woman in a feudal society
that is not set in the context of a hot flash of contemporary fire.
History with hidden corners takes time to clarify, but it is undeniable
that her actions are positive and timely, creating a legal basis for Le


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Hoan to conquer the emperor, avoiding the Great State of Co Viet is a
young warrior from the military sabotage from within to territorial
inside, paving the way for the prosperous development of the country
in the next dynasty - the Le dynasty. In chapter 2, we also conducted
a survey of collectible materials and research materials about the
Duong Queen, tobe basis for understanding and analyzing motifs in

the legend group Duong Van Nga in chapter 3.


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CHAPTER 3: DUONG VAN NGA'S CHARACTER
THROUGH THE LEGEND OF THE AUTHOR
In chapter 2, we have sketched the character of Duong Van
Nga in the context of Vietnam history, culture and society in the 10 th
century, at the same time we also conducted a survey of collecting
and fieldwork materials about this character. In chapter 3, we focus
on analyzing motifs in the Duong Van Nga story series as well as
placing the characters in the match between legends and history
books to understand the similarities - differences in how this
character is assessed. .
3.1. The motifs in the legend of Duong Van Nga
Duong Van Nga's story group has 7 main motifs: the strange
birth, named after the characteristics at birth, the beauty harms the
country, the singing with the royal spirit, the throne, attachment and
the epiphany. Motif accounts for more than giving the throne (7/27
stories). When going into legend, Duong Van Nga is recreated
through some familiar motif such as the strange birth, named after
the characteristics at birth, the beauty harms the country, the singing
with the royal spirit, attachment and the epiphany.... in which a motif
the singing with the royal spirit associated with the sharp, talented
and changing the Court such as Y Lan, Dang Thi Hue... This is the
evidence for the participation of some motifs in folktales groups in
general and legends in particular. Besides, through motifs typical of
the legends such as the beauty harms the country, the attachment and
the epiphany, the folk author depicted a unique portrait of Duong Van
Nga and timeless vitality.

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3.2. Duong Van Nga plot structure model
While most of the legends of Duong Van Nga exist only in the
form of short stories, when they are assembled, they still form a
common

plot

with

three

parts:

circumstances,

character

characteristics - behavior - ending character's career. Below is a
diagram of the plot model Duong Van Nga:
Circumstances and character characteristics
The strange birth

Name beautiful

The roots of troubles

Behavior of the character

Singing brings the king's style Romance

Awarded the throne

Ending the career of character
Epiphany
3.3. Duong Van Nga character from the perspective of
comparison between history books and legends
3.3.1. Similarity - the difference between the history and the legend of
Duong Van Nga
About similarity: Both feudal and lore histories had much in
common when referring to the events related to the Queen of the
Duong family, such as the love of her and awarded the throne to Le
Hoan, she was the Queen of the two kings: Dinh - Le and the ritual of
worshiping her. The above similarities show the impact of history on
the legend and vice versa.


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About the difference: if the history (mostly feudal history)
recorded very briefly the events related to the behavior of the Duong
queen according to the historical characteristics of the chronicle, the
legend would concretize them, meaning that solve problems that
history does not mention or are unclear; the place where she awarded
the throne to Le Hoan ... The events which were related to this
historical figure through the interpretation of the legend became
concrete, understanding the reason, from there, Duong Van Nga's
image was also vivid and closer to life.
3.3.2. Explaining the similarity, the difference between the history
and the legend of Duong Van Nga

Reasons of similarity: Duong queen in the Dinh - Le period
became the object of reflection of history and legends because she
participated in and created a part of the tenth century history with a
very special behavior: in the context of during the period of foreign
aggression, she made a great decision: handing over her son's throne
to foreigner, ending the era of the Dinh clan and opening the Tien Le
Dynasty.
Reasons of the difference between Duong Van Nga's legends
and histories on the one hand comes from the characteristics of these
two fields: All writings about her in history are only continuous
tactics associated with historical events; In legend, the core is the
historical truth combined with "poetry and dream" that has
transformed a Duong queen in history into an image that is both
complicated and unified. On the other hand, this difference was
constrained by the ideology of the times: feudal historians rate Duong
queen to Three Obediences and Four Virtues standards of


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Confucianism, and folk authors mainly assess her in the role and
responsibility of citizens in the context of the country in jeopardy.
Summary conclusion of chapter 3:
Duong Van Nga's legend group reflects cultural classes,
customs and ideology through different periods. With 07 outstanding
motifs, the folk author reconstructed the portrait of a powerful, sharp
and multifaceted woman in the Xth century. Putting the character
Duong Van Nga in the match between legends and histories, we
would like to emphasize that: from the perspective of feudal
historians, she was not a virgin, exalted, not a wife the mother
wholeheartedly for her children, but considering the role of a citizen

for the country, she excellently fulfilled her obligations: placing
national interests above those of the in-laws, leaving the son's throne
to talented people who fought the enemy, saving Dai Co Viet from recolonization. That had made the vitality of Duong Van Nga's
character in folk consciousness.


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CHAPTER 4: DUONG VAN NGA'S CHARACTER IN
CONTEMPORARY CULTURAL AND SOCIAL LIFE
According to common sense, “contemporary” means the present
time. Here, we temporarily use the landmark after 1975, especially from the
6th Congress of the Party (1986), an important milestone in awareness and
innovation in all aspects of Vietnamese life as a reference system for art
these terms.
4.1. Duong Van Nga character in contemporary spiritual culture space
After a long history, the character of Duong Van Nga is still present in
the spiritual and cultural life today, worshiping in some temples in the
localities; in which, Ninh Binh is the place with the highest density of
temples/communal houses (seven worshiping places). The system of Duong
Van Nga worship places still in existence today shows that she still has an
important position in the spiritual life of Vietnamese people. Spiritual space
with 11 places of worship that Ninh Binh is the center and radiating out of
its satellite areas help us to visualize somewhat about the living space with
her behavior more than a thousand years ago. In the spiritual life of the
local people, they have special spiritual cultural values, stories of Duong
Van Nga always preserved and handed down for tomorrow, creating a close
relationship between physical and intangible culture, between tradition and
modernity.
4.2. Duong Van Nga character in contemporary political and cultural life
Contemporary public opinion when discussing her is still two

compliments - but most want to “defend for Duong queen” with praise and
sympathy.
In contemporary political and cultural life, she still has a certain
position: mentioned, commented in seminars as: Context of Thang Long
capital city and career of Le Hoan (2005); Identity, career and monument
of Le Dai Hanh and Duong Van Nga (2007), was proposed to build a
monument, was registered through the street name, became the subject of
debate of the forum of the history... The most rational explanation for this


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interesting phenomenon should probably stand from the standpoint of the
people, from the folk mind: historical figures are remembered by the people
because they representing the interests, qualities and spirit of both the
community and the nation.
4.3. Duong Van Nga in contemporary art literature
In the literary domain, stories and historical novels appeared about
her. These stories have a short capacity, which is an adaptation of folk
legends (even the books whose titles have identified the genre as legends)
as: Stories of queens in Vietnamese history (1997) - Pham Minh Thao,
Legend of Hoa Lu (1988) and Legend of Dinh - Le (2003) - Truong Dinh
Tuong, Patriotic of Ai Chau land (2015) - Nguyen Huy Sanh... In the novel,
she was recreated very vivid and very life. She seems to want to escape the
rules and patterns of life to live with her and always be herself: Duong Van
Nga love story (1990) - Hoai Anh, Historical celebrity - Duong Van Nga,
queen of two dynasties (1996) - Hoang Cong Khanh, The poem of violet
wipe purple (2000) - Ngo Van Phu, Duong Van Nga - immature and abyss
(2005) - Ngo Viet Trong, The sword and the beauty (2018) - Bui Anh Tan ...
In the field of theater, she became the artistic inspiration of traditional
operetta, reformer as Truc Duong, Le Duy Hanh, Hoa Phuong, Chi Lang,

Hoa Ha... Most notably, her image in reforming with a history of more than
40 years continues to be reconstructed and is considered one of the classic
models of Vietnam's reformed village (the play Duong Van Nga - Mother of
king, directed by Hoa Ha, 2018).
4.4. Duong Van Nga and existing projects
4.4.1. About the suspicion of killing Dinh king
There are two theories about the sudden death of Dinh's father and
son: one, they were murdered by Do Thich to steal the throne; secondly, the
mastermind of this assassination was Duong queen and Le Hoan, and Do
Thich was only a chess piece in their hands. Regarding the second
hypothesis related to Duong queen, we suppose that in the death of Dinh’s
king, Duong lost more than that: losing her husband, losing a strong support


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for herself and her son, having to shoulder her burden in a turbulent state,
the country is at risk of foreign invasion. Therefore, it is difficult to
convince her that she had “set up a plot, set her mind, and poisoned her to
kill her father and son”. Besides, we can also refer to folk consciousness for
further evaluation on this issue (the worship of Duong queen with Dinh
Tien Hoang, procession of her statue to the old husband's death anniversary,
the statue of a grandmother to pray for her husband's funeral...).
4.4.2. About suspecting to have secret relations with Le Hoan
Regarding the suspicion of “having secret relations” with Le Hoan,
most of feudal historians relied on the queen to let Le Hoan freely go in and
out of the palace and conspiracy to take over Dinh's dynasty, saying that she
had a crush on him, the conspiracy to take over Dinh's dynasty and then got
married to him. In our opinion, the marriage between Le Hoan and Duong
Van Nga is more political than a marriage with its true meaning. The
event Duong Van Nga became the empress of the Le king as the final

legalization step to give Le Hoan the throne in peace and as a way of
power alliance between two dynasties - two forces.
Summary conclusion of chapter 4:
Although there were many essays, reviews around the fact that she
gave Le Hoan a long dress and later re-married him, the posterity still
wanted to find an accurate answer to relieve all interrogations which was
related to the royal dynasty. That explains why in contemporary cultural,
political and social life, there continue to be forums, seminars, events about
her and related to her. From real life, Duong Van Nga entered the legend
and later the historical novel through different descriptions, conceptions of
folk writers and writers. The specialness in her behavior and destiny has
been and will become a creative inspiration of art and literature. The
existence of Duong Van Nga in contemporary social, political and artistic
life had affirmed the vitality and topicality of events and characters in a
country whose history is most intense in the national defense war history.


25
CONCLUSION
1. Being a historical character with court rituals, Duong Van Nga has
appeared in history books with both public opinions: good - bad, complimented
- criticized, specifically the judgments on the act of giving the throne to Le
Hoan and then became one of the five emperors of the founder of the Tien Le
Dynasty. If the feudal history books like Complete annals of Dai Viet, The
Imperially ordered annotated text completely, Viet su tieu an… agreed that her
actions stem from personal purpose with impure motives as betrayed lord,
betrayed husband ... the majority of modern researchers agree that these
actions are wise and innovative. This shows that the opinion of Duong Van
Nga is dominated by the view of the times.
2. From the folk writing, the thesis has contributed to explain the two

actions of Duong Van Nga as the throne and after becoming the queen of Le
Hoan from the Vietnam cultural roots, that is the tradition of worshiping our
ancestors' talent, and that is the “liberal margins” of ancient Vietnam culture.
We also studied 7 basic motifs of story groups to thereby identifying its
structure. Analyzing the group of legends about Duong Van Nga, we have
studied this character systematically, but also want to prove that although this is
a story about a “sticking” historical suspicion, it still has many similarities with
story groups about heroes and cultural celebrities in general. That is the
similarity in the three-stage structure: the situation and character characteristics,
character's behavior and the end of the character's career. The formation and
development of the Duong Van Nga story group derives from the common
cradle of culture, thought, emotion, people's thinking about history and people
who make history. It reflects the history and spiritual life of the Vietnamese
people in the Xth century, creating a face of a special historical period with
people and destiny also very special.
Approaching Duong Van Nga character from the perspective of
legends helps us see the close relationship between this genre and history. If
history uses to record events about her to the utmost, the legend extends the