(2919–2792 BC; Hán tự: 泾阳王; "King of Kinh Dương") is a legendary ancient Vietnamese figure, mentioned in the 15th-century work
by having unified all the tribes within his territory into one state, and as the founder of the Hồng Bàng dynasty. He is considered the first king of the Vietnamese people, and was the father of
. He is reported to have lived 260 years.
Today Kinh Dương Vương features with other legendary figures such as Thánh Gióng, Âu Cơ, Sơn Tinh and Thủy Tinh, in elementary school texts. A popular shrine, and presumed tomb of Kinh Dương Vương, is located in the village of An Lữ, Thuận Thành District, Bắc Ninh Province .
Legends
According to Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, a book written in a Confucian perspective, Kinh Duong Vuong originates from China: Emperor Ming, the great-great-grandson of the mythological Chinese ruler Shennong, went on a tour of inspection south of the Nanling Mountains, settled down and married a certain Beautiful Immortal Lady (鹜仙女 Vụ Tiên Nữ), who then gave birth to a naturally intelligent son named Lộc Tục (禄续).
After Emperor Ming passed the throne to his eldest son, Emperor Li(厘) to be king of the North, and Loc Tuc was appointed to be king of the South, his title Kinh Duong Vuong (泾阳王). Kinh Duong Vuong was king and ruled from about 2879 BC onwards. The territory of the country under Kinh Duong Vuong was claimed to be large, reaching Dongting Lake in the north, the Husunxing (胡狲精; SV: Hồ Tôn Tinh) country (i.e. Champa) in the south, the East Sea (东海, part of the Pacific Ocean) in the east and Ba Shu (巴蜀; now in today Sichuan, China) in the west. Lĩnh Nam chích quái recorded the legend that the king vigorously expelled a murderous god named Xuong Cuong.
He married the daughter of the King of Dong Dinh (洞庭) Lake, named Thần Long (神龙 "Divine Dragon"), who gave birth to a son named Sung Lam (崇缆). Sung Lam would later succeed Kinh Duong Vuong as ruler, titled Dragon Lord of Lac (貉龙君; SV: Lạc Long Quân).
Worship
Worshiping Kinh Duong Vuong in Vietnam is not as popular as worshiping Shen nong , the god who is Hung Vuong 's ancestor and a very worshiped god in Vietnam's agricultural beliefs ; Đàn Xã Tắc(坛社稷) was established annually by feudal dynasties to worship .
Thuong Lang communal house in Minh Hoa commune, Hung Ha district, Thai Binh province is the oldest relic worshiping Kinh Duong Vuong; Legend has it since the Dinh dynasty .
The Kinh Duong Vuong Mausoleum and Temple(locally called Lăng và Đền thờ) in Bac Ninh have long been classified by the Vietnamese feudal dynasties as shrines to worship the emperors, each time the National Ceremony will bring to the army to worship and worship people solemnly. In 2013 , Bac Ninh province announced a plan to preserve, embellish and promote the population of national historical and cultural relics of Lang and Kinh Duong Vuong Temple with a total investment of more than 491 billion VND. The project is divided into 4 main construction categories, including: relic conservation space, focusing on repairing and embellishing the relics of the Mausoleum and Kinh Duong Vuong Temple, temple grounds, tomb gardens; relic value space includes: ancestral monument, cultural festival square, cultural display ... accompanied by ancillary services to develop spiritual cultural tourism, attracting tourists and technical infrastructure, leveling, roads, electricity lines. At present, the Kinh Duong Vuong tomb and temple relic is worshiped in A Lu village, Dai Dong Thanh commune, Thuan Thanh district, Bac Ninh province .
Other theories
Many historical researchers suspected that Kinh Dương Vương was a legendary figure based on elements from the novella Story of Liu Yi (柳毅 SV: Liễu Nghị truyện). Historical researcher Trần Trọng Dương pointed out that:
This view has been expressed by many Vietnamese historians since the 18th century: for example, Ngô Thì Sĩ in Prefatory Compilation to Đại Việt's Historical Records
as well as the Nguyễn dynasty's historians in The Imperially Ordered Outlined and Detailed Texts Thoroughly Mirroring of the History of Viet
Consequently, Emperor Tự Đức of the Nguyen dynasty decided to exclude King of Kinh Duong and Dragon Lord of Lạc from their historiography as this did not conform with the Confucian ideals of the country.
Liam Christopher Kelley, then associate professor of South East Asian studies at University of Hawai'i at Manoa, commented:
Kinh Dương Vương (2919–2792 BC; Hán tự: 泾阳王; "King of Kinh Dương") is a legendary ancient Vietnamese figure, mentioned in the 15th-century work Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư by having unified all the tribes within his territory into one state, and as the founder of the Hồng Bàng dynasty. He is considered the first king of the Vietnamese people, and was the father of Lạc Long Quân. He is reported to have lived 260 years.