“Van Co Cuong Thuong” (eternalness constant obligations of morality) hengfei in “Hoa Thuong Hoi Quan” (Chinese traders club-house) (now, Thanh Hoa Publishing House, No 248, Tran Phu street, Ba Dinh district, Thanh Hoa city) is one of the biggest and the most intact hengfei being kept in the Thanh Hoa museum.
The hengfei is rectangular shape, big dimension, 3.35m long, 1.06m wide, made of dark yellow-colored wood. The mat coast has been completely peeled off. Four Sino characters “Van Co Cuong Thuong” (Eternalness constant obligations of morality) (65cm x 53cm in dimension) were centrally carved on the hengfei.
“Hoa Thuong Hoi Quan” was the meeting place of Chinese traders in Thanh Hoa. Nowadays, Vietnamese people call it as “Hoi Quan” pagoda as the Buddha worshiped here
“Hoa Thuong Hoi Quan” was the place where a significant historical event in the Chinese against Japanese Period (1939-1945) took place. In 7th September 1939, a meeting that attracted 5,600 people in Thanh Hoa and neighbor areas, took place in “Hoa Thuong Hoi Quan”. Mr. Bui Dat, the Thanh Hoa party committee secretary, did hand 108 French Indochina silver coins, hundreds of letters with thousands signatures and ask to pass them to Chinese people.
In 1965, The Thanh Hoa library did move to another place and gave this area to Thanh Hoa Publishing House. Several couplets and hengfei in “Hoa Thuong Hoi Quan” were broken down. “Van Co Cuong Thuong” is one of some couplet and hengfei that are still relatively intact.
So, to a certain extent, the “Van Co Cuong Thuong” hengfei does help us to understand more about Thanh Hoa history in the nineteenth century.
N.B.N
References: Thanh Hoa Management Board for Relics and Famous Landscapes: The Relics and Famous Landscapes in Thanh Hoa, Vol 9, Thanh Hoa Publishing House, 2012