A picture of intermingled cultural sediments on a vast space which offers a clear sense of cultural and historical values in addition to geological structures is the heritage of huge values - Dong Van Karst Plateau, which features interesting stratigraphic characters existing underground for millions of years.
Located in the northwest of Ha Giang province, Dong Van Karst Plateau covers Quan Ba, Yen Minh, Meo Vac and Dong Van districts. Lying at an altitude of 1,000 - 1,600 metres above the sea level and stretching on an area of over 2,360 square metres, Dong Van Karst Plateau is enchanting tourists, scientists and researchers because this place keeps immeasurable marks which may tell the history of earth's crust, natural phenomena, and picturesque landscapes.
Quan Ba district serves as the gate of the karst plateau. Passing Bac Sum zigzag slope to reach the Gate of Heaven, you will see Tam Son Town with a pair of mounts (look like breasts) standing peacefully in the foggy valley. Limestone terrain is typical of ruggedness formed during the process of calcification but the shape of Doi Co Tien Mountain is round, looking like an upside-down bowl as seen in terrigene rock characterised by even corrosion. Villages of Mong people on the side of Bat Dai Son Mountain Range, Tay and Giay peoples in romantic Na Khoang Valley hide earth-made warm homes. Austerity of the nature together with poverty and hunger never extinguish the rising aspirations of the people here.
Ma Pi Leng Pass is in Pai Lung commune, Meo Vac district, on National Road 4C connecting Dong Van and Meo Vac districts. This is one of the most complex parts of the karst plateau typified by continuous karst pyramids, karst cones, slopes and karst walls. Thus, Ma Pi Leng is called the first-rate landscape. At a depth of 700-800 metres, a length of 1.7 km and 70-90 degrees Celsius steep cliffs, this is the most spectacular landscape on the karst plateau. The canyon is measured the deepest of its kind in Vietnam and perhaps in Southeast Asia. The first-rate landscape was Ma Pi Leng is classified by scientists as an international tectonics - landforms heritage - a deserving recognition for the astonishing landscape full of legendaries and fairy tales.
To withstand permanent coldness and needy life on this upland, local people have a very valuable asset transferred from generation to generation: earth-made house called “nhà chình tường”. The house is the face of material culture of the peoples living on the rock plateau. The residence on a firm rock foundation is walled by earth and roofed by yin-yang tiles. This is a typical architecture on the karst plateau. Like many other architectural patterns in Vietnamese villages, the earth-made house reflects the harmony of human with nature, the understanding of and response to nature.
Lung Cu is known as Vietnam's northernmost point with a spectacular scenery. Tectonics features a large anticline with two single wings tilting to the northeast and the southwest. The fractured structure creates a cuesta terrain. Lung Cu also contains archaeological and historical values as well as characteristic traditional cultural values of Mong, Lo Lo and other ethnic groups. Eurispirifer Tonkinensis fossil and trilobites fossil in Ma Le and Lung Cu backdated 400 - 500 million years have been found on the rock plateau.
Nha Vuong (Vuong Palace) was built on a turtle-shaped hill, looking southwards. This work is a combination of many different cultures and many architectural styles, with Hoa Nam - Mong architecture standing out. The house was made from local bluestone and pinewood. Decorative piped tiles were purchased from China. The costly house was constructed in three straight years.
The palace was built with three layers, with higher inside. The two farthest corners are two three-storey bluestone blockhouses. The walls of the palace were made from clay, the foundation was built from rock. Columns and floors and many parts were made from woods. The entire palace was decorated.
Vuong Chinh Duc, the owner of the mansion, was called “King of Meo.” He usually received his subordinates in a sitting room with two tables, each with eight square chairs. The “eight” has meaning. In the Mong culture, a dead man is carried by eight persons. The palace has many rooms, with the largest for Vuong Chinh Duc. His three wives and children also lived in large chambers. Smaller rooms were for maids and guards. The palace also has a food warehouse, an opium store, a weapon store and a household appliance store. Notably, the fireplace was built in European style and the bathtub was made from stone for the owner. When Vuong Duc Chinh was old and weak, he transferred power to his son, Vuong Chi Sinh. In 1945, Vuong Chi Sinh arrived in Hanoi to meet with President Ho Chi Minh and was renamed Vuong Chi Thanh by the president. In 1993, the Vuong Palace was recognised as the national historical and cultural monument. The Vuong family is still residing in the palace.
When the day breaks, small groups of people are going to central markets on the rock plateau. Unlike delta markets, upland markets usually open at weekends, with typical exemples being Dong Van, Meo Vac or Sung Tra. Hence, markets are often full of people when they are open. Marketplaces are also rendezvous for people there. They meet to talk about families, friends and matters of common concerns. It is said that you can understand the life there if you visit a market on active days. Markets are also the stages for people to perform arts like dancing and singing.
Thanh Nga
Vietnamese
