It
is hard to imagine a traditional Vietnamese house without an entrance screen.
The screen id found somewhere in the courtyard or within the house itself,
standing behind the main entrance. These old screens reveal a great deal about
Vietnam’s history and culture.
In 1687, Lord Nguyen Phuoc Thai moved the
capital of South Viet Nam from Kim Long Village to Phu Xuan (now Hue City).
They to this decision were the existence of a mountain. Lord Nguyen Phuoc Hoai
believed that Mac Son Mountain had been created by nature to protect the
capital to a new kingdom, which he was destined to rule. His conviction was so
strong that he did not hesitate to build an entire city. The mountain was then
renamed Ngu Binh (Royal Screen) and became a symbol of Hue.
A
screen is a product of Vietnamese people’s belief in feng shui, which is an
effort to harness good energy and to ward off bad energy. People in Asia have
believed in fengghui for many generations. The characteristic of the land are
observed before nay building is erected.
Erecting
screens outside of resident and tombs arose from the fengshui concept of trieu and an. Trieu means “to attend”, denoting the relationship between a
host and guest. The mountain “attends” to the royal court or to an auspicious
place. The word a literally refers to a table set in front of a person. In
fengshui it describes a small mount set in front of a house or a tomb. Taken
together, the concepts of trieu and an were translated into a protective
screen.
The
screen stops inauspicious elements or the Fire Flow (in the theory of Yin –
Yang) from entering the front door. Initially, screens were made of simple and
easy-to-find materials like bamboo, wood, stone slabs or just a small bush.
Over time, people began to use bricks and other materials. The screens grew
diverse in form, size and sophistication. Deeply influenced by the philosophy
of fengshui, Vietnamese people felt that a screen was an indispensable part of
their houses.
Trieu
and an are two distinct concepts.
Therefore, their applications differ. In the theory of fengshui, an “attending
mountain” is preferred but should only be applied to major building or to a whole
compound, like a city ỏ royal tombs. Over a thousand years ago, after finding
the Thang Long area, Emperor Ly Thai to praised it as a land of “crouching
dragon and hiding tigers” with “attending mountains and converging waters”
ideal for the construction f a capital city.
Le
Quy Don, a top mandarin and scholar of the Le Dynasty, praised the location of
Hue when he came to this city in 1775, noting its “attending mountain: He said:
“This land is even with the land rising in the center, looking to the East from
the West, facing mountains that attend to this place while waters flow in to
nurture prosperity”.
Since
most plots of land do not have such an auspicious combination of natural
elements, attention is only paid to an. There are two types of an: eternal an
external, depending on the screen’s position against the house or structure.
For bog buildings, the external screen could be a natural or artificial
mountain. Smaller building could have a screen, a fence, a slab of stone or
even a line of stress.
A
brick screen serves as both a fengshui element and a decorative object.
Generally built like a wall, the screen can take many forms. The most common
form is shaped like a crolled book and features designs of the four sacred
animals (dragon, phoenix, kylin, and tortoise). At temples and pagodas, motifs
such as horse or tigers might also be employed.
Inside
the house there can also be internal screens. While the forms differ, they
share one common feature: these screens are movable. Materials include wood, bamboo,
rattan, stone or a combination of various materials. Wood is the most popular.
Most indoor screens feature sophisticated and artistic decorations.
Indoor
screens come in two forms: fixed and folding. The fixed Varsities are very
heavy and hard to move. The folding ones are generally formed of to ten
attached pieces. These may be moved quite easily.
Having
been home to Vietnam’s last royal court, the city of Hue has more screens may
be seen in Hue’s temples, pagodas, community houses and ancestors’ shrines. The
Hue Museum of Royal Relics is a fine place to admire Vietnam’s ancient screens.
Here, visitors will find beautiful screens on wood, ivory and even gold.
This
article written by Lanh Nguyen from Vietnam Heritage Travel
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original article, please visit:
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