Discover the ancient stone carvings on Don Mountain in Nghe An

Don Mountain, also known as Dai Lan Mountain, stands tall in the middle of Lam River like a giant wall, protecting and shielding villages and fertile alluvial plains. Photo: Huy Thu

On Don Mountain, there are many relics such as Ca Temple, Xuan Long Pagoda, Vuc Don Ferry... During the resistance war against the US, Vuc Don Ferry was an important traffic point to pick up and drop off tens of thousands of soldiers and wounded soldiers on their way to battle, Don Mountain was an anti-aircraft position to fight the US of the local militia and guerrillas. It is known that in the 19th century, the third-ranking scholar Nguyen Duc Dat (1825-1887), from Hoanh Son village, Khanh Son commune, also chose this place to open a school. Photo: Huy Thu

With a flexible concept of learning and to overcome the teaching conditions at Xuan Long Pagoda, Dong Son village, Third Prize Winner Nguyen Duc Dat and his students created a special study and rest area on Don mountain. Dozens of rocks here, which used to be tables, chairs, beds, etc., were engraved with Chinese characters, such as "Tam Binh Son" (Tam Binh Mountain), "Ha But Xu" (writing place), "Tieu Lap" (temporary standing place),"The owner of the place" ((Where the owner sleeps)... This event is described specifically through the work "The inscription is "Tam Binh mountain small text", "Lam Ha Tong Du Ky" and he himself changed the font three times when carving. Photo: Huy Thu

According to observations, the orphaned stone fields here are scattered like large chairs, hidden in the forest trees. Chinese characters are carved on the underside of the stone slabs. The size of the characters is not uniform on the stone slabs, some are small, some are large. The depth of the characters is about 1cm, the height of each character is from 20 - 50cm. In addition to the sharp Chinese characters, many characters are covered with moss and grass. Photo: Huy Thu

Finding the stone slabs engraved with Chinese characters on Don Mountain is quite difficult, requiring climbing and weaving through the dense forest. Mr. Nguyen Van Truc (34 years old), a local, shared: "In the past, people here also talked about the stone slabs engraved with Chinese characters, but few people knew about it in detail, especially no one took the trouble to climb the mountain to see it. Over time, everything fell into oblivion, the old mountain was overgrown with trees." Photo: Huy Thu

Mr. Nguyen Thien Dung - Head of the Department of Culture of Nam Dan district added: During the war years, when building Mo Duc Pumping Station, people detonated mines in the Don mountain area, causing the natural landscape here to change somewhat, the stone field engraved with Chinese characters related to the Third Prize winner Nguyen Duc Dat was also affected. Therefore, this place now does not have many rocks with ancient characters like before. Recognizing this historical site, recently, we have also included Don mountain in the list of relics and scenic spots of the district. Photo: Huy Thu

Behind this nearly 2m high concrete ditch, there are still lines of Chinese characters carved under massive rocks jutting out towards the river bank. Although the number of Chinese characters as described in the works of the examiner is not complete and covered with moss and grass, these are vivid and valuable evidences of the examiner's teaching process during his lifetime at Dong Son school from 1877 to 1883. Photo: Huy Thu

UMBRELLAMr. Nguyen Duc Tung (80 years old) residing in Vinh City, the 5th generation descendant of the Third Prize Laureate Nguyen Duc Dat shared: “In the process of renovating and exploiting Don Mountain, for production purposes, people did not pay attention to protecting and preserving historical and cultural relics, including the stone site engraved with Chinese characters of the Grand Master. I learned that when opening the road in Don Mountain, the "Binh Van Xu" stele was left lying around, about to be swept into the river, so my relatives brought it back to erect at the church. I am truly sad and regretful that a cultural address associated with the life of the Grand Master was forgotten right in my homeland." Photo: Huy Thu

It has been 133 years since the day Mr. Tham Nhat returned to his ancestors. The Don mountain area still has the old water wharf with ancient mung and troi trees, but the stone beach engraved with Chinese characters where Mr. Tham Hoa Nguyen Duc Dat used to come here to teach and comment on literature has fallen into oblivion. The coldness of time and the indifference of people have caused a place once considered a "rather special school model in the history of Vietnamese education" to be no longer known to many people. Photo: Huy Thu