The outlandish Vua Meo, built in 1921 by the French to keep the Flower Hmong chief Hoang A Tuong happily ensconced in style, is a bizarre palace constructed in a kind of ‘oriental baroque’ style on the northern edge of Bac Ha.
Hoang A Tuong Palace was built in the style of Asia – Europe with closed rectangular layouts. Its owners were father and son Hoang Yen Chao and Hoang A Tuong, Tay ethnic people who ruled a region with 70 percent of the population are H’mong people and were called “King.”
Before 1945, Bac Ha was a semi-feudal-colony society, with the ruling class and the ruled class, the exploiters and the exploited. The exploiters were tho ti. During their reign, under the French colonial support, father and son Hoang Yen Chao – Hoang A Tuong tried to exploit the people, occupied fertile land, forced people to pay servitude and tribute. They also held monopoly in trading salt and consumer goods, drugs and food and exploitation of forest products for French stations and the henchmen.
The mansion was built by Hoang A Tuong in 1914. A French and a Chinese architect helped him choose land and direction as well as to design and build the work.
The location of the mansion was selected according to feng shui theory, on a large hill to the southeast, behind and the two sides having mountains and a stream in the front. The overall topography is “charming.”
Going deep into the mansion is the main house. There are two sub-houses on the left and the right. These houses surround a courtyard. To enter the mansion, visitors have to pass several stairs from the two sides to the waiting room, and then step into the large yard.
The main house has two stories, with a total area of 420 m². The doors are vaulted. Corridors have rail. The four rooms on the two sides are the space for family activities. The center room on both floors are used as a meeting place. The main side is decorated with elaborate patterns. On the right and left are two parallel sentences wishing glory family. The total area of this mansion is up to 4,000 m². The house was completed in 1921.
Nearly 100 years of existence with time, the moss covered houses still stands majestically amid the town. Bright sunlight slants through the doorway, the hallway, the room loophole but the rooms here are still gloomy.
Hoang A Tuong mansion today is painted in the bright yellow, which makes the mansion lose its deep moss color. But despite being “colored,” the mansion still makes visitors feel strange.
Going through the long hallway, imaginative visitors will see a lot of scenes in the old time, when maids were given the cane on the yard, the “kings”’ wives walking in the room, the noise and the smoke of opium in a small room …
The most powerful house has many stories and visitors will hear stories of many different versions. With 100 years of history, Hoang A Tuong mansion is the clearest picture for an ancient powerful time.
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