Tucked into the quiet red-pine foothills of Changpyeong-ri Village in Bongseong-myeon, Bonghwa County, North Gyeongsang Province, a four-bay timber pavilion roofed in gray clay tile stands behind a traditional four-pillar gate alongside a hillside stele pavilion sheltering an engraved granite monument. To passing travelers in northern Gyeongsang it appears at first glance like a classic Joseon country scholar's pavilion, yet for every Vietnamese visitor who steps before its stone terrace it awakens profound emotion as an eight-hundred-year bridge of shared blood and memory.
This is Bonghwa Chunghyodang (봉화 충효당, 奉化 忠孝堂, Hall of Loyalty and Filial Piety), the only surviving historic architectural monument in South Korea belonging to the Hwasan Yi Clan (화산 이씨, 花山 李氏), direct descendants of Prince Ly Long Tuong (Korean Yi Yong-sang) of Vietnam's royal Ly dynasty. Linking Den Do Temple in Bac Ninh (where the Eight Ly Emperors of Dai Viet are venerated) with the pine valleys of Bonghwa, Chunghyodang embodies eight centuries of ancestor veneration and moral kinship between Vietnam and Korea.
IPrince Ly Long Tuong's Royal Lineage and the Dual Virtue of Yi Jang-bal
Rather than enshrining deities of petitionary worship, Chunghyodang functions as a traditional East Asian clan memorial pavilion (jaesa) and site of ancestral remembrance honoring two intertwined historical figures: first, the clan's founding progenitor Prince Ly Long Tuong, Lord of Hwasan (born 1174, seventh son of Emperor Ly Anh Tong of Dai Viet), and second, his thirteenth-generation Korean-born descendant Yi Jang-bal (이장발, 李長發, 1574 to 1592), whose sacrifice inspired the name Chung-Hyo (Loyalty to the realm and Filial Piety to one's parent).
On the hillside to the left-rear outside the walled pavilion compound stands the wooden-paled Chunghyodang Hwasan Yi-gong Yuheobigak (Clan Heritage Stele Pavilion), sheltering the granite Yuheobi stele engraved with both founder Yi Yong-sang's name and Yi Jang-bal's heroic devotion across twenty-six generations far from old Thang Long (Hanoi).
Within Confucian moral philosophy, the nineteen-year-old Yi Jang-bal resolved the classic ethical tension between duty to the state in crisis and care for an aging parent. Fatherless from age seven and raised in frugal devotion by his widowed mother Lady Park, Yi Jang-bal was legally exempt as an only son from military conscription when Japanese armies invaded Joseon in the fourth month of 1592. Nevertheless, carrying the chivalric heritage of his royal ancestors, he knelt before his mother for permission to join the righteous volunteer militia (uibyeong) under commander Mun Wi-se, leaving behind a tearful Classical Chinese farewell quatrain entrusting his lingering shadow on the courtyard breeze to comfort his solitary white-haired mother before falling in battle at Mungyeong Saejae Pass. His filial tenderness and patriotic courage reinforced rather than contradicted one another.
According to the Genealogy of the Hwasan Yi Clan (Hwasan Yi-ssi Sebo) and Korean local gazetteers, when power in Dai Viet passed from the Ly dynasty to the Tran in 1226, Prince Ly Long Tuong set sail northward with royal ritual vessels and retainers so that ancestral sacrifices to the Ly sovereigns would not be extinguished. Landing at Ongjin on the coast of Hwanghae Province, he was warmly received by King Gojong of Goryeo. In 1253, when Mongol cavalry besieged Hwasan and Ongjin for five months, the aged Vietnamese prince rallied local defenders on a white steed to repel the invaders. Deeply moved, King Gojong invested him with the hereditary title Lord of Hwasan (Hwasan-gun), granting him a stipended fief and establishing Hwasan as the ancestral seat (bongwan) of the Hwasan Yi Clan in Korea.
First-time readers often wonder why the Hwasan Yi Clan's sole preserved historic pavilion stands inland in Bonghwa County, North Gyeongsang Province, rather than at Hwasan on the western coast. The answer lies in twentieth-century peninsula division: Ongjin in Hwanghae Province, where Prince Ly Long Tuong originally landed and where his primary shrine once stood, lies north of the Demilitarized Zone in North Korea. Fortunately, in early Joseon times a major branch of his descendants migrated southward through Andong and settled in Changpyeong-ri, Bonghwa in the sixteenth century, preserving Bonghwa Chunghyodang as the sole intact ancestral heritage compound of Vietnam's Ly royal house in South Korea.
IIEight Hundred Years from the 1226 Sea Voyage to Modern Vietnamese-Korean Kinship
Across eight centuries of integration into Goryeo and Joseon society while preserving explicit genealogical records of their Dai Viet royal origin, the Hwasan Yi Clan received repeated royal honors from Joseon monarchs.
- 1226 and 1253Prince Ly Long Tuong settles in Goryeo and is enfeoffed as Lord of HwasanArriving at Ongjin from Dai Viet in 1226, Prince Ly Long Tuong helps repel Mongol invaders in 1253 and receives the title Hwasan-gun from King Gojong of Goryeo, founding the Hwasan Yi Clan.
- 1592Thirteenth-generation descendant Yi Jang-bal falls at Mungyeong SaejaeJoining the righteous militia at age nineteen from Changpyeong-ri in Bonghwa during the Imjin War, Yi Jang-bal dies heroically in battle after leaving his famed farewell poem to his widowed mother.
- Late 17th century to c. 1750Joseon court grants posthumous rank and Chunghyodang is erectedPosthumously honoring Yi Jang-bal as Third Minister of Works, local Confucian scholars and clan descendants join around 1750 in raising Chunghyodang Pavilion as a clan memorial and study hall.
- 1789 and 1798King Jeongjo bestows royal eulogy woodblocks honoring the Ly lineageKing Jeongjo composes royal commemorative verses and orders ritual honors for Prince Ly Long Tuong and Yi Jang-bal, preserved in carved royal woodblocks (Eoje Eopil Jangpan) treasured by the Bonghwa clan.
- 1995, 2004, and 2021Clan homecoming to Den Do and elevation to Provincial Monument No. 181Following diplomatic normalization in 1992, Hwasan Yi Clan representatives bow at Den Do (Bac Ninh) in 1995. Designated Cultural Heritage Material No. 466 in 2004, Bonghwa Chunghyodang is elevated to Gyeongbuk Provincial Monument No. 181 on February 22, 2021.
- 2020sCreation of the K-Vietnam Valley cultural precinct around Changpyeong-riBonghwa County and Vietnamese partners conserve the ancestral valley around Chunghyodang and unveil a commemorative bronze statue of Ly dynasty founder Emperor Ly Thai To ahead of the 800th anniversary of 1226.
Yi Jang-bal's nineteen-year-old farewell poem and King Jeongjo's royal woodblocks. Remembered for centuries by scholars of northern Gyeongsang is Yi Jang-bal's four-line Poem on Marching to War left on his mother's table in 1592: Though on this march I may never return, my body vows to become a loyal spirit of the realm, what day shall my shadow return before the hall, while my white-haired mother leans alone against the gate. Two centuries later, when eighteenth-century sage ruler King Jeongjo read memorials recounting the Dai Viet prince's descendants and Yi Jang-bal's sacrifice, he composed a royal eulogy praising their transborder fidelity, reflecting the same reverence for dynastic lineage embodied on a national scale at Jongmyo Royal Ancestral Shrine.
IIIChunghyodang Timber Pavilion, Four-Pillar Sajumun Gate, and Clan Stele Pavilion
Set quietly against a pine-covered hillside overlooking the fields of Changpyeong-ri, the Hwasan Yi heritage compound comprises the walled timber pavilion approached through a four-pillar front gate together with the clan stele pavilion on the adjacent slope, exemplifying restrained mid-eighteenth-century northern Gyeongsang Confucian architecture.
Built around 1750 across four front bays by two-and-a-half side bays on natural granite foundation stones beneath a graceful hip-and-gable tile roof (paljak-jibung). Following the central-hall flanked-room plan (jungdang-hyeopsil), a spacious two-bay open wooden hall (daecheong) at the center is flanked on both left and right by heated ondol rooms behind a half-bay front veranda hung with the Chunghyodang calligraphy plaque.
A traditional rectangular stone-and-earth enclosure wall frames the quiet courtyard in front of Chunghyodang, entered through a modest tiled four-pillar timber gate (Sajumun) characteristic of Joseon gentry clan pavilions.
A single-bay wooden-paled stele pavilion standing on the hillock outside the compound to the left-rear, sheltering the granite Yuheobi stele engraved with founder Prince Ly Long Tuong's name, his 1226 voyage from Dai Viet, and Yi Jang-bal's 1592 sacrifice.
Historic carved wooden printing blocks preserving King Jeongjo's late eighteenth-century royal commemorative writings for the Hwasan Yi Clan, conserved for safekeeping at the Korean Studies Institute in nearby Andong.
Surrounding farmhouses and clan residences in Changpyeong-ri where twenty-fifth- and twenty-sixth-generation descendants of the Hwasan Yi Clan continue to maintain ancestral graves and seasonal rites.
Located on the adjacent cultural grounds in Changpyeong-ri, a bronze monument honoring Emperor Ly Thai To (founder of Dai Viet's Ly dynasty and Thang Long in 1010) symbolizes eight centuries of friendship between Vietnam and Korea.
| Feature | Historical and architectural specifications | Verified source |
|---|---|---|
| Custodial lineage | Hwasan Yi Clan Association, descendants of Prince Ly Long Tuong (b. 1174 in Dai Viet, arrived Goryeo 1226) | Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (EncyKorea) |
| Commemorated figure | 13th-generation righteous militia martyr Yi Jang-bal (1574 to 1592), fell at Mungyeong Saejae | North Gyeongsang Province, Bonghwa County |
| Pavilion structure | 4x2.5-bay c. 1750 timber pavilion, hip-and-gable roof, central 2-bay daecheong hall flanked by ondol rooms | Korea Heritage Service (KHS) |
| Companion monuments | Rectangular walled courtyard with Sajumun gate and Hwasan Yi-gong Yuheobigak stele pavilion | Korea Heritage Service (KHS) |
| Heritage designation | Gyeongsangbuk-do Provincial Monument No. 181 (elevated Feb 22, 2021 from Material No. 466 of 2004) | North Gyeongsang Provincial Government, KHS |
IVThe Lie of the Land
Nestled high between the Taebaeksan and Sobaeksan mountain ranges, Bonghwa has been famed for centuries in traditional Korean geography among the Ten Auspicious Refuges (Sip-seungji), secluded mountain valleys spared from dynastic wars and famine. Selecting Changpyeong-ri enabled the exiled royal clan to safeguard its lineage in peace. The reading below examines the terrain through the library's comparative framework of traditional East Asian landform geomancy (pungsu-jiri).
Situated at coordinates 36.9171 degrees north, 128.8061 degrees east at an elevation of roughly 260 meters, Chunghyodang backs calmly into a pine-wooded spur descending southward from sacred Mount Munsusan (1,206 meters), which forms a deep rear mountain shield blocking bitter northern winter winds. Flanking hills embrace the quiet farming hamlet of Changpyeong-ri (whose name means Prosperous Level Plain) without exposing the shrine to major invasion highways.
Both Chunghyodang Pavilion and its Sajumun front gate sit North-Northeast and face South-Southwest, gazing out across level sunlit rice fields and the clear valley stream draining toward the Naeseongcheon basin (an upper tributary of the Nakdong River) in the south as a gentle water-gathering bright hall, framed beyond by low facing hills at eye-resting height. Sheltered by deep mountains behind and nourished by fertile fields and sweet water in front, the site exemplifies classical East Asian clan-village siting designed for quiet multi-generational endurance.
VAutumn Clan Rites, Den Do Kinship, and Homecoming for Overseas Vietnamese
In Changpyeong-ri today, traditional Korean Confucian ancestral rites reckoned by the lunar calendar meet deeply emotional homecoming visits by Vietnamese residents and multicultural families from across South Korea. The table below outlines the key annual observances.
| Date | Calendar system | Observance | Ritual practice and significance at Bonghwa Chunghyodang |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tenth lunar month (post-harvest autumn) | Lunar calendar | Hwasan Yi Clan Autumn Ancestral Rite and Memorial for Yi Jang-bal | Clan elders attired in traditional ritual robes offer wine, incense, and classical invocations honoring Prince Ly Long Tuong and Yi Jang-bal. |
| 15th day of the 3rd month (Den Do Festival in Bac Ninh) | Lunar calendar | Coronation Commemoration of the Eight Ly Emperors | Hwasan Yi Clan representatives link tributes between Bonghwa and the grand ancestral festival at Den Do Temple in Bac Ninh, Vietnam. |
| Autumn (October to November) | Solar calendar | Bonghwa Vietnam Cultural Day and 1226 Heritage Pilgrimages | Vietnamese diplomatic delegates, scholars, students, and Korean-Vietnamese families gather at Chunghyodang to celebrate eight centuries of shared heritage. |
| Lunar New Year (Seollal) and Mid-Autumn (Chuseok) | Lunar calendar | Clan Charye Tea-and-Wine Ancestral Offerings | Descendants travel back from Seoul, Daegu, and Busan to tend ancestral graves on the Bonghwa hillsides and bow at the clan pavilion. |
An irreplaceable anchor of pride for nearly three hundred thousand Vietnamese in South Korea. For Vietnamese workers, students, marriage migrants, and bicultural Korean-Vietnamese children growing up across South Korea today, standing before Chunghyodang in Bonghwa carries deep personal meaning: its weathered Joseon timbers and ancestral stele pavilion prove that Vietnamese roots on the Korean Peninsula stretch back nearly eight hundred years to a royal prince and his nineteen-year-old descendant who loved both their ancestral homeland and the Korean land that sheltered them.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- 19-1 Changpyeongbonma-gil, Bongseong-myeon, Bonghwa-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do (thôn Changpyeong-ri)
- Getting there
- The shrine is located at 19-1 Changpyeongbonma-gil, Bongseong-myeon, Bonghwa-gun, North Gyeongsang Province, about 6 kilometers east of Bonghwa town center. From Cheongnyangni Station in Seoul, take the KTX-Eum high-speed train to Yeongju Station (about 1 hour 40 minutes), transfer to a local bus or train to Bonghwa, and take a rural Bongseong bus or a 10-minute taxi ride from Bonghwa town directly to Changpyeong-ri.
- Coordinates
- 36.9171, 128.8061
Because Chunghyodang sits inside the quiet rural farming hamlet of Changpyeong-ri where clan elders and neighbors live year-round, visitors are asked to walk respectfully, avoid entering private farmyards surrounding the shrine, never touch the historic wooden signboard beneath the eaves, and pause quietly when bowing before the Clan Heritage Stele Pavilion.
Nearby places in the library
VIIContribute To This Page
Contribute photos, information or video for Chunghyodang, Vietnamese Ly Clan Shrine, Bonghwa
Góp ảnh, thông tin hoặc video cho Đền Trung Hiếu Đường (Di tích dòng họ Lý Hoa Sơn gốc Việt), BonghwaEveryone is welcome to enrich this page: a photo you took, a detail the page misses, a short video. Every contribution is read and answered.
Thầy Ưng Khiêm mời cộng đồng cùng làm giàu trang này. Ảnh chụp tận nơi, một chi tiết lịch sử chưa được nhắc, một đoạn video ngắn: mọi đóng góp đều được đọc và trả lời.
No community contribution yet. You could be the first. Chưa có đóng góp nào từ cộng đồng. Bạn có thể là người đầu tiên.
?Quick Questions
How is Bonghwa Chunghyodang connected to Vietnam's royal Ly dynasty?
Chunghyodang is the sole surviving historic wooden monument in South Korea belonging to the Hwasan Yi Clan, direct descendants of Prince Ly Long Tuong (seventh son of Emperor Ly Anh Tong of Dai Viet), who sailed to Goryeo in 1226 after the fall of the Ly dynasty. The pavilion honors thirteenth-generation descendant Yi Jang-bal, who fell defending Korea in 1592.
Why did King Gojong of Goryeo grant Prince Ly Long Tuong the title Lord of Hwasan?
After settling at Ongjin in Hwanghae Province in 1226, Prince Ly Long Tuong rallied local defenders in 1253 to repel invading Mongol troops besieging Hwasan. In gratitude, King Gojong invested him as Lord of Hwasan (Hwasan-gun) and granted Hwasan as the ancestral seat of his Korean clan.
Why is the pavilion named Chunghyodang ('Hall of Loyalty and Filial Piety')?
The name honors nineteen-year-old thirteenth-generation descendant Yi Jang-bal (1574 to 1592): although exempt from military service as the sole son caring for his widowed mother, he volunteered for the righteous militia in the 1592 Imjin War (Loyalty) after leaving a deeply moving farewell poem comforting his mother (Filial Piety), earning posthumous court appointment as Third Minister of Works.
Do descendants of the Vietnamese-origin Hwasan Yi Clan still live in South Korea today?
Yes. More than one thousand descendants of the Hwasan Yi Clan (now in their twenty-fifth to twenty-seventh generations from Prince Ly Long Tuong) live across South Korea, with ancestral homesteads centered in Changpyeong-ri, Bonghwa, and maintain regular homecoming ties with Den Do Temple in Bac Ninh, Vietnam.
What structures make up the historic Chunghyodang compound in Bonghwa?
Upgraded in 2021 to North Gyeongsang Provincial Monument No. 181 (from Cultural Heritage Material No. 466 of 2004), the compound consists of the 4x2.5-bay c. 1750 timber pavilion Chunghyodang enclosed by a rectangular stone-and-earth wall with a four-pillar Sajumun gate, together with the hillside Yuheobigak stele pavilion beside Bonghwa's expanding Vietnamese-Korean cultural precinct.