A Hmong Palace built with French consent at the beginning of the twentieth century, is located at Sa Phin, 16kms west of Dong Van town.
Note: The information provided in this review was correct at time of publishing but may change. For final clarification please check with the relevant service
Large parts of Ha Giang Province were dominated by the Hmong tribe following their arrival from China centuries ago. During the Nguyen Dynasty, the Hmong King's rule over the area was recognised. Similarly, French colonial rulers acknowledged Hmong control of the region. Like today, the border area with China had strategic significance during the colonial period.
The area was also an important opium trade link.
In 1902, with the consent of the French colonial rulers, Chinese tradesmen built a mainly wooden palace Sa Phin. Two Hmong kings ruled from here.
The first, warlord Vuong Chinh Duc was aligned to the French. The second, Vuong Chu Sen, aligned himself with Ho Chi Minh's independence fighters.
The palace is built like a traditional Chinese courtyard mansion with four double storied wings.
During our visit, one of the descendants of the last King was on hand to take questions from visitors.
Mark Bowyer is the founder and publisher of Rusty Compass.
read more
Twitter: @rustycompass
Support Rusty Compass
Rusty Compass is an independent travel guide. We’re focused on providing you with quality, unbiased, travel information. That means we don't receive payments in exchange for listings and mostly pay our own way. We’d like tourism to be a positive economic, environmental and cultural force and we believe travellers deserve disclosure from publishers. Spread the word about Rusty Compass, and if you're in Saigon, pop in to The Old Compass Cafe and say hi. It’s our home right downtown on Pasteur St. You can also check out our unique tours of Ho Chi Minh City and Sydney at www.oldcompasstravel.com Make a financial contribution using the link below. Even small amounts make a difference.
Thanks and travel well!
Your trip plan is ONLY saved to this browser. To save it to your profile to share and use on any device.
Login or
register .
Special offer
Book via this form and receive:
Book a table
Book a table at
Reservation request has been sent to !
The restaurant will contact you to confirm the booking soon
Thank you for registering for our newsletter.
Thanks
Rusty Compass team
LOGIN
Comment on stories and reviews.
Receive updates from Rusty Compass
Rusty Compass listings are always independent. We list the places we think are worth knowing about. Our Featured Listings allow a small selection of businesses already recommended by us, to pay a fee for a place at the top of our list. That’s it. Featured Listings have no impact on reviews, or on the curation and independence of our lists.
There are no comments yet.