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Our guide, Cong, took us to visit the Citadel and explained that it was planned and constructed on traditional principles of intermingling Occidental and Oriental architecture as a result of the appropriate use of local geographical features. The Citadel of Hue was once a masterpiece of the Vietnamese people. The Imperial City, the second wall, is dotted with offices where the monarch and high-ranking mandarins came daily to work. The Forbidden Purple City, the third wall, was the private quarters of the Emperor and his family, which included hundreds of palace maidservants and dozens of eunuchs. It was fascinating to see that the walls and Royal Palaces of Hue were built on the principles of Chinese geomancy. The whole complex faces southeast, taking the Royal Screen Mount as a natural screen. Two islets in the Perfume River play the roles of "left dragon" and "right dragon", thus guarding the city. In general, the monuments of Hue are made chiefly of ironwood and other Vietnamese traditional materials. They are constructed, however, on a specific "module" and largely to suit the climate and environment of the region.
After the Citadel, we visited the Tu Duc Tomb built between 1864 and 1867. Emperor Tu Duc was crowned King during this period of Vietnam's history when capitalism was developing in the West. He was an expert in philosophy, oriental history, as well as literature, yet he failed to rule the country successfully. Having no son to succeed him aggravated the situation. To seclude himself, he ordered the construction of his tomb as a fairyland with poetical features, making it a lifetime recreation ground and a special world for his eternal life after death. With several palaces and a specific man-made landscape, the tomb itself is a second ‘Imperial City', an ideal and heavenly world.
That night we had an imperial banquet where we were all required to dress up as mandarins and someone needed to be King and Queen. There was no one better than Dr. Dan Waters, RAS President, to be the Emperor, and Pru, an RAS member, took the part of the Empress. With their costumes and majestic headwear, it was strange to see Dan and Pru looking so noble. We were all perspiring, and Dan and Pru were being fanned by waitresses, turned court servants, during the whole meal. The weather was so hot that once we had taken our group picture in which we were wearing costumes, the first thing we did was to get rid of the heavy mandarin dresses before we ate. But Dan and Pru took it so seriously that they wore their imperial gowns till the end.
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Our guide, Cong, took us to visit the Citadel and explained that it was planned and constructed on traditional principles of intermingling Occidental and Oriental architecture as a result of the appropriate use of local geographical features. The Citadel of Hue was once a master- piece of the Vietnamese people. The Imperial City, the second wall, is dotted with offices where the monarch and high-ranking mandarins came daily to work. The Forbidden Purple City, the third wall, was the private quarters of the Emperor and his family which including hun- dreds of palace maidservants and dozens of eunuchs. It was fascinat- ing to see that the walls and Royal Palaces of Hue were built on the principles of Chinese geomancy. The whole complex faces southeast, taking the Royal Screen Mount as a natural screen. Two islets in the Perfume River play the roles of "left dragon" and "right dragon" thus guarding the city. In general, the monuments of Hue are made chiefly of ironwood and other Vietnamese traditional materials. They are constructed, however, on a specific "module" and largely to suit the climate and environment of the region.
After the Citadel we visited the Tu Duc Tomb built between 1864 and 1867. Emperor Tu Duc was crowned King during this period of Vietnam's history when capitalism was developing in the West. He was an expert in philosophy, oriental history as well as literature, yet he failed to rule the country successfully. Having no son to succeed him aggravated the situation. To seclude himself he ordered the con- struction of his tomb as a fairyland with poetical features, making it a lifetime recreation ground and a special world for his eternal life after death. With several palaces and a specific man-made landscape the tomb itself is a second ‘Imperial City', an ideal and heavenly world.
That night we had an imperial banquet where we were all required to dress up as mandarins and someone needed to be King and Queen. There was no one better than Dr. Dan Waters, RAS President, to be the Emperor and Pru, an RAS member, took the part of the Empress. With their costumes and majestic headwear, it was strange to see Dan and Pru looking so noble. We were all perspiring and Dan and Pru were being fanned by waitresses, turned court servants, during the whole meal. The weather was so hot that once we had taken our group pic- ture in which we were wearing costumes, the first thing we did was to get rid of the heavy mandarin dresses before we ate. But Dan and Pru took it so seriously that they wore their imperial gowns till the end.
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