Legend has it that in a Great Flood year, there was a golden bell lying on a raft and floating to the floodplain of Nhan Duc’s territory. Folks attempted to take this bell to their hometown but they could not. However, the elderly of Nhan Duc could do it. People said it was help of Nature; thus, villagers summoned labors and money to build up the Pagoda and hang the bell up. As hitting the bell, the echoes spread for miles. Thus, the pagoda is called Kim Chung Tu (golden bell pagoda). ...
The golden bell pagoda is about 1,700 years old and was renovated in later Le dynasty. Chuong pagoda is located in Nhan Duc village, Hien Nam district, Hung Yen province. The West is adjacent to Red River embankment. As it is also next to 39A national road across Ha Noi – Hung Yen – Thai Binh, tourists find it convenient to get here by both waterway and by road.
The beauty of Chuong pagoda is in the coherent structure. Going from the gate, there comes a big bell which is about 1 meter high. It is hung up on the 3rd floor of the main gate that is also called Tam Quan. From here, tourists go across a 20-meter stone bridge. In the summer, once taking the firsts steps on the bridge, we can feel the aroma of numerous pink lotus flowers blooming in front of the Buddhist zone.
In front of three jewels of the pagoda yard, there is a stone altar written the Chinese characters in the center "Chính hoà thập nhị thập tam niên” that means this pagoda was built in the later Le dynasty. There are two corridors in two sides. In the end, there are a bell tower, and an ancestral house. The statue systems in the pagoda are varied such as Tam The, Di Da tam Ton, Cuu Long. The significant ones are 8 statues of Kim Cuong, 18 statues of La Han, 4 statues of Bo Tat. Statues are sculpted sophisticatedly in the sitting positions with the face showing different emotions such as anger, happiness, sadness.
There are two Buddhist caves illustrating the image of Chen Yi, a Chinese Buddhist monk, going to obtain I ching, the image of Hell with dogs barking, snakes squeezing the devils. This aims at deterring people from committing crime. In addition, the Pagoda treasures a large number of ancient princess consorts and couplets, stone boards in which there is one called “Kim Chung tự thạch bi ký” built in 7th Vinh Thinh year ( 1711) describing the landscape and position of the pagoda and contributors. This helps researchers to advance the study of a route that connected Pho Hien with Thang Long and ran in front of the pagoda gate as well as acknowledge the ward unit of Pho Hien which included 20 wards at that time.
Since 1991, after the seminar of Pho Hien historical relics at National and Provincial level, Hung Yen province has invested tens of billions VND to renovate Chuong pagoda. Each year, this place draws hundreds of outbound tourists and domestic tourists to come and contemplate the pagoda. Recently, a management board of Chuong pagoda has been established under People’s Committee of Hung Yen city. The pagoda was acknowledged as the cultural art architecture historical relics in 1992 by Ministry of Culture and Information which is currently Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
