Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on February 15 offered incense in tribute of King Quang Trung at the Dong Da Mound in Hanoi, a special national relic site which reportedly witnessed one of the most famous battles in Vietnam’s history of fighting invaders.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc pays tribute to King Quang Trung at the temple
dedicated to the King at Dong Da Mound in Hanoi (Photo: VNA) 

An annual festival is held at the relic site on the fifth day of the lunar year to mark the Dong Da-Ngoc Hoi battle between King Quang Trung’s troops and Chinese Qing invaders in spring 1789. The battle smashed the intention to occupy Vietnam of the Qing dynasty.

King Quang Trung (1753-1792), whose real name is Nguyen Hue, was the second king of the Tay Son dynasty of Vietnam, reigning from 1788 until 1792. He mastered the Tay Son army’s speedy operation from Phu Xuan (Hue) to the north to defeat 20,000 Qing aggressors and liberate Thang Long citadel in 1789.

This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hanoi suspended the Dong Da Mound festival.