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    The ancestral worship house, Chau Doc

    / Last updated 12 May 2014

    Introduction

    On a recent visit to Chau Doc on Vietnam's Mekong River border with Cambodia, I was privileged to visit a dramatic 1912 house of ancestral worship - once of the home of the town's Nguyen Dynasty chief, Le Cong Bich.

    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • ©Photo: Mark Bowyer
    • Mekong Restaurant, the family home and Le Cong Bich's ancestral worship house on the left.
    • The corridor leading to Le Cong Bich's worship room.
    • Landscape paintings, Le Cong Bich's worship house.
    • Le Cong Bich's worship house, Chau Doc.
    • Inlayed cabinet, Le Cong Bich's worship house.
    • Le Cong Bich's worship house, Chau Doc.
    • Le Cong Bich's worship house, Chau Doc.
    • Le Cong Bich's worship house, Chau Doc.
    • Mr Nghiep, a direct descendant of Le Cong Bich.
    • Le Cong Bich's worship house, Chau Doc.
    • Le Cong Bich's worship house, Chau Doc.
    • Le Cong Bich's worship house, Chau Doc.
    • The family tree for four generations until the early twentieth century.
    • Mr Nghiep believes this shot is of the dedication in 1912.
    • Landscape paintings, Le Cong Bich's worship house.
    • Le Cong Bich's worship house, Chau Doc.
    • Le Cong Bich's worship house, Chau Doc.
    • Le Cong Bich's worship house, Chau Doc.
    • Mr Nghiep told me this was schrapnel damage from the Khmer Rouge attacks on Chau Doc in the late 1970s.
    • Le Cong Bich's worship house, Chau Doc.
    • Out the back, another descendant of Le Cong Bich, in her late 70s, works into the night making party decorations.
    Quicklink - Introduction - Mekong Chau Doc