The grandson of Vuong Chinh Duc who was known as the H'mong King in Ha Giang has asked the government to return his family's palace.

Vuong Duy Bao, former deputy head of the Culture Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, told Dantri/Dtinews Newspaper on August 20 that he had just sent a letter to PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc to ask for help in returning the palace built by his grandfather to his family.

According to Bao, the family were not informed about the palace being recognised as a national cultural and architectural heritage site in 1993.

In 2002, local culture officials came to the palace and asked the family to move out so that they could renovate and turn it into a museum, Bao said. 

Although both Bao and his father were working in the Ministry of Culture and Information in Hanoi they only knew about the decision when their family in Ha Giang informed them of the change, he said.

Bao’s father, Vuong Quynh Son, sent letters of complaint to the government and state leaders as well as to the Minister of Culture and Information. The ministry then called to say sorry for the incident and that the house would not be used by the public.

However, Ha Giang Province People's Committee recently granted the land use rights where the palace situates to Dong Van District's Department of Culture, the H'mong King family's representative said, adding that this was unacceptable as his grandfather had given the property to his son and grandson before he died.

"Our family of many generations had lived here for over 100 years so the land use right should have been given to us," Bao said. 

On August 16, the Government Office sent a letter to asked the Ha Giang Provincial People's Committee and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to report about Bao's complaint by August 31.

Lying some 130 kilometres north of Ha Giang Town, the century-old palace is still the largest construction in the area and a unique special architecture style. 

According to a tour guide who is also a woman member of the King's family at the palace, Vuong Chinh Duc (1865 - 1947), known as the king of the H'mong or Meo ethnic minority group in the area, built the palace which cost 150,000 Indochina silver coins equivalent to VND150 billion (USD 6.61 million). Duc earned his fortune from growing and trading opium.

The palace is built from stone, fir wood and terracotta tiling in a combined Chinese, French and H'mong traditional architectural style. Covering a total area of 1,120 square metres, the palace was used as a residence and fortress during the Vuong Dynasty.

Dtinews