Vietnamese have a saying ‘song nha, thac mo’, which means that when alive, people hope they have a spacious home, and when they go to the netherworld, they hope they have a decent resting place. No matter where they are, they all want to have a good home.

That could be why the couple in Hue City spent VND3 billion to build tombs for themselves and set steles when still alive.

Located 33 kilometers from Hue City’s center, An Bang hamlet in Vinh An commune of Phu Vang district, is called ‘the city of tombs’ as there are many tombs built at very high costs, from hundreds of million dong to billions of dong.

There are numerous magnificent tombs in An Bang hamlet cemetery. 

The mausoleum is large and majestic, situated on a side of the road to the An Bang hamlet cemetery. On the pillars and surrounding fences are embossed sacred objects of dragons, phoenixes, landscapes of mountains and rivers, flowers and leaves. The upper floor of the stele house is covered with red tiles, decorated with many colors.

The owners have installed steles with detailed information about the tomb creator.

Local people told VietNamNet that the mausoleum belongs to Ho Van Thiet, 87, and Van Thi Thuan, 86. Both of them live in An Bang hamlet.

Thiet said he and his wife began thinking of building the mausoleum, designing and beginning the construction in 2021 and finishing in 2023. The total cost for the work was VND3 billion.

Thiet and Thuan were born and grew up in the coastal countryside of Phu Vang district. They earned their living on fisheries and led hard lives.

They have nine children and all of them are settled in the US. They left Vietnam as the life was too hard. The couple once tried to live with the children and grandchildren in the US, but they later gave up the idea and returned to their homeland.

According to Thiet, all of his children in the US are well off and regularly remit money to Vietnam to support their parents. When hearing about the idea of building tombs, each of them remitted $5,000 to pay for the construction.

He said that for Vietnamese people, a tomb is just like a house, so it must be built in a magnificent manner.

Quang Thanh