福建會館

Hoi An’s All-Chinese Assembly Hall (會安中華會館)

Like a lot of nerdy little boys, I watched my fair share of old Kung Fu movies when I was younger.

One of the things I always thought strange (but never really questioned) was why the main character always ended up fighting dozens of people at once. It always seemed so unfair.

Another thing I thought strange was a common theme in a lot of these movies that involved Chinese immigrants randomly calling up friends back home when they were having trouble and requesting a martial arts master come help out. 

In Bruce Lee’s Way of the Dragon (猛龍過江) for example, a Cantonese restaurant owner in Rome was having problems with a local crime boss, so he simply called up friends back home in Hong Kong and Bruce Lee suddenly appeared in Rome to help out and kick a bunch of ass. 

It wasn’t until recently that I think I actually figured it out. 

One of the underlying themes of these movies is the shared sense of ‘community’ and ‘brotherhood’ that Chinese people share with each other no matter where they go. This is one of the reasons why you’ll find a “China Town” in most of the world’s major cities.

For most westerners these areas are simply where you go to find amazing authentic Chinese restaurants. There is however much more to a China Town than just the amazing cuisine that you’ll find as within these areas you’ll often find a tight-knit community where people have worked together, helped each other out and prospered despite all the hardships one faces while living in a foreign land.

When we think of a ‘China Town’ we often think about the large sections of London, New York City or Toronto but few people actually realize that you’ll also find these large Chinese communities scattered throughout Asia as well.

In South East Asia you’ll easily find concentrated communities of Chinese immigrants working together, doing business and celebrating their culture in almost every major city and town thanks to the past few hundred years of trade relations and immigration.

One of the ways that the Overseas Chinese community has been able to stick together throughout the centuries has been through the use of Assembly Halls (會館) where people have been able to hang out, celebrate their culture, network, worship, etc. 

The thing about these Assembly Halls is that they were almost always constructed to serve a particular community of immigrants based on where they originally came from. So, even though I made the claim that the people who live and work within the China Town’s around the world are a tight-knit bunch, its also important to realize that the various groups are also often very factionalized and tend to stick to their own.

This is another theme that you might have noticed in Kung Fu movies where rival towns or ethnic groups were constantly battling each other for one reason or another.

So, if you were Cantonese and found yourself in Singapore, you’d probably be spending most of your time with your Cantonese friends and family. The same goes for the Teochew, Hokkiens, Hakka, etc.

This behavior is something that persisted as Chinese immigrant communities grew throughout South East Asia (and the world), so in Hoi An for example, you’ll find Assembly Halls that were constructed specifically for the Cantonese, Teochew, Hokkien and Hainanese people. 

The history of Chinese migration to Hoi An though predates all of the Assembly Halls in town by a century or more. So, at a time when there weren’t enough Cantonese people in the area to fund an Assembly Hall, where did people go? 

They had to suck it up and go to the ‘All-Chinese Assembly Hall’, of course. 

The Chinese Assembly Hall was the first of its kind in town and was constructed by a group of immigrants from various regions of Southern China. These groups set aside their petty differences and came together to build the first network of support where they could count on each other for protection as well as offering a place to get together to do business and worship.

Even though the Chinese Assembly Hall isn’t as popular with tourists as the nearby Fujian or Cantonese Assembly Halls, I personally found a visit to this hall to be one of the most interesting.

Not only is it beautifully designed but it also has a long and interesting history that combines the experience and cultural history of all of the early Chinese immigrants to Hoi An.

It also continues to this day to help educate successive generations about their language and their culture.

Before I start talking about this beautiful hall though, if you’d like to know more about Hoi An or its Overseas Chinese Assembly Halls, I recommend taking a look at my introduction to both:

Link: Chinese Assembly Halls Of Hoi An (會安華人會館)

Trung Hoa Assembly Hall (中華會館)

Hoi An’s first Assembly Hall, the “All-Chinese Assembly Hall” was constructed at a time when Chinese immigration to the area was still a new thing and there weren’t enough people to necessitate the individual halls that would later appear. 

Hoi An was a popular port of call for the worlds traders (including the Chinese, the Japanese and the Europeans) who initially only showed up on a seasonal basis. With trade booming and everyone wanting a piece of what Hoi An had to offer, full time warehouses started appearing and the major powers started sending representatives to live in the area year-round. 

With so many people from around the world showing up in Hoi An, it was important for the Chinese immigrants to band together to protect themselves as well as network with each other.  At that time though there were so few people that it didn’t matter where you came from, you had to get along with each other in order to survive and prosper in business. 

In 1715, with funds contributed by people from Fujian, Canton, Hainan, Chaozhou and the Hakka people, construction started on the Assembly Hall, which would be completed in 1741.

It took almost three decades to complete the hall not only due to the fact that it was a large complex but it also included a school to help educate the children of the immigrants who were migrating to the area. 

Originally named the Duong Thong Assembly Hall (洋商會館), or the “Overseas Merchants Assembly Hall”, it has also gone by several other names throughout its history:

  1. “Hội quán Ngũ Bang” (五幫會館) - Five County Assembly Hall

  2. “Chùa Bà” (媽祖廟)  - Mazu Temple

Interestingly, the hall was not only the first Assembly Hall of its kind in Hoi An, but it was also the home of the first temple dedicated to the worship of the Goddess of the Sea, Thien Hau (天后), who is also named Mazu (媽祖). As the home of the first Heavenly Goddess Temple (天后宮) in Hoi An, the hall was a popular place of worship until the Fujian Assembly Hall a few decades later constructed its own version. 

  • Note: Mazu Worship is predominately a Hokkien (Fujian) tradition that spread throughout Southern China, Taiwan and South East Asia due to immigration.

For quite some time the Assembly Hall was the go-to place for all of the Chinese immigrants and merchants living in Hoi An, but as other halls started to be constructed around town, its significance started to decline. The Hokkiens (1757), Teochews (1852), Cantonese (1885) and Hainanese (1891) constructed halls of their own to better serve the needs of their specific groups. 

Despite its waning significance, where the Assembly Hall continued to excel was in its usage as a place of education, especially for the immigrants who made Hoi An their permanent home.

The Chinese Public School, or the Le-Nghia Public School (禮儀學校) continues to this day to be an important educational tool for both Vietnamese and people of Chinese ancestry who come to take nightly or weekend classes to learn Mandarin. 

For most of its history, the Assembly Hall remained an important place of worship for the Goddess of the Sea and for public education, but things changed in 1917 when the Qing Dynasty (清朝) was overthrown back China and the Republic of China (中華民國) was established.

Le-Nghia Public School (禮儀學校)

From this point on, the hall would become much more political in nature as it was well-known that most of the “Hoa” (華人) people in Vietnam were no fans of the Qing rulers. 

Link: Hoa People (Wiki)

In 1928, the hall changed its name to the Trung Hoa Assembly Hall (中華會館) or the “All-Chinese Assembly Hall” and would add a shrine to Sun Yat Sen (孫中山), the “Father of Modern China” (國父) with new decorations on the walls that included some of his quotes. 

From then on, the Assembly Hall ceased to represent only the five groups that originally funded its construction, but anyone of Chinese origin.

Even though the Republic of China experience was short-lived in China (the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949), the hall has surprisingly not changed any of the decorations in the interior or (as it would seem) its allegiance to the ideals of the ROC, which continues to exist today in Taiwan.    

Design

In terms of the design of this hall, there are some noticeable differences in what you’re going to see compared to the other Assembly Halls in Hoi An.

The most noticeable of those differences is that the hall has recently been given a fresh coating of blue paint on the front gate as well as on the eastern and western wings on the inside. 

The blue paint, which is clearly the same colour blue used in the Republic of China flag is shout out to the recent history of the hall and its adoration for Sun Yat Sen.

The thing I personally liked about the color is that it makes the hall stand out from all the other yellow buildings outside while also blending in perfectly with the beautiful blue skies you get in Hoi An. 

The layout is similar to what you’ll have seen around town with the traditional Chinese ‘Two Hall’ (兩殿兩廊式) architectural style, which simply means that you’ll find a Front Hall (前殿) and a Main Hall (正殿) with an Open-Air Courtyard (中程) and two covered halls on both the eastern (左護龍) and western (右護龍) sides.

From the outside, the Front Hall isn’t much to look at apart from its bright blue paint job.

When you walk inside you’ll discover that the hall is much larger than it appears, but there still isn’t really very much in terms of decoration, which isn’t entirely a terrible thing. Most notably you’ll find a plaque above the front door that reads: “The World is Equally Shared by All” (天下為公), one of the most popular quotes used by Sun Yat Sen.

Link: 國父孫中山畢生奮鬥的目標「天下為公」究竟是什麼?(kknews)

Like the nearby Hainan Assembly Hall, this one also features a Worship Hall (拜亭) that is connected to the front entrance of the Main Hall. The “hall” isn’t actually an enclosed room like the others, but a pavilion of sorts that acts somewhat like the front veranda that you’d find on a house.

One of the key features of this addition (in terms of the design) is that it helps to add layers to the roof as its roof is higher than the wings, yet a little shorter than the roof on the main hall.

The interior of the Worship Hall is quite colourful and includes a large traditional plaque that reads “Heavenly Goddess Temple” (天后宮) that was dedicated in 1992. There are also several long benches on either side that provide the perfect spot to hang out and have a chat in the shade on a warm day. 

Another one of the key differences in the design of this hall is that the Guardian Dragons (護龍) on the western and eastern side of the building are both open-air halls that were used for gatherings or events. They appear to be longer than they actually are due to the fact that the “Le-Nghia Mandarin Language Centre” (禮義華文中心), has been constructed in the space between the western wing and the front hall.

Both of the wings on either side are large open-air spaces that are largely empty and are used primarily for gatherings or events. You’ll also find rooms to the rear on each of the wings which contain a shrine dedicated to the founders of the shrine and another to the Chinese sage Confucius (孔子).

Unfortunately on the day that I visited the hall, the rear-garden area was closed to visitors.

The thing that attracted me to the garden was that there was a large mural of Chinese calligraphy set upon the back wall of the main hall that was dedicated to the sayings of Sun Yat Sen.

Heavenly Goddess Temple (天后宮)

The Main Hall of the Assembly Hall is named the “Heavenly Goddess Temple”, which is a common name for temples dedicated to the Chinese goddess of the sea, Mazu (媽祖).

As I mentioned earlier, the shrine dedicated to the popular goddess was the first of its kind in Hoi An, but when the Hokkien people constructed their Phuc Kien Assembly Hall (福建會館), they constructed their own version of the temple with their Assembly Hall.

That might seem a bit unfair, but the goddess is widely considered not only a patron saint of the sea, but for the Hokkien people as well. So it was important for them to have their own shrine to the goddess. Nevertheless, the shrine to Thien Hau has been a constant fixture in this Assembly Hall for the past three centuries. 

As is tradition, accompanying the goddess you’ll find her two guardian demon friends Thousand Mile Eye (千里眼) and Wind-Following Ear (順風耳) enclosed within glass cases on either side of the front entrance to the main hall. Known in Vietnam respectively as “Thien Ly Nhan” and “Thuan Phong Nhi”, the green-skinned Thousand-Mile Eye keeps his eyes open for danger while the red-skinned Wind-Following Ear is always listening for calls for help.

Together with the Goddess of the Sea, they help protect people at sea. 

Link: Qianliyan (千里眼) | Shunfeng’er (順風耳)

Once you enter the shrine room you’ll notice a large statue of Mazu enclosed within a golden throne in the main area with two smaller shrines on either side. The shrine to the right is dedicated to Thần Tài (財神老爺), otherwise known as “The God of Wealth” and on the right you’ll find ‘Spirit Tablets’ (牌位) dedicated to Anti-Japanese resistance fighters from the area who went to China to battle the Japanese. 

Link: Spirit Tablets (神位)

On the altar in front of the main shrine, you’ll find another statue of the goddess surrounded by flowers and candles with some space left for offerings.

The main shrine isn’t actually all that large, but there are quite a few small details to take note of, so if you’re lucky enough to be in the shrine room at a time when there aren’t many people, you should probably take time to inspect some of those finer details.  

Getting There

 

Hoi An is a coastal town in Vietnam’s central Quang Nam province that is a 30km drive southeast of neighbouring Da Nang City (峴港市). Since Hoi An has become such a popular destination for travellers, getting to the historic town from Da Nang is quite convenient. Whether you arrive by air through Da Nang International Airport, by train through Da Nang Station or by coach, you’ll be able to easily get yourself to Hoi An through public or private transport, all of which are quite affordable. 

While staying in Vietnam, you should also download the “Grab” app for your phone so that you can easily grab a taxi during your travels without having to worry about getting cheated. 

Link: Transportation Guide: How to Get from Da Nang to Hoi An

Once you’ve arrived in Hoi An, getting around is really easy - just walk everywhere! 

The ‘Old Town’ area of Hoi An that has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site isn’t all that big, and due to so much pedestrian traffic, they’ve blocked the area off from cars, so unless you’re riding a bicycle or a scooter, the best way to get around is on foot.

When you’re ready to start exploring you’ll find that the majority of historic properties, temples, museums and restaurants are located on or between the riverside and Tran Phu Street. What you’ll want to keep in mind though is that exploring the historic properties of Old Town isn’t free, so you’re going to have to purchase an entrance ticket.

The entrance tickets are 120,000 VND (5 USD) per person and gives you access to five sightseeing places. The tickets are valid for the duration of your stay, so if you don’t use all of the tickets on your first day, you’ll still be able to use what you have remaining on the next day.

With so many places to visit within the Old Town though, five tickets might not be enough, so you might have to purchase a second set of tickets if you want to fully experience the town. 

Link: Hoi An Old Town Ticket, Entrance Fees & Sites (Hidden Hoi An)

The All-Chinese Assembly Hall is located almost directly in the centre of the historic pedestrian area of Hoi An. Located between the Fujian and Cantonese Assembly Halls, you’ll find quite a few cafes, restaurants and shops near the hall. There are also usually vendors outside on the sidewalk selling things. 

Address: 64 Trần Phú, Cẩm Châu, Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam

The hall is open from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm daily.


Hoi An’s Hainan Assembly Hall (會安瓊府會館)

While planning for my trip to Hoi An, I was excited that I would have to opportunity to visit all of the historic Overseas Chinese Assembly Halls in town. I’d be lying though if I didn’t admit that I was especially excited about the Fujian and Chaozhou halls though as I figured that they would be quite similar to the temples and traditional homes that I’ve become accustomed to here in Taiwan.

I figured that part of my trip would be a case study in the ways that these immigrant groups changed to adapt to their new surroundings both in Vietnam as well as in Taiwan.  With those two in particular though, it was all about familiarity. I knew I would completely understand everything I was going to see when I got there and they didn’t disappoint.

I’m a bit of a history nerd though, so what fun would I be having if I was just exploring the places that I’d be most familiar with? When it came to the other Assembly Halls in Hoi An that I planned on exploring, there would be a certain level of familiarity with what I’d be seeing, but I’d also be able to learn quite a bit about the experience of other groups of Chinese immigrants and their cultures. 

Of the other halls on my list, the one that probably excited me the most was the Hainan Assembly Hall.

There are a few reasons for this - The first being that Hainan is a place in China that I don’t really know very much about in terms of the local culture and architecture. It was however also a hall that had a very special history in Hoi An and coincidentally also stood out from the rest because it was the last one in town to open up for tourism.  

When I finally arrived at the gate of the Assembly Hall, I wasn’t disappointed. 

It was one of the prettiest in town and the history was absolutely fascinating. 

Before I get into any of that though, if you’d like to learn more about “Assembly Halls” before reading about this one, I recommend reading my earlier post about the Chinese Assembly Halls of Hoi An where I describe them in more detail.

Link: Chinese Assembly Halls of Hoi An (會安華人會館)

Hải Nam Assembly Hall (瓊府會館)

The Hainan Assembly Hall is one of the ‘youngest’ of all the halls in Hoi An, but due to the fact that it hasn’t been open for tourist for very long, most of the information you’ll find about it on the internet is hit-and-miss. 

One of the areas where people seem to really disagree when it comes to this hall is on some of the important dates in its history - namely 1851, 1875 and 1891.

So let me clear things up.

The Assembly Hall wasn’t constructed in 1851 as quite a few places insist.

What happened in 1851 was an unfortunate event that would ultimately lead to the construction of the hall.

What kind of unfortunate event you might ask? Well, a massacre that included pirates.

Likewise, the Assembly Hall wasn’t constructed in 1875.

That was the year when the events that took place in 1851 were finally solved and under immense public pressure, the Emperor of Vietnam offered a formal apology to the immigrants from Hainan, granted deity status to those who were murdered and also donated funds for the construction of the hall. 

Construction actually started in 1883 and would be completed a few years later in 1891.

You might think that a construction period of eight years is quite long, but the reason why it took so long was due to the fact that most of the materials for the construction of the hall were hand made and transported directly from Hainan. 

I won’t bore you with fine details of the construction, but the key thing to remember as to why this Assembly Hall stands out from some of the others in town is due to the circumstances regarding its construction. All of the other halls were constructed using funds donated by the immigrant community in Hoi An.

The Hainan Assembly Hall however was constructed with funds donated directly by the Vietnamese Emperor.

Having the support of your local community is one thing, but having the financial support of the Emperor is another thing entirely (even if that support came under unfortunate circumstances).

Design

To the untrained eye, from the outside looking in, the Hainan Assembly Hall might seem rather ‘plain’ compared to the other halls that you’ll find in Hoi An. That might also be why there are so few tourists inside.

You’ll have to trust me though, that isn’t really the case - The Hainan Assembly Hall might not be as flashy as the others, but it is truly one of the most significant tourist destinations in Hoi An and if you pass by thinking that you don’t want to use one of the tickets on your tourist pass to check it out, you’d be doing yourself a disservice. 

The layout of the hall was constructed using the traditional Chinese ‘Two Hall Two ’ (兩殿兩護龍室) architectural style which simply means that there is a Front Hall (前殿), Main Hall (正殿), an Open Air Courtyard (中程) and two covered halls on both the Eastern (左護龍) and Western (右護龍) sides, forming what looks like a square from above.

The Front Hall, which opens to the road serves as both the gate and greeting area for the Assembly Hall.

From the outside, the Front Hall actually looks a little plain and is only separated from the main road through town by a fence with some typical the typical yellow Hoi An-style pillars. 

Once you actually walk into the hall though, you’ll notice that it is considerably larger than it appears from the outside and features a large space where people can hang out for a chat or have some tea.

Once inside you’ll find a small shrine dedicated to the Earth God (福德正神) on your right and a plaque on the wall that explains the storied history of the hall (in several languages) which most importantly tells the story of the ‘108 Brothers’ to whom the shrine inside is dedicated.

Beyond the Front Hall is the large open-air courtyard which features a well-maintained natural space with potted plants on either side that are arranged in a way that forms a pathway to the to the Main Hall.

Compared to the other Assembly Halls around town, this one stands out as probably the most organized and well-maintained of the lot with the greenery adding to the beauty of the hall rather than taking away from it.  

The Earth God Shrine in the Front Hall

On both the Eastern and Western sides of the hall you’ll find the ‘Assembly Hall’ sections in what are known in Chinese architecture as Protective Dragons (護龍). Both of these wings are where the Hainan immigrants would hold meetings, events or large gatherings. Today the spaces are mostly empty, but you’ll find some tables and chairs inside with decorations on the walls.

On each side there is also a room to the rear where where you’ll find Ancestral Worship shrines dedicated to the generations of Hainanese people who immigrated to Hoi An.

Before I move on to talk about the main hall, I’d like to take a minute to explain the reason why I enjoyed visiting this hall as much as I did the larger, more popular halls. When I visited the Fujian Assembly Hall, I got to appreciate the Hokkien architecture and porcelain decorations. Likewise, the Chaozhou Assembly Hall is notable for its beautiful wood-carvings. These architectural styles and decorations are indicative of their respective homelands.

What then stands out at the Hainan Assembly Hall? For me, it was the well-maintained courtyard that offered a natural space which blended together harmoniously with the simplicity of design and the addition of a beautifully constructed Worship Hall (拜亭) connected to the main hall.

Likewise, if you are looking for a place where you’ll find the attention to detail when it comes to ‘Feng Shui’ (風水), then look no further to this hall. Even if you don’t believe in all that Feng Shui stuff, you’ll certainly be able to agree that there’s a certain calming nature to this hall, especially since outside its walls are thousands of tourists making a bunch of noise.

‘Worship Halls’ are typically four-sided pavilion-like structures that are added to the front entrance of a temple, much like a veranda on a house. The roof on the Worship Hall is a bit higher than what you’ll see on the eastern and western wings, with the roof on the Main Hall behind it rising just a little higher, which makes for some interesting shapes and also makes it seem like there are several different levels.

Honestly, its a bit hard to explain the detail of the roof in simple terms, but believe me, the design here is second-to-none in Hoi An and even though the Hokkien people of Fujian are known for their “swallow-tail roof” design, I feel like the addition of the Worship Hall here adds to the design making it one of the prettiest Assembly Halls in tow.  

Placed just under the roof of the Worship Hall you’ll find the Chinese characters “昭應殿” (zhāo yīng diàn) placed on a plaque. This is the official name of the place of worship inside the Main Hall and more or less means that ‘You’ve come to the right place if you’re looking for answers to your problems’. 

Main Hall (正殿) 

As I’ve already mentioned, the shrine area of this hall is a bit different than what you’ll find at all of the other Assembly Halls in Hoi An. In the others you’ll find shrines with statues dedicated to Chinese folk religion, Taoist and Buddhist figures such as Mazu (媽祖), the God of War (關公) and Guanyin (觀音).

The three shrines in this hall though don’t feature any statues - all you’ll find are Spirit Tablets (牌位), which are tablets that ‘represent’ deities.  

Link: Spirit Tablet (神主牌)

The main shrine in the temple is dedicated to the ‘108 Brothers’ who are also known as ‘Xiongdi Gong’ and are part of an interesting (and unfortunate) story that will forever link Vietnam and the island of Hainan. 

The story of the “Nghia Liet Chieu Ung” or the ‘One Hundred and Eight Brothers’ (一百零八兄弟) is an interesting one and over the years has become a religious tradition that has spread throughout the world in areas where the people of Hainan have immigrated - but is directly linked to Hoi An!

In 1851, during the late stages of the Qing Dynasty, the economic and political situation in China was pretty terrible (part of the reason why so many people start immigrating to South East Asia), so to earn a living many in Hainan started traveling back and forth to Vietnam for seasonal work. 

The story of what actually happened tends to vary, but most accounts go something like this: A boat carrying 109 Hainanese was attacked by Vietnamese pirates (or possibly rogue government officials) and all but one of them was robbed and murdered. The one person left remaining was a cook who had hid himself on the lower deck of the ship and lived to tell the story about what happened to all of the people on the boat. 

It is said that while the massacre was taking place a storm suddenly appeared at sea and flocks of crows crowded around the Vietnamese Emperors palace - It would later be explained to the Emperor that the crows were there as a warning that a great crime had taken place and would not leave until the crime was solved. 

Years later, while browsing a market in Hoi An, a Hainanese immigrant came across a man wearing a ring that he had personally given to one of the people who were massacred. After a fight, both men were arrested and it was discovered that the man wearing the ring was one of the pirates who took part in the massacre.

After admitting to his crime, the Emperor ordered all of his companions to be rounded up and all of their loot confiscated. The Emperor then performed a ritual prayer to help give peace to the murdered souls and deified them as martyrs.

He then provided funds for the people to construct a shrine in their honour. 

When people back in Hainan learned of what happened, they also constructed a memorial temple for the ‘Xiongdi Gong’ and have held a yearly celebration every year since on the 27th day of the 5th lunar month to pay their respects. 

Link: Xiongdi Gong (兄弟公)

As mentioned above the main shrine has a Spirit Tablet dedicated to the ‘108 Brothers’, but as is most often the case with Chinese places of worship, there is more than one shrine in the main shrine room.

The shrine on the left is dedicated to the founders of the hall while the shrine on the right is dedicated to the Chinese God of Wealth (財神爺), who is a popular deity with merchants and pretty much anyone who wants to make money.

Even though UNESCO designated Hoi An as a World Heritage Site in 1999, it would take another seventeen years for the Hainan Assembly Hall to open to the public for tourism. During those years, the hall went through a period of restoration and finally opened up on November 23rd, 2016.

In the years since it has started to become more well-known as stop for the tourists visiting Hoi An.

But it deserves a lot more attention.

The Assembly Hall is considerably less flashy in its design when you compare it to the other halls around town, but its architectural style is absolutely beautiful, if you take some time to enjoy the small details.

I’d highly recommend taking some time to stop by this Assembly Hall.

Not only will you be able to enjoy the beautiful architecture, but the a special history that directly links Hoi An to Hainan as well as the Hainanese diaspora that has spread throughout the world.

Getting There

 

Hoi An is a coastal town in Vietnam’s central Quang Nam province that is a 30km drive southeast of neighbouring Da Nang City (峴港市). Since Hoi An has become such a popular destination for travellers, getting to the historic town from Da Nang is quite convenient. Whether you arrive by air through Da Nang International Airport, by train through Da Nang Station or by coach, you’ll be able to easily get yourself to Hoi An through public or private transport, all of which are quite affordable. 

While staying in Vietnam, you should also download the “Grab” app for your phone so that you can easily grab a taxi during your travels without having to worry about getting cheated. 

Link: Transportation Guide: How to Get from Da Nang to Hoi An

Once you’ve arrived in Hoi An, getting around is really easy - just walk everywhere! 

The ‘Old Town’ area of Hoi An that has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site isn’t all that big, and due to so much pedestrian traffic, they’ve blocked the area off from cars, so unless you’re riding a bicycle or a scooter, the best way to get around is on foot. 

When you’re ready to start exploring you’ll find that the majority of historic properties, temples, museums and restaurants are located on or between the riverside and Tran Phu Street. What you’ll want to keep in mind though is that exploring the historic properties of Old Town isn’t free, so you’re going to have to purchase an entrance ticket.

The entrance tickets are 120,000 VND (5 USD) per person and gives you access to five sightseeing places. The tickets are valid for the duration of your stay, so if you don’t use all of the tickets on your first day, you’ll still be able to use what you have remaining on the next day.

With so many places to visit within the Old Town though, five tickets might not be enough, so you might have to purchase a second set of tickets if you want to fully experience the town. 

Link: Hoi An Old Town Ticket, Entrance Fees & Sites (Hidden Hoi An)

The Hainan Assembly Hall is located along the pedestrian stretch of Tran Phu Road, one of the main walking areas through the Old Town area of Hoi An and is located a short distance away from both the Chaozhou Assembly Hall and the Fujian Assembly Hall.

The outside of the hall looks a bit plain compared to the others but don’t let that fool you, the inside is beautiful and its well worth a visit. 

Address: 10 Trần Phú, Cẩm Châu, Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam

The hall is open from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm daily.


Chinese Assembly Halls of Hoi An (會安華人會館)

Having lived in Taiwan for so long, when I travel to other countries in the region, I tend to carefully choose the locations that I visit. Most of the time the places I choose are those that are somewhat familiar or those that help to expand my knowledge about Taiwan and its history. 

You may find it strange that I travel to other countries just to learn more about Taiwan, but the history of Asia is rather interconnected, so when I travel, its always possible to connect the dots with the things I’ve been learning here while learning about another country and its culture at the same time.

When I planned my trip to Okinawa for example, one of the destinations that was at the top of my list was the Naha Confucius Temple. Most visitors to the area probably have no idea that the temple even exists, but for me, it was an important stop that helped me learn more about the history of Chinese immigration to the islands and their relationship with Taiwan as well.  

So, while planning an almost month-long vacation to central and northern Vietnam (with an additional stop in northern Thailand), I was eager to keep that tradition alive. I planned to check out some places that would help me learn more about the history of the region and in particular places that were related to or similar to what we so often see over here with the historic buildings in Taiwan.  

The first stop on our trip was the famed UNESCO World Heritage recognized town of Hoi An in central Vietnam. This stop was probably the one that excited me the most as I’d not only to get to experience the history of this amazing port town, but also get to check out some of the famed “Assembly Halls” constructed by the Chinese immigrants, who moved there several centuries ago.

The thing about these halls is that while they serve a multitude of roles (which I’ll get into later) they also include shrines to Chinese folk-religion deities. So even though I’d be exploring central Vietnam, I’d also be visiting Taiwanese temple-like buildings that have been around for several centuries.

For most people, this might seem boring, but for me it was an adventure!

My next few blog posts are going to focus on the “Assembly Halls” of Hoi An, a subject that you won’t find too much information about online, but a topic that I believe is important to not only understanding the history of Hoi An with regard to Chinese immigration as well as the continued struggle of ethnic-Chinese people living there in maintaining their cultural identity.

First things first though - Let’s talk a little bit about Hoi An!

Hoi An (會安) 

The port city of Hội An in central Vietnam was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999 and in the two decades since has transformed from a quiet town into a bustling tourist destination and a hotspot for historical preservation. 

Centuries before, Hoi An was one of the country’s most important ports of call and was a popular stomping ground for the Portuguese, Spanish, French, British, Dutch, Japanese, Indian and especially Chinese traders - many of whom stuck around and left their mark on the town.

Why was everyone coming to Hoi An you might ask? 

Well, from the 15th to 18th centuries, the warehouses in the town were filled to the brim with highly-sought commodities such as high-grade silk, fabrics, paper, porcelain, Areca nuts, peppercorns, Chinese medicine, elephant tusks, beeswax, mother-of-pearl and lacquer. 

For several hundred years business was so good that the foreign traders who visited on a seasonal basis each year eventually decided to make their presence permanent by constructing their own warehouses and leaving full time representatives in the area.

This is where the melting pot of nationalities started to have a lasting effect on the landscape of  Hoi An, especially with regard to architecture. 

Unfortunately, as the saying goes, nothing lasts forever.

When the Tây Sơn peasant rebellion overthrew the Nguyễn Dynasty in the eighteenth century, Hoi An was targeted by the rebels (as it was perceived as a major source of economic power for the ruling elite) and the city was torched and for the most part left to rot. 

Despite Hoi An’s importance to the international community, the political situation in Vietnam became deplorable for most of the local people who reaped little benefit from the economic might of the city. The Tay Son gained broad support from peasants, ethnic minorities, merchants townspeople who were attracted to a message of seizing land from the wealthy and redistributing it to the poor with equal rights, justice and liberty.

Even though the Tay Son were able to rally the poor and had some military success, their reign over Vietnam was short lived as the French and the remnants of the Nguyen family cooperated to restore the Nguyen Dynasty to power under the leadership of Emperor Gia Long with the country united under a single authority for the first time.     

By the turn of the nineteenth century, Hoi An started to come back to life and was transformed into the historic town that we see today. Unfortunately by that time, the Thu Bồn River had already silted up making the port inaccessible to larger boats which sent the majority of international trade to nearby Đà Nẵng (峴港). 

With Hoi An’s declining importance as an international port of trade, it later became an administrative centre for the French Colonialists and then eventually a forgotten backwater that was amazingly left untouched by the changes (and devastation) that took place around the rest of the country.

The Hoi An of today features a harmonious blend of Japanese, Chinese and French Colonial architectural influences blended together with local Vietnamese design, making the town quite unique and worthy of its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

While the rest of Vietnam tends to be hectic and noisy, Hoi An maintains its laid back ambience with its historic buildings, museums, cafes, restaurants and bars - Tourists who visit the beautiful town are able to relax and enjoy warm days that turn into lantern-lit nights where you can explore while enjoying the classics of Bach, Mozart and Chopin through the street speakers.

“Hoi An”, which means ‘peaceful meeting place’ in Chinese certainly lives up to its name.

For more in-depth information about the area, I highly recommend checking out Hidden Hoi An, which is one of the best resources you’ll find online about traveling to the city, its destinations and pretty much anything else you’d like to know.

Chinese Assembly Halls (華人會館) 

To explain what Assembly Halls are, let me start by first making a completely unrelated personal comparison:

I’m a Scottish-Canadian.

My family is part of the “Scottish diaspora” which consists of Scottish people and their descendants, who have spread throughout the world over the past few centuries. The actual number of people in the diaspora is hard to calculate, but it is estimated that there are around 28 - 40 million of us. 

Why is this significant? 

Well, in comparison, the Chinese diaspora consists of well over 50 million people and is the largest overseas ethnic group in the world. 

When we talk about “Overseas Chinese” (海外華人) though, the term is often over-simplified and misunderstood as somewhat of a homogenous ethnic group, which is actually very far from the truth. 

Although it can be argued that the majority of the diaspora are Han Chinese (漢人), it is important to note that the China of today is a country that consists of more than fifty different ethnic groups.

So when we use the broad term “Overseas Chinese”, what we’re actually doing is painting all of these people with the same brush and disregarding their very unique cultures, languages, cuisines, etc.

Within the diaspora, the largest groups within the “Chinese” community are those that hail from Southern China and are either Cantonese (廣東人), Hoochew (福建人), Hokkien (閩南人), Hakka (客家人) or Teochew (潮州人).

Having spread to almost every country in the world, you’ll easily find a community of tight-knit ‘Overseas Chinese’ almost anywhere you visit. In the west we’re familiar with our “China Towns” where that are home to large communities of ethnic Chinese citizens but the size of those communities often pales in comparison to those in South East Asia, where there has been a long history of exploration, migration and trade. 

There is of course a laundry list of both positive and negative reasons why the people of China have migrated away from their homeland over the past few centuries, but for the purpose of this blog, I’m not going to delve too deeply into that.

Link: Overseas Chinese (Wiki) 

In South East Asia, Overseas Chinese currently make up around 10% of the total population - The vast majority of these immigrants though have been living in their respective homes for several generations and have already assimilated into the local cultures. So much so that you might find it hard to differentiate them.  

That being said, one of the things that has allowed Overseas Chinese communities to thrive wherever they went has been the strong sense of ‘community’ and the importance placed on maintaining cultural traditions.

One of the ways they have been able to successfully maintain their cultural traditions over the centuries has been thanks to the formation of tight-knit communities as well as through the construction of ‘social clubs’ or ‘partnerships’ where people of a common ancestry are brought together to network with each other as well as overcome economic difficulty, social ostracism and oppression. 

What does this all mean? To put it simply, it means that if you were Cantonese and you showed up in Malaysia, one of the first things that you would do is search out the local community of Cantonese people and make friends with them, which would make your life in your new home much easier. 

How would one go about doing this? 

Well, your best bet would be to find the local ‘Cantonese Assembly Hall’.

Overseas Chinese Assembly Halls go by a bunch of different names in both Chinese and English, so finding information about them on the internet isn’t an easy task.

Finding one however isn’t all that difficult as they have been constructed all over the world. 

Assembly Halls are essentially buildings that were constructed for people of a particular ethnic origin to have a safe space to gather with each other. While inside you could easily conduct the social, spiritual and commercial business of the day as well as helping to keep the traditions of their homeland alive.

While it isn’t always the case in western countries, in South East Asia, these Assembly Halls are most often historic buildings and are typically designed with traditional Chinese architecture. They do however tend to vary in their design (and decoration) based on the location they are constructed in as well as the culture that they represent. 

What will you find inside an Assembly Hall? 

  1. A space for spiritual reflection

  2. A space for ancestral worship.

  3. A space for holding meetings or events.  

Thien-Hau, otherwise known as Mazu, the Goddess of the Sea.

In Vietnam, people of Chinese origin are known as the “Hoa People” (越南華人) and currently number almost one million - making up almost one percent of the total population.

The shared history between China and Vietnam is something that goes back thousands of years - So, if you’re in the country you’ll be able find Assembly Halls from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City.

Link: The Chinese Temples and Guildhalls of Cholon (Spectral Codex)

In the UNESCO World Heritage town of Hoi An though, you’ll find several of these historic buildings and almost all of them have become popular tourist attractions.

Within the historic port town you’ll find a Cantonese Assembly Hall (廣筆會館), Fujian Assembly Hall (福建會館), Chaozhou Assembly Hall (潮州會館), Hainan Assembly Hall (海南會館) and Chinese Assembly Hall (中華會館) - Each of which has actively served the spiritual and cultural needs of the Overseas Chinese community for the past couple of centuries. 

While these historic Assembly Halls have played important roles throughout history for the ethnic group they were constructed for, the situation today is a bit more liberal and a lot less factionalized.

It goes without saying that each of the respective overseas Chinese communities have been in their respective homes for several generations and their communities are well-established. So even though the halls continue to maintain traditional practices and offer a place for spiritual worship, they have also become important tourist destinations offering a glimpse into the interesting history that these immigrants have played in the region for the past few centuries. 

As I mentioned above, I will be posting several articles with regard to these Assembly Halls, so as I them, this article will continue to serve as an introduction that I will update with links to the respective hall.

Below I’ll provide a brief introduction to each of the Assembly Halls in Hoi An as well as provide a map to all of the important tourist destinations in the city.

Before I move on though, I’d like to give Mr. Chiang Wei-wen (蔣為文) of Taiwan’s Academia Sinica (中央研究所) a shout out for his thesis titled: “ 越南會安古城當代明鄉人、華人及越南人之 互動關係與文化接觸“ which has been one of the most amazing resources for all of the research I’ve done for this article and the others that will follow. As I also mentioned earlier, information about these Assembly Halls is hit and miss, so I can’t thank him enough for the amazing research that he’s done.


The Quang Trieu Assembly Hall is one of Hoi An’s most popular tourist destinations - located a short distance from the waterfront and the Japanese-Covered Bridge, it is almost always jam-packed with travelers enjoying the beautiful open-courtyards and temple. 

The Assembly Hall is dedicated to the Cantonese immigrants who came to Hoi An from the Guangdong (廣東) region of China. Constructed in 1885, the large Assembly Hall has a temple dedicated to Quan Cong (關公), the Chinese God of War (and so many other things). . 

One of the highlights of a visit to the Cantonese Assembly Hall is a stop at the traditional garden to the rear of the hall where you’ll find a beautifully designed dragon fountain surrounded by a bit of nature.  

Address: 176 Trần Phú, Phường Minh An, Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam


The Phuc Kien Assembly Hall is the largest of all of Hoi An’s Assembly Halls - It might also be the most beautiful of the bunch. One of Hoi An’s most popular tourist destinations, the 250 year old Assembly Hall and place of worship has been an important meeting place for the Hokkien (閩南) people, who immigrated to the area from Fujian Province in China. 

The interior is home to a temple known as the “Heavenly Goddess Temple” (天后宮), dedicated to the Goddess of the Sea “Thien Hau” (天后). It has also become a popular stop for local Vietnamese people looking for a blessing from the Goddess of Fertility.

Address: 46 Trần Phú, Cẩm Châu, Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam


The Triều Châu Assembly Hall, constructed in 1887 is dedicated to the Teochew people who hail from the Chaozhou (潮州) region of China’s Guangdong Province. 

The Assembly Hall is located near the popular Hoi An Market, but is a short distance away from the main pedestrian stretch making it considerably more quiet than some of the other Assembly Halls in town.

The great thing about the relative quiet you get while visiting though is that you are easily able to enjoy all the small details within without being disturbed. Those details are quite important considering that the Teochew people are renowned throughout China for their woodworking skills, which are expertly put on display within this Assembly Hall. 

Address: 345 Nguyễn Duy Hiệu, Cẩm Châu, Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam


The Hải Nam Assembly Hall, constructed in 1875 is dedicated to the immigrants from China’s Hainan Province (海南), an island south of the Chinese mainland.

Situated along the pedestrian stretch of historic Hoi An, the Hainan Assembly Hall is a bit different than the others in town - its place of worship is dedicated to an unfortunate historic event that took place.

The temple honors 108 Chinese traders who were mistaken for pirates while traveling to Hoi An for business and were brutally massacred. Later, when the Vietnamese Emperor Tu Duc discovered what happened, he provided funds to the Hainanese people in the area to construct the Assembly Hall and deified the sailors as martyrs, hoping to make amends. 

Like all of the Assembly Halls in Hoi An, this one was constructed with traditional Chinese architecture but it is also quite simple in terms of its decoration.

Address: 10 Trần Phú, Cẩm Châu, Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam


The Trung Hoa Assembly Hall, or the “All-Chinese Assembly Hall” is a bit different than the other halls in town. 

The previous few Assembly Halls were all dedicated to specific ethnic groups while this one was constructed to help out anyone of Chinese descent living in Hoi An. 

As one of the oldest Assembly Halls in the city, it was constructed with funds contributed by people from all over Southern China including Fujian, Chaozhou, Guangdong and Hainan.

It not only helped to serve as a place for immigrants to get together to network and do business with each other but also to bridge the divide between the different ethnic groups, which historically have been at odds with each other.  

Like the Fujian Assembly Hall, the main shrine is dedicated to the Goddess Thien Hau, but you’ll also find shrines to Sun Yat Sen (孫中山), the founder of the Republic of China (中華民國) and one of the most important figures in modern Chinese history.

You’ll also find a shrine dedicated to the soldiers who died during the anti-Japanese resistance as well as another dedicated to Confucius (孔子). 

For much of its history, the Assembly Hall was home to a Chinese Public School which provided an educational space for those who didn’t have an Assembly Hall of their own. Today that school is home to a language-learning centre where people can go to learn the language, culture and tradition of their ancestors. 

It’s also a pretty popular tourist attraction within Hoi An and is well worth a visit as the architectural design is beautiful.

Address: 64 Trần Phú, Phường Minh An, Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam

Minh Huong Communal House (明鄉萃先堂)

Is this one actually an Assembly Hall? Is it Chinese?

There’s certainly a bit of debate on this subject, but I’m going to go ahead and include it on my list anyway.

If you’re willing to place the Minh Huong Communal Hall in the same category as all the other Assembly Halls in Hoi An, then it is the most historic of all of them.

You’d think that such a historic building would be a major tourist destination, but unfortunately it doesn’t really seem like the people in charge know how to sell it to the outside world, which is a shame.

The Minh Huong Communal Hall is the “Assembly Hall” constructed by and dedicated to the “Minh Huong” (明鄉) people, an interesting group of Chinese immigrants/refugees, who were one of the first waves of Chinese immigrants to make their home in Hoi An and start doing business there.

Today the Minh Huong are considered to be Vietnamese and even though their ancestors hailed from China, they maintain quite a few of the cultural and religious traditions that their ancestors brought with them from China and their Communal Hall is an interesting place to visit if you want to learn about their complicated and fascinating history.

Address: 14 Trần Phú, Cẩm Châu, Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam


Getting to Hoi An

Hoi An is a coastal town in Vietnam’s central Quang Nam province that is a 30km drive southeast of neighbouring Da Nang City. Since Hoi An has become such a popular destination for travelers, getting to the historic town from Da Nang is quite convenient.

Whether you arrive by air through Da Nang International Airport, by train through Da Nang Station or by coach, you’ll be able to easily get yourself to Hoi An through public or private transport, all of which are quite affordable. 

While staying in Vietnam, you should also download the “Grab” app for your phone so that you can easily grab a taxi during your travels without having to worry about getting cheated. 

Link: Transportation Guide: How to Get from Da Nang to Hoi An

Once you’ve arrived in Hoi An, getting around is really easy - just walk everywhere! 

The ‘Old Town’ area of Hoi An that has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site isn’t all that big, and due to so much pedestrian traffic, they’ve blocked the area off from cars, so unless you’re riding a bicycle or a scooter, the best way to get around is on foot.

When you’re ready to start exploring you’ll find that the majority of historic properties, temples, museums and restaurants are located on or between the riverside and Tran Phu Street.

What you’ll want to keep in mind though is that exploring the historic properties of Old Town isn’t free, so you’re going to have to purchase an entrance ticket as one of the tourist information centers.

The entrance tickets are 120,000 VND (5 USD) per person and give you access to five sightseeing destinations. The tickets are valid for the duration of your stay, so if you don’t use all of the tickets on your first day, you’ll still be able to use what you have remaining on the next day.

With so many places to visit within the Old Town though, five tickets might not be enough, so you might have to purchase a second set of tickets if you want to fully experience the town. 

Link: Hoi An Old Town Ticket, Entrance Fees & Sites (Hidden Hoi An)

The map below lists each of the Assembly Halls as well as a few other places of interest that you’ll want to visit if you find yourself in the area.

Popular Destinations in the UNESCO World Heritage town of Hoi An in central Vietnam. www.goteamjosh.com

There are quite a few interesting destinations to stop and visit within the historic city of Hoi An - If you’re asking me though, the most interesting of all of them are the Chinese Assembly Halls.

You might be thinking: Why would I visit Vietnam to check out Chinese stuff?

Well, if you’re visiting Vietnam, there are lots of places to visit where you can easily enjoy Vietnamese culture, cuisine and architecture.

Hoi An however is a village that made its riches from foreign traders and the Chinese immigrants that made their home there have had a lasting impact on not only the small city, but the country as a whole.

If you’re visiting Hoi An, you’ll definitely want to visit some of the historic traders houses, but trust me, these Assembly Halls are much more interesting and you’ll definitely enjoy yourself when you visit!