Zhongzheng Park is located on the slopes of Dashawan Mountain, to the east of Keelung City. The park is renowned for its striking 25 meter tall white statue of the Goddess of Mercy, which has become an iconic feature of Keelung.
The park offers panoramic views of Keelung City and the harbor and is organized into three levels. The first level features a historic cannon fort. The second level houses a Buddhist library, the Martyrs' Shrine, and the Zhuputan Temple. The temple attracts numerous worshipers on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month for Zhongyuan Ghost Festival. The third level is home to the Guanhai Pavilion, where visitors can enjoy a sweeping view of Keelung and the ocean.
The Goddess of Mercy statue is the park's most prominent landmark and is the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia. Inside the statue, a stairway leads to the top, providing a stunning vantage point. The Zhuputan Temple, a focal point for worshipers during the Zhongyuan Ghost Festival, was originally established...
My Son Sanctuary, also known as Mỹ Sơn, stands as one of Vietnam’s most remarkable ancient sites and a powerful testament to the Champa Kingdom. Nestled in a serene, jungle-covered valley surrounded by mountains in Duy Xuyen District, Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, the sanctuary lies roughly 40–50 kilometers southwest of the historic town of Hoi An and about 70 kilometers from Da Nang.
The Thu Bon River flows nearby, enhancing the site’s natural beauty and symbolic significance, as the valley was chosen to represent the mythical Mount Meru, the sacred center of the Hindu universe.
The history of My Son begins in the 4th century, when King Bhadravarman I established the first temples around 380–413 as a sacred religious center dedicated primarily to the Hindu god Shiva, worshipped here under the name Bhadreshvara.
Early structures were made of wood, but after a devastating fire in the 6th century, later kings rebuilt them using durable red brick, a hallmark of Champa architecture. Over the ...
Han Market (Chợ Hàn) stands as one of the oldest and most iconic traditional markets in Da Nang, serving as a bustling commercial hub right in the heart of the city along the west bank of the Han River. Its name comes directly from its prime location beside the Han River, and it has long symbolized the growth of Da Nang’s trade and daily life.
The market traces its roots to the 1940s when locals began gathering spontaneously along the river to exchange agricultural products, fresh seafood, and everyday essentials in an informal setting. During the French colonial era, when Da Nang was known as Tourane, the area gained more structure with the addition of infrastructure like a railway system called Tourane Marché for transporting goods and surrounding shophouses run by Chinese and Vietnamese merchants. Some historical references suggest trading activity near the river as far back as the 17th century, but reliable accounts point to the 1940s as the start of its modern form.
The market was ...
Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture (Bảo tàng Điêu khắc Chăm Đà Nẵng) is the world’s largest and most important museum dedicated to the ancient Champa civilization. It houses the finest collection of Cham Hindu and Buddhist stone sculptures anywhere, making it a must-visit for anyone interested in Vietnam’s ancient history, especially after seeing My Son Sanctuary, as many of the artifacts originally came from there.
The museum was established by the French in 1915 during the colonial period when Da Nang was called Tourane and officially opened to the public in 1919. French archaeologists including Henri Parmentier collected and preserved sculptures from Cham temple sites across Central Vietnam to protect them from looting and decay.
The museum has been expanded over the decades and was recognized as a first-class national museum in 2011.
Today it preserves nearly 2,000 artifacts with more than 400 on permanent display including 12 National Treasures of Vietnam. The building itself...
