Cua Ong Temple is located on a hill about 100m high, in area 9A, Cua Ong Ward, Cam Pha city, Quang Ninh province.
The temple is 40 km northeast of Ha Long city center, with its terrain leaning on the mountain and facing the sea This place worships Hung Nhuong Dai Vuong Tran Quoc Tang and many famous people of the Tran Dynasty.
The place is also held Cua Ong Temple Festival every year. Cua Ong Temple has a history of more than 700 years, previously built into three zones: Low Temple, Middle Temple, and High Temple. After two wars, the Middle and Low temples were completely destroyed.
After the war ended, they were restored and rebuilt as they are now. The Low Temple was rebuilt on the old spacious ground. The temple including three pavilions and three harem spaces. It worships Trung Thien Long Mau, a water god.
In the belief of worshiping Vietnamese Motherhood, Hung Nhuong Dai Vuong is revered as the Duc Tam Pho Thuy Dong Hai Dai Vuong Tran Quoc Tang, and in the ritual of votive dance, he is often called as Duc Ong De Tam (the third) or De Tam Duc Thanh Ong Cua Suot Cua Dong.
Therefore, Cua Ong Temple is the main shrine to commemorate his merits Before worshiping Tran Quoc Tang, Cua Ong Temple was called Hoang Tiet Temple. At that time, the temple worshiped Hoang Can, a local who had a lot of effort to raid the enemy and robbed them and was conferred "Kham Sai Dong Dao Tiet" by the kings.
Currently, Trung Temple is a place of worship for Generals. The High Temple was built with three pavilions. This is the only temple fully worshiping Tran Hung Dao's family and his courtiers remaining to this day. Inside the Thuong Temple, there are many statues to worship famous figures of the Tran Dynasty.
There are more than 30 large and small statues, arranged in 10 horizontal rows. In which, the names of 23 statues have been identified. To the left of High Temple is Quan Chau Temple. On the right is a temple, worshiping Shravasti and other Buddhist dignitaries. Especially, this temple also worships Tue Trung Thuong Sy.
Behind the High Temple is Tran Quoc Tang mausoleum. Cua Ong Temple is not only a place of spiritual worship but also an annual place to hold the annual Cua Ong Temple Festival. This is one of the major festivals in Quang Ninh province and it is held on February 3rd (lunar calendar) every year.
It started with the incense offering ceremony, then the tablet procession ceremony of Tran Quoc Tang from Cua Ong Temple to the Longan Garden Shrine, where according to the legend, Duc Ong drifted in, turned to God, and returned to the Temple.
On the days of the festival, there are cultural activities such as dragon dancing, fruit tray displaying competition, presenting offerings to the Duc Ong along with folk games such as chess, blindfolded, and burnt pots, ...
Quang Ninh's Cua Ong Temple Festival has been recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage at the end of 2016. And at the end of 2017, Cua Ong Temple is ranked by the Government as a Special National Monument./.
