Lý Long Tường

Lý Long Tường (Hán tự: ; 1174-?) was a prince of the Lý Dynasty of Đại Việt (the name of Vietnam at that time) and later became Lee of Hwasan, General of Korea. He is an ancestor of one branch of the Lee (or Rhee) family today in both South and North Korea.

Lý Long Tường was born in 1174, the seventh son of king Ly Anh Tông (who reigned from 1138-1175) and queen Lê Mỹ Nga. He was appointed: "Thái sư Thương trụ quốc" (the national great tutor), "Khai phủ nghị đồng tam tư", "Thượng thư tả bộc xạ", "lĩnh đại đô đốc", "tước Kiến Bình vương".

In 1225, Trần Thủ Độ overthrew the Ly Dynasty by introducing his nephew Trần Cảnh to the royal court to serve the incumbent queen Lý Chiêu Hoàng, he then orchestrated a political marriage between Trần Cảnh and Lý Chiêu Hoàng and thereafter forced Ly Chieu Hoang to abdicate in favour of her husband Tran Canh. This marked the end of the Ly Dynasty and the beginning of the Tran Dynasty. With the Tran family having just gained the throne, Tran Thu Do ordered the massacre of the Ly family members and forced all of its descendants to change their surname to Nguyen, and sent them to the northern mountainous areas.

Life in exile

In 1226, (Kiến Trung's year of the Second Tran Dynasty of Thái Tông), in order to avoid further bloodshed by the Tran family, Lý Long Tường, together with 6000 mandarins and servants departed from the Thân Phù (now Thanh Hóa Province) estuary and fled to the South China Sea in three large ships. They carried with them worships , i.e. the royal crown, royal costumes, and the Thuong phuong bao kiem (heaven royal sword). After a month on the high seas, they were forced to land in Taiwan due to a typhoon. When Lý Long Tường decided to leave, his son Lý Long Hiền was severely ill and had to stay in Taiwan together with 200 mandarins, followers and servants. Lý Long Tường continued northwards to Ongjin County and then on to Haeju, Hwanghae in the Yellow Sea. Legend has it that the Korean king Kojong of the Goryeo Dynasty (1192-1259) had dreamt of a grand phoenix flying from the south and landing in his nation. Therefore, he ordered the local government of Hae-ju to give the Vietnamese refugees a red-carpeted welcome and allow them to live in a manor in his country.

Lý Long Tường and his companions started their culture of fishing and breeding. He also opened a Độc thư đường, taught literature (poetry, rhythmical prose and worship rituals) and constructed a school to teach martial arts - the art of war. Thousands of local students joined his two schools.

Defeat of the Mongol invaders

In 1232, an army of the Mongol Empire led by Kublai Khan launched an attack on Korea by both sea and land. The troops, using the waterways, attacked Hwang-hae but were defeated by the army and the local inhabitants led by Lý Long Tường. Lý Long Tường always rode a white horse and as a result, was dubbed the "White Horse General."

In 1253, The Mongol army led by the great Khan Mongca launched a second attack on Korea. The Yuan-Mongol army, led by Tang Ji, attacked Hwang-hae overland and by using the waterways. Lý Long Tường, although by then over 70 years old, led the army and the local inhabitants to victory after a five month campaign. As a result of this important triumph, the Korean king renamed Chen-san (鎭山) Hwa-san (花山) and appointed Lý Long Tường Hwa-san a General. The location of the Mongol army surrender was called Soo-jiang-mun (hanja: ; "Gate of Surrender Acceptance"). The Korean king also had a pillar erected here to honour Lý Long Tường. (The pillar can still be seen today).

When Lý Long Tường died, he was buried at the foot of Mount Di A near Panmunjeom (hanja: 板門店). The mountain peak (Kwang-dea) where Lý Long Tường always sat to look southwards and cried is now called the "Peak of Nostalgia" (hanja: ).

Lý Long Tường's descendants in Korea

General Lee Maeng Woo was a Korean general and the sixth descendant of Lý Long Tường who assisted General Pyun Hong Kee and was killed by the Choseon king . Today, there are some 1500 households in North Korea and 600 in South Korea with connections to Lý Long Tường. On November 6, 1958, South Korean president Syngman Rhee said to the local press when he visited Saigon (the Republic of Vietnam's capital), that he was a descendant of Lý Long Tường, which is not true because his ancestral homeplace of origin (Pon-gwan in Korean) is Cheon-ju, not Hwa-san. A descendant of Lý Long Tường visited Lý's temple in Dinh Bang village in Bac Ninh Province and has sent money to help in the reconstruction of the temple. He also invested in a local project. At the end of 1995, a report on Lý Long Tường was broadcast by South Korean TV channel KBS.

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