Kiểng Phước Pagoda

Kiểng Phước Pagoda (called "Pagode des Clochetons" by the French), was formerly a Chinese pagoda that was occupied and turned into a fort by the Franco-Spanish allied forces in 1860. According to records, this pagoda was located in District 5, Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) today, with "wooden pillars, two gates and walls all made of brick, and by 1866 it had disappeared, leaving only a few rotten wooden beams in the pagoda grounds."

According to scholar Vương Hồng Sển, Kiểng Phước Pagoda was at the beginning of Phù Đổng Thiên Vương Street (a name from before 1975, during the French colonial period known as Clochetons Street), near the mosque on high ground; today it is the site of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at 217 Hồng Bàng, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City. This view is also shared by writer Sơn Nam.

However, according to research by author Nguyên Thanh, this pagoda was located around the corner of Hồng Bàng Street (formerly Hùng Vương) and Lý Thường Kiệt, that is, near today's Hùng Vương Hospital.

And since Kiểng Phước Pagoda was destroyed long ago, and there are no documents describing it, it is unclear what the architecture of this place of worship was like, or whether it was similar to other Chinese pagodas in the area, such as the Nhị Phủ Assembly Hall, Ôn Lăng Assembly Hall, etc.

On 17 February 1859, Gia Định Citadel fell into French hands. Afterwards, they quickly occupied ancient pagodas to turn them into forts, called the "pagoda line of defence" (lignes des pagodes), including: Khải Tường Pagoda (pagode de Barbe), Kiểng Phước Pagoda (pagode des Clochetons), Cây Mai Pagoda (pagode des Pruniers), Hiển Trung Temple (pagode de la Fidélité Éclatante, or pagode des Mares)... This defensive line stretched from Chợ Lớn to Sài Gòn, mainly to encircle and attack the Đại đồn Chí Hòa (called "Kỳ Hòa" by the French).

In 1860, Kiểng Phước Pagoda was occupied by French troops under Captain Malet and turned into a defensive fort while Admiral Leonard Charner was in China. According to the records of French Navy Lieutenant Léopold Pallu (introduced in the next section), a fierce battle later took place here between the Franco-Spanish allied forces and the Vietnamese army...

At the end of February 1861, the Đại đồn Chí Hòa, defended by General Nguyễn Tri Phương, fell. Afterwards, by 1866, Kiểng Phước Pagoda "was left with only a few rotten wooden beams in the pagoda grounds."

French Navy Lieutenant Léopold Pallu, an aide-de-camp at Admiral Leonard Charner's headquarters during the 1861 Saigon expedition, and author of Histoire de L’Expédition de Cochinchine en 1961 (History of the Cochinchina Expedition 1861), published by Hachette in France in 1864, wrote about Kiểng Phước Pagoda as follows:

"The pagoda (Kiểng Phước) was built in the middle of a field of graves. The god statues, painted gold, filled the rooms of the pagoda, their faces expressing a state of near-complete detachment from the world. A flock of chickens scratched everywhere, tempting the sailors and soldiers. On the officers' table were a few bottles of vermouth and absinthe; in front of the fort, 30mm long-barrelled rifled guns were lined up on firing platforms, their black paint scratched from being carried up and down. The pagodas or our forts just mentioned served many roles: as farms, guard posts, and artillery batteries."

On another page, this author wrote:

"Since June 1860, the Annamite troops (referring to the Nguyễn dynasty army) intended to isolate the French from the Chinese city (i.e., the Chợ Lớn area today), where rice was stored for export from the port of Saigon.... (Therefore) we were forced to hold our position...

"Two other pagodas between the Cây Mai fort and Saigon were immediately chosen by us to reinforce as forts, and we would hold them at any cost. The repair of the two pagodas for defensive purposes began immediately. The first pagoda was the Ao Pagoda (Hiển Trung Temple), its yard surrounded by brick walls, which could be defended right away. The pagoda was far from the enemy's defensive lines. The second pagoda was the Clochetons Pagoda (i.e., Kiểng Phước Pagoda), completely exposed and only 400 metres from the enemy's tunnel entrance (i.e., the Nguyễn dynasty army). We immediately used earth from the surrounding graves to build defensive walls.

"We did not see the Annamite troops come out to defend the trench they had dug. But the very next day, they suddenly opened fire on the pagoda, killing one person and wounding several others. We had used up all the earth from the nearby graves, so we had to go further and use sacks to bring earth back; the construction of the defensive wall progressed slowly, laboriously, and openly, with nothing to shield us from the enemy."

"On the night of the 3rd, early morning of the 4th of July, the Annamite troops, at least 2,000 strong, silently crossed the citadel, surrounded the pagoda, while it had not yet been fully converted into a fort. They charged straight into the pagoda, shouting loudly. The enemy's artillery also fired at other pagodas (already occupied by the French as forts) as a diversion and at the Clochetons Pagoda as well, while troops fired furiously at the French, Spanish, and Annamite soldiers in the fort. The fighting lasted for an hour. Only with reinforcements from Saigon did the battle end. The enemy left behind a hundred corpses."

"The garrison at the Clochetons fort consisted of 100 Spanish troops commanded by Lieutenant Hernandez, and 60 Frenchmen led by two naval lieutenants, Narac and Gervais. The Annamite troops did not attack the Clochetons fort again; instead, they dug another trench from the double tunnel entrance, running parallel behind our defensive line. As a result, the French and Spanish fort was caught between two of their defensive trenches, completely blocking communication with the fields behind the Ki-hoa citadel (Kỳ Hòa, i.e., Đại đồn Chí Hòa)."