Nguyen Hieu Tin is a talented and outstanding calligrapher well known for many in-depth research works on the art of Vietnamese calligraphy. Also, he is called ‘stamp King’ with prestigious stamps, winning many major awards at home and abroad.

Recently, he has become interested in Southern ceramic artifacts and has a special passion for rustic Ong Dia statues. He owns an impressive and unique Ong Dia collection.

Master of culture Tin, a lecturer at Ton Duc Thang University, uses all the space in his four-storey house for items like ceramics, driftwood statues, teapots and paintings, turning it into a mini culture museum.

In each collection, he classifies items by theme and type of materials: items with images of Vietnamese women on Bien Hoa ceramics, Bodhidharma driftwood, thematic space for books, group of Three Wise Buddhas statues, and paintings of a scholar teaching.

The Earth God statues are put at the back of the house, near a skylight where natural light shines down. He initially placed a few statues in the living room, in the front area of the house, but as his collection has grown daily, he has had to reserve a larger area for the Earth God statues.

Ong Dia is the Earth God, and therefore, statues should be placed on the ground to be revered, but due to the small exhibition space, he has to put the statues on multi-layer shelves.

Everyone would feel overwhelmed when visiting Tin's Earth God display area. The collection comprises more than 300 Earth Gods aged over 40 years that he has collected, arranged beautifully and scientifically, categorized by material like ceramics, clay, gypsum, and wood... with various shapes and diverse models.

There are numerous statues, including a miniature Earth God about 4 cm tall, to one 70 cm tall; Earth Gods sitting leisurely on the ground, on chairs, and an Earth God riding a tiger with cheerful and whimsical faces.

Asked why he collects Earth God statues, Tin said since his childhood, he loves seeing the Earth God because he has a carefree, innocent face, and always smiles brightly.

"In the 1960s and 1970s, my mother rode a bike every day to the market to sell Earth God statues and people bought the statues to worship at their homes. The images deeply imprinted in my mind and prompted me to collect artifacts of folk culture, especially the statues of the Earth God," Tin said.

Later, when he had more opportunity to study ethnographic culture, Tin grew even fonder of the Earth God image because it not only symbolizes a deity close to the people of the Southern region, but also represents a beautiful cultural trait, signifying the cultural exchange among ethnic groups in the South.

For Master Nguyen Hieu Tin, the Earth God symbolizes a generous spirit, luck, hope, and the dreams of the local people in their labor and creativity.

Earth God and Mountain God

Tin said: "The God is usually a chubby middle-aged man with a big belly, a fan in his hand and a laughing mouth, looking very generous and prosperous, with a bit of humor. This also characterizes the personality of the Southern people. Although the Earth God figures appear in various forms, the commonly seen Earth God feature is a feminine face (though he has beard), a large chest, and a protruding belly."

Tin is particularly fond of statues depicting the Earth God riding on the back of a tiger or leaning against a tiger. According to Tin, there are many interpretations of this image. 

The most convincing interpretation might be that this image fits the folk beliefs in Southern Vietnam related to the image of the Tiger God, revered as the "god of mountain troops" - seen as the protector of a certain mountainous area.

Interestingly, in the depictions of the Earth God riding a tiger, the tiger is mostly yellow (golden tiger).  The yellow color in Eastern philosophy, according to the five basic elements theory (metal, wood, water, fire and earth), is the central element, and the Earth God also belongs to Earth. 

Thus, the Earth God along with the golden tiger represents an integration of anthropomorphic images symbolizing the Earth element - a particularly important element for plant civilization.

Thanks to the earth, plants are cultivated and grow. Therefore, the Earth God and the golden tiger, both belonging to the Earth element, are revered and sacred, and valued as essential.

Luu Dinh Long