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Tháp Rùa: The Legend of Turtle Tower
In Hanoi, Vietnam, there is a lake in the center of town that maintains special significance to the Vietnamese people. In the middle of that lake is a tiny island that holds a tower which commemorates the important victory achieved by a Vietnamese legend. Turtle Tower, known to the Vietnamese people at Thap Ruá, was built in 1886 on the same site where a Ta Vong Temple had been built during the 17th or 18th century. Somewhere between the Restored Le Dynasty and the Nguyen Dynasty that temple disappeared. The tower that stands there now was erected on the same site to commemorate a warrior and the impact he had on Vietnam. According to legend, a warrior named…