Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm

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Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm (1491–1585) was a Vietnamese scholar, poet, and adviser. Born in Cổ Am village (now part of Haiphong), he studied with the scholar Lương Đắc Bằng and passed the imperial exams in 1535 at age 44, ranking first in the country. He served at the Mạc dynasty court for seven years until 1542, then resigned after voicing concerns about corruption and returned home to open a school.

During Vietnam’s turbulent era, many leaders sought his advice. It is said he advised Trịnh Kiểm to hold real power behind the restored Lê dynasty and urged Nguyễn Hoàng to build influence in the south, helping shape a lasting north–south power split in Vietnam for about 200 years. He was also a famed poet, writing in Chinese and Nôm. His long poem Sấm Trạng Trình (The Prophecies of Trạng Trình) is famous and is sometimes seen as Vietnam’s Nostradamus; it contains one of the earliest uses of the word "Vietnam" (Việt Nam). His prophecies are known for being cryptic and open to interpretation.

Many streets in Vietnamese cities are named after him. In the 1990s, the School of Teaching Goodness emerged around his ideas in Hải Phòng. A local carpenter, Master Thu, built a shrine in 1996 called Minh Đường Trung Tân, which by 2016 attracted thousands of followers. That year, a woman near the shrine claimed to have found Khiêm’s coffin in her garden, prompting state archaeologists to investigate, though the results were inconclusive.