Hainan Assembly Hall

This guide to Hainan Assembly Hall in Hoi An opens in 1851, aboard a trading ship sailing south from Hainan Island that crosses paths with pirates, or something made to look like them, off this coast. It follows one cook hiding below deck as royal troops board and kill the merchants above him, and the years it took the Hainanese community to petition the royal court for the truth. Emperor Tu Duc eventually agreed the men were innocent traders, and paid for a hall to hold their memory. Look for the plaque above the worship hall, carved long after that ship ever sailed.