<figcaption>Cham trea­sure moun­tain area</figcaption>

For cen­turies, the South Chi­na Sea was known by nav­i­ga­tors through­out Asia as the Cham­pa Sea, named for the ancient King­dom of Cham­pa – an endur­ing pow­er that last­ed over 1,500 years in cen­tral and south­ern Viet­nam. This col­lec­tion of four Indi­an-influ­enced King­doms was estab­lished in 192 AD and inhab­it­ed by the Cham, a peo­ple from the Malayo-Poly­ne­sian lan­guage fam­i­ly. The Cham­pa had an unri­valed fleet that they used for com­merce and pira­cy. In 1832, the Viet­namese Emper­or Minh Mang set out to crush the last ves­tiges of Cham auton­o­my and annexed the last Cham King­dom, the Pan­duran­ga. Most of the Cham pop­u­la­tion fled to Cam­bo­dia, and leg­end has it that some of the Cham princes hid their trea­sures in near­by mountains.

<img alt="Cham celebration" src="https://www.secretindochina.com/upload-images/programmes/champa-treasure/CHAM%20CELEBRATIONJPG.JPG-1578384840.jpg" />
<figcaption>Cham cel­e­bra­tion</figcaption>

<img alt="Cham treasure" src="https://www.secretindochina.com/upload-images/programmes/champa-treasure/CHAM%20TREASURE-1578383764.png" />
<figcaption>Cham trea­sure</figcaption>

In the ear­ly 20^th cen­tu­ry, the promi­nent archae­ol­o­gist Hen­ri Par­men­tier and the apos­tolic mis­sion­ary E‑M Durand from French School of the Far East made found and pre­served some of these secret jew­els. The world’s largest col­lec­tion of Cham sculp­ture is now housed at the Danang Cham Muse­um, which Par­men­tier estab­lished in 1919. How­ev­er, many of most deca­dent jew­els such as roy­al tiaras, arti­facts, and pre­cious antiq­ui­ties from the Champa’s gold­en age remain hid­den. Leg­end has it that they are well-guard­ed by the camonei, the inter­me­di­ate between the spir­it of dei­fied princes and their devot­ed successors.

<figcaption>Par­chemin — part of the treasure</figcaption>

<img alt="Parchemin - part of the treasure" src="https://www.secretindochina.com/upload-images/programmes/champa-treasure/parchemin-part-of-a-treasure%20(1)-1578385053.jpg" />
<figcaption>Par­chemin — part of the treasure</figcaption>