Champa Monkey God Statue Discovery Earns Finder Nearly VND 93 Million Reward

A man in Vietnam's central Quang Ngai province has received a reward of nearly VND 92.87 million (approximately $3,800 USD) for discovering an 11th-12th century Champa kingdom statue of the monkey god Hanuman and handing it over to the state. The reward was issued on September 16 by a decision signed by Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Dao Cuong, to Mr. Duong Dinh Luc, 65, from Van Tuong commune, Quang Ngai province. The Quang Ngai Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has been assigned to disburse the reward this year from the 2026 cultural career budget. In early 2021, while fishing in the Vung Buon area of Dung Quat Bay, Mr. Luc discovered many broken ceramic shards. He dived to a spot about 50 meters offshore and found a part of a stone statue protruding from the sand. In March of the same year, Mr. Luc and his relatives salvaged the statue, weighing about 150 kg, and hired a crane to transport it to his home. In 2023, after being persuaded by local authorities, he handed over the artifact for preservation. Mr. Luc had placed the statue on a rock in the middle of his fish pond to worship it, believing it to be sacred. An appraisal by the Quang Ngai Provincial General Museum determined it to be a statue of the monkey god Hanuman, made of fine-grained sandstone, measuring 84 cm in height and 40 cm in width. The statue consists of an octagonal base 14 cm high and a body 70 cm high, depicting Hanuman in a seated posture. Characteristics such as a round head, bulging eyes, a high nose bridge, and a wide mouth, along with circular and jingle-like patterns around the abdomen, indicate late Champa sculptural style with Khmer art influences. Experts say the artifact dates back to the 11th-12th century, is large, relatively intact, and holds significant research and comparative value. In 2025, the Quang Ngai Provincial People's Committee will establish national ownership of the statue and assign the museum to receive and preserve it. According to regulations, individuals who accidentally discover and directly hand over relics, antiques, or national treasures are considered for rewards based on their asset value. The reward is not calculated as a fixed percentage of the total asset value but is divided into portions: the first VND 10 million is calculated at 30%, the next VND 90 million at 15%, the portion from over VND 100 million to VND 1 billion at 7%, from over VND 1 billion to VND 10 billion at 1%, and portions exceeding VND 10 billion at 0.5%. This reward is before income tax. Thus, with a reward of VND 92.87 million, applying this formula suggests the statue's value was approximately VND 2.337 billion (around $97,000 USD). Information Source: VnExpress