Several Vietnamese wealthy businessmen have recently been donating large sums to towards building pagodas and temples not only through their devotion, but also to keep their names alive.

One such example is the 450ha Dai Nam Quoc Tu tourism project, with a price tag of nearly VND3 trillion (USD142.8 million)  funded  by Huynh Huy Dung. It includes a chain of temples, walls, artificial rivers, mountains and live animal exhibits. The grounds stretch nearly 20km.

Huynh Huy Dung and his Dai Nam Quoc Tu tourism resort

“I even thought about this project in my sleep. I was determined to carry out it by any means.” Dung said he now eats vegetarian food four days per month.

Dung disclosed that he will sell his entire property, estimated at around VND2 trillion (USD95.2 million), to build 17 temples nationwide; five in the north and six in the central and the southern regions.

Nguyen Van Truong, another wealthy businessman who rarely appears in the news, is in the process of building Bai Dinh Pagoda. Another converted vegetarian, he is focusing his efforts and capital on constructing the 80ha religious complex to be located adjacent to the old capital Hoa Lu.

Nguyen Van Truong and Bai Dinh Pagoda

Not to be outdone, entrepreneur Tram Be broke ground on yet another pagoda in Cambodia at a cost of USD600,000. This is the 9th pagoda he has poured his money into. Most of the others are located in his home province of Tra Vinh.

Tram Be, a Chinese-Vietnamese businessman who grew up in the Khmer community, sees this as a way to remember his origins, and has so far spent hundreds of billions of VND building pagodas in disadvantaged Khmer regions.