Well known scholar and poet Doan Thi Diem (1705-1748) was a native of Giua Village (present-day Trung Phil Village) in Chau Giang District, Hai Duong Province. Her mother was the daughter of an earl of the Vu family in Ha Khau Ward (modern day Hang Buom Street, Ha Noi). During her life, Doan Thi Diem occasionally lived in Hai Duong, but primarily made Ha Noi her home. Today, a street there is named after her.
Doan Thi Diem's parents were very knowledgeable in Confucianism and taught her while she was very young. She and her elder brother, Doan Doan Luan, took part in literary entertainments, reciting poems and composing parallel sentences. Later, as an adult, she dared to compete with the country's first-ranked scholars, many of whom admired her talent.
In Tang thuong ngau luc (The Random Written Words of Changes), author Pham Dinh Ho (1768-1839) related the following story: Dang Tran Con, attracted by Madam Diem's fame, sent her some of his poems and asked to visit her. After reviewing the poems, she laughed and said, "It is unworthy to meet such a pupil!" Mr. Con angrily returned to his house and practised long and hard at his craft. Later, he became a renowned poet who composed the immortal Han script work Chinh phu ngam (The Laments of a Woman Whose Husband Went to the Battlefield). As with Madam Diem, Dang Tran Con has a street named after him in Ha Noi. Eventually, Doan Thi Diem translated Con's work into Nom script. Scholars praised both for their efforts.
At the age of thirty-seven, Doan Thi Diem married Doctor Nguyen Kieu (1694-1771) and became his literary peer. Nguyen Kieu had many students, whom Madam Diem taught whenever her husband left on an official mission. Since many of those students subsequently became Doctoral Laureates, Madam Diem was respectfully called "Madam First Doctoral Laureate of Girra Village."