Hung Nguyen District: A land abundant in history and culture

Hung Nguyen District: A land abundant in history and culture

Since ancient times, Hung Nguyen District played an important political and cultural role under the Le and Tay Son dynasties. When the French colonialists began to invade Vietnam, many scholars in Hung Nguyen joined the patriotic movements of Van Than, Can Vuong, Dong Du and Duy Tan to organise uprisings against the foreign invasion. The Soviet Nghe Tinh movement with its demonstration on September 12, 1930 has been immortalised by a song about the heroic struggling history of the Vietnamese people. Hung Nguyen District has six communes and towns presented with the People’s Armed Forces Hero title. The monument dedicated to fallen combatants in the Soviet Nghe Tinh movement and steles of fallen combatants of the district and its communes and towns remind local children of heroic glories and feats of their ancestors.

Hung Nguyen is home to many famous people, including First Doctoral Candidate Nguyen Bach Lieu, General Dinh Bat Tuy, reformist Nguyen Truong To, late Party general secretary Le Hong Phong and martyr Pham Hong Thai. In the past, the district had more than 250 relic sites. Now, only 61 of them remain, ten of which are recognised as national relic sites and five more as provincial ones. Hung Nguyen is home to festivals and performances of folk songs and love songs. These include the boat racing festival in the Thanh Mountain and Lam River, and the festivals of the Hoang Muoi and Rao village temples. Fine traditions and customs have helped the people in Hung Nguyen maintain their great passion for study, bravery and creativity.

In recent years, Hung Nguyen’s economy has seen a great change. In 2003, the district’s economic structure was changed with agriculture accounting for 47.38 per cent; handicraft and construction, 20.4 per cent; and services, 32.22 per cent. Its economic growth rate reached 15.55 per cent. The district also had 77 collective units recognised as cultural villages and units and 7,756 households recognised as cultural households. The resolutions of the 14^th and 15^th congress of the local Party Committee focused on guiding the exploitation of the district’s potential, creating a favourable environment for socioeconomic development.

Hung Nguyen is home to the Thanh Mountain and Lam River Delta, the Dai Hue mountain range near Vinh city, the trans-Vietnam railway and National Highway 46 as well as many relic sites and beautiful landscapes. Hung Nguyen has two development orientations. The first is to develop aquaculture in combination with eco-tourism and boat tours on the Lam River and the Thach Tien Lake, tours to the Dai Hue and Thanh mountains, and fishing tours in front of Hoang Muoi temple. The second is to develop tourism in combination with landscapes and craft villages. The district has developed tours from the Quyet Mountain along Dyke 42, Road 558 and Nguyen Van Troi Road to visit famous landscapes and relic sites. The first tour consists of the Hoang Muoi temple (Hung Thinh), the Chau Hung shipyard (Hung Loi), the Pham Hong Thai memorial house, the Ram and Phu Vinh temples, the rattan and bamboo article making village in Hung Nhan, the Phuc My temple, and the houses of Hoang Vien, leader of the Party Committee in Central Vietnam (Hung Chau). The second tour consists of the King Le temple, the Mu pagoda in Hung Khanh, Lam Thanh Mountain, the Bach Lieu memorial house, the Vong pagoda (Hung Phu), and the Thanh Liet temple (Hung Lam). The third tour comprises the relic site of Party leader Le Hong Phong (Hung Thong), the Xuan Hoang temple, a rattan and bamboo article making village (Hung Long), the monument of the Soviet Nghe Tinh fallen combatants, and the cultural house of Le Hong Phong (Hung Nguyen town). The fourth tour consists of the Thach Tien dam, the Hen pagoda (Hung Yen), the relic site of Nguyen Truong To grave, the Dinh Bat Tuy temple and the Bui Ngoa temple (Hung Trung).

Currently, Hung Nguyen district is developing projects to call for investment. These include a project on aquaculture and eco-tourism in communes near Vinh city, the boat tour on the Lam River, projects on developing Hung Loi Beach, and projects on reforestation on the Dai Hue and Lam Thanh mountains. The district will also develop grazing areas and stables for raising dairy cows and cattle in communes along the Lam River, namely Hung Tay, Hung Yen and Hung Trung to supply Vinh city. At the same time, the district will exploit construction materials and process food and seafood, and will build new urban areas, entertainment areas and trade centres.

In preparation for the Nghe An Tourism Year 2005, Hung Nguyen District is accelerating the building of the byroad of National Highway 1A and the eco-tourist path along the Lam River, and the upgrading of 12/9 Road, the tourist road from Kim Lien relic site to the Le Hong Phong relic site, the Hoang Muoi and the memorial stele of the Soviet Nghe Tinh.

• Tran Xuan Trung