Happiness Road, "red address" on the rocky land

BHG - When mentioning Dong Van Stone Plateau, many people will think of the legendary Happiness Road. A project that has become an immortal song about the determination of the Party Committee, the government and the people of Ha Giang, the resilient working spirit of the youth volunteers decades ago. Happiness Road was started on September 10, 1959, completed on March 20, 1965, a miracle of paving the road on stone, so that today, walking on this road, each of us feels moved and appreciates the efforts that have made this beautiful road.

I have walked on the legendary stone road countless times, a road that is still winding and arduous, but I have never felt less excited. Because every time I set foot on the journey of the Happiness Road, I feel the fiery memories of my youth during a difficult time. The Happiness Road - National Highway 4C starts from Quang Trung Ward, Ha Giang City, goes up to Dong Van, crosses the Great Pass of Ma Pi Leng to Meo Vac with a length of more than 180km. On this road, if you pay attention, you can see many sections with traces of the old road-clearing chisels still imprinted on the cliffs. The Martyrs' Cemetery of the Youth Volunteers who opened the road in Yen Minh District, the Youth Volunteer Monument in Meo Vac District and the stone stele engraved with all the data about the road-clearing construction site in the center of Meo Vac Town are special memories of the stone construction site, noticed by locals and tourists every time they go to the Stone Plateau.

Happiness Road on the Stone Plateau. Photo: PV

During many times traveling on the Happiness Road, not only meeting and exchanging with locals, young people and tourists, I also looked for guestbooks at tourist destinations to read emotional lines about this legendary road. Many words of thanks, gratitude, eternal gratitude, admiration for the sacrifice of the youth volunteers to build the road..., and many special lines of feelings were written in the guestbooks at the Ma Pi Leng and Meo Vac stops.

Opening the guestbook at the Ma Pi Leng stop, we read the guestbook of the group of 5-1971 Armored Corps veterans, Thai Thuy, Thai Binh, writing "Always grateful to those who opened the Happiness Road so that the highlands of Ha Giang can develop as they are today, worthy of being the homeland's frontier". Hearing about the history of road construction and experiencing the reality on the Happiness Road with its beautiful natural scenery, many families, including the family of Ms. Doan Thi Ngoc Lan, in Bac Ninh city, Bac Ninh province, were moved to write "Our family has come and gone on the Happiness Road. Thank you to those who built this road, we love Ha Giang". Tourist Pham Thi Ha, in Hau Loc district, Thanh Hoa, was moved to express, "Beloved Ha Giang and the Happiness Road, the sacrifice of the youth volunteers are truly touching. All of them leave pride in our country and the Vietnamese people"...

The memories of Happiness Road with millions of working days to build the road, the number of people who sacrificed on this road and the stories at the construction site in the past make each of us extremely emotional today. All show that today's generation always remembers the great contributions of those who went before to open the road, a stone road made with blood, bones and the will to win.

After 60 years since the road was completed at the final point, Meo Vac town, the Happiness Road has been increasingly renovated and upgraded to become larger and more beautiful. In particular, in almost all places this legendary stone road passes through, the landscape on both sides of the road is stunning, not overlapping with any landscape anywhere in Vietnam. On both sides of the road, the flower seasons in the Stone Plateau always bring many extremely attractive feelings, creating a road that carries the vitality of youth with full of aspirations and dreams. With a little more understanding of the history of the road, the history of overcoming difficulties to rise up in the Stone Plateau, we will see more and more the beauty and value of this great work today and tomorrow.

A young couple, after traveling the Happiness Road from Ha Giang city to Meo Vac district, took a photo together checking in on Ma Pi Leng pass and wrote a loving line on their personal Facebook page, "Hopefully, after traveling on the legendary Happiness Road in Ha Giang, you and I will continue to travel together on our path of happiness."

In March this year, it is the 60th anniversary of the completion of the Happiness Road (March 20, 1965 - 2025). And coincidentally, March 20 is also the International Day of Happiness. Looking back over the past 60 years, we can see that the road from that spring has, is and will contribute greatly to the rise of the rocky land. The aspirations and will, the blood and flowers of the youth of Cao, Bac, Lang, Thai, Tuyen, Ha, some lowland provinces and the people of all ethnic groups have built a "red address" for today and tomorrow, so that the youth and people of the whole country will forever remember and learn.

Article and photos: Huy Toan

Source: https://baohagiang.vn/xa-hoi/202503/duong-hanh-phuc-dia-chi-do-tren-mien-da-6c063ac/