Spreading the value of "Seventh Year's spirit"

- The 23rd Chau Phu District Traditional Cultural Festival in 2025 will take place from March 18 to 21, 2025 (February 19 to 22 of the lunar calendar) at the Tran Van Thanh Temple (Thanh My Tay Commune, Chau Phu District) with many rich festival activities, aiming to educate today's and future generations to remember the merits of their ancestors, spreading the value of "Bay Thua's heroic spirit".

Quan Co Tran Van Thanh Temple is a destination to educate patriotic traditions for today's generation.

Glorious milestone

In the early 19th century, when An Giang was still sparsely populated, there was a lot of wasteland, especially on the west bank of the Hau River. At this time, the Nguyen Dynasty had a policy of promoting land reclamation to partly solve the difficult socio-economic situation. The edicts in 1802 and 1803 encouraged people to reclaim land with easy procedures, such as: Letting people choose where to reclaim land, lending rice seeds, exempting taxes for people who reclaimed wasteland for a period of 3 years... Therefore, the infiltration of Vietnamese immigrants into An Giang became stronger and gradually entered the wasteland, including Lang Linh.

The reclamation process in Lang Linh at that time had no small contribution from Quan Co Tran Van Thanh and the follower Buu Son Ky Huong. Mr. Tran Van Thanh (born around 1818), was from Binh Thanh Dong village, Vinh Trinh commune, Vinh An district, Dinh Vien prefecture, Vinh Thanh town (now Phu Binh commune, Phu Tan district). He joined the Nguyen Dynasty army in 1840, thanks to his martial arts, literacy and commanding talent, he was appointed as Suat Doi, commanding 50 soldiers. During this period, Mr. Tran Van Thanh made many achievements and was promoted to Quan Co.

At the end of 1847, the border situation was stable, there were no more wars, the Hue Court demobilized a number of soldiers, at this time Quan Co Tran Van Thanh returned to live in Con Nho (now Phu Binh commune, Phu Tan district) to reclaim wasteland. In 1849, Tran Van Thanh joined the Buu Son Ky Huong sect founded by Mr. Doan Minh Huyen. In 1851, when the Nguyen Dynasty proposed a policy of reclaiming land to establish villages in An Giang, Tran Van Thanh and his family went to Lang Linh lowland to reclaim land. Being a patriot, when the French occupied An Giang, Quan Co Tran Van Thanh recruited and gathered many patriotic soldiers from all six provinces of Nam Ky to stand up with the people to fight against the invaders.

After several unsuccessful attacks on French military posts, Commander Tran Van Thanh realized that he needed to develop a stronger force and needed a new base to confront the French army in the long term. Therefore, he retreated to the land reclaimed by him and the followers of Buu Son Ky Huong to build the Lang Linh - Bai Thua base. This base was built on rugged terrain, with a system of defensive posts surrounding it, creating a continuous position, including an area for forging and producing weapons on site.

In 1872, Quan Co Tran Van Thanh raised the flag to start an uprising against the French, using the Gia Nghi military name and organizing many attacks on French-occupied areas around Bai Thua base, along Hau river and Mac Can Dung canal... After many times the French army attacked and unsuccessfully lured Tran Van Thanh, on March 19, 1873 (February 20 of the lunar calendar, Quy Dau year), the French organized a general attack on Bai Thua base with the help of many Vietnamese traitors. After a day of resistance, facing the strong firepower of the invaders, Bai Thua base fell, Tran Van Thanh ordered the insurgents and his family to retreat, avoiding great losses, but he himself went missing.

Spread patriotism

Although the uprising initiated by Commander Tran Van Thanh failed, the echo of the patriotism of Gia Nghi's soldiers still lives on. In memory of his contributions to land reclamation, restoration and fighting against foreign invaders, the people of Chau Phu district built a temple to worship Commander Tran Van Thanh at Lang Linh rice field camp. In 1986, the Temple to worship Commander Tran Van Thanh was recognized by the Ministry of Culture and Information as a national historical relic. In 2003, on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of Commander Tran Van Thanh's death in the fight against the French and the Bay Thua uprising, Chau Phu district decided to choose February 21 (lunar calendar) every year as the day to organize the district's traditional cultural festival.

After more than a hundred years, the current generation of people always remember and are proud of the uprising against the French by the Gia Nghi militia led by Commander Tran Van Thanh. They remember Commander Tran Van Thanh not only for his unyielding spirit before the enemy, but also because he left his mark in the land reclamation work on Lang Linh field that day. Continuing the patriotic tradition, in the two resistance wars against French colonialism and American imperialism, each generation of people living in the old Lang Linh land was resilient, indomitable, overcame hardships, did not hesitate to sacrifice blood and bones, contributing to the cause of national liberation, national unification, protecting the countryside, protecting the achievements reclaimed by their ancestors.

Today, although the traces of the ancient Lang Linh land no longer exist, the image of Lang Linh during the heroic struggle against the French still shines in its glorious history, living forever in the hearts of posterity. The Chau Phu District Traditional Cultural Festival is held annually to educate patriotism and pride in the spirit of fighting against foreign invaders of the nation. Through the festival, the national revolutionary historical relics of Chau Phu District are introduced to the people and tourists inside and outside the province.

At the 23rd Traditional Cultural Festival in 2025, Chau Phu District People's Committee organized a festival with many rich activities. Accordingly, the main ceremony took place at 9:00 a.m. on March 20 at Quan Co Tran Van Thanh Temple. The festival included many activities such as: Art exchange, traditional singing program, culinary culture week, golden bell contest, folk game booths and community dancing activities, health exercises, folk dance, mobile book stall.

Within the framework of the festival, the Chau Phu District Culture, Sports and Broadcasting Center also organized an exhibition of artifacts of the Bay Thua uprising, an exhibition of images of socio-economic development achievements of Chau Phu district, term 2020 - 2025; coordinated with the People's Committee of Thanh My Tay commune to organize a Lantern Decoration Contest at the lotus pond in the temple grounds of Quan Co Tran Van Thanh.

MY LINH

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/an-giang-24-gio/thoi-su/lan-toa-gia-tri-hao-khi-bay-thua--a417275.html