Preserving historical moments

(Quang Ngai Newspaper) - With passion and responsibility, photographers have preserved many valuable images capturing historical moments of their homeland Quang Ngai.

Quang Ngai provincial capital was chosen to be located at its present location in the year of Dinh Mao 1807 (Gia Long year 6), completed construction with laterite in the year of At Hoi 1815 (Gia Long year 14), but at that time it was only a "city", meaning it had administrative and military functions, basically it did not have a "town", it did not have the function of an economic center. During the French invasion, in 1885, Quang Ngai provincial capital was where Can Vuong leaders Le Trung Dinh and Nguyen Tu Tan brought the Huong soldiers to attack and occupy, becoming the earliest Can Vuong uprising in Central Vietnam, quickly victorious but also quickly failed due to Nguyen Than's betrayal. Nguyen Tu Tan was killed, Le Trung Dinh was imprisoned in the city, and later beheaded. In 1908, the leaders of Duy Tan Association were also arrested and imprisoned by French colonialists in the city due to the "tax collection protest" that broke out in Quang Ngai, farmers from all over the province gathered to besiege the city, made demands and many people were shot dead. After the Quang Ngai Provincial Party Committee was established, the revolutionary movement of 1930 - 1931 was widespread throughout the province, French colonialists and puppet feudalists arrested many communist soldiers in Quang Ngai city. At that time, there were cameras, but there were no images recording such great historical events.

People of Binh Son and Son Tinh districts took to the streets with soldiers to enter Quang Ngai town in 1975. Photo: DOCUMENT

Until 1934, during the French colonial period, Quang Ngai urban area was first planned by Decree No. 23 of King Bao Dai. Before 1945, the late development of Quang Ngai urban area could be read quite specifically in the novel "Tuấn chang trai dat Viet" by Nguyen Vy, in which there were a few sketches, but no photos. During the August Revolution of 1945 in Quang Ngai, photos of the provincial capital appeared. The photo was taken in front of the provincial Post Office today on September 2, 1945, capturing the rally of Quang Ngai people, welcoming the success of the August Revolution and President Ho Chi Minh reading the Declaration of Independence. We see that the rally here had many participants, with banners and slogans in hand. Behind the photo, in the distance, there is a water tower (still there) and a tall building, which people at that time explained as Nguyen Thang Toai cinema (no longer there). At that time, the post office (wire house) was still located in the inner city area (opposite the current Provincial Party Committee headquarters) so it is not in the photo.

Another very valuable photo that is still preserved is the photo of the exhibition "Quang Ngai seizes power" on December 15, At Dau year (January 17, 1946) in Quang Ngai province. Regarding the specific location, some people say it was at Chanh Lo communal house (at the intersection of Quang Trung and Hung Vuong, Quang Ngai city today), some say it was at Hanh Cung (a building for the king to rest when on inspection tours, built in ancient times), which is about the current T50 guest house. Both of these buildings no longer exist, so it is difficult to determine specifically, but clearly the photo shows a rather grandiose architecture, with dragon-carved porch columns, a large number of attendees, and the words about the exhibition written above can still be read: "Exhibition room", "National Salvation Workers", "Le T Dinh, December 15, At Dau". Le Trung Dinh was the name of the province at this time.

After 30 years of resistance, especially during the resistance war against the US, cameras were more common in daily life. In the provincial capital, there were a few photo shops, in the mountainous resistance war zone, there were a few information officers equipped with cameras. In life, cameras were used to take photos for ID cards, family memories, weddings, some people took pictures of landscapes, some pictures of revolutionary cadres working and fighting. However, the price of cameras was very expensive, making film photos had to go through the shooting stages such as film development, photo printing... so it was not popular. What is valuable is that on the occasion of the liberation of Quang Ngai province on March 24, 1975, there were some pictures of this historic moment. There was a photo of the headquarters of the "Quang Ngai National Police Command" (of the Saigon government) that had just been taken over, with the flag of the National Liberation Front hung up. There was a photo of a pile of AR15 guns left behind by the fleeing Saigon army. There is a picture of the mass force marching to the provincial capital. All evoke irreplaceable historical moments. Preserving these images shows a sense of respect for the historical moments of the homeland.

CAO CHU

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Source: https://baoquangngai.vn/quang-ngai-que-minh/202503/luu-giu-khoanh-khac-lich-su-d2f1d2e/