Po Hen from ancient battlefield to historical tourist attraction

(Dan Tri) - Every year, associated with the Po Hen Historical Site (Quang Ninh), the locality organizes events such as the Border Sim Flower Festival, Po Hen Market, etc., attracting many tourists and increasing income for local people.

For many years now, the name Po Hen has become familiar to the Vietnamese people, because this place was once the battlefield of the battle to protect the northern border, on February 17, 1979. The greatest joy of the soldiers who held guns to protect the northern border in the above battlefield, as well as the people of the northeastern border of the Fatherland, is that the Po Hen Historical Site (Hai Son Commune, Mong Cai City, Quang Ninh) was granted a National Historical Relic Certificate in September 2022.

About 10 years ago, to go from Mong Cai City to Po Hen, visitors had to travel on the narrow 34km long 18C road with many potholes, ... along the southern bank of the Ka Long River, taking about 2 hours. Now, with the attention of the Central Government and Quang Ninh Province, National Highway 18C to Po Hen has been invested, upgraded and completed and put into use since September 2023, making the travel from Mong Cai to Po Hen easy and shortened to less than 1 hour. About 1 hour sitting on the car to Po Hen along the winding Ka Long River, on both sides of the road, many houses with the appearance of villas have appeared. This image in the border area also carries another message about life, that is, the lives of people here have changed and developed every day.

The group of reporters who wrote this article also had the opportunity to travel along many border routes. Every time we saw the narrow, shabby border roads, the wooden houses with gray fibro-cement roofs, our hearts felt sad. We also could not help but feel sad when looking across the border at the bustling, bustling streets. Therefore, a paved road that is smooth when the car moves like the National Highway 18C mentioned above, or the newly built, spacious houses in the border area that the group of reporters saw, it is truly a joy about the change in the lives of the people in the border area. We visited Hai Son commune on drizzly, cold days in the border area. We were received by Deputy Secretary and Chairman of the People's Council of Hai Son commune Ninh Van Sang. Next to a pot of hot, fragrant tea, while offering guests a cup of tea, Mr. Sang took a sip to dispel the cold, excitedly boasting, "Now that you guys have come here, the commune has changed a lot. Before, it was very difficult for you guys to travel from Mong Cai to here, but since the government upgraded Highway 18C, traveling has become easier, creating favorable conditions for people to trade goods with other regions." Not only inter-provincial roads, but 100% of inter-commune roads, village roads, and alleys in Hai Son commune are concreted, spacious, and clean. Briefly introducing Hai Son commune, Mr. Sang said: Hai Son is a commune in the highlands, border areas, and ethnic minority areas, 34km northwest of Mong Cai city center, with an important and strategic position in terms of national defense and security.

The East borders Bac Son commune, the South borders Quang Nghia commune and Hai Tien commune, the West borders Quang Duc commune (Hai Ha district), the North borders Than San village, Na Luong town, Phong Thanh area, Quang Tay province (China), with a border of more than 12km. The terrain of the commune is mainly mountainous, with a sparse population. The administrative unit of the commune has 3 villages (Po Hen, Luc Chan and Than Phun). The total population of the commune is over 1,500 people, including 3 ethnic groups (Kinh, Dao, San Chi), of which ethnic minorities account for 86.8%. The once-deserted border commune has gradually changed its appearance with solid houses. The people's lives in the commune are constantly improving, dirt roads have been replaced with asphalt roads, convenient for cars to reach destinations. Secretary and Chairman of Hai Son commune Vu Tuan Anh is a young cadre, having just taken up his duties here for about 2 years. Hai Son is now spacious and clean, the gardens, hills, farms and ranches of the people are increasingly developing. In the commune, many households have become well-off and rich thanks to the green acacia hills, valuable yellow camellia gardens or pig and chicken farms that customers come to order all year round... The whole commune has no more poor households, the people are assured to stabilize their lives, stick to the land, stick to the village, and preserve the sovereignty of the Fatherland's borders.

More specifically, Hai Son people today have also become tourism ambassadors, business households, and special tour guides of the border region. "In association with the Po Hen National Historical Site, Mong Cai City and the commune annually organize major local events such as: Sim Flower Border Festival, Hai Son Commune Ethnic Culture - Sports and Tourism Festival, Po Hen Market, etc., attracting a large number of tourists to the festival, thus creating stable jobs for the people", said Mr. Sang. Hai Son commune has many tourist attractions such as: Po Hen National Historical Site, Po Hen Mural Village, resplendent in the Northeast mountains and forests with colorful natural paintings on the houses of the Dao ethnic group, the majestic 72-chamber waterfall, Trang Vinh Lake, Panai Mountain, Ma Thau Son, etc. to extremely rustic dishes such as stream fish, black goose meat or ca xai (duck-goose hybrid), sticky rice cake, brocade, wild honey, galangal salted plum, salted wild bamboo shoots, sim wine,... All the destinations and tourism products of Hai Son mentioned above are a blend of beautiful natural landscapes and culinary culture that have left a particularly good impression on anyone who has ever set foot in Hai Son. More specifically, all are made by the hands of Hai Son people.

Saying goodbye to Hai Son commune, Mr. Sang took us to visit Po Hen Border Post not far away and listened to the officers here tell the story of building a "people's heart border". Major Tran Dai Duong, Political Commissar of Po Hen Border Post, said: Sticking to the area, eating, living, working with the people; grasping the situation and feelings, helping the people is a particularly important task of the unit. Therefore, in addition to the task of protecting the border, the unit focuses on implementing mass mobilization work with the motto of innovating the forms and measures of propaganda and education suitable to the situation and conditions of each subject and area.

The Station also focuses on oral propaganda to mobilize people to participate in protecting national sovereignty and border territory, building a peaceful and friendly border. The Station's officers and soldiers actively coordinate with local Party committees and authorities to grasp the thoughts of the people to effectively propagate the policies of the Party and State, as well as policies for ethnic minorities. In particular, the Station also disseminates and raises awareness and responsibility for each person in the border area not to participate in smuggling, not to assist in smuggling, not to transport weapons, flammable substances, explosives, drugs, etc. From the beginning of 2023 to now, the unit has organized 68 teams with 232 officers and soldiers to go to the area to grasp the situation. The Station coordinated with the People's Committee of Hai Son commune to organize propaganda, disseminate legal education, and distribute more than 300 leaflets to 100 officers and people in the commune about the Vietnam Border Law. Thereby, the people provided the unit with 12 valuable pieces of information related to border management and protection activities, smuggling, and illegal entry and exit. The unit advised the People's Committee of Hai Son commune to direct Po Hen village to maintain the twinning activities of residential clusters on both sides of the border between Po Hen village and Than San village (China). The unit regularly maintains good relations between the border guards and the people on both sides of the border to resolve border issues. At the same time, the Station has propagated for the people on both sides to comply with agreements and treaties, especially the 3 legal documents on the border after demarcation and marker planting. The two sides respect the independence and sovereignty and protect the border and markers, maintain solidarity between the people on both sides of the border, and create favorable conditions for economic, cultural and social development of each side.

Along with that, the unit advises local Party committees and authorities and coordinates with sectors and organizations to consolidate a strong political base. In 2023, the unit coordinated with the People's Committee of Hai Son commune to organize the People's Border Guard Festival with many cultural and social activities, in which the unit presented 100 national flags to local people and organized the program "Spring Border Guard, Warming the Hearts of Local People". The station also sent 3 teams and 6 officers to celebrate Tet with the people and participate in patrolling and controlling to ensure security and order in the area. The unit also celebrated Tet and gave gifts to prestigious people and students in the program "Helping children go to school" and the model "Adopted children of the border guard station", worth over 80 million VND... Through practical activities, officers and soldiers of Po Hen Border Guard Station have contributed to strengthening the military-civilian relationship, developing the economy, culture, society, reducing poverty, improving material and spiritual life, and significantly changing all aspects of people's lives. "The station always cares for and nurtures "people's strength", builds "people's hearts and borders", creating great potential in protecting sovereignty and ensuring strong border security", said Major Tran Dai Duong.

After the February 1979 event, Po Hen Border Post 209 was moved to another location. At the place where the heroic and steadfast fighting of the officers and soldiers of Post 209 took place, the Po Hen Martyrs Memorial was built to mark an unforgettable event. This is also the place to record the achievements and honor the officers and soldiers of the Quang Ninh Provincial Border Guard, the workers of Hai Son Forestry, and the Po Hen cluster's commercial staff who fought tenaciously and sacrificed heroically to protect the sovereignty of the national border. After many renovations and upgrades, the Po Hen Martyrs Memorial was renovated on a large scale on May 19, 2010 and completed in 2011. On March 20, 2014, the Po Hen Martyrs Memorial was recognized as a provincial-level historical relic by the People's Committee of Quang Ninh Province.

By September 2022, the Po Hen Historical Site was granted a National Monument Certificate. The 16m high memorial was built of reinforced concrete and covered with white stone. On both sides of the memorial are two stele houses, in each stele house is a monolithic green stone stele engraved with the names of 86 martyrs of the Border Guard Station 209, martyrs of Hai Son Forestry workers and martyrs of the Po Hen commercial cluster. The Po Hen Heroes and Martyrs Memorial is a tower architectural work with modern, strong architectural lines and styles in a sacred and profound space. The architecture of the work shows the heroic spirit of the people of all ethnic groups in Quang Ninh province and the officers and soldiers of the Border Guard uniting to fight and sacrifice for the country, the indomitable fighting spirit of the Vietnamese Border Guard soldiers who never surrender to the enemy. The former Border Guard Station 209, now the Po Hen Martyrs' Memorial, has become a national historical site, one of the red addresses in educating the tradition of fighting to protect the sovereignty of the Fatherland's borders. In the middle of the remote mountainous area, the Memorial is like a towering victory monument against the blue border sky. "The Memorial is a solid support for the cadres, soldiers and people here in the cause of fighting to protect the Fatherland as well as in the cause of building the borderland to become increasingly prosperous," said Major Tran Dai Duong.

To commemorate the heroic martyrs who bravely sacrificed in the war to protect the Fatherland, every year on February 17, War Invalids and Martyrs Day July 27, Po Hen Border Guard Station organizes to welcome thousands of people to offer incense and light candles in gratitude to the heroic martyrs. Officers and soldiers of Po Hen Border Guard Station are responsible for protecting and taking care of the Memorial and offering incense to the heroic martyrs on the 15th and 1st of every month. The station also assigns 3 officers to be on duty day and night at a small house located in the memorial area. Looking at the spacious memorial area, the green grass and flowers are neatly trimmed, two rows of green pine trees stand neatly from the entrance to the Monument like a guard of honor standing guard for the eternal sleep of our brothers and sisters. This is the result of many years of hard work by generations of officers and soldiers of the Quang Ninh Provincial Border Guard in general and officers and soldiers of Po Hen Border Post in particular, who have worked hard to restore this dignity. "The heroic feats of comrades in the past will always be a shining example for officers and soldiers of Po Hen Border Post today to remember. They always uphold the spirit of vigilance, unite to overcome all difficulties, and stick together with the people of all ethnic groups in Hai Son commune to firmly hold their guns to protect every inch of the sacred land of the Fatherland," said Major Tran Dai Duong.

Content: Nguyen Duong

Design: Patrick Nguyen

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