The land of Viet Tri today, was the capital of Van Lang during the time of the Hung Kings. Legend has it that: To choose a place to establish the capital, King Hung passed through many areas from the Ao Chau lagoon area (Ha Hoa) with ninety-nine alleys, through the Thanh Ba hill area with the Tham mountain range, saw many beautiful landscapes, good land but there was no place that the king liked. Then one day, the king and the Lac Hou and Lac Tuong went to an area with three converging rivers in front, on both sides were Tan Vien and Tam Dao mountains like Thanh Long and Bach Ho returning, there were hills near and far, lush fields, a bustling population, in the middle of the mountains and hills there was a mountain rising up like a dragon's head, and the other mountain ranges were like winding dragon bodies. The king was delighted to see the amazing mountains, good land, deep rivers, and green grass and trees. This place had the potential to be preserved, to be opened, and a place for all people to gather. King Hung then resolutely chose this land and that place became the capital of the Van Lang state.
Viet Tri city today.
Thus, legend or history, history or legend has partly reflected the historical truth, very early on, the ancient Vietnamese chose the Viet Tri region as a place to survive and develop their race. That is why Viet Tri was chosen as the political center of the Van Lang state. With its favorable geographical location and natural conditions, this is the convergence place of many ancient Vietnamese groups with diverse nuances in a unified body of the Dong Son civilization. The residents of Viet Tri originated from the Van Lang residents of the Hung Kings' era.
The Hung Kings lived in low hills along the river banks, and their main economic activities were rice cultivation, hunting, and raising small livestock. Legend has it that King Hung taught people to grow rice in Minh Nong, and that the rice warehouse was in Nong Trang, where sticky rice was grown in Huong Tram and Duu Lau. The motifs on Dong Son bronze drums also depict stilt houses, scenes of beating bronze drums, pounding rice, hunting, deer, dogs, etc. Bronze and stone production tools have been found in abundance at the Doi Giam (pre-Dong Son) and Lang Ca (Dong Son culture) sites.
During this period, the socio-economic form changed from the clan system to the rural commune. Economic development liberated the productive forces, and there was a surplus of products. Some people separated from agriculture to engage in handicrafts, the most advanced being bronze casting, as evidenced by the discovery of 4 double-sided bronze molds along with bronze melting and pouring utensils at the Lang Ca burial site. It is possible that these were the burials of bronze casting specialists in society. It can be affirmed that this was the period when bronze developed brilliantly and occupied a large position, so it is also called the Bronze Age.
Due to its geographical location and natural conditions that are very favorable for living and developing, since the Hung King period, Viet Tri has been the center of the Lac Viet community. The population is increasingly crowded and developing at a rapid pace, fundamentally changing the composition and structure, the residents are increasingly diverse and rich. The development history of Viet Tri in the history of building and defending the country for thousands of years of the nation has shown some outstanding characteristics of the residents in the area of the river confluence through some comments as follows:
This is the earliest residential area of the Vietnamese people with a very developed wet rice farming industry, the starting point of the development of ethnic groups living on the land of Vietnam and from here, the urban class also first appeared in Viet Tri associated with the formation, birth and development of the first capital - the capital of Van Lang.
This is a very early concentration center, with a large number of ancient Vietnamese residents and from here, ethnic groups have spread out to settle in other residential areas and vice versa from all over the country to settle in Viet Tri, creating a natural "population exchange" and establishing the Van Lang nation with an administrative area of 15 departments in the early days of the country's founding. It is an area that has been strongly affected by the wars that have taken place in history in Viet Tri. Therefore, it has a great impact on population fluctuations, creating a state of "dynamic", "unstable" and always in the trend of "growth" and "development" in terms of population composition.
The cultural and spiritual life of the Van Lang capital's inhabitants is also known to us through legends and archaeological artifacts. At the Lang Ca site, we found some jewelry such as bracelets, earrings... Bronze drums and bells were not only used in religious ceremonies but also for spiritual and cultural activities. On the Dong Son bronze drums, there are also engraved images of boys and girls playing bronze drums and singing. Especially Xoan singing.
Hung Lo Communal House. Photo: Document
Viet Tri - the ancient capital of Van Lang is a place with a dense concentration of tangible and intangible cultural heritages bearing the typical mark of the Ancestral Land. It is a system of rich religious architectural relics, more than half of which are relics worshiping King Hung and his generals, wives and children.
Many relics have high cultural and artistic values such as: Lau Thuong Communal House, Bao Da Communal House, Hung Lo Communal House, An Thai Communal House, Huong Tram Communal House... associated with these relics are rich and unique festivals with attractive folk games such as: Rowing festival (Bach Hac); rice cake pounding festival (Mo Chu Ha - Bach Hac); Xoan festival (Kim Duc - Phuong Lau); Tich Dien festival (Minh Nong); playing Du Tien (Minh Nong, Minh Phuong); playing tug of war (Du Lau); throwing nets to catch cotton (Van Phu); going to the bridge to light firecrackers (Huong Lan - Trung Vuong)... the above festivals are all rituals related to King Hung and the generals of the Hung dynasty.
Along with the festival system are many legends associated with each place name in Viet Tri such as: The story of King Hung teaching people to grow rice in Lu village (Minh Nong); the King's granary (Nong Trang); the village growing fragrant sticky rice for Prince Lang Lieu to make cakes to offer to the King in Huong Tram (Duu Lau); the Hung King's son-in-law selection tower in Lau Thuong; the Thuong Vo platform in Bach Hac; the Hung King's military camp in Cam Doi (No Luc); schools in Chang Dong, Chanh Nam (Thanh Mieu), Huong Lan village (Trung Vuong); Lau Thuong, Lau Ha, Tien Cat, Thanh Mieu were all palaces of King Hung; Quat Thuong village was the king's kumquat garden, just as Duu Lau Ke Dau was a betel garden with the betel chewing custom of the Vietnamese people... There are many legends and miracles reflecting the daily life, work and struggle of the ancient Vietnamese ethnic groups in the early days of nation building.
Viet Tri is the first ancient capital of the nation. Among the 10 criteria set forth by UNESCO on outstanding global value for recognition as a world cultural heritage, Phu Tho heritages can meet the requirements of the 5th criterion called: "Prehistoric cultural space" because this name evokes the outstanding value of preserving cultural strata, demonstrating the traditional settlement of ancient Vietnamese residents from the early bronze period (Phung Nguyen culture) to the late bronze - early iron period (Dong Son culture).
It is the long-term traditional settlement and the continuous successive development of the ancient Vietnamese people that created the wet rice cultivation, the famous Phung Nguyen pottery making, the bronze metallurgy with the Dong Son bronze drum products full of artistic creativity of the ancient Vietnamese community. That is the identity and cultural character of Vietnam originating from the ancient Vietnamese civilization. For that reason, in the land of Viet Tri, UNESCO has recognized two representative cultural heritages of humanity, which are Phu Tho Xoan singing and the Hung King worship in Phu Tho.2.
Viet Tri City today is a type I urban area, directly under Phu Tho province, with an area of nearly 11,153 hectares, a population of more than 215 thousand people, of which the urban population accounts for nearly 70%; there are 22 administrative units, including 13 wards and 9 communes. Through many planning and construction stages, Viet Tri has affirmed its important role and position in the general development of the province and its role as the center of the northern mountainous region.
Viet Tri currently has 56 ranked relics, including 01 Special National relic; 13 National relics, 42 Provincial relics. This is an extremely attractive highlight for people and tourists from all over the world when coming to the city of the river junction. Along with that, Viet Tri has devoted many resources to invest in and restore 30 relics in the area, in order to preserve and promote the value of the relics and associate with tourism development. The work of restoring and expanding the space of festivals has also received attention. Thanks to that, a number of relics have become complete cultural tourism products, with the characteristics of the Ancestral Land, creating attractive tourist routes for domestic and foreign tourists...
In order to improve urban management, Viet Tri city has implemented the Civilized and Cultural Urban Project for the period 2016 - 2020 and the Civilized and Modern Urban Project for the period 2021 - 2025. The implementation of the Urban Management Regulations and the projects to build and upgrade Viet Tri urban area have received the consensus and positive response of the community, creating a clear change in people's awareness and the spirit of self-implementation of the people in the fields of construction order, urban order, environmental sanitation, socialization of resources, etc.
In the period of 2016 - 2020 alone, Viet Tri mobilized more than 27,600 billion VND to invest in infrastructure in the city. By the end of 2018, 100% of the city's communes had completed the construction of new rural areas, 2 years ahead of schedule. One of the breakthroughs is to build Viet Tri into a civilized and cultural urban area, as determined by the 20th City Party Executive Committee, term 2015 - 2020.
To realize this goal, Viet Tri has focused on prioritizing investment in building urban infrastructure, accelerating the construction progress of key projects, creating a spacious, bright, green, clean, beautiful appearance for the city, the best conditions for practicing two intangible cultural heritages of humanity: "Hung King worship in Phu Tho" and "Xoan singing in Phu Tho".
On June 12, 2020, the Prime Minister issued Decision 817/QD-TTg in 2020 approving the goals, orientations, tasks and main solutions to develop Viet Tri city into a festival city returning to the roots of the Vietnamese people, for the period up to 2025, with a vision to 2030. This is a source of encouragement and motivation for Viet Tri to preserve and promote the value of cultural heritage, meeting the cultural and religious needs of the people of the Ancestral Land in particular, and of the Vietnamese people in general.
According to the planning approved by the Government, the Hung Temple National Tourist Area will continue to be built with many items; urban infrastructure and traffic networks continue to be completed. Inner-city routes such as Nguyen Tat Thanh, Ton Duc Thang, Hoang Van Thu, Nguyen Van Linh, Vu The Lang, Phu Dong... and more than 130km of internal traffic routes, many national highways, bridges and external roads such as Noi Bai - Lao Cai Expressway, National Highway 2, Hac Tri Bridge, Van Lang Bridge, Vinh Phu Bridge... continue to be invested, upgraded and newly built, helping to connect traffic, promote the economy, creating a highlight for the city.
Along with that, Viet Tri continues to promote the value of cultural heritage associated with sustainable tourism development, promoting local socio-economic development; strengthening cooperation and association with localities and countries with intangible cultural heritages recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). At the same time, harmoniously combining national character and modernity, creating harmony and connection between the functions of an industrial city and a tourism festival.
Viet Tri City has been mobilizing maximum resources to make breakthroughs in infrastructure investment, building a civilized and modern urban area; developing services, especially tourism services, to create new momentum in the city's economic and social development. Viet Tri City has gradually maintained, restored and elevated existing traditional and folk cultural festivals associated with relics related to the Hung King era in the area, ensuring solemnity, economy and efficiency.
Through this, we will educate the younger generation about tradition, build the city's citizen style, and promote the festival city's return to the roots of the Vietnamese people. At the same time, we will strengthen the connection with localities in the province, with provinces in the region, tourism centers, domestic and foreign partners to form convenient and attractive tours, tourism routes, and services...
With the achievements as well as the available potentials and advantages, along with the aspirations of the Party and the People, the City will soon complete the criteria of a civilized and modern city, gradually turning Viet Tri into an attractive destination for investors and tourists from all over the world, so that Viet Tri becomes a dynamic city, a festival city returning to the roots of the Vietnamese people.
Nguyen Huu Dien
Former Provincial Party Secretary, Honorary President of Phu Tho Historical Sciences Association
Source: https://baophutho.vn/viet-tri-xua-va-nay-223202.htm
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