BRIEF HISTORY OF THAI BINH (Part I) Propaganda guideline on 130th Anniversary of Thai Binh Province Founding Day (March 21st, 1890 – March 21st, 2020)

Thai Binh is a coastal province in the Red River Delta with a natural area of ​​1,534.4 km2 and a population of about 1.8 million people. During the transformation of nature over thousands of years of the Northern Delta, Thai Binh land was formed mainly due to the alluvial deposition of two major rivers, the Red River and Thai Binh River with land reclamation of numerous generations of residents.

I- Overview of the geographical location and the process of establishing the province

Thai Binh is a coastal province in the Red River Delta with a natural area of ​​1,534.4 km2 and a population of about 1.8 million people. During the transformation of nature over thousands of years of the Northern Delta, Thai Binh land was formed mainly due to the alluvial deposition of two major rivers, the Red River and Thai Binh River with the land reclamation of numerous generations of residents. Around the 7th-6th century BC, the first classes of inhabitants from the foot of Ba Vi Mountain, Tam Dao and the valleys and midlands of Phu Tho, Son Tay ... gradually descended to coastal wetlands of the Red River. The attraction of the fertile alluvial land, favorable for fishing and wet rice cultivation, has quickly attracted an increasing number of people seeking places to live. By the early centuries of BC, most of Thai Binh land had been reclaimed, forming concentrated areas to create a diversified and bustling life.

Along with the process of forming land and residents, the area of ​​Thai Binh has been included in the national administrative geography with many different levels and changes. In early AD, Thai Binh was located in the last southern region of Chu Dien, Giao Chi. In the tenth century, when Ngo Quyen proclaimed himself king, Thai Binh belonged to Dang Chau land (including Thai Binh and Hung Yen later). In the pre-Le dynasty, in the ninth year of Thiên Ung (1002), Lê Đại Hành changed the terms for calling governmental units: “đạo” into “lộ” Under “lộ” were “phủ”, under “phủ” was “hương”. When Le Long Dinh (1005-1009) came to the throne, he changed Đằng Châu into Phủ Thai Binh; according to "Dai Viet historiography", Phủ Thai Binh's name began then. It was not until the Tran dynasty, in the thirteenth century onwards that the region of Thai Binh was really clear in the history of national construction and defense. In 1252, Tran Thai Tong changed 24 “lộ” into 12 “lộ phủ”, under “lộ phủ”, there were districts then communes. Thai Binh belonged to Long Hung “phủ”, Kien Xuong and An Tiem “lộ phủ”. In the Early Le Dynasty (1428-1527), the country was divided into 5 regions, under each region there were districts, towns and communes. In the 10th year of Quang Thuan (1469), Le Thanh Tong subdivided the regions into 13 regions and abandoned intermediate administrative units such as town and province. At that time, Thai Binh belonged to Nam Dao, which was then changed into Son Nam. In 1741, Le Hien Tong changed region into town and divided Son Nam into two towns: Son Nam Thuong and Son Nam Ha, Thai Binh belonged to Son Nam Ha town. Under the Nguyen Dynasty, in the third Minh Mang year (1822), at first Thai Binh was still in Nam Dinh town, then in Hung Yen and Nam Dinh provinces.

On March 21, 1890, Governor-General of Indochina issued a Decree establishing Thai Binh Province, including the districts of Thanh Quan, Thuy Anh, Dong Quan, Truc Dinh, Thu Tri, Vu Tien, Tien Hai, Phu Duc and Quynh Coi (of Nam Dinh) and Than Khe district (of Hung Yen). In the 6th Thanh Thai year (1894), two more districts of Hung Nhan and Duyen Ha (belonging to Hung Yen province) were imported back to Thai Binh. At that time, Thai Binh as an independent administrative unit consisted of 3 prefectures: Tien Hung, Kien Xuong, Thai Ninh and 12 districts: Duyen Ha, Hung Nhan, Tien Hung, Thuy Anh, Dong Quan , Thai Ninh, Quynh Coi, Phu Duc, Thu Tri, Vu Tien, Truc Dinh and Tien Hai.

In the early years of the twentieth century, the French re-decentralized the management apparatus in the province: prefectures and districts were the same administrative levels directly managed by the provincial level. At this time, Thai Binh had prefectures, 9 districts and 1 provincial capital, including Kien Xuong, Thai Ninh and Tien Hung and Vu Tien prefectures, Thu Tri district, Tien Hai district, Dong Quan district, Thuy Anh district, Phu Duc district, Quynh Coi district, Hung Nhan district, Duyen Ha district and Thai Binh town. After the August 1945 revolution, on April 10, 1946, the provincial People's Council decided to change prefectures into districts. The whole province then had 12 districts and 1 town with 829 communes and villages. On June 17, 1969, the Government Council issued Decision No. 93-QD/CP on the consolidation and adjustment of boundaries, Thai Binh had 7 districts and 1 town. In 2004, Thai Binh Town was recognized as a provincial city (according to the Government's Decree No. 117/2004 / ND-CP, April 29, 2004).

II- Thai Binh's revolutionary tradition, culture and patriotism

1. United to improve natural habitats and build villages

With the characteristics of the land being formed early Thai Binh - the downstream Red River has always contained in itself both factors: advantages and disadvantages. That is the great promise of an open settlement life in the land with fertile accretion of nature. However, it is also a wild land with lots of dangers, challenges such as thunderstorms, drought, swamps, meadows, wild animals,... Especially, due to the results of regressions in thousands of years of waves, sea breezes, the topography of the whole region is very complicated: some places are with many mounds and some are flooded all year round. Those are profound factors that force the owners of Thai Binh land in the long history to go through a long journey of fierce struggle with nature, the sea, step by step creating a long-term wealthy settlement life.

Although it is difficult to find a document to reconstruct the conquering process of Thai Binh people since the early days, but it is certainly an inevitable process facing natural disasters of ancient Vietnamese tribes from high lands who came down to occupy the plains. The migration of this first class of residents has been associated with the legend of children of Lac Long Quan - the Dragon. And the vital struggle against the floods to seize the fertile land along rivers also soon became the epic poem imprinted in the legend of the fierce confrontations between Son Tinh and Thuy Tinh – the invader, who must accept defeat in the spirit of solidarity of people.

However, hydrological - reclaiming activities in Thai Binh only really took place with increasing scale as more new flows of population continued to accumulate, requiring expansion of cultivation areas and places of residence.  From the method of using knives to plow, using fire to plant, with the advancement of metal tools, the people quickly adapted to the terrain conditions to create techniques to use fire to burn trees, use water to cultivate and then use buffaloes and plows to cultivate rice in an entire coastal plain.

From AD and especially from the 6th century, with the birth of the independent Van Xuan State, Thai Binh land truly became the convergence of many streams of people throughout the country. Since then, the work of reclamation and water treatment has been promoted one step, so that by the 10th to the 11th centuries, this land had become "the granary of the whole country with crowded villages".

Under the Ly - Tran Dynasty, the land reclamation was favorable, many new hamlets and villages were found, especially in Hung Nhan, Duyen Ha, Quynh Coi, Phu Duc (Hung Ha and Quynh  Phu districts nowadays) ).

In the process of rebuilding the country (after overthrowing the domination of the Ming dynasty), King Le Thai To issued a policy of agricultural extension, abolished the land-filling regime, and implemented the military and encouraged to establish plantations to develop agricultural economy. As a result, the agricultural economy in general, the reclamation, restoration and expansion of villages in this period in particular achieved great achievements. Just in Thai Binh, the number of newly established villages increased significantly (according to records of Nguyen Trai in Du Dia Chi in 1435, the number of villages in Thai Binh was over 400 units of communes, villages, etc. .; according to Hồng Đức map, in Thái Bình there were 503 villages ...)

With the provisions in favor of the plunderers who were sent for land reclamation,  the work of the Nguyen Cong Tru at Con Tien beach was carried out quickly, in just 6 months, 27 hamlets, 20 camps, 18,970 acres of cultivated land, 8,000 acres of  residential land were formed, leading to the creation of Tien Hai district.

At the same time, many coastal wastelands of Thuy Anh district were found. The reclaimed land was divided into 153 sections for 122 people, each with 6 sao (360m2) and 2 khau (equal to 36m2). In the thirteenth year of Thanh Thai's reign (1901), the people of the district applied to convert this land into private fields to pass to their children and grandchildren.

Considering the whole province, by the beginning of the twentieth century, thanks to the promotion of reclamation, restoration, adjustment of administrative boundaries and population, the number of villages in Thai Binh had increased significantly. According to the statistics of Ngo Vi Lien, in 1928, Thai Binh province had 817 communal administrative units, with over 1,200 villages, hamlets and camps.

Over thousands of years of history, the issue of water treatment - reclaiming land, establishing villages, and encroaching on sea has become an indispensable permanent problem, a job with experience, of many generations of Thai Binh residents. The tradition of water treatment - reclaiming land, building dykes, establishing villages is not only a natural root of community cohesion, but also an essential basis for the expansion of residence areas, domestication of land and career development. With the power of solidarity, Thai Binh people fought with wild nature, and turned the mangrove wilderness into fertile soil. This achievement was inherited and promoted in many forms by the later generations of Thai Binh people, with creative ways and distinctive traits of Thai Binh people. History has recorded the creative models of coastal deserted villages from the end of the nineteenth century to the present: New coastal economic village in the 1960s and 70s of the twentieth century; model resistance villages in the period of anti-French and especially civilized villages, craft villages, cultural villages ... in the construction of new rural areas in Thai Binh today.

2. Hard-working, creative in production

According to historical sources, in the middle of the first millennium, many places in Thai Binh province were quite crowded with people living mainly on the cultivation of wet rice and fishing. With three sides facing large rivers, one side facing the sea, the inland is intertwined with small rivers, the people in Thai Binh have soon adapted to intelligent management, making the element often considered hazards (water, fire, fire, bandits) into the leading conditions and measures in intensive cultivation of rice. The dykes and dams digging, embankment constructing, etc. have replaced the method of rice production based on the flow of the tide, which was very passive in the early days. Irrigation techniques, water treatment experiences have helped people here control floodwaters in the rainy season, improve the cultivated land for the growth and development of rice.

In order to increase the soil quality for rice cultivation, Thai Binh farmers not only know how to make use of all the fertilizer sources and plowing and harrowing techniques, but they also know how to use fertilizers suitable for each type of land in order to attain high yield. In particular, many localities in Thai Binh have been famous for developing and cultivating a fertilizer source that creates nutrition for the soil, and is suitable for growing rice. That is the technique of selecting and propagating strawberry hyacinth in villages: La Van (Quynh Phu), Bich Du (Thai Thuy), Bung (Vu Thu), ... Along with general knowledge of rice farming in the delta, Thai Binh people go further in considering the season to plant and are also very adept at selecting the suitable cultivated land.

Exploiting the priceless heritage of farming experiences of their homeland, in many works, especially in the book of the Van Dai language book, Le Quy Don has focused on meticulously describing diligence, the technique, the steps of cultivating wet rice of farmers in districts now in Thai Binh. The result of diligence and creativity, especially in the tradition of intensive wet rice cultivation, has turned the ancient Thai Binh wasteland into a granary of the country. Throughout the feudal system years, Thai Binh was always chosen as a food warehouse to ensure the military salaries and strong military bases. And in the resistance war against French colonialism and American imperialism, Thai Binh was always a strong rear with the slogan "Providing rice and soldiers more than assigned". Being proud of the title "the province with 5-ton/ha", Thai Binh will remain to be the leading province in intensive rice cultivation.

Besides cultivation, Thai Binh is also famous for traditional crafts such as weaving cloth and silk in Then, Meo villages (Hung Ha); Bon, Do villages (Dong Hung), Cao Bat village (Kien Xuong), Bo La village (Vu Thu); weaving mat in Hoi village (Hung Ha); bronze casting in An Long (Quynh Phu); iron object producing in Cao Duong (Thai Thuy), silver carving in Dong Sam (Kien Xuong); carpentry in Ve, Diec villages (Hung Ha) and Dong Ho (Thai Thuy) ... According to historical documents as well as historical relics left, from the first century, there appeared weaving in Thai Binh, in the following centuries, in the Tran dynasty, there were forging, casting, knitting, ... At the end of the tenth century, mat weaving was popular in Thai Binh; silver carving in Dong Xam (Kien Xuong) has appeared  since the 17th century (in 1680).

Looking back to the past, according to some French documents, at the end of 1941, in 5 districts (Kien Xuong, Dong Hung, Tien Hai, Vu Thu, Hung Ha), there were 65 silk weaving establishments with 750 skilled workers, accounting for 10% of skilled workers in the whole Northern region at that time. Among the craft villages in Thai Binh, there are many famous villages known nationwide as Phuong La (Hung Ha), Bo La (Vu Thu), Do (Dong Hung), Ngoc Duong (Kien Xuong) and Van Trang (Thai Thuy). Items made from silk, cotton, jute, rush, hemp are extremely diverse and silk weaving is the most popular profession of Thai Binh. Especially the mat weaving profession in Hoi village (Hai Trieu village, Tan Le commune, Hung Ha district) has developed and contributed to forming the mat weaving industry in many places in the province with many different models such as in communes An Trang, An Vu (Quynh Phu district), Dong Ha (Dong Hung district), An Ha (Tien Hai district). Many documents also recorded that Hoi village and Hoi village workers were once a center of trading and exchanging production of mats. In Hai Trieu village (Tan Le commune, Hung Ha district), in the early twentieth century, Chinese people came here to set up two mat weaving establishments, namely Van Sinh and Minh Ky. With these two facilities, at that time, 2,500 households were involved, producing 12,000 - 15,000 mats each year, the majority of which are brought to China for consumption. In addition, Thai Binh also has many other traditional professions in localities other than cloth weaving, mat weaving such as silver carving, bronze casting, embroidery, wool carpets, carpentry, food processing, food making…

Although limited by the self-sufficient nature of the villages, with the skillful hands of Thai Binh people, handicraft products have an indispensable position in diverse and daily life of agricultural residents. Some products not only serve local needs but also go beyond the village to the respect and appreciation of the majority of residents in many different regions in the country.

3. The martial spirit, unyielding and resilient attitude against foreign invaders to protect the country.

Due to the strategic location of the coastal land with large estuaries such as Ba Lat (Red river), Ho (Cua Diem) and Luoc (where the Red River flows into the Luoc river), Tuan Vuong, Bo Hai (the estuaries of Tra Ly river) ... so in the history of national construction and defense, Thai Binh province has been identified as one of the dangerous gateways of the country. During the patriotic wars, facing thousands of years of confrontation with all enemies, residents of Thai Binh villages had to struggle with invading armies and pirates from the sea. "Tra gate waves and Ho gate ghost" were the horrors of many invaders coming to Vietnam. Because of this strategic position, and the fact that Thai Binh is the granary of the region, many regional uprising leaders and feudal dynasties chose to build defensive forces on Thai Binh land.

Right at the beginning of BC, in the Spring of 40, in response to the calling of Hai Ba Trung, many Thai Binh heroes rebelled. Some of the most significant are the famous and talented woman Vu Thi Thuc who called herself the "Eight accident general" and waved the uprising flag in Tien La (Doan Hung - Hung Ha), Le Do (An Khe commune, Quynh Phu district), Nguyen Thi Cam Hoa from Thuong Phan village (Quynh Hoang, Quynh Phu); Que Hoa (Vu Thu), Bac Nuong and Dong Lang (Thai Thuy), Dang Chan, Dang Minh and Dang Man (Hung Ha). ... In the 6th century, in order to revolt to overthrow the domination of the Luong dynasty, the hero Ly Bi chose the dangerous land now in Thai Binh territory to gather the first force to build Van Xuan country.

In the tenth century, Bo Hai Khau now belongs to Thai Binh city which was a dangerous military land. When the country was in turmoil with 12 warlords, Tran Lam occupied this land and became the most powerful warlord with the strategy of gradually annexing other warlords. Knowing the dangerous land and forces of Tran Lam, Dinh Bo Linh sought to rely on him and from here to pursue the imperial career.

Regarding the Ly dynasty, the traces of the anti Tong resistance war on the ancient villages of Thai Binh are not much. But from this land, at the end of the Ly dynasty, a number of aristocratic families such as Luu, Dam, and Su had important characters in the court, such as Luu Khanh Dam, Luu Ba, Dam Di Mong and To Trung Tu  who were from Ngu Thien land (now in Hung Ha district).

At the end of the 12th century in the land of Hai Ap (now in Hung Ha district), Tran family made a great career. From the land of Long Hung, the Tran family created the dynasty and this land was the place for the Tran's retreat to set up a base against the Mong-Nguyen army. Chua Village, Trieu Quyen Village and Dinh Ngu Village (Hung Ha) are important villages for the royal family's refugees to flee. In 1250, the King established large rice warehouses named A Sao, Tieu Nam, Dai Nam, now belonging to An Dong, An Thai and Quynh Tho communes (Quynh Phu). Many villages in this area produced weapons concentrated in Am Qua (An Dong commune, Quynh Phu district). A solid protective line was established along the Luoc and Hoa rivers in the villages from Hung Ha to Quynh Phu and Thai Thuy.
The system of barracks from Hai Thi gate (Tan Le, Hung Ha) to the junction of Nong (Diep Nong, Hung Ha) is a militia army commanded by Yet Kieu. "Dao Dong, Long Khe, To De and A Sao" were associated with Tran Hung Dao's martial arts and Tran's famous generals. It is possible to name the large military warehouses spanning this land such as Gieng Ga (Thuy Hung, Thai Thuy), Gieng Cho (Thuy Viet, Thai Thuy), Luu Don and Van Don posts (Thuy Hong, Thai Thuy), Phuong Man (Thuy Dung, Thai Thuy), Dai Nam warehouse (Quynh Tho, Quynh Phu), Me Thuong warehouse (An Thai, Quynh Phu), Phong Nam warehouse (Thuy Phong, Thai Thuy) ... The practice sites from Hai Thi (Luoc) to Bat Do Trang (Thai Binh estuary) and Ba Lat (Red river) ... also left traces.

The resistance against the Mong - Yuan army in Thai Binh land should be considered as a typical example of a whole-people resistance war with the art of naval warfare. Experiencing challenges and drawing lessons from the resistance war against Mongolia - Yuan (XIII century), in the anti-Minh resistance war (XV century), the battle took place on Thai Binh land, though not large as in the Tran dynasty but most took place in the same places as in the resistance against Minh, such as Dai Toan (Diem), Ba Lat, Thai Binh estuaries ...

The diversity in the military arts of Thai Binh residents also needs to be better understood through the ups and downs of Vietnamese history with major events. For example: in the sixteenth century, the Mac Dynasty chose Phu Duc land as a place to strengthen Hai Dong base. The imprint of the Mac dynasty is still quite clear on the land of two districts of Hung Ha and Quynh Phu. In the eighteenth century, Le Chieu Thong returned to the south of Kien Xuong to form a head quarter. Especially the peasant uprising against the harsh rule of the feudal government in the eighteenth - nineteenth centuries with the peak of two major uprisings in Thai Binh known to the whole country: Hoang Cong Chat (XVIII century) and Phan Ba ​​Vanh (nineteenth century).

When the French opened fire to invade Vietnam (1858), in Thai Binh the anti-French spirit was very strong, many people joined the army to move to the South. When the first French invasion against Tonkin (1873) took place, in Thai Binh, anti-French bases had been formed. The large bases capable of gathering many villages in the region at this time were Trung Dong (Kien Xuong), Van Mon (Vu Thu), Yen Tu Ha (Tien Hai) ... These bases were associated with the names of the leaders such as Nguyen Mau Kien, Doan Khue ... When the French army invaded Tonkin for the second time (1883), in addition to the above bases, other new bases had been formed to fight against the French enemy, including Dinh Tien Duc along the Luoc river, Le Nguyen Quang in Kien Xuong - Tien Hai, Bang Ton in Tam Nong (Hung Ha), Pham Huy Quang in Do (Dong Hung), Doc Nhuong in Do Ky (Hung Ha), Lanh Hoan in Tho Vuc (Dong Hung), Nguyen Thanh Thai in Phan Bong (Hung Ha) ...

When King Ham Nghi called for fighting against the French by “Can Vuong” movement, most of the villages in Thai Binh took part in the movement. In addition to the aforementioned bases and leaders, there were dozens of patriotic writers and patriots who formed within village, inter-village and inter-district organizations to organize the battle against France. When Ky Dong Nguyen Van Cam returned from Algeria to call local people to go to Yen The to open a plantation to set up the anti-French base, the patriotic people in many villages excitedly responded. Many Confucian scholars and intellectuals in the province had a special role in organizing forces and planning strategies to fight against the French. There were armed leaders who did not directly operate on Thai Binh land but had special influence such as Dr. Pham The Hien (Luyen Khuyen, Thai Thuy), Nguyen Quang Bich (Trinh Pho, Tien Hai).

Patriotic intellectuals in Thai Binh who had many contributions to the anti-French movement before the Party (1930) besides Pham The Hien and Nguyen Quang Bich were: Nguyen Mau Kien, Nguyen Huu Cuong, Nguyen Huu Ban (Dong Trung, Kien Xuong), Doan Khue and the descendants of the Doan family (Song Lang, Vu Thu), Nguyen Doan Cu, Dung Nghia village (Vu Thu), Tran Xuan Sac (Dong Thanh, Tien Hai), Pham Huy Quang (Phu Luu, Dong Hung) ... and the martial generals who were the leaders of the above movements.

Inheriting the struggle tradition of previous people, when the Communist Party of Vietnam was born to lead and organize the people's war in accordance with the new military ideology, the villages in Thai Binh continued to fight, putting the art of people's war to a new level. During the resistance war against the French colonialists, the military arts of Ho Chi Minh became popular in each village in Thai Binh. Forms of armed struggle, semi-armed, resistance territory, resistance village fences, destruction of posts, guerrilla warfare combined with the main army, local arm and guerrilla militia. Combining political struggle with armed struggle in each period, in each battle ... made ingenious military art in people's war and liberation war. During the resistance war against the French colonialists, many resistance villages of Thai Binh were associated with great feats recorded in history. For instance, Nguyen Xa village (Dong Hung) was awarded a typical "Model resistance village". At the end of the resistance war against the French colonialists, the army and people in Thai Binh were awarded the flag "The people and the army unite to destroy the enemy" as a recognition of armed culture in Thai Binh that has grown to its peak in the modern period.

In the war against the US Army, the armed forces of each village not only sent their children to the battlefields, but they also had to find a way to deal with the war of sabotage right in Thai Binh as US Air Force and Navy were ready for the invasion from the sea as well as by espionage and intelligence. The movement calling for producing and fighting at the same time "plowman, gunman" "Using hammer and gun at the same time", "being a teacher and a soldier" in each village, each region had contributed to the building the culture of fighting against American armed forces in Thai Binh. It is thanks to inheriting the culture of each village that Thai Binh people who joined the army have achieved many feats through two wars of resistance. It is also thanks to the military culture that despite suffering from tons of bombs of the US Navy and air force, in the most fierce months, Thai Binh became the province with rice productivity of five tons/ha, proudly being called "fortress on the East Sea".

4. Democracy Tradition

With a history of migration, land reclamation to establish villages, renovating nature to build a prosperous and resilient Thai Binh land, indomitable against foreign invaders, Thai Binh people soon formed a life of democracy. Through generations, democracy has become a precious tradition of Thai Binh people. From the very beginning on this land, there were no leaders, no heads, people coming from all directions stood up to reclaim, establish villages, improve nature by turning muddy land into rich and fertile land. Until the establishment of Van Lang state, or during the Northern colonial period, Thai Binh people still controlled their own villages. The heads of each village were local people; the owner of this land was still the local people. And democracy was also reflected in the fact that Thai Binh people had not been assimilated in culture, customs and practices by the Northern countries.

And throughout the long feudalism, the sense of democracy of Thai Binh people was strongly demonstrated through the system of village's conventions and customs. The common saying: "The village's rules outweigh the King’s orders" shows that the people's mastery is extremely strong against the feudal power. The typical example of the democratic tradition of Thai Binh people was the peasant revolts against the reactionary feudal government including two peasant revolts of Hoang Cong Chat and Phan Ba ​​Vanh.

Following the tradition of the province, in the early years of the renovation, Thai Binh focused on implementing the program "electricity, roads, schools, stations, clean water and telephone", with the motto "The State and people do together”, taking the people as the owner in implementing this policy. From being a province with political instability in the years 1997-1999, Thai Binh became the cradle of democracy, selected by the Central as a point to study, then issued the Democracy Regulation at the grassroots level. In the process of building a new countryside today, democracy is maximized with the slogan "People know, people discuss, people do, people check". This leading method has brought great results in the construction of agriculture, farmers and rural areas. The rural appearance of the province has changed markedly; people's lives are constantly being improved. Promoting the democratic tradition, and following Uncle Ho's teaching: "Without the support of the people, even the easiest job cannot be completed; however, with people’s support, the most difficult tasks can be done", Thai Binh will keep encouraging the ownership of the people, making the province increasingly rich and beautiful.

5. Rich in traditional and cultural beauty land

Not only having the tradition of production and combating against foreign invaders, Thai Binh also has traditional cultural activities that reflect both typical cultural features of the residents of the Red River Delta and its own nuances due to the profound impact of the characteristics of land formation. That is the cultural nuance of the low-lying Red River basin: diverse, open and liberal.

In the field of physical cultural heritages, Thai Binh currently has over 3,000 monuments, which are village cultural institutions of all kinds: communal house, temple, pagoda, palace,... including 2 national special relics, 114 national relics and 550 provincial monuments. Along with those institutions are thousands of artifacts and preserved relics in districts, cities and provincial museums, including many antiques and national treasures of many materials and types (wood, stone, metal, paper, cloth, terracotta, pottery, porcelain ...).

In the field of intangible cultural heritage: Thai Binh land is fertile and near the sea, the hot and humid windy climate is an ideal environment for wet rice to grow, so Thai Binh is typical of wet rice culture, Red River civilization. This cultural expression was firstly converged deeply through activities of folk beliefs and religious beliefs. The most obvious reflection is through festivals, folk games, folk performances, and folk dancing.

In Thai Binh today, almost all communes have traditional festivals, at least one festival; many communes have four festivals. Thai Binh has all kinds of festivals: those to recreate agricultural life; those to honor national heroes, people with meritorious services to the people, to the country; those to reflect traditional beliefs, those contain competitions and entertainment...

Many large-scale festivals such as the Keo pagoda festival in Duy Nhat commune, Vu Thu district (twice a year on January 4 and from September 13 to 15); Tran temple festival in Tam Duong village, Tien Duc commune, Hung Ha district; Tien La Temple Festival in Doan Hung Commune, Buom Temple in Tan Tien (Hung Ha) from March 10 to 20 (lunar month) to celebrate the death anniversary of General  Bat Nan; festivals in A Sao temple, Dong Bang (Quynh Phu), Choi temple in Thuy Truong commune, Luu Don temple, Van Don, Tu Trinh temple (Thai Thuy) on the occasion of Hung Dao Dai Vuong's death anniversary in August. In particular, Dong Bang Temple is devoted to the worship of King Bat Hai Dai Vuong, saints, princes ... where visitors all over the country gather. These festivals have attracted tens of thousands of people. In addition to the aforementioned festivals, there are also regional-scale festivals such as Dong Xam (Kien Xuong), Lang, Hai Thon, Temple of Dance (Vu Thu), and Quang Lang Temple (Thai Thuy), La Van, Long Khe (Quynh Phu), Thuong Liet Village, Thien Quy Pagoda (Dong Hung) ... Typical job presentation festivals include: agricultural job presentation in La Van village (Quynh Hong), mat weaving in Hoi village festival (Hung Ha), silver carving at Dong Xam village (Kien Xuong), .. In most festivals in the province, there are rituals associated with agriculture such as boat racing, swimming. For example: Quang Lang Village, Thuy Hai Commune (Thai Thuy); Bong Dien, Kien Xa (Vu Thu)... Boat racing festivals (swimming spread) take place in many places such as Dong Xam, Lai Tri (Kien Xuong), Dong Bang (Quynh Phu), Keo Pagoda (Vu Thu), Diem Dien (Thai Thuy) ...

Along with the traditional festivals are folk games and folk dance... Folk dance activities such as flag dance, drum dance, lion dance, four-animal dance are organized in many communes. For example Thuong Liet village, Dong Tan commune, Long Khe village, Hiep Luc village, An Khe commune (Quynh Phu). The martial arts and competition games take place in many localities such as swinging, wrestling, swimming, cooking contest, sticky rice cake wrapping, fish catching in Tam Duong, Luu Xa (Hung Ha),...
 

The folk performing arts in Thai Binh are very diverse, including “ca trù” singing, “chầu văn” singing, ... But the most prominent is the art of “chèo” singing which can be seen in most villages in Thai Binh. Many villages have “cheo” singing groups such as: Ha Xa (Hung Ha), Khuoc (Dong Hung) and Sao Den (Vu Thu). The existence and long-standing development of “chèo” practice has been the cause for Thai Binh to be considered "the cradle" of “chèo” in the Northern Delta.

Along with chèo singing, water puppetry, a unique stage of theater under water of the region is also considered to be born in Thai Binh. This is a type of art associated with ponds and lakes. Thai Binh used to have 7 water puppet groups, now there are two in Nguyen and Dong villages (in Dong Hung district). These are special water puppet groups with a long development history.

The rich and diverse cultural life has contributed to the formation of Thai Binh people who are optimistic and have a great love for life despite the harsh challenges of nature and the brutal tricks of the enemy.
 

6. Tradition of fondness for learning, academic achievements

 Born in a land with generations of a strong will and being immersed in an environment of many healthy cultures, Thai Binh people over generations have improved their knowledge, integrated and reached the peak of contemporary knowledge, making Thai Binh a land of filial piety, fondness of study, with outstanding academic achievements. There have always been talents, top university graduates in every period. Over nearly 1,000 years of Confucianism, Thai Binh had more than 120 people out of nearly 3,000 best intellectuals and top graduates of the whole country. From the time Dang Nghiem, a native of An De village now belonging to Hiep Hoa commune, Vu Thu district passed the earliest university exam in Thai Binh province in 1185 to the time when Trinh Huu Thang, a villager of Bach Tinh village, Bach Thuan commune, Vu Thu district passed the last university exam in the year in 1919, Thai Binh's tradition of study had developed for nearly a thousand years.

Considering the number of people who passed the exams, from Early Le dynasty onwards, Thai Binh people accounted for from 30% to 50% of the total number of passers. In particular, in the Nham Than examination (1752), the country had 6 people pass the national exam, Thai Binh contributed 4 (The first one was Tam Nguyen Le Quy Don (Hung Ha), the second was Doan Nguyen Thuc (Quynh Phu), followed by Nghiem Vu Dang (Thai Thuy) and Dr. Nguyen Xuan Huyen (Vu Thu)).
 

In the contests of Confucianism in feudal times, Thai Binh had many people with gold plates. That is the case of Pham Don Le (Hung Ha), who passed in 1481. He is considered to be the first person to pass at the top three times at district, provincial and national levels in the history of the Vietnamese examination. Do Ly Khiem (Vu Thu) passed in 1499; Hoang Cong Lac (Hung Ha), under 18 years old, passed district exam and at 24 years old passed his doctorate (1712),... But beyond that, Thai Binh's pride is also the scholarly knowledge of Le Quy Don - the great scientist of Vietnam during the feudal period. He left us the massive works, enriching the academic treasure of our country, worthy of being "a shining star in the sky of Vietnam, creating a glory for the people and the nation".

Notably, the tradition of learning and academic achievements in Thai Binh has been contributed by the many families and clans. Families and clans with academic traditions often gathered in one village to make up the academic village. Among the university graduates in Thai Binh, there were 6 cases of father and son, 5 cases of siblings, 4 cases of grandchildren, and many cases of relatives. Notably, the Do family in Quynh Phu had 5 consecutive generations with 6 father and son, siblings, grandchildren successively passing university entrance exams. Most of Thai Binh's academic intellectuals have fulfilled the ambition of establishing their names in different fields. Many Thai Binh intellectuals have contributed to building and defending the country. Many people have made important contributions in the fields of history, literature, and law such as Quach Dinh Bao, Quach Huu Nghiem, Doan Hue Nhu, Nguyen Tong Quai, Bui Si Tiem, Le Quy Don, Doan Nguyen Thuc , Nguyen Quang Bich, Dao Nguyen Pho, Nguyen Can Mong, ...

During the French colonial period, in the early years of the twentieth century, due to the transition from a "Sino" education to a French education, the national alphabet replaced Chinese characters, the Sino education also ended. For the purpose of rule, the French colonialists only developed education in a small scale, limiting the understanding of our people. However, many patriots, Confucian scholars, and mandarins returned home from office to open schools. In many parts of the province, the national language learning movement flourished, creating a new contingent of intellectuals who were the main force absorbing Marxism-Leninism. These people became revolutionary activists and soldiers, Communist Party members who contributed to the revolution, typically: Nguyen Duc Canh, Nguyen Van Nang, Nguyen Danh Doi.

The August Revolution of 1945 was successful; the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was born. In response to President Ho Chi Minh's appeal against illiteracy, the popular academic movement was born and developed rapidly and strongly wide across the countryside. In the hamlets of Thai Binh, there were often tens of thousands of learners of all status. If they were busy in the morning, in the afternoon, they took the opportunity to study at lunch, at night ... Many typical examples in studying in Thai Binh during this period were praised by President Ho Chi Minh (Mr. Nguyen Van Dan lived in Hung Ha, Ms. Pham Thi Phuong from Tien Hai ...). From the years of resistance war against the US, Thai Binh education had addresses that were proud of all over the country such as: Thang Long - Dong Hung (moral education), Thuy Thanh - Thai Thuy (clean textbook with beautiful letters movement) and Tu Thuat - Kien Xuong (hygiene lifestyle).

The deep pride in the talented class has become one of the important factors that sparked the foundation of Thai Binh's tradition of study. Promoting that tradition, today Thai Binh is a locality with a strongly developed learning movement. Thai Binh students still maintain the tradition of fondness for learning. Every year, in the national exams at all levels, Thai Binh students always get high prizes, the passing rate at the university entrance exams has always been at the top of the country.

                                                                                                (to be continued)