Legend of Hanh Thien - the unique carp-shaped village in Vietnam

"Dong Co Am, Nam Hanh Thien", a folk song that has been around for generations means: Co Am village is the most famous in the East, Hanh Thien village is the most famous in the South.

Hanh Thien here is a place name in Xuan Hong commune, Xuan Truong district, Nam Dinh province - a village shaped like a carp wagging its tail and reaching out to the sea. This place is famous for its learning with many famous people and high achievers.

Hanh Thien village has long been of interest to many experts in history, geography, geography, culture, economics , society, literature, art... for research.

The book Hanh Thien - the carp-shaped village: Legend and history , released in October, is also a reference source for those who want to learn about this village.

Journalist Quoc Phong - the book's editor - is a native of Hanh Thien but was not born there. It was not until 1984, when he was 28 years old, that he was able to visit the village for the first time.

Hanh Thien communal house, in front of the communal house door there are 3 Chinese characters: Hanh Thien Dinh (Photo: Quoc Phong).

In his 45 years of working, journalist Quoc Phong has written about 50 articles about Hanh Thien village and its prominent figures. However, he feels that there are still many things that have not been fully discovered about his origin.

With a passion for writing about Hanh Thien like an endless "gold mine", in the new book, journalist Quoc Phong chose to reprint about 30 of his articles.

"I found it very strange so I decoded this seemingly unusual phenomenon: Why does my hometown Hanh Thien village have so many famous people? It turns out it's not surprising at all. It's easy to understand because of its deep roots over the past few hundred years, Hanh Thien village has been a famous land of learning so many people have achieved high grades and gradually, accumulated and contributed to making Thanh Nam land of learning famous," he shared.

The book Hanh Thien - the carp-shaped village: Legend and history consists of 2 volumes.

Volume 1 is mostly articles written by journalist Quoc Phong about the land, people, historical traditions and culture of Hanh Thien village. Some articles were re-edited by the author of Associate Professor, Doctor of Science Nguyen Bich Dat, Associate Professor of History Dang Duc An and some villagers he was passionate about, and edited accordingly.

From specific stories, readers can understand why Hanh Thien became a famous fishing and trading village, culture and civilization, science and art, and a land of patriotism and revolution.

Readers can also imagine the family and village traditions that have shaped the qualities and personalities, talents and virtues of each person in Hanh Thien village, even those who have not lived in the village for many years.

Journalist Quoc Phong always feels excited and passionate when writing about his hometown Hanh Thien (Photo: Character provided).

Volume 2 of the book is about famous people of Hanh Thien village with 22 medieval and modern characters and 42 modern characters. Participating in this volume is also Dr. of History Dang Thi Van Chi (also from Hanh Thien village).

Journalist Quoc Phong has worked hard to develop criteria for selecting characters, collecting, gathering, and examining documents methodically and carefully, asking for opinions and contributions from knowledgeable people, trying to sketch out the image of historical and cultural characters that is closest to their portraits.

With his passion, journalist Quoc Phong hopes that this will be a valuable document to help readers who want to learn about Hanh Thien.

Professor, Doctor, People's Teacher Nguyen Quang Ngoc - Vice President of the Vietnam Historical Science Association - commented: " Hanh Thien - the carp-shaped village: Legend and history is an extremely valuable book, written from the heart and soul of those who love their homeland and are deeply attached to the village of Hanh Thien".

Following the process of compiling the local history of many localities, Mr. Ngoc realized that the number of famous characters of Hanh Thien village introduced in the book was even more and more impressive than the historical characters of many provinces. This confirmed the special position of Hanh Thien village, as well as affirmed the outstanding success of the book.

The book was launched on October 19 in Hanoi.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giai-tri/huyen-su-hanh-thien-ngoi-lang-hinh-ca-chep-doc-nhat-viet-nam-20241017192423983.htm