Searching for traces of the old Rộ wharf.

A view of Rộ town today.

I venture to recount a short story: One autumn morning in 1933, an old scholar led a young boy on foot along National Highway 30 (now National Highway 46), then turned off at the Rộ ferry crossing the Lam River to the Thanh Chương district office located in the Rộ area of ​​Võ Liệt Hạ commune. It was the boy's first time visiting the district office, and he was delighted to observe the Rộ market held on the riverbank, where a two-story house belonging to a Vietnamese merchant of Chinese descent stood. The district office consisted of large buildings, with a square pond in front, a few horses grazing leisurely by the roadside, and a bustling crowd of soldiers, officials, and clerks coming and going at the large gate... Within the district office grounds stood an ancient flamboyant tree, its branches intertwined with a fragrant white jade tree.

Seeing his wife's former teacher from their time in Hue, District Chief Pham Ngoc Bich warmly welcomed him. After the old teacher explained his reason for visiting his eldest son, who was imprisoned in the district jail for being a "communist," Pham Ngoc Bich ordered the kitchen to prepare duck porridge for the teacher and summoned the young prisoner to sit beside him. He then said in a loud voice, "Eat the porridge! Out of respect for your teacher, promise me that you were foolish enough to follow communism, and that you won't anymore, and I'll let you go!" The young prisoner remained silent, then suddenly knocked the bowl of porridge out of the guard's hand and turned to stand before the old teacher, bowing his head. District Chief Pham Ngoc Bich's face turned purple with anger, but he tried to maintain a polite tone: "See, sir, he's very stubborn. The sentence has been passed, and he's about to be transferred to Vinh Prison. If he doesn't make that promise, I can't save him. I hope you understand!" The old teacher bowed slightly to the district chief, then left the duck porridge unfinished, pulling the young man along with him after reminding the young prisoner to take care of himself...

Twelve years later, after escaping from Kon Tum Prison, that young prisoner immediately returned to his hometown and became one of the commissioners (Nguyen Dinh Tung - judicial commissioner) of the first revolutionary government apparatus of Thanh Chuong district, working right in the district office in Ro. The old scholar was my grandfather, and the young boy who accompanied him was my father.

Ninety years have passed. I returned to Rộ to rediscover the remnants of the old district headquarters, a place that witnessed the revolutionary struggle for survival of the people in the lower Thanh Chương district from the Soviet Uprising of 1930-1931 to the August Revolution of 1945. The Thanh Chương district headquarters, along with the administrative buildings, prison, and water reservoir... in my father's memory, is now only remembered by a commemorative plaque hidden behind the Rộ market. Except for a small open space in front of the plaque, the land where the district headquarters once stood is now densely populated with houses. Mr. Phan Chính Tâm, Chairman of Võ Liệt commune, said that the commune is planning to fully document the geographical location of the old Thanh Chương district headquarters in preparation for Rộ being upgraded to a town in the near future. Why it was called Rộ is unknown, but the once bustling Rộ area, thanks to the largest market in the region, is now experiencing truly vibrant development, a testament to the strategic location chosen by the French as the district's administrative center.

The Rộ area is considered part of Trung Đức - Võ Liệt village, covering approximately 4 square hectares. Of this, the old district office occupies about 1 hectare. If the Rộ market hadn't moved from the riverbank to the pond in front of the old district office, then investing in relocating residents and restoring part of the district office would have been a highlight for Trung Đức village, which now resembles a town thanks to the booming services. The Rộ market is now a major trading hub for the entire region, offering local products such as river fish, green tea, and traditional rice noodles and cakes, with artisans resolutely maintaining their handcrafted methods to preserve the authentic flavors of the countryside.

The transportation in Trung Duc village is considered the best in Vo Liet commune. Passing through the grand entrance gate bearing the name of a cultural unit, both sides of the asphalt road leading to the village center are crowded with signs advertising all kinds of services. This tiny village has an abundance of food stalls, beer gardens, coffee shops... showing just how much the people's lives have improved. The descendants of the tenant farmers who worked for the Vietnamese-Chinese merchants, or the descendants of the horse-drawn carriage drivers who served several generations of district magistrates and were granted the rank of eighth-grade official, still live in their old houses. Mr. Tran Van Sau, now 75 years old, pointed to the small courtyard and said: “Look, right in front of my house, that used to be the district prison! When the government seized power in 1945, I was only six years old, and I don't remember much, but it was very happy. The district magistrate's family handed over the seal to the revolution and then returned home. The district office was repurposed by the provisional revolutionary government as an administrative building, and we children often went there to play. It was very grand and beautiful!”

Yes, it's impossible to recount all the destruction and losses of that era. But if the district office had been preserved, Rộ would have been much more advantageous in its journey to becoming a town. Mr. Phan Xuân Đào, born in 1924, with many generations of family roots here, was 21 years old when the August Revolution began. With some education, he was chosen to work in the office of the new government of Võ Liệt commune (then called Kim Bảng commune), chaired by the revolutionary veteran Tôn Gia Chung, a patriot from a prominent family in Võ Liệt district. In 1947, Mr. Đào enlisted in the army to fight the French. As his daughter-in-law brought up a pot of green tea for her father-in-law to serve guests, the conversation, filled with memories of a bustling district office with markets and docks, seemed endless, giving Rộ a unique rural charm of the Thanh Chương midland region. Mr. Dao pointed to Mr. Sau and said, "Mr. Sau's house here used to be a tenant farm of Mr. Ngo Xuan Sinh (a Vietnamese merchant of Chinese descent). Mr. Sinh was fluent in French and owned 30 acres of rice fields. He was known for his generosity and compassion for the poor, and because he knew French, he helped our revolutionary cadres a lot. It's a pity he was later classified as a landlord. Mrs. Ton Thi Que (later the Deputy Director of the Supreme People's Procuracy) was sent by the higher authorities to save him, but it was too late..." Mr. Ngo Xuan Sinh owned a white horse, and every afternoon he would ride a few laps around the pond in front of the district office to entertain the children. He also ran a general store in the Ro market, selling everything from fabrics to needles, thread, and lamp oil. His two-story house, built in a European style, stood out next to the district office, but it was later demolished.

The noodle-making craft in Trung Duc - Ro was recognized as a traditional craft village in 2007.

According to Mr. Dao, back then, along with Mr. Sinh's horse, there was also the horse that pulled the district magistrate's carriage. Whenever there was business to attend to in the province, the horse-drawn carriage would clatter along, carrying the district magistrate down to the Ro ferry to cross the Lam River to reach National Highway 15, where cars were waiting. Mr. Dao enthusiastically led me down the gently sloping village path towards the old Ro ferry landing. District magistrates Phang, Bich, and Nam all used horse-drawn carriages in the same way. District magistrate Nam (Truong Xuan Nam - the last district magistrate of Thanh Chuong district) was easygoing; sometimes he would let the children run alongside the carriage across the river to hear the driver honk the car horn to greet the district magistrate. The Ro ferry landing is now a docking place for fishermen who haven't settled on the shore yet. Across the road to the landing is the entrance to the Tran Ap Temple, dedicated to the guardian deity of the riverbank. The former shrine building, later converted into a fertilizer warehouse, now stands closed, its rickety roof tiles sagging, but a single incense burner remains, still regularly used by the locals. The old temple was also quite large and majestic, no less so than the Bach Ma Temple in Thuong Duc, and the district magistrates' wives often came here to offer incense.

District Chief Truong Xuan Nam was a football fan, even forming a team where Mr. Dao was once a "player," and was close friends with District Chief Nam's son. The district chief was quite approachable, often dressed in traditional long robes and headscarf, clattering along with his walking stick as he visited each house. His wife was quite stylish, often sneaking away to play card games with the wives of the village clerk, the deputy clerk, and several other officials in the village. When the Revolution arrived, the handover of District Chief Truong Xuan Nam's seal and documents to the revolutionary government went smoothly, and Mr. Dao was present to witness those historic moments.

To the left of the old district hall stood the rather imposing Ngũ Phúc (Five Blessings) Pavilion. This was where the French colonialists used steel wire to tie up patriots and leave them exposed to the sun until they died. Now, only the dilapidated three-room sanctuary remains; the front part has been divided up for people to build kiosks, and the rest is rented out as a stone-cutting and polishing workshop for tombstones. The broken bricks, stones, and pillars lie scattered in piles, exposed to the elements, along with the moss-covered, cracked walls and the roots of old banyan trees. If the Trấn Áp Temple was a place of cultural and spiritual activity for the people of Rộ region, then the Ngũ Phúc Pavilion was a place of community life in the old village. The people of Trung Đức village have repeatedly petitioned the authorities to restore the pavilion, but for various reasons, this has not yet been accomplished.

Trung Duc - Ro village now has 209 households, of which 90 households rely on Ro market to develop trade and services. Many households have started from farming, gradually expanding into restaurants, and even department stores, becoming wealthy enough to buy trucks, cars, and build spacious villas. The village also has a rice noodle and cake making craft recognized by the province, with a significant number of households engaged in the trade. According to Mrs. Nguyen Dinh Nam, the village head's mother, the rice noodle and cake making craft was introduced to Ro in the 1960s and still maintains its traditional, handcrafted methods, making it more popular than rice noodles and cakes made with electric machines elsewhere. For example, the village head's family uses up a whole sack of rice a day, enough to cover their expenses. Life is prosperous, and the children of the village receive a good education, with the number of excellent students and those admitted to universities and colleges consistently ranking first in the commune each year.

Standing on the Rộ bridge now, looking into Trung Đức village, you see rows of newly built, spacious houses embraced by charming, well-maintained village roads. The Rộ market, now held 30 times a month, is bustling with people not only because of the abundance of produce, goods, and diverse services, but also because it evokes memories of a once-thriving district center, a place of bustling markets, bustling boats, and ancient shops and temples... This land, rich in culture, also bears the indelible mark of the nation's revolutionary struggle, leaving behind proud memories for generations to come...