A family with a rich revolutionary tradition

Red address in the resistance...

The Tu family is one of 12 clans in Nam Cuong (Nam Dan) with many people participating in the patriotic movement and contributing to the construction of the homeland. The ancestors of the Tu family, along with other clans, worked together to reclaim wasteland, expand cultivated areas and build crowded villages. The Tu family temple was built in the middle of the 16th century to worship the ancestors of the Tu family. In the Tu family genealogy, it is clearly stated that "in the family, there were people who, due to their great achievements and contributions to the country, became the Left and Right Ministers". When the French colonialists invaded our country (1858), the descendants of the Tu family enthusiastically responded and actively participated in the Van Than, Can Vuong, and Dong Du movements...

On June 5, 1930, at the Tu family church, the first Vietnamese Communist Party cell in Nam Cuong was established. From then on, the Tu family church became a meeting place and secret communication place for the Central Region Party Committee cadres, Nam Dan District Party Committee, Phu Long and Nam Kim commune Party cells. The church was also a place to organize printing and hide Party documents and leaflets.

Tu family temple.

After the August Revolution, the Tu family church was a place for revolutionary cadres to gather and discuss measures to organize and mobilize people to participate in the movement to fight for people's rights, democracy and prepare for an uprising to seize power. During the resistance war against the French, the Tu family church was the first place where the Commune Administrative Resistance Committee opened a popular education class in response to President Ho Chi Minh's call for the movement to fight ignorance and eliminate illiteracy. From 1947 to 1954, the Tu family church was a place for training and re-education for Battalion 304, Division 325 and a number of combat units in Binh Tri Thien who were regrouping for rehabilitation.

During the resistance war against the US, the Tu family temple was the place to send off local children to join the army, Youth Volunteers and frontline workers. In summary, after the two resistance wars, hundreds of Tu family children were awarded resistance medals and orders, and 3 families were awarded certificates of merit by the Prime Minister.

Continuing the tradition...

During the period of building and defending the Fatherland, the Tu family temple was renovated, maintained, and embellished to become a sacred place to worship ancestors, a place to gather and encourage generations of descendants to promote the tradition of patriotism, the tradition of learning and the tradition of revolution. Mr. Tu Duc Loi - the 16th generation patriarch, who is in charge of looking after the main temple, said: Currently, the Tu family in Nam Cuong has 4 branches, under the branch there are branches with 290 members. The 15th day of the 11th lunar month every year is the anniversary of the great ancestor of the Tu family, the 15th day of the 2nd lunar month is the anniversary of the ancestors of the branches in a village. On the anniversary of the ancestors, the descendants of the Tu family gather to summarize and evaluate the results of the family's activities in 1 year, and propose directions for activities in the coming year. At the same time, a ceremony is held to commend and reward children with high achievements in studying and training. The source is taken from the family's scholarship and talent promotion fund.

Leading us to visit the Dai Ton Church, which was newly renovated in 2009 thanks to the contributions of descendants in the family, Mr. Tu Duc Thang proudly informed us: in addition to the royal decrees, parallel sentences, and horizontal lacquered boards left from the past, the church still preserves a number of artifacts related to the Party's activities such as the royal decree box to hide Party leaflets and documents and a number of other artifacts being kept at the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum, such as: a tube containing Party documents, a tray used to print leaflets, plates, teapots, cups, trays used to disguise drinking alcohol during meetings in the 30-31 period, a bronze pot used to cook jelly to print Party documents... With its great contributions to the history of the nation's revolutionary struggle, especially during the revolutionary movement of 1930-1931, in 2001 the Ministry of Culture and Information decided to recognize the Tu family church as a National Historical and Cultural Relic.

Khanh Ly-Thanh Phuc