A mythical land
(Baonghean) -Cua Lo is a place that nature has blessed with many beautiful landscapes. With the terrain of “two dragons facing each other”, this land is considered the green pearl of the East Sea with many cultural, historical and mysterious legends…
Land of fame and legend
Cua Lo is a land that was formed and exploited early, located in a geographical position that is convenient for both water and land transportation, and is also a place with many famous landscapes. The land lies between two large rivers, Lam River in the South and Cam River in the North, and in front is the vast East Sea. Looking far away, on the right is Thach Dong Mountain rising high, and on the left are Song Ngu Island and Hon Mat. Mountains such as Bang Nhan, Kiem Mountain, Lo Mountain, and Song Ngu Island all surround it as a shield... Therefore, Cua Lo has a very favorable location, with extremely beautiful scenery. In particular, Van Loc area is considered a famous landscape of Nghe An, going into the proud saying from many generations: "Thanh Hoa Nho Yen, Nghe An Van Loc". There are few places where mountains and rivers converge, surrounded by the ocean like here. Therefore, this is considered a land of mountains and rivers gathering energy, nurturing elites. As the ancients once praised:
Hong Linh mountain
Pisces sea
weak enlightenment time
Talented people
(Hong Linh high mountains
Pisces the vast sea
If it is morning
Talented people compete to develop)
Cua Lo is also a land associated with many legends. This place used to be the place where the footprints of the two sons of Lac Long Quan and Au Co were left on their journey to make a living. In order not to forget their origins and remember their parents' merits, they built a temple at the estuary, which is the predecessor of the Cua Temple worshiping the mother of the nation Au Co in Nghe An today. Or Bai Lu is said to be the place where An Duong Vuong was carried into the sea by a golden turtle. The legend of the formation of Mat Island is associated with the story of To Nuong, who was tired of waiting for her husband. During the Tang Dynasty, Vuong Bot - one of the four outstanding poets of the early Tang Dynasty sailed across the sea to our country to visit his father. The boat sank, and his body drifted to Cua Hoi. Later, the people built a temple to worship him, and to this day there are still wooden statues of Vuong Phuc and Vuong Bot. During the Tran Dynasty, Song Ngu Pagoda was where Princess Huyen Tran practiced for a while before returning to Thang Long. Cua Lo also has many ancient relics, such as pagodas and temples such as Dao Ngu Pagoda, Pho Am Pagoda... and temples worshiping famous people such as the temple of Cuong Quoc Cong Nguyen Xi, the temple of Thai Pho Nguyen Su Hoi... These historical relics are evidence of a period of historical and cultural development on this land.
Ceremony to receive the certificate of historical relic of Lo Son Pagoda. Photo: XN
Cua Lo in the flow of national history
The land of Cua Lo with its majestic mountains and rivers has nurtured and produced many outstanding people. The history of the nation records that this land has many talented people from literature to martial arts, from medicine to engineering. Cua Lo has Kiem Mountain and Co Mountain, creating a sacred atmosphere for the development of martial arts: this is the birthplace of outstanding military generals of the nation such as Cuong Quoc Cong Nguyen Xi, Thai Bao Nguyen Su Hoi. The Nguyen Dinh family, descendants of Nguyen Xi, has dozens of people who were awarded the titles of District Duke and Marquis. In modern times, Cua Lo also has 4 revolutionary soldiers with the rank of general: Hoang Dan, Hoang Khue, Hoang Mien and Le Xuan Kien, along with many other people with the rank of colonel...
On the right side of the Cam River is Bang Nhan Mountain, which acts as a screen to protect and gather sacred energy, and Thach Dong Mountain, shaped like a pen writing on the blue sky, has made Cua Lo famous for its imperial examinations. Historically, this land has had hundreds of people who achieved high results from the provincial examinations, bachelors, and doctors, the highest of which was the imperial examination. The most typical is Thach Dong Pham Nguyen Du, who passed the imperial examination in 1779 and became an official to hold the position of Dong Cac Dai Hoc Si. Bang Quan Cong Nguyen Huu Chinh passed the provincial examination at the age of 16 and also passed the three martial arts exams. He was one of the famous Nom poetry writers and one of the most influential figures in the history of Vietnam in the 18th century. Hoang Van Cu passed the Pho Bang examination and became an official to hold the position of Nghe An Inspector of Education. Nguyen Huy Nhu passed the doctorate, was a famous Confucian scholar and educator in the 20th century, was the President of the Vietnam Association of Ancient Studies and editor-in-chief of the Ancient Studies newspaper...
Not only having literary and martial talents, Cua Lo is also home to many famous physicians, those are the characters of the Hoang family, including the descendants of Sat Hai Dai Vuong Hoang Ta Thon. The famous physician Hoang Nguyen Cat is the author of the top medical book "Quy Vien Gia Hoc". Hoang Nguyen Le is the Deputy Director of the Imperial Medical Institute, treating the king and the royal family. He once held the position of Deputy Chief Envoy to China and was praised by the Qing Dynasty as "a Vietnamese envoy with profound medical knowledge and exemplary poetry". Hoang Van Cu's son, Hoang Van Tham, continued the glorious tradition of the family, passing the Bachelor's exam in the year of At Mao (1915). In 1936, he was one of the founders of the Central Medical Association, gathering many patriotic scholars in the area from Thanh Hoa to Phan Thiet. He is one of the people who made great contributions to the revival of traditional national medicine. By 1958, he held the position of Director of the Vietnam Institute of Traditional Medicine and Vice President of the Vietnam Oriental Medicine Association.
Cua Lo is also the hometown of many famous revolutionary heroes such as patriot Hoang Phan Thai - who was praised by Phan Boi Chau as "The founder of the revolution". In modern times, there is comrade Hoang Van Tam - a staunch communist in the Soviet High Movement of 1930 - 1931. Revolutionary soldier Pham Tuoc was the one who organized the printing and hiding of secret documents of the Party during the Soviet High Movement of 1930 - 1931. Female special forces soldier of Saigon, Le Thi Bach Cat, former Secretary of District II, sacrificed in the General Offensive and Uprising in the Spring of Mau Than 1968. Most notably, comrade Nguyen Duy Trinh - former member of the Politburo, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam...
Promoting "human resources" to develop sustainable tourism
Cua Lo not only has natural resources - scenic spots but also human resources - cultural heritage. This is an extremely large resource to develop and diversify types of tourism. Therefore, tourism development based only on natural resources, mainly sea tourism, will not reveal all its true potential strengths. One of the optimal solutions to promote the attraction of tourists in Cua Lo is to link sea tourism - scenic spots with spiritual tourism - beliefs. According to preliminary statistics, Cua Lo currently has all types of relics - scenic spots, including 3 relics granted national historical and cultural relics and dozens of other provincial historical relics. Based on these advantages to arouse potential, reveal strengths, make friends everywhere see the cultural traditions here, at the same time arouse the spirit of discovery, exploration and orientation towards good cultural and humanistic values.
One of the immediate measures to promote the above values is to build a complete information system about historical relics and landscapes; train a team of highly professional tourism business staff and tour guides, contributing to creating a strong impression and becoming a tourist destination.
Tran Tu Quang (Provincial Library)
