Thinking about the flow of Nghe An cultural heritage

Throughout history, from around 1040 to 1945 when King Ly Thai Tong appointed Uy Minh Marquis Ly Nhat Quang to be the Governor of Nghe An, stationed in the area now around Qua Son Temple in Do Luong District. Nghe An has an important strategic position, has made great contributions to the nation's construction and defense, the people of Nghe An have always maintained their unique cultural features in customs, culture, and the spirit of learning.

Great cultural cradle

Dai Nam Nhat Thong Chi wrote: “Students loved integrity, were mostly open-minded, devoted to studying, had outstanding literature, and did not like flowery things. They were good at running shops, trading, diligently cultivating the fields, and were accustomed to being frugal. Because the land was poor and the people were poor, they were naturally simple, always diligent, kind, and valued prestige and taught righteousness. Customs were simple, and passing exams to become mandarins was glorious. In every era, there were talented people throughout the court and beyond, whose names were recorded in books. People in Hoan Chau were talented and eager to learn, and everything they saw was passed down.”

Also in the Dai Nam Thuc Luc Chinh Bien wooden block book, King Minh Mang's compliments were recorded: "The students from Nghe An are heroic and generous, except for Phu Xuan and Gia Dinh, there is no place like them. Therefore, most of the personal soldiers of the kings of our holy dynasty were from Nghe An, which is a blessing for the dynasty."

A culturally rich region, rich in humanistic values, bringing glory not only to the homeland but also to the country; with famous figures not only of Vietnam but also of humanity such as Nguyen Du, Ho Chi Minh; and then the people, lands, and families that have made the mountains and rivers famous for centuries. In Nghe An, they are the Nguyen Tien Dien family in Nghi Xuan; the Nguyen Huy family in Truong Luu in Can Loc; the Hoang Xuan family in Yen Ho, Duc Tho; the Ho family in Quynh Luu; the Nguyen Sinh family in Nam Dan; the Cao Xuan family in Dien Chau; the Dang family in Thanh Chuong; the Nguyen Duc family in Nghi Loc; the Nguyen Khac and Ha Huy families in Huong Son...

Nghe An is the cradle of Hoan Chau and the foundation of Trai land (compared to Kinh land in the North). That cradle nurtured thinkers, the most representative generations of intellectuals of the country and now leaders, leaving behind many cultural products, families and cultural celebrities, with a strong and hard-working population base. Through migration waves in the past century, Nghe people have traveled all over the world. I have met Nghe people in America, England, France, Eastern Europe and it can be said that Nghe people are everywhere, perhaps the land that accounts for the largest proportion of millions of overseas Vietnamese in the world...

The typical faces of the 20th century Vietnamese people who left Nghe An for great ambitions were Phan Boi Chau and Ho Chi Minh, and then together with figures such as Hoang Xuan Han, Nguyen Xien, Dang Thai Mai... went out into the world. They left with a thirst for knowledge, from the exchange with world knowledge, with human civilizations (for Phan Boi Chau it was Japan and China, for Ho Chi Minh it was Europe, America...), adding to the richness in their awareness, intelligence, and nurturing them to become great people. What created that greatness? It is impossible not to mention - it is the accumulated desires, the patience and perseverance in finding the way, associated with the space, time, and context of the place where they were born and raised.

Therefore, it is completely possible to affirm the solid existence of a cultural region of Nghe An. A cultural region connected from ancient history on the richness of folk culture and scholarly literature, on the development of the whole nation, the crystallization of which is the great men and their heritage, which is also the heritage of the homeland, of the nation... Nghe An shows an extremely great position, it can even be said to be one of the greatest cradles, with the greatest cultural heritages, artifacts, and people... in the entire flow and development of the Vietnamese nation,

Today's gap…

Today, in the relentless flow of history, when we are witnessing the strong rise of Vietnam in the world and even seeing more clearly the picture of the country in the future 2030-2045, that is a middle power in the region, a solid market economy, sooner or later will become an industrialized country. In that picture, in that flow, where will Nghe An be?

Many problems are being raised for the whole country of Vietnam in general and Nghe An in particular: the broken and lost heritages in the century of bombs and backwardness have been and are being rebuilt, but houses, stones and bricks can be "revived", but there are still many intangible cultural heritages that are difficult to rebuild like that; the cradle of a land of studiousness still has difficult propositions to solve when there is a lack of high-quality human resources in all professions, mass education is still not a bright spot, the problems of the modern education sector still need to be resolved...; Nghe An in the flow of geopolitical transition; the connection between Nghe people at home and abroad, between Nghe people in Hanoi, in Ho Chi Minh City with their homeland... and the challenges that the new generation of Nghe people in their homeland is facing.

A series of historical figures from Nghe An have left behind a great cultural legacy. In terms of learning, an educational foundation as the basis for cultivating people, in my opinion, the decline was clearly revealed in the late 20th century, after the end of the war. Generational continuity seems to no longer exist, and that gap is creating a large gap that can be counted in several generations. This gap may be one of the main or underlying reasons that limit the socio-economic development in Nghe An.

My hometown Dong Son commune, Do Luong district, Nghe An province, has witnessed many changes over the years that have given me many thoughts and worries, mixed with joy and sadness. After nearly 100 years since the Nghe Tinh Soviet in 1930, then through decades of war and loss, through more than 30 years of Doi Moi, the market economy has brought great changes to my homeland, but I am full of worries and concerns about culture and people when witnessing signs of disintegration, decline, and weariness.

On occasions when I returned to my hometown to attend festivals and meet relatives, I found a lack of knowledge and culture in my activities, thoughts and ideas. The bookstore in the middle of Do Luong district, as well as other districts, has disappeared. The years of witnessing my grandfather and the elderly talking about culture, history and family are no longer there. The families lacked faces with cultural thinking and quality, knowledge, prestige and scholarship, and completely lacked people with deep understanding of history, family, family and homeland.

Income and life in society have improved compared to before, but that is only in terms of material things, but in terms of spirit, culture, tradition and knowledge, it seems to have somewhat declined. It seems that the general knowledge of society has increased, more people have passed the university entrance exams, but the role models, the people with outstanding achievements and prestige in the village thanks to morality, knowledge and thinking are fewer than before. They do not stay in the countryside, they stay in Hanoi and other cities…

In the past, the old men, the scholars or teachers, many of whom were just village teachers or general teachers, but I saw in them the intellectual and scholarly qualities as the cornerstones, as the compass, as the anchor to adjust and orient the cultural activities in the family and the countryside. In the evenings of my childhood, my father invited relatives and neighbors to talk about the homeland and the country, about the cultural and historical values ​​of the village, the district, and the families. But unfortunately, nowadays, such intellectual conversations are becoming increasingly rare.

Rarely do we see old people walking with canes to visit each other to discuss cultural and educational matters. Nowadays, the stories each time we meet are only about making money, building houses, eating and drinking, or gossiping about this person or that person... Somewhere, relatives meet for the most part just for noisy and expensive parties, eating and drinking, but the intimacy is somewhat faded and forced. Gathering in the church grounds that have just been renovated at a cost of hundreds of millions, billions of dong, yet looking at the faces of everyone around, it is not really happy. The children look at the church and at us, bewildered and unfamiliar, where is the warm and intimate scene of the past? Stories about ancestors and grandparents are rarely heard, but instead there are stories about money, jealousy and comparison, and drinking sometimes causes arguments, no one gives in to anyone...

Many people compete to contribute money to build tombs and spacious churches, but there is a lack of cultural and in-depth activities, especially among the young generation in the countryside. The lack of a group of successors with qualifications, knowledge and understanding of culture is the most worrying thing about the quality of the community's people. Who will continue the current activities in 10-20 years? There will be a succession of people, but what will their level be? I am seeing a huge gap in knowledge, understanding and capacity in the family, in the homeland, and in the community, but I have not seen any ray of healing and continuity.

I feel that the “anchors” that play the role of cultural and spiritual pillars have been lost a lot, so today, there is only the outer shell through bigger houses, bigger tombs, bigger temples, lavish parties but too little investment in the foundations of knowledge and culture. Investments that are 90% just bricks, mortar, lime, sand, wood, steel… but lack the soul and heart of the people. The most qualified and talented people leave their homeland one by one and rarely return, leaving behind a huge gap in culture and knowledge.

Young people from my hometown born after 2000 live in big cities like Hanoi, the relationship with Nghe An is now just a faint thread. The younger generations are gradually becoming separated from their hometown, separated in culture, history and community; later on, if they return to their hometown, it will probably only be during festivals or at most once every few years, like a trip, then gradually less frequent. The relationship between the group of children born in Hanoi and those in the hometown will certainly be much more blurred compared to the generation of their fathers and uncles that I call the connecting generation, and my generation is the transitional generation.

Ultimately, in all those fractures and emptinesses, the most meaningful solution must be to improve people's knowledge, culture and traditional understanding of their lineage and homeland, where education, knowledge, morality and human qualities are the most solid foundation for a prosperous and sustainable community.