See how the scholarly village of Quỳnh Đôi is developing tourism.
Quynh Doi has long been known as the "Village of Scholars," famous for the saying "Bac Ha has Hanh Thien - Hoan Dien has Quynh Doi."
Leveraging local advantages
In the final days of 2024, the road leading into the commune...Quynh Doi(Quynh Luu district) was bustling with people. Lines of cars stopped in front of tourist attractions right after the village gates, allowing visitors to explore. This was also the occasion for the local authorities to hold a ceremony announcing the Provincial People's Committee's decision to recognize Quynh Doi village as a tourist destination.
“This is a major event for us, after much effort from both the government and the people,” said Mr. Ho Sy Hung, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Doi commune, unable to hide his joy. This time, in addition to cultural performances, the government also organized an exhibition and introduction of tourism products and OCOP products that are distinctly local.
Quynh Doi has long been known as the "Village of Scholars," famous for the saying, "Bac Ha has Hanh Thien - Hoan Dien has Quynh Doi." According to statistics from the leaders of Quynh Doi commune, from 1378 to 1918, when the examination system using Chinese characters was abolished, the village of Quynh had 734 people who passed the baccalaureate and bachelor's degree exams. Quynh Doi is just a small rural area, currently with only about 5,000 households, but it has produced 5 people who were members of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party, including 2 members of the Politburo. In addition, Quynh Doi also has 9 people who were National Assembly delegates, 31 Provincial Party Committee members, of which 11 held positions as Provincial Party Secretary or Deputy Secretary of the Regional Party Committee, Provincial Party Committee, etc.
According to Mr. Ho Sy Hung, the idea of developing tourism was raised by the commune's Party Committee in the previous term, but it was only in this term that it was included as a key task. "In 2023, with the support of a native of Quynh Doi living in Hanoi, our commune decided to launch tourist tours to promote the land, people, and history of the village. Especially to promote the studious spirit of the village in particular and Nghe An province in general," Mr. Hung said.
At the end of 2023, the "Wooden Fish Village - After the Spotlight" tour officially launched. Besides the short play "The Nghe An Scholar and the Wooden Fish," visitors can also watch the short play "He Has Returned Here" right at the entrance to Quynh Doi village. This play recreates the scene from 1903, when President Ho Chi Minh and his brother, accompanied by Mr. Nguyen Sinh Sac, visited and stayed in Quynh Doi village for a period of time… The actors in the short plays are all local residents.
Besides watching these performances, visitors to Quynh Doi village can also visit a series of other historical sites with more than 30 destinations. Specifically, after passing through the village gate, groups can visit historical sites such as the tomb of Ho Tung Mau, the monument to the world cultural figure Ho Xuan Huong, the relief sculpture of the heroic army martyr Cu Chinh Lan, and the National Historical Site of Than Temple, Ho Sy Tu Church, the provincial historical site where President Ho Chi Minh and his father visited Quynh Doi village; the Duong family church, where Mr. Duong Van Khai, the first teacher to bring literacy to the children of Quynh Doi village, along with several production sites such as fish sauce making, incense making, and ornamental plant cultivation...
Both the government and the people are working together.
According to the leaders of Quynh Doi commune People's Committee, tourism development will not be successful without the joint efforts of the local people as well as their children living away from home. "All the funding for the construction and renovation of tourist destinations has been mobilized through social contributions," said Mr. Ho Sy Hung. Not only contributing financially, the people of Quynh Doi also have a high level of environmental awareness. This is also the first commune in Nghe An to ban stray dogs for many years.
Accordingly, before focusing on tourism, visitors to Quynh Doi commune noticed a unique feature that went unnoticed: besides the clean and beautiful village roads and alleys, there were no longer any stray dogs. Since 2018, Quynh Doi commune has established two patrol teams, including police officers and commune officials, to catch stray dogs. Team members inspect village roads, and when they spot stray dogs, they use nets to catch them and bring them to the commune police station for processing. These teams are equipped with nets and usually patrol in the early morning and late evening, as these are the times when dogs are most likely to defecate. In addition to patrolling, the commune also utilizes hundreds of cameras owned by residents and the government to issue fines for violations. Therefore, in recent years, the sight of stray dogs in this commune has almost completely disappeared.
Besides eliminating stray dogs, Quynh Doi commune has another unique feature: all more than 1,500 houses here are assigned specific house numbers. A blue sign is attached to each house gate, with the house number at the top and the name of the hamlet, street, and commune at the bottom. At first glance, it looks just like a neighborhood. This is also the first commune in Nghe An province to assign house numbers to its residents.
The house numbering system was implemented across the area four years ago. This stemmed from suggestions from people who had left their hometowns and tourists. Whenever they visited Quynh Doi, they had difficulty finding the homes of acquaintances and had to ask for directions many times. At that time, Quynh Doi commune had just completed the province's first model rural area project, so we implemented the system immediately. During the implementation process, we did not encounter any opposition from the people; everyone welcomed it. The cost was not high, but it brought many conveniences.
Mr. Ho Sy Hung - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Doi Commune
Since the launch of the tour, the Quynh Doi Tourism Operations Center has welcomed 49 groups with 2,109 visitors. In addition, dozens of other tourist groups have visited and learned about the historical traditions at the relics in the area.
“This can be considered a groundbreaking step, a bold and proactive move by the locality. It promptly meets the aspirations and needs of the people, domestic and foreign tourists, for cultural and spiritual enjoyment. The unit was honored by the Vietnam Tourism Association as one of the 12 most unique and outstanding products of 2023,” shared the leader of the People's Committee of Quynh Doi commune.