Quynh Doi: Parallel between Party resolutions and village covenants

(Baonghean) - To move towards building a model new rural area, the Party Committee and people of Quynh Doi commune (Quynh Luu) strictly implement the cultural conventions built by the people, thereby adjusting the social relationships of self-management in the locality. Living and working according to cultural conventions under the leadership of the Party Committee also promotes good customs in the cultural activities of the homeland.

At this time, it is the main season of the Quynh incense village, as soon as you step into the village gate, the fragrance of agarwood spreads. Comrade Ho Bao Thong - Deputy Secretary of the Commune Party Committee said: "Almost no tourist knows that the founder of the indispensable incense during Tet originated in our Quynh Doi. In the village's village charter from hundreds of years ago, our ancestors mentioned the cultural features of this ancient craft village".

Quynh Doi incense appeared in the 17th century and has been preserved, maintained and passed down by generations here. In the past, incense was only developed in powder form, burned in incense burners, later changed to stick form, wrapped in paper, and in the 19th century, incense was widely developed until now. Quynh Doi incense craft village was recognized in December 2012 with 30 households participating in production and business.

Incense production in Quynh Doi commune (Quynh Luu).

According to the Deputy Secretary of the commune, we went to the house of Mr. Ho Quoc Viet, the village's head. Here, dozens of workers were urgently completing shipments, each person doing a different stage. Mr. Ho Quoc Viet said: "Every year, my family earns an average of 100 - 150 million VND from incense, creating jobs for 10 seasonal workers and 5 regular workers with an average salary of 4 - 5 million VND/person/month".

Building and developing the incense craft village has been included in the annual resolution of the Quynh Doi Commune Party Committee and has become an action program of the government and people. This is also a "decision" to help people have jobs and income while preserving the ancient culture of this land of scholars.

The old Quynh Doi village covenant clearly states that people create their own livelihoods from their land and local products, but must be associated with the village culture and village contracts. The old covenant has 115 articles that have been implemented by the people of Quynh village for many generations. Up to now, the Party Committee, government and people of the commune have found that this covenant is still valuable and have continued to supplement it to perfect it to suit contemporary life.

With the leadership of the Party Committee, along with the newly adopted convention, the people of Quynh Doi have promoted good customs and traditions, upheld the traditional moral and ethical standards of their homeland; at the same time, created a mechanism to maintain security and order, environmental sanitation, prevent and combat social evils, implement population policies, and develop production. Also from the implementation of those conventions, small conflicts in the community have been resolved, ensuring solidarity and democracy in the village and hamlet, promoting the people's mastery.

Accordingly, if citizens in the commune do not comply with the provisions of the convention, they will not enjoy local benefits and will not be considered a cultural family in the year. To strictly implement the convention, all Quynh Doi citizens living in the commune must have the responsibility to fully participate in village meetings or send household representatives to fully participate in village meetings in the year; at the same time, each citizen must have the obligation to propose recommendations and initiatives on economic development, building cultural families, protecting the environment, ensuring security and order in the locality...

In the new rural construction movement, the commune's hamlets and villages compete together and successfully implement the models launched by the commune. The contributions made by the people simultaneously contribute to the rapid implementation of infrastructure construction and traffic works.

In 2014, the commune completed the construction of 2.5km of roads to historical and cultural relics, 8/8 villages completed 15.2km of intra-village roads, and built over 10km of new intra-field canals. Upgraded the Temple grounds, the central area, and some other welfare works. In particular, for the people of Quynh Doi, the completion of the criteria for building new rural areas must go hand in hand with the construction of cultural villages in accordance with the convention.

For Quynh Doi people, production and business development must always commit to ensuring security and order, the cultural identity of the countryside and maintaining a clean and civilized village environment. For households producing on contracted fields, they must also strictly follow the regulations of the commune, and must not arbitrarily renovate, turn the land, change the site and convert production without written consent from the government.

Households with winter crop production land that are not able to do so can lend their land to other households to increase their income. Those who use agricultural machinery in production must commit to protecting traffic and canals in the fields. If they violate the regulations, they must repair them themselves or pay a corresponding amount to the agricultural service cooperative to hire workers to fix them. All of these regulations aim to raise people's awareness to build a culture of "reasonable and appropriate behavior" in labor and production.

Throughout the 8 villages of Quynh Doi commune, every person has well implemented the convention on building a cultural lifestyle in funerals and weddings. Whenever there is a funeral in the commune, the family does not hire a drum band to play all night but only plays funeral music at specified times, and strictly implements the prohibition of scattering votive papers, which causes environmental pollution and waste. Families whose children get married only invite them to eat and drink within a day and do not invite them widely, and do not display ostentatious feasts.

Mr. Cu Chinh Quyen - Secretary of the Party Cell of Village 5 said: "To effectively implement the village covenant, first of all, each party member must uphold the spirit of exemplary vanguard, thereby spreading it widely throughout the village. During that process, the Party Committee and the village executive committee closely supervise and monitor, promoting the role of self-management groups... Therefore, in Village 5, there are no violations of security and order, each person and each household is aware of protecting the environment, and the village and neighborhood relationships are closely connected."

In the roadmap to build a model new rural commune, Quynh Doi commune is directing the implementation of 7 chapters with 23 provisions of village and commune conventions that have been built by the Party Committee, government and people. Cultural village and commune conventions exist in most rural areas, but to apply them in practice like in Quynh Doi is something to be appreciated. Because there, there is the inheritance and promotion of good cultural traditions, with both the Party's will and the people's "harmonious" implementation.

Thanh Nga