Keep the flag in Thanh Chuong

In the history book of Thanh Lien Commune Party Committee, the name Thanh Lien appeared nearly 600 years ago, from the Le Dynasty (1427) including 2 communes Cao Dien, Cao Mon (later Cao Mon commune was changed to Duc Nhuan) belonging to Cat Ngan commune, Thanh Chuong district, Duc Tho prefecture. In the 7th year of Minh Mang (1826), it was separated from Duc Tho prefecture and merged into Anh Son prefecture, Nghe An province. At Gieng market, 3 km east of Rang hill - where archaeologists found artifacts of ancient Vietnamese people belonging to Son Vi culture more than 12,000 years ago, that proves that this land has been inhabited for a long time. Today in Khe Su, there are still traces of caves of Muong and Dan Lai ethnic people living in a nomadic way...

In the old Cao Dien and Duc Nhuan lands, the people had a studious spirit. Currently, in front of the Thanh Lien Commune People's Committee headquarters, there is still a stele house with 3 stone steles recording the names of 267 doctors, bachelors, and bachelors who passed the exams in the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. This is considered a miniature "Temple of Literature" of the old Cat Ngan commune. Here, the Party cell was also established early in April 1930, with the task of propagating, mobilizing, developing new party members, educating, and training the masses to participate in the revolutionary movement. Notably, on May 1, 1930, the Party cell led the people and communes in the area to protest, fight, and burn down Ky Vien plantation in Hanh Lam - an event that went down in the history of the Soviet - Nghe Tinh movement.

Nhà bia với 3 tấm bia đá ghi danh 267 vị tiến sĩ, cử nhân, tú tài đậu đạt ở các thế kỷ XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, tại xã Thanh Liên. Ảnh: Mai Hoa
Stele house with 3 stone steles recording the names of 267 doctors, bachelors, and bachelors who passed the exams in the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, in Thanh Lien commune. Photo: Mai Hoa

After 2 mergers, Cao Dien - Duc Nhuan changed its name to Cao Duc, Tam Dong; on March 23, 1954, the Nghe An Provincial Administrative Committee issued a decision to divide Tam Dong commune into 3 communes: Thanh Lien, Thanh Tien and Phong Thinh. Since the name Thanh Lien until now, each stage has been a milestone of effort, creativity, overcoming difficulties and rising up of the Party Committee and people of Thanh Lien.

Through two great wars to defend the country, Thanh Lien people have made many contributions in terms of manpower and resources, "all for the front line", "not a single grain of rice is missing, not a single soldier is missing", contributing with the whole nation to regain peace and unify the country. In recognition of the locality's contributions, the Party and State have awarded the commune the title of Hero of the Armed Forces; 82 Gold Honor Boards; 1,128 Glorious Family Boards; 3,429 medals of all kinds to collectives and individuals...

Một góc xã Thanh Liên hiện nay. Ảnh: Mai Hoa
A corner of Thanh Lien commune today. Photo: Mai Hoa

The development of Thanh Lien commune is closely linked to the development of Thanh Chuong district, Nghe An province and the country. After peace was restored, the Party Committee and the people of Thanh Lien commune joined hands to overcome the consequences of war, restore production and life, and carry out the renovation process with new thinking and determination. In particular, in the past 10 years, the Party Committee, Government and people of Thanh Lien commune have renewed their thinking, creativity, promoted the spirit of solidarity, self-reliance and self-improvement to break through and become the leading unit in the emulation movements of Thanh Chuong district. This is the only locality in 10 consecutive years where the Party Committee and the government have been classified as having excellently fulfilled their tasks; in which, the Party Committee has been classified as having excellently fulfilled its typical tasks for 9 years. With that result, the State recognized and awarded the Third Class Labor Medal to the Party Committee and the people of Thanh Lien.

Đồng chí Phan Bá Ngọc - Bí thư Đảng ủy, Chủ tịch UBND xã Thanh Liên triển khai nhiệm vụ của cấp ủy trong tháng đối với trưởng các đầu ngành. Ảnh: Mai Hoa
Comrade Phan Ba ​​Ngoc - Party Secretary, Chairman of Thanh Lien Commune People's Committee deployed the Party Committee's tasks for the month for the heads of the sectors. Photo: Mai Hoa

During the development process, it has been affirmed that in Thanh Lien commune, cadres, party members and people have changed their thinking from agricultural production to agricultural economy; from monoculture of rice to diversified agricultural production, with 6 types of production planned by region. Including a stable rice production area of ​​379 hectares; 40 hectares of concentrated fruit trees, including Dien grapefruit, green-skinned grapefruit, guava, jackfruit, apples, etc.; a commercial vegetable growing area of ​​more than 20 hectares, of which green squash is the main crop, reaching 240 million VND/ha/year; 30 hectares of aquaculture; 13 hectares of lotus; a farm and ranch area with 29 models, earning hundreds of millions to billions of VND/year/model.

To achieve today's results, Thanh Lien cadres and people are determined and resolute in investing in improving fields, improving irrigation systems, consolidating fields, exchanging land plots, and converting crop and livestock structures with many experiments, with successes and failures. In these "revolutions", cadres, party members, especially leaders and managers at the commune level are the pioneers in receiving land in remote and poor areas; testing new economic models first and then spreading them among the people.

Lãnh đạo xã Thanh Liên, huyện Thanh Chương kiểm tra mô hình trồng bưởi da xanh; Chuyển đổi đất làm màu sang trồng cây ăn quả đem lại hiệu quả cao; Mô hình trồng sen kết hợp nuôi cá tại xã Thanh Liên. Ảnh: Mai Hoa
Leaders of Thanh Lien commune, Thanh Chuong district inspected the green-skin pomelo growing model; Converting cropland to fruit tree growing brings high efficiency; Lotus growing model combined with fish farming in Thanh Lien commune. Photo: Mai Hoa

Typically, to transform simple small-scale livestock farming into concentrated commodity livestock farming, the Standing Deputy Secretary of the Commune Party Committee, Pham Van Dan, took the lead. In the field of cultivation, each type of crop from yardlong beans, green squash, watermelon, cucumber, red turmeric and some fruit trees, such as dragon fruit, green-skinned grapefruit, Thai jackfruit... personally, the Party Secretary and Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, Phan Ba ​​Ngoc, proactively did it first on his family's land so that people could see, believe and follow. And each type of crop put into production in Thanh Lien Commune, along with taking care of the output, the commune officials also directly searched for markets and linked to purchase products for farmers. At one point, the Party Secretary and Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, Phan Ba ​​Ngoc, directly hired a car to transport green squash to Vinh City to find a seller and when there was a connection, let the people sell.

Các sản phẩm hương Liên Đức và nước súc miệng Xuân Vinh của xã Thanh Liên đạt tiêu chuẩn OCOP. Ảnh: Mai Hoa
Lien Duc incense products and Xuan Vinh mouthwash of Thanh Lien commune meet OCOP standards. Photo: Mai Hoa

Currently, on the spacious and clean asphalt and concrete roads in Thanh Lien commune are flower roads, green tree rows, flag roads along with the people's awareness of preserving the common environment, creating a more civilized and modern countryside landscape.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hung - who has worked in the locality for nearly 30 years and is now retired, said: The outstanding feature of Thanh Lien commune is that the economic life of the people has been improved, many households are well-off and rich; there are no households living in makeshift houses. Farmers today use machines to reduce human labor. Infrastructure and welfare works have been invested in and built, meeting the standards of advanced new rural areas and partly model new rural areas. Cultural life in all aspects and the movement of physical training and sports of the people have been improved, becoming a daily need of each family. The community is united, cooperative, and trusts the team of commune and hamlet cadres; especially the trust of children far from home, each person in one way or another has contributed to building their homeland.

Hệ thống trường học 3 bậc học ở Thanh Liên đều đạt chuẩn quốc gia, trong đó trường tiểu học đạt chuẩn mức độ 2; Trên địa bàn xã Thanh Liên có bể bơi, tạo sân chơi cho trẻ em. Ảnh: Mai Hoa
The 3-level school system in Thanh Lien all meet national standards, of which the primary school meets level 2 standards; Thanh Lien commune has a swimming pool, creating a playground for children. Photo: Mai Hoa

Comrade Phan Ba ​​Ngoc - Party Secretary, Chairman of the Commune People's Committee said: To continue building a model new rural commune, during the direction process, the Party Committee and the government have had a specific plan to organize the implementation. We are very pleased that during the implementation process, there is consensus among cadres, Party members and the People. Currently, the Party Committee, the government and the entire political system are continuing to direct the improvement of criteria to achieve a model new rural commune by the end of 2024.

Xã Thanh Liên lấy lối xóm để lan toả phong trào xây dựng nông thôn mới và nông thôn mới nâng cao. Ảnh: Mai Hoa
Thanh Lien Commune uses its neighborhood to spread the movement of building new rural areas and advanced new rural areas. Photo: Mai Hoa

From the past practice, the Party Committee and the Thanh Lien Commune Government continue to promote the role of each household, each clan, each neighborhood, taking each Party cell and organizations in the political system as factors and foundations to spread, creating new marks and highlights in all fields. First of all, the Party Committee must really get involved, closely, strengthen inspection and supervision work to "transform" the policy to be implemented quickly and effectively, creating a spreading effect in the Party Committee, Party members and Party members' families. The Government strengthens management work in all fields; ensures economic development, improves people's material and spiritual life, and maintains national defense and security. Take care to build a high level of solidarity and consensus in the Party, the Government, the Fatherland Front, political and social organizations and the People with the same will and actions for the goal of building Thanh Lien Commune to be increasingly developed.

By celebrating the 70th anniversary of its establishment and receiving the Third Class Labor Medal, and announcing the Decision on achieving advanced new rural standards, the Party Committee and People of Thanh Lien commune continue to have more motivation and solidarity to bring the locality to a higher level of development, maintaining the leading "flag" of Thanh Chuong district.

Hạ tầng giao thông Thanh Liên được đầu tư đồng bộ, hiện đại. Ảnh: Mai Hoa
Thanh Lien's traffic infrastructure is invested synchronously and modernly. Photo: Mai Hoa