Destinations of educational values in the heroic land of Dau Tieng

For a long time, Dau Tieng district has been known to tourists far and wide by its famous landscapes of Cau mountain complex, Thai Son Pagoda, and Dau Tieng Lake. Additionally on the land, many revolutionary historical relics associated with the struggle tradition of the Vietnamese people in general and Binh Duong province in particular reside.

The historical destinations

One of the meaningful destinations in the journey to the source of history that every visitor when arriving in Dau Tieng district cannot ignore is the remain of the Ho Chi Minh Campaign Front Command. This remain is located in Hamlet 1 of Minh Tan Commune and was recognized at national level in 2010.

Visitors are at Kien An Forest Remain

The remain of the headquarter is located in the middle of a forest surrounded by many small streams, giving people a feeling of peace and coolness. In the past time, the monument of the headquarter has been under attentive restoration and construction of a number of items in order to contribute to the preservation, protection and promotion of the value of the monument. Coming here, visitors can visit and learn about historical traditions that have been marked and kept at the memorial house, the victory stele, and the re-enactment areas where the leaders worked and discussed plans for daily activities such as Hoang Cam kitchen among others that recreat important historical milestones in the Ho Chi Minh Campaign. According to Mr. Dang Minh Phuoc, Head of Culture and Information Division of Dau Tieng district, although it was a temporary agency, during its existence, the Command had successfully completed the historical tasks of the Ministry of Government. That was the liberation of Saigon - Gia Dinh and the liberation of the South of Vietnam before the rainy season - the successful end of 30 years of revolutionary struggle and armed uprising of our people.

Another revolutionary historical remain in Dau Tieng district is also known by many people, which is Kien An Forest Historical Remain. Kien An Forest had been selected as a revolutionary base since the French colonial time. This is an old forest located between the two rivers of Saigon and Thi Tinh, so Kien An Forest had become a prime location of strategic importance and military significance on the gateway to the northwest of Saigon for being located in an important strategic position. From the resistance war against the French colonialists to the resistance war against the US Army, Kien An Forest had been chosen by many main resistance units as the base to stand. The vast and spreading old forests had safely protected many of our officers and soldiers. Now, when we come to the site, we still see many species of ancient trees and cool shady old forest canopy.

In the past, the area had been invested in construction of items such as traditional exhibition house and historical relic area to recreat living place, Trung Quan leaf-roofed basement, Hoang Cam kitchen, the getting-around in the tunnels, etc. These re-imagined images not only contribute to preserving the historical and traditional educational values, but also making the visitors more interested.

After leaving Kien An Forest Remain, another destination that visitors cannot ignore in their journey back to history on the heroic land is the Remain of the French colonial rubber plantation which was recognized as a provincial historical site in 2009.

Coming to the historical site, visitors will see a miniature society about a time of pain and loss of human lives brutally exploited by colonial masters and indigenous henchmen through the reproduced images.

In order to contribute to the traditional education of this historical remains and to serve the visiting delegations, since October 2010, Dau Tieng Rubber One Member Limited Liability Company has started the construction of a displaying area of History of the Rubber Village during the French colony. The exhibition area is located at Lot 50 of Village 14 on Tran Van Luu Farm of Dinh Hiep commune - a rubber lot planted in the 1920s retaining the status quo of hundreds of old rubber trees whose bodies still leave traces from the old man's razor lines. The French colonial rubber plantation is the place to store many historical events showing the development of the workers' struggle movements within such rubber plantations. Therefore, although latex exploitation had been stopped since 2005, the rubber lot is still kept as the evidence to mark a historical time of the nation.

In particular, in this exhibition area, many valuable original collected artifacts such as 3 houses of old-time workers (2 built of stone, 1 built of brick in 1925-1935). Not far away is a mini latex processing factory partly moved from the factory in the center of the company left by the French along with a wood chopper to collect firewood to put in the furnace. To the right of the entrance, a house is used for displaying precious images and artifacts.

To attract tourists to Binh Duong

In recent years, Binh Duong tourism department has implemented tourism development links with provinces and cities in the Southeast region. In some tours, tourist routes have been formed to connect Binh Duong tourism to other provinces and cities in the region regarding the destinations in Dau Tieng district.

When coming to Dau Tieng district, in addition to the top beautiful landscapes of the province bestowed by nature like Cau Mountain and Dau Tieng Lake along with destinations located in the complex, one of the potentials for development of tourism which are historical relics containing many values is being paid great attention to by the Binh Duong tourism department. In addition to the Ho Chi Minh Campaign Front Command which has been recognized as a national historical site, the Kien An Forest Remain and the French colonial rubber plantation have been both recognized as provincial remains. This is a favorable condition to protect, preserve and further promote the values ​​that those remains are keeping in order to introduce and attract tourists to Binh Duong in the coming time.

Mr. Pham Hong Thi, Deputy Director of the provincial Tourism Promotion Center, said that in the past, due to the influence of the Covid-19 epidemic, tourism activities in the province as well as in Dau Tieng district have been suspended for such a long time. Currently, the epidemic is basically under control, Binh Duong tourism department is gradually recovering. Therefore, the provincial Tourism Promotion Center pays great attention to the introduction and promotion of destinations in the province including revolutionary historical sites in Dau Tieng district.

Discovering traditional historical values is always very special to help tourists and locals, especially the young generation, have the opportunity to interact and understand more about the proud traditions of generations of their fathers. The investment in renovating and recreating items to serve the needs of visitors along with the historical values that the remains contain inspirethe hope that when tourism activities in the province are reboot, these remains will become meaningful destinations for tourists when coming to Binh Duong.

Reported by Hong Thuan – Translated by Vi Bao