Reading these lines in the speech of the Secretary of the provincial Party Committee at the recent fifth session of the provincial People's Council, my mind was suddenly filled with so many memories.

A Thuong River section running through Bac Giang city.

Nhu Nguyet River? It was on this river, more than 940 years ago, in 1076, General Ly Thuong Kiet established a solid line to defeat the Song army, maintaining the national independence. Here, he had the famous poem "Nam Quoc Son Ha", which today is considered the first Declaration of Independence of our country.

In 1955, I was gathered to the North and worked as a reporter for Nhan Dan Newspaper. Specializing in covering agricultural and rural issues, I had many opportunities to go to Bac Ninh and Bac Giang, which were later merged into Ha Bac province.

Not only when working as a reporter and then Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, but also later, as Editor-in-Chief of Communist Review, I still considered Ha Bac (now Bac Giang and Bac Ninh) as an attractive destination.

I visited Bac Giang city and many districts many times and worked with many comrades in the provincial Party Committee and district Party committees. I had close relationships with many local leaders such as Nguyen Thanh Quat, Do Binh Duong and Nguyen Quoc Cuong… I also visited Hiep Hoa, Tan Yen, Yen Dung and Lang Giang districts, especially Luc Ngan - the lychee capital, and Kep township (Lang Giang), where there are an airport and many handicraft production facilities.

The most impressive working visit was that to Yen The district. Yen The used to be the base of a large armed uprising led by patriot Hoang Hoa Tham. Here, there are still vestiges of the citadel and trenches.

In 1980, journalist Phan Quang and I went to Bac Giang and visited the Ha Bac Oil Factory, a beautiful factory built on a gentle hill along the banks of the Thuong River. According to the design, the plant would produce 5,000 tonnes of oil from 17,000 tonnes of peanuts annually. 

However, after a year of operation, the factory received only 800 tonnes of unhusked peanuts, producing several hundreds tonnes of oil. Many parts of the factory almost had to close. The main reason was inappropriate mechanisms and policies. We wrote the article “The Peanut and the Rope”, which pointed out that the peanuts cannot be husked due to the rope of mechanism. The provincial leaders did not criticize anything but also expressed their welcome.

The stories I have told, most of which took place less than half a century ago, are almost fairy tales.

Now, after 35 years of Doi moi (renewal), both Bac Giang and Bac Ninh have their new faces, the faces of localities on the road of industrialization, modernization, new-style rural construction and international integration.

Bac Giang is one of the first provinces in the country to complete the provincial planning for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050, and submit it to the Prime Minister for approval. According to the planning, by 2030, the province will establish 23 industrial parks with construction land area more than four times the current one. However, as mentioned above, at the request of the locality, the Prime Minister agreed to supplement the province with 1,000 hectares of industrial land quota to solve the lack of premises to attract investment.

Writing this small article for Bac Giang Newspaper, I would like to send my sincere wish that our province will soon make its dream come true.

Ha Dang, 

former member of the Party Central Committee, 

former head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Thought and Culture

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(BGO) - The Real Estate Association of Bac Giang province launched the Center for supporting real estate investment and business on January 14.

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(BGO) - Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue and leaders of the Party, Government and Fatherland Front Committee attended a teleconference between the Government and localities on January 5 to review 2021 performance and implement the Party Central Committee’s Conclusion and the National Assembly’s Resolution on 2022 socio-economic development scheme. The event was chaired by the Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

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(BGO) – In the afternoon of January 5, the Young Entrepreneur Association (YEA) in Bac Giang province held a conference themed “Bac Giang young entrepreneurs join hands to create future and development solution in post Covid-19 period”, concluded the 2021 operation and implemented 2022 tasks.

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