Na Hang District
History
Its name may have been handed down for thousands of years, when Tai ethnic groups started migrating from Yunnan to the South region. Nà Hang means "last fields" (or "lowland") in Tày language, which indicated the terrain of the land.
According to the explanation of the folk, the fields in the lowlands are always the meeting place of many water streams, so that place is considered as a beautiful terrain.
Middle Ages
According to books An Nam chí lược, An Nam chí nguyên, Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư and Đại Nam nhất thống chí, Nà Hang barracks (Nà Hang trại) was originally the Southern part of Vị Long canton (châu Vị Long), which corresponded to some rural districts of modern Yunnan, Guangxi and some Northwestern provinces of Vietnam. Before the 15th century, this territory was almost not under the control of any country in reality, but its was ruled by many chiefs (p'tao, phìa tạo), who had received some favors from Annamese and Chinese emperors. They have proved cleverly taking advantage of both of these forces to be able to survive stable, by Prince Trần Nhật Duật's appreciation.
When the Ming Dynasty was temporarily successful in controlling An Nam as a province in 1407, Nà Hang really became an official administrative unit called Đại Man rural district (Đại Man huyện). Đại Man belonged to Tuyên Hóa prefecture (Tuyên Hóa phủ), by Ming Veritable Records. However, right after the Later Lê Dynasty captured most of the Giao Chỉ area in 1428, Đại Man belonged to Yên Bình prefecture (Yên Bình phủ) of Tuyên Quang garrison (Tuyên Quang trấn). Therefore, the range of Nà Hang was established basically in the 15th century.
At the beginning of the 16th century, when the political situation in the central area of An Nam had many fluctuations, Đại Man once again became a fighting place between the two forces Lê-Trịnh and Mạc. Since 1592, Đại Man canton (Đại Man châu) has been the South part of Đàng Trên. This situation has almost unchanged until the end of the 18th century.
In the 16th of Minh Mệnh (1835), Đại Man has been changed to Chiêm Hóa canton (Chiêm Hóa châu), by Đại Nam thực lục. Initially, it belonged to Yên Ninh prefecture (Yên Ninh phủ) ; then, Yên Ninh changed to Tương Yên.
After the French Army won the chiefs in Northern Annam in the late 1880s, Chiêm Hóa canton was part of the Hà Giang Little Military Zone (tiểu quân khu Hà Giang) from 1891 to 1895. Then, it was transferred again to Tuyên Quang Little Military Zone (tiểu quân khu Tuyên Quang) from 1895 to 1900, belonged to the 3rd Corps (đạo quan binh số 3).
XX century
On April 11, 1900, Tuyên Quang province was re-established. Chiêm Hóa canton was officially the Northern part of the province.
On November 15, 1944, the Residence-Superior of Tonkin issued Decree 4375/I to separate Chiêm Hóa as two new cantons, named Chiêm Hóa and Nà Hang. Bang Tá Fortress (as the canton capital) was abolished to be replaced with Nà Hang township (thị trấn Nà Hang).
When the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was established in January 1946, the regime of "châu" (canton) and "phủ" (prefecture) was abolished to be replaced by "huyện" (rural district) and "tỉnh" (province). Nà Hang rural district (huyện Nà Hang) had 21 commune-level administrative units at that time.
During the Indochina War, Nà Hang once again became the fighting area of France and Việt Minh forces. Although the Government of the State of Vietnam called it as Nà Hang district (quận Nà Hang), belonged to Tuyên Quang province of the Northern Vietnam (Bắc phần Việt Nam), however, it was under control of the Việt Bắc War Zone (chiến khu Việt Bắc) of Việt Minh in fact.
On December 27, 1975, Tuyên Quang was merged to Hà Giang to become Hà Tuyên province. Therefore, Nà Hang rural district belonged to Hà Tuyên. By August 12, 1991, after Tuyên Quang province was re-established, Nà Hang rural district belonged to Tuyên Quang.
XXI century
On January 25, 2006, the Government of Vietnam issued Decree 14/2006/NĐ-CP to re-arrange the boundaries of communes in Tuyên Quang province. Accordingly, Nà Hang has been renamed Na Hang rural district (huyện Na Hang) to make it easier to pronounce to the masses.
On January 28, 2011, the Government of Vietnam issued Resolution 07/NQ-CP to adjust the Western boundaries of two rural districts Chiêm Hóa and Na Hang to establish new district Lâm Bình, where used to be Lâm Bình Forestry.
Geography
Topography
Currently, Na Hang rural district has all 12 commune-level administrative units.
- 1 municipality : Na Hang township (capital).
- 11 communes : Côn Lôn, Đà Vị, Hồng Thái, Khâu Tinh, Năng Khả, Sinh Long, Sơn Phú, Thanh Tương, Thượng Giáp, Thượng Nông, Yên Hoa.
Na Hang has a completely plateau terrain, which is considered the most dangerous of Tuyên Quang province. Therefore, the largest resource of the rural district is forest and limestone mountains, which has almost been banned from exploiting since the 2000s to become an ecological conservation area.
The district is the origin of two rivers with extremely large water : Gâm and Năng. It is also the basis for forming Tuyên Quang Hydroelectricity in the area of Nậm Núm ("stream of Breast Mountain"). Besides, this mountain still contains a relatively large number of mineral, but due to security factors, they have not been exploited since the 1990s.
Population
According to the statistics of the District People's Committee in 2024, Na Hang has a population of 47,619.
Ethnic composition in Na Hang rural district is relatively difficult to determine by the complex history of the land. However, up to now, at least 12 groups have been registered. In particular, Tày as 52,56%, Yao as 27,64%, Kinh as 9,44%. Besides, other groups have very low quantities and even are scattered.
Before the 1978 frontier conflict, the Hoa was a large community in the territory. However, due to the intense impact of stressful political situation, some have chosen solutions to return to Guangxi, Guangdong or refugeed in Hong Kong with the implicit agreement of local authorities of Tuyên Quang. The remaining people have accepted to register as part of other ethnic groups (Kinh, Tày, Nùng, Yao...) to have the opportunity to continue studying and working. So far, the Hoa in Na Hang consists of only a few small clans settling in the North of the rural district, where the terrain is relatively dangerous.
Culture
- Lê Mạnh Hà: journalist and human rights activist.
Tourism
- Na Hang Lake : It was originally an artificial water area at the foot of Núm Mountain, which has been planned into a nature reserve since the 2000s.
- Phia Muồn Cave : The relic complex is related to prehistoric people.
- Pắk Tạ Temple : Where was built by Kinh colonists in the early 19th century to worship Prince Trần Nhật Duật, who was said to convince the chiefs to support the Trần Dynasty about 1285. Local folk have imagined more a legend about Prince's native wife to attract the attention of tourists.
Notes and references
Notes
- ^ An official code from 2022.
- ^ "Trại" (barracks or farm) was an administrative unit, what equivalent to the commune-level around the time of the Lý-Trần dynasties.
- ^ "Đàng Tliên" in the record of Jesuit missionary Gaspar d'Amaral in Tong-Quin on December 31, 1632 : "... đàng tlaõ, đàng ngoày, đàng tliên : à 1°, commeçando do Sul, chamão, đàng tlão, que quer dizer, camiho de dentro ; à 2° đàng ngoày, q quer dizer, caminho de fora ; à 3°, đàng tliên, que quer dizer, camoinho de cima".
- ^ Hồ-sơ lưu-trữ số 69102, phông Phủ Thống-sứ Bắc-Kỳ (RST) - Trung-tâm Lưu-trữ Quốc-gia I, Cục Lưu-trữ Nhà-nước Việt-Nam.
- ^ Nghị định số 14/2006/NĐ-CP ngày 25/01/2006 của Chính Phủ về việc điều chỉnh địa giới hành chính một số xã, thị trấn thuộc huyện Na Hang, tỉnh Tuyên Quang.
- ^ Nghị quyết số 07/NQ-CP ngày 28/01/2011 của Chính Phủ về việc điều chỉnh địa giới hành chính huyện Na Hang và huyện Chiêm Hóa để thành lập huyện Lâm Bình thuộc tỉnh Tuyên Quang.
References
- ^ Một số kết quả xây dựng nông thôn mới trên địa bàn huyện Na Hang giai đoạn 2021-2023 (vi)
- ^ Nà Hang - Beauty convergence (vi)
- ^ "Profile: Le Manh Ha". The 88 Project. 31 October 2022. Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
Further reading
Bibliography
- George Coedes. The Making of South East Asia, 2nd ed. University of California Press, 1983.
- Trần Ngọc Thêm. Cơ sở văn hóa Việt Nam (The Foundation of Vietnamese Culture), 504 pages. Publishing by Nhà xuất bản Đại học Tổng hợp TPHCM. Saigon, Vietnam, 1995.
- Li Tana (2011). Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ) in the Han period Tongking Gulf. In Cooke, Nola ; Li Tana ; Anderson, James A. (eds.). The Tongking Gulf Through History. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 39–44. ISBN 9780812205022.
- Li Tana, Towards an environmental history of the eastern Red River Delta, Vietnam, c.900–1400, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 2014.
- Samuel Baron, Christoforo Borri, Olga Dror, Keith W. Taylor (2018). Views of Seventeenth-Century Vietnam : Christoforo Borri on Cochinchina and Samuel Baron on Tonkin. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-1-501-72090-1.
- Quyết định số 269-NV ngày 22/05/1969 của Bộ Nội Vụ về việc phê chuẩn hợp nhất một số xã thuộc tỉnh Tuyên Quang.
- Quyết định số 28-HĐBT ngày 13/02/1987 của Hội đồng Bộ trưởng về việc chia và thành lập một số xã thuộc các huyện Bắc Mê, Na Hang và Yên Sơn của tỉnh Hà Tuyên.
- Nghị định 56/1999/NĐ-CP ngày 15/07/1999 của Chính Phủ về việc giải thể các thị trấn nông trường Tân Trào, Sông Lô, Tháng Mười và thành lập các xã thuộc các huyện Na Hang, Hàm Yên, Yên Sơn, Sơn Dương, tỉnh Tuyên Quang.