Studying the name Bắc Giang in history to better preserve and develop local culture

BẮC GIANG — The Culture, Sports and Tourism Department of Bắc Giang Province has recently organised a conference titled, 'Discussing the name Bắc Giang over historical periods'.

At the conference, many cultural researchers, historians, social scientists and cultural managers of central and provincial governments delivered dissertations, archives and cultural proposals of significant cultural and practical values to explain the importance of province over time.

Professor, PhD Vũ Minh Giang, President of the Social Science and Training Committee at Hà Nội National University told the conference that defining the moment when the name Bắc Giang appeared in history was a vital and meaningful moment, shedding light on the origins of the name so as to preserve and promote local cultural heritage values. A diversity of papers discussed at the conference took the chance to elaborate on the milestones of time, when the name Bắc Giang appeared in history.

They all focused on the three important eras: under the Đinh, Trần and Early Lê Dynasty. Researchers at the conference also offered criteria as fundamental to accept the name as valid. It had to be an administrative unit, it was recorded in reliable historical archives and all the names mentioned in history must be physically located in today's Bắc Giang Province.

These time milestones must also be linked to historical events and figures and mostly agreed upon by the people.

At the conference, with current common historical knowledge, the researchers tend to agree on choosing the Đinh Dynasty, because it was the time when the then King was trying to put together a new kingdom.

Following the historical moment of building and preserving the country of Việt people, the land of what is Bắc Giang today were given different names and belonged to different administrative unit.

During Hùng Kings' time, Bắc Giang belonged to Vũ Ninh ministry of Văn Lang kingdom. Under the rule of Chinese occupation, the land of Bắc Giang belonged to Xiang land (under the Qin Dynasty (214-209 BC), it belonged to three districts Long Biên, Bắc Đới and Kê Từ (during Han Dynasty in 220BC). The Long Biên District (under the Sui and Tang dynasties from 602-905AD). During the Việt's Early Lê Dynasty, (980-1009), the administrative units were kept the same as under the Tang Dynasty. Then Bắc Giang, an administrative unit that equals province then appeared from the Đinh Dynasty (968-980AD).

Under the Lý and Trần Dynasties of Việt Nam, the name was Bắc Giang Province. Until the later Lê Dynasty, it belonged to Bắc Giang County, which later renamed Bắc Ninh County.

In 1831, it was named Bắc Ninh County and on October 10, 1895, it was rename Bắc Ninh Province and the Bắc Ninh Province was divided to make two new provinces Bắc Giang and Bắc Ninh.

On October 27, 1962, The second National Asembly issued a resolution to combine two provinces Bắc Ninh and Bắc Giang to make Hà Bắc Province.

In 1997, to implement the 10th Congress of the 9th National Assembly, Hà Bắc was once again divided into two provinces Bắc Ninh and Bắc Giang.

Deputy Chief of Culture, Sports and Tourism Department Đỗ Tuấn Khoa said, that the history of Bắc Giang in the country's flow of history has been basically studied with care and comprehensively.

However, researchers focused on the time when the name Bắc Giang first appeared not only to show changes in the naming of this province, it wanted to mark down the historical milestones. From there, researchers can pinpoint the reasons of change as well as historical and cultural values of the name of this land.

As a result, it was the time when Bắc Giang as a county first appeared, to re-enforce the depth of historical traditions, culture, the existence and growth of the land known since the Hùng Kings' time. VNS