Dictionary of place names in Quang Ninh

The book " Quang Ninh Place Names Past and Present" is 1,032 pages thick, 16x24cm in size, published by Hong Duc Publishing House. This is a massive work, considered a very useful dictionary for looking up names of places, people, rivers, and mountains in Quang Ninh past and present.

Hon Gay, Hon Gai or Hong Gai and many other places in Quang Ninh today all contain interesting stories about culture and history. Photo: Document. — Hon Gay, Hon Gai or Hong Gai and many other places in Quang Ninh today all contain interesting stories about culture and history. Photo: Document

To have this book, the group of authors had to collect and research for many years. The idea of making a book about Quang Ninh place names past and present came very early, right after the publication of the Quang Ninh Geographical Records. The authors who initiated it were folklore researcher Tong Khac Hai (now deceased), Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan, Chief of Office of the Quang Ninh Historical Science Association and Mr. Nguyen Van Ai, an officer of the Department of Maps, General Staff, Vietnam People's Army. Compared to the first manuscript of Mr. Nguyen Van Ai and the manuscript in 1996, the book "Quang Ninh Place Names Past and Present" just published has increased the number of pages by about 6 times.

Since 2017, the project has received the participation of members of the Vietnam Association of Vietnamese Folk Artists, the Quang Ninh Association of Folk Artists, a number of officials of the Quang Ninh Museum and officials of the Center for Communication and Culture, the Department of Culture and Information of localities in the province. The members of the book's editors had to conduct hundreds of field trips to localities to collect and record documents. Each name of land, village, river, and mountain where they set foot has a great significance in scientific research as well as in practical life. Through place names, we can understand more about many aspects of the formation and development process of Quang Ninh province. The project has also mobilized the collective intelligence of hundreds of people from localities. The group of authors has issued 2,198 survey forms and has compiled more than 41,000 place names of all kinds, including land names, river names, mountain names, and village names.

Each place name (entry) summarizes the characteristics of the place name, explaining the meaningful stories surrounding the place name. According to Ms. Phan Thi Thuy Van, Director of the Center for Information, Conservation and Promotion of Cultural Heritage, Quang Ninh Museum, researchers must rely on place names to determine related locations. For example, Doc Dinh, there will certainly be a communal house nearby, or the name of Mieu Rung Nghe, or the name Bai Mieu at Yen Cu communal house, the place name Lung Nghe near Lung Xanh waterfall Uong Bi, the name Nghe Goc Lim near Nam Mau coal mine Uong Bi, Dong Dinh in Phong Du commune (Tien Yen district). Many place names in Quang Ninh are associated with ancient communal houses and temples.

Each place name in Quang Ninh today always contains the imprints of social history, sometimes associated with important events of the nation. Therefore, the process of researchers studying place names is to study historical culture, a noble need of love for the homeland and country. Place names subtly reflect the cognitive process, on the one hand, it is also a measure of the social organization process. Place names are also a massive vocabulary, rich in specific nuances in the language treasure of the nation, and are vivid evidence of the historical depth of the rich Quang Ninh land where we live.

From that data, the editorial board compared with ancient administrative documents and discovered that our province has over 100 names of districts and communes that are from 100 to 700 years old. Among them, there are names that are still in use today. Many place names have helped us understand more about the migration and settlement process of the San Diu, San Chi, Dao, and Tay people, opening the way to research the culture of ethnic communities in Quang Ninh.

Once they have that massive data, the authors must embark on an equally arduous process, which is to classify place names and arrange them according to the manuscript's layout before publishing them into a book. The book "Quang Ninh Place Names Past and Present" consists of 3 parts. Part 1 helps readers get acquainted with place names and the process of forming different types of place names. Part 2 provides an overview of Quang Ninh province, analyzing and introducing in-depth, systematic features of events and valuable documents. Part 3 helps readers understand each place name in Quang Ninh, especially those associated with historical figures and events. As for administrative place names of districts, towns, cities, provinces, communes, wards, and towns, the authors have provided readers with the process of formation and development of each place name.

With the rapid urbanization, many new, spacious and modern architectural and traffic works have been built to meet the needs of socio -economic development and the people's expectations. The authors of the work "Quang Ninh Place Names Past and Present" have provided the database of place names with additional historical figures, major events, and ancient place names in the area. This is a large work, although it is not a dictionary in the true sense of explaining each entry, it helps readers to look up land names, river names, mountain names, and village names conveniently.

Quang Ninh's location also shows the value of many works that can be exploited for cultural tourism experiences, especially providing information for the younger generation, those who learn and research culture. Therefore, the book has been put into the library of Ha Long University, the Provincial Library and the community library system of districts, towns and cities in the province and has initially received the attention of readers. Ms. Dao Thi Hoai Thu, Head of Reader Affairs Department, Quang Ninh Library, shared: "This is a very useful reference work. We have currently arranged this book in the geographical archive. Readers can go to Quang Ninh Library to look up and borrow it to read."

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