Preserve the name for a century.

The Thu Bon Goddess Festival in Trung Phuoc town. Photo: MINH THONG

1. My uncle's name is Huan, and he's been away from his hometown for over forty years. He established himself in Vung Tau, and it's probably only in the last ten years or so, when life became more stable, that he started returning home more frequently. It seems that the premonition of someone nearing old age has become a driving force for more frequent returns.

In the articles sent from the South to contribute to the local newspaper—articles signed Nguyen Dai Buong—I read a vague, indistinct, yet persistent sense of nostalgia. Dai Buong is the name used by people aged 50 and above in the upper reaches of the Thu Bon River to refer to their village.

It seems only they have the experience to preserve the memory of Dai Buong village on the left bank of the Thu River - the place where the story of the "sworn brotherhood" of 13 families, united in mutual affection, built the lush green village of Dai Binh, teeming with fruits and vegetables.

Dai Binh, also known by its Nôm name Dai Buong, is the name of an old village that existed at the same time as the oldest villages in Quang Nam . Since 1602, after Lord Nguyen Hoang established the Quang Nam administrative center and defined the system of villages, communes, districts, and prefectures, the villages of Dai Buong and Trung Phuoc also existed.

Village festival in Trung Phuoc. Photo: MINH THONG

Dai Buong or Dai Binh are essentially the same place, but people who have been away from their hometown for many years still carry with them the name of their childhood home.

On this side of the river, Trung Phuoc village, now designated as a town, has a market older than the village's name itself. For hundreds of years, the two villages of Dai Binh and Trung Phuoc, situated on opposite sides of the river, have witnessed turmoil and separation.

Separated by a ferry and a bridge, yet the villagers' manners are distinctly different. The people of Trung Phuoc are quick-witted and shrewd, a result of their industrial lifestyle stemming from the Nong Son coal mine, as well as the influence of urban life from displaced people who came to settle there. This is also because the market lies in the middle of the land – a gathering place for produce from the upstream areas of Ty, Se, and Dui Chieng, where goods are transported downstream and fish and fish sauce are received from ferries traveling upstream from Hoi An.

The people of Dai Binh are gentle and speak softly. The girls of Dai Binh are famously beautiful throughout Quang Nam province. But the women of Trung Phuoc are resourceful and capable.

More than 15 years ago, when Nong Son district was established, even the people of Quang Nam were unfamiliar with this place. But if you mentioned that the district had Dai Binh and Trung Phuoc villages and the Nong Son coal mine, everyone would react with surprise, as if they knew... something.

They listened because, in the gentle melody of the song "Que Son, Motherland of Affection," composer Dinh Tham and poet Ngan Vinh mentioned the name of "Trung Phuoc ferry." Similarly, people from afar know about Dai Binh village because they've heard of it as a "miniature Southern Vietnamese village" in the heart of Quang Nam province.

Because of its connection to art and media, Trung Phuoc, Dai Binh is assigned a status higher than its geographical location on the map.

Trung Phuoc - Dai Binh ferry terminal. Photo: XH

2. A young person brought up the topic of place names and village names, saying, "How many names in Hanoi and Saigon are no longer on the map but remain immortal in people's hearts?"

It doesn't disappear, because names don't exist in the finite memory of humankind; rather, it goes beyond that—it's a sediment encapsulating spiritual values. No longer found in administrative documents, it will be present in literary works, poems, and songs.

No longer confined to everyday life, it remains amidst research, in human memory passed down through generations by naming cherished things, such as children's names, pen names for creative works... Even the name of an old village is carried over to name new settlements. They double their homeland in their new homes...

It is expected that this July, Nong Son district will carry out an administrative merger – returning to being the western part of Que Son district. The name Trung Phuoc town will certainly be retained, along with the neighborhoods of Dai Binh, Trung Phuoc 1, Trung Phuoc 2, etc. As for the name Nong Son, it will probably remain "immortal" in people's hearts because of the name of the Nong Son coal mine and the Nong Son bridge.

Uncle Nguyen Dai Buong recounted that around 1963, he and my father were both students at Dong Giang High School, now Hoang Hoa Tham High School ( Da Nang City).

In the years that followed, the war raged fiercely, and both families joined the exodus to the Hoang Van Thu Special Zone – which now spans four communes: Que Loc, Que Trung, Que Lam, and Que Ninh.

People who fled from cities like Da Nang, Hoi An, and the surrounding plains settled around Trung Phuoc and Dai Binh. After liberation, many returned to the cities, but the majority chose to stay in Trung Phuoc, including my grandparents' family.

Many families from Dai Binh village are now settling abroad or living in large cities. They are quietly undertaking a "migration," similar to the historical migrations this land once received. But unlike in the past, they carry with them the name of the land that nurtured their ancestors, giving rise to the Tran and Nguyen clans of Dai Binh village in foreign lands...

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