Ha Coi – the old name of Hai Ha district – is a very familiar name to people in eastern Vietnam and also very impressive to those who love the history and culture of Northeast Vietnam! However, in recent times, more and more people do not understand what the name Ha Coi means or have a very biased and inaccurate understanding compared to its original meaning. Great civilizations are always associated with rivers, and accordingly, ancient names associated with the word "Ha" are very special place names worth exploring, deciphering, and appreciating.
In ancient history, the name Ha Coi was written in Chinese characters as 河檜. Ha (河) means river or water, and Coi (檜) means evergreen forest trees. Coi doesn't simply mean trees in general, as we understand it, nor does it mean "dense vegetation" as many recent local historical accounts have suggested. In the past, people used the character Thao (草) to refer to herbaceous plants, Thai (菜) to refer to vegetables, and Moc (木) to refer to woody plants in general… and used Coi (檜) specifically to refer to evergreen forest trees that remain green year-round, never shedding their leaves seasonally. Each leaf on these trees can last from 3 to 40 years before falling off; what we now call "evergreen trees" in scientific terms. The defining characteristic of Ha Coi is its lush green beauty, vibrant vitality, and resilient spirit, capable of withstanding the difficulties and harshness of the terrain and weather, exemplified by species such as pine, fir, and cypress trees. Thus, Ha Coi can be generally understood as "ancient forest by the river," in a narrower sense as "pine forest by the river," and in a literary sense as "a fertile, lush, deep, enduring, and resilient land." If we know that the even older name of this land was Ha Mon, we will see the great significance of the name Ha Coi, as the ancients wanted to emphasize that this was not just a general name for the location of a river or sea mouth on a map, but also an entire territory of ancient forest by the river and sea.
Ha Coi – a name so simple, endearing, and deeply meaningful, yet so problematic as generations have misunderstood its meaning, with even all the eastern districts retaining their original names, yet Ha Coi changing its name several times. The word "Ha" is simple and easy to understand, but the word "Coi" is frequently misinterpreted. There have been many different interpretations of the name Ha Coi, potentially becoming a legend. Actually, we shouldn't be too concerned about whether the interpretation is correct or incorrect, because in each historical context, a new generation interprets the name according to their own understanding and intentions. That's a matter of knowledge and emotion; sometimes it's best to let things take their natural course. Language is a living language, and it needs a semantic life according to history. But it must be acknowledged that most people have misunderstood the original meaning. Some rather humorous and biased interpretations we often encounter are as follows:
Ha Coi was once mistakenly thought to be another name for Ha Cu, meaning downstream of the river or at the foot of the hills. This was the explanation given by those familiar with some Chinese dialects. In the past, many people from Southern China migrated to Ha Coi through the mountains and forests to live there. They used various dialects and often mispronounced Ha Coi as Ha Cai, Ha Cu, etc., understanding it as a riverside market or residential area. Because they lived in the highlands, they easily came to understand Ha Coi as a lowland area.
The name Ha Coi was once simply explained as a place with many stone mills along the river. This was likely the perspective of those who visited Ha Coi after 1979 (colloquially known as "New Economic Zone residents"). They were very impressed by the sight of fishermen along the Ha Coi river pounding oyster shells (heated to resemble calcined limestone) in ancient stone mills to make lime for caulking boats. In addition, along the river, there were occasionally remnants of giant stone mills left behind by the Chinese – called "may ngan" in Chinese – used for milling rice using water power. These unique mills (unlike those found in the delta region) likely left a lasting impression on the new generation as they interpreted the name Ha Coi.
The name Ha Coi has also been explained in a seemingly scientific way as having both Ha Waterfall and Coi Waterfall near the confluence of the Ha and Coi rivers. In reality, there are indeed Ha and Coi waterfalls near the confluence of the Ha and Coi rivers, but the character Ha (蚵) in the name Ha Waterfall has the radical for "worm" to indicate that the waterfall has many barnacles clinging to the rocks, and the character Coi (𥖩) in the name Coi Waterfall has the radical for "stone" to indicate a large, concave whirlpool in the middle of the river surrounded by pebbles, resembling a natural millstone. Meanwhile, the name Ha Coi has the character Ha (河) with the radical for "water" and the character Coi (檜) with the radical for "tree". These are merely homophones; the Chinese characters are written differently, and their meanings are also different.
Although each of these misinterpretations reveals some of the distinctive characteristics of Ha Coi compared to other places, they fail to capture the most comprehensive geographical and ecological features of Ha Coi, which is the ancient forest along the river, as originally intended. They also lack the profound literary meaning suggested by the ancient name Ha Coi, and have no connection whatsoever to the meaning in Nom script that the ancient teachers of Ha Coi always emphasized to their students.
Ms. Nguyen Bich Tram, former Vice Principal of Quang Ha High School, recounts the impression her father, Mr. Nguyen The Ky, had instilled in his children from a young age with the name Ha Coi: “My father belonged to the intellectual class who grew up receiving a Western education during the French colonial period. He was very proficient in French, possessed modern and progressive ideas, but also particularly cherished traditional cultural values. He was deeply knowledgeable in Confucianism, having been taught both Chinese and Nom script by a teacher at the My Son village temple when he was young. Fearing that we wouldn't remember the meaning of the Nom script for the name Ha Coi, he wrote the two characters 'My' and 'Coi' in the name My Son – Ha Coi in large letters and hung them up to teach us regularly. Later, when we grew up and built a new house for our father, he also had those two characters embossed on the large gable wall of the house, right in front of the entrance gate. My Son is the name of the village, and Ha Coi is the name of our hometown. The characters 'Son' and 'Ha' written in Nom script are similar to those written in Chinese and are quite easy to remember; they mean mountain and river. But the characters…” "The names 'My' and 'Cối' have such profound meanings that we, being young, often confused those pictographic characters with their many strokes. My father emphasized many times that when written in Chinese characters, 'Cối' has the radical for writing and 'My' has the radical for 'eye,' but when written in Nôm script, 'Cối' has the radical for 'sun' and 'My' has the radical for 'moon.' These radicals have quite similar strokes, but when written in Nôm script, the Confucian scholars wanted to play with words and convey their wish that the names Hà Cối – My Sơn would endure forever like the sun and moon. For a border region like Hà Cối, which has experienced many historical upheavals, this message holds immense significance."
Currently, in international documents, if using Chinese, the name Ha Coi is usually written in simplified Chinese characters (河桧) instead of traditional Chinese characters (河檜) as before. Therefore, young people learning modern Chinese easily misunderstand the meaning of the character "Coi" as "Hoi" due to the homophones in Chinese pronunciation, thus distorting the meaning of the name Ha Coi. Some historical relics or religious texts record the name Ha Coi in Chinese characters, but these are restored relics and the texts are transcribed in modern Chinese characters, so later generations do not fully understand the deeper meaning of the previous generations, thus also leading to misunderstandings of the name Ha Coi. Looking back at ancient history, the name of Ha Coi commune, belonging to Ha Mon district, appeared during the reign of Gia Long (around 1810-1819) in the book "List of Villages and Communes in Vietnam in the early 19th century," and was also written in Chinese characters as 河檜, not as early as 1888 as many local documents are claiming. Historically, the name Ha Coi evolved from the name of a river and a village to the name of a district, then a county. After more than 150 years of existence, on June 4, 1969, Ha Coi district merged with Dam Ha district to form Quang Ha district. On January 16, 1979, Ha Coi town was renamed Quang Ha town. This name change may have been due to historical circumstances at different periods, but from the perspective of the people of Ha Coi, it is full of regret. Today, only the Ha Coi river retains its original name. Later, the bridge was also named Ha Coi Bridge, and more recently, Ha Coi Bridge 1 and Ha Coi Bridge 2 have been added.
For the past five years, a social media group called "Ha Coi Ancient Charm" has been reminding people of the meaning of the ancient name of their hometown while simultaneously organizing community activities to plant rows of Pinus massoniana in public spaces or along the roadsides of villages and hamlets in the New Rural Development program, and even planting entire stretches of pine trees on Don Cao hillside along the Ha Coi river. Mr. Bui Bang Dung, one of the three administrators of the "Ha Coi Ancient Charm" group, shared: “Ha Coi is not only an ancient place name but also a name associated with many historical events, many geological scientific terms, many stories of cultural identity, and many native ecological species. Therefore, our group's admin team really wants to spread the meaning of the name Ha Coi so that people can better understand and love their homeland. We strive to organize many practical activities such as replanting many pine trees along the banks of the Ha Coi River, planting a large grove of pine trees on the historical Don Cao hill, thereby reminding people that Ha Coi is a pine forest by the river, a lush green ecosystem, and a resilient spirit.”
I think that if the city of Mong Cai were to expand to include neighboring districts someday, Ha Coi could be renamed after a large area of the city, a main road, or a significant cultural landmark! Place names are not just the names of a region, but also represent many community emotions connected to the traditions and identity of the homeland.
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