Nineteen households live in isolation on the mountaintop. Transportation is extremely difficult. The authorities have repeatedly urged the residents to relocate to the central area of the commune, but without success… This is the initial information we received about Khe Van village (Huc Dong commune, Binh Lieu district).
Peaceful village in the mountains
We arrived at Khe Van by motorbike. Khe Van has a road, a small one, but it's paved with concrete. Motorbikes with gears are suitable for traveling on this route. However, drivers must be very focused; upon spotting an oncoming vehicle, they must immediately honk, turn on their hazard lights, and find a place to move aside.
Khe Van is not the furthest hamlet in Huc Dong commune, but it is probably the highest. It took us about 30 minutes to reach the house of Mr. Trac Di Dau, Deputy Secretary of the Party Branch and Deputy Head of Khe Van hamlet.
Mr. Dau's house is located right at the beginning of Khe Van village. It's a two-story house with a red tiled roof, sturdy brick walls, a spacious living area, and interconnected outbuildings. Inside, it's fully equipped with a TV, refrigerator, speakers, and a living room furniture set... Mr. Dau said: "Everything was brought up here by motorbike, including the building materials..."
Reportedly, it took Mr. Dau 10 years to build his house, with the first 5 years spent building the first floor and the next 5 years building the second floor. Along with Mr. Dau, the remaining 18 families in Khe Van also had record-breakingly long house construction times.
100% of the households in Khe Van village are Thanh Phan Dao ethnic people, mainly belonging to three clans: Chiu, Chiu, and Trac, who are related to each other. They have been present on the summit of Khe Van mountain since before Dau was born, when it was called Khe Van village. The oldest living person is nearly 100 years old and was also born here.
For generations, people have lived together in close-knit communities, reluctant to leave the mountains, and when they die, they are buried in the mountain ranges behind their homes. This explains why, for many years, almost no households in Khe Van have moved elsewhere to live; instead, young men and women from Khe Van, upon reaching adulthood, have come to Khe Van to find spouses and settle down.
Compared to many other mountainous villages in Quang Ninh province , the people of Khe Van village live relatively well. There are no poor households in the village. Mrs. Chiu Nhi Mui's family, whose husband has passed away and who lives with her son, is considered a disadvantaged household in the village. However, her house is equipped with modern audio-visual equipment, and the combined income of Mrs. Mui and her son is over 100 million dong per year, entirely derived from the forest and their fields.
The location of Khe Van residential area is favorable for production; it's just a few steps up to the forest and a few steps down to the rice fields. The vast forest land is suitable for growing anise and cinnamon trees; the rice fields, though small, are fertile, thanks to the humus flowing down from the high mountains, resulting in lush, heavy-grained rice and potatoes.
Khe Van has long been provided with clean water and electricity for the villagers' daily lives and production. They plow their fields and gardens with machines, and dry cinnamon and star anise using machines as well. In recent years, the prices of star anise and cinnamon bark have increased significantly, helping to improve the lives of the people in Khe Van considerably. This is one of the reasons why the people of Khe Van remain in their village.
Now, every day in Khe Van village is filled with the joyful sounds of kindergarten children playing and laughing, and first and second graders spelling and putting letters together. Teacher To Thi Luong (a Tay ethnic minority) was transferred from the central school of Huc Dong commune to Khe Van and spends her days with the children, loving her Dao students as if they were her own grandchildren.
Education in Khe Van is more challenging than elsewhere, as students from grade 3 onwards have to go to the center of Huc Dong commune or the center of Binh Lieu district to study. However, no child in the village has dropped out of school. Currently, there are four children in the village who are of high school age, and their parents have sent them to live in the district so they can focus on their studies.
The Khe Van village cultural center is open for weekly activities, and the village playground is also open until evening, serving as a place for villagers to engage in cultural and sports activities; children play spinning tops and other games. Some households in the village have opened shops and built sturdy balconies overlooking the valley with its stunning terraced rice fields. This is also a place where adults meet after work, sharing stories and strengthening family and neighborhood bonds… Life in Khe Van is truly peaceful.
The idea of a Dao ethnic minority tourism village on the high mountain peaks.
The biggest challenge in Khe Van right now is probably the road. The current road, paved with concrete three years ago, is only about 1 meter wide and very difficult to expand further without mechanization. With a ravine on one side and a cliff on the other, there are many sharp turns and numerous places where boulders suddenly jut out onto the road like large elbows.
According to assessments, expanding the road at Khe Van will require considering rock blasting, potentially costing tens of billions of VND. Meanwhile, the peak of Khe Van is located in the core area of the Khe Van Waterfall ecological tourism site, and investment in construction should be limited to avoid disrupting the natural landscape.
In this context, the lives of the people in Khe Van village have been considered with many options, including the option of encouraging households to relocate to lower areas, and the option of developing Khe Van into a Dao ethnic minority tourist village on the high mountain peak.
Coming to Khe Van, feeling the peaceful pace of life here, understanding why the people of Khe Van cherish their land, one thing can be affirmed: the people of Khe Van will continue to cling to their village and hamlet as they have for generations before.
Khe Van is truly peaceful, from its landscape and environment to its culture and people. It's a distinctly Dao village, where the people's awareness has improved, yet their cultural identity is preserved. The natural scenery is beautiful, the climate is mild and good for health; its relatively isolated location makes it suitable for resort tourism, as well as for visitors seeking to reconnect with nature and rural life.
Developing Khe Van into a Dao ethnic minority tourist village on the mountaintop is appropriate, timely, and aligns with the village's advantages. It also meets the aspirations of the people of Khe Van and is consistent with Binh Lieu district's current service-centric development strategy. However, building a Dao ethnic minority tourist village on the top of Khe Van still requires much work.
In fact, Binh Lieu district needs to consider upgrading and investing in appropriate technical infrastructure for Khe Van, including the road leading up the mountain. Along with that, Binh Lieu needs to further strengthen the preservation and promotion of traditional cultural values in Khe Van by retaining the traditional earthen houses and architectural features of the Dao people; encouraging the people of Khe Van to wear ethnic costumes, speak their language, and practice traditional songs, dances, and folk games.
Another half hour on the small road from the top of Khe Van back to the center of Huc Dong commune, we truly hope that Khe Van will receive investment, will change, will develop, and will become a Dao ethnic minority tourist village high in the mountains in the not too distant future.
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