Hai Thai is a commune located in the hilly midland region to the west of Gio Linh district, where the Ho Chi Minh Trail passes through. This peaceful land holds a tragic and heroic past. During the war against the US, it served as an important military base for the enemy and also witnessed many glorious victories of our army and people. Along with the Doc Mieu base in the McNamara electronic barrier, the Con Tien base was built to control a vast area along the demarcation line, densely packed with bombs, mines, trenches, war equipment, and a large force of elite US and puppet soldiers. The history of Hai Thai commune stems from the migration of people from the lowlands to cultivate this new land nearly half a century ago. So much blood, sweat, and tears were shed so that today, Hai Thai commune can confidently move towards prosperity and strength...
Aspiration for peace and harmony
According to oral tradition, on Hill 158 in the west of Gio Linh district, there is a large, flat rock measuring 3 meters high, 4 meters long, and 2 meters wide, shaped like a chessboard. Legend says that every evening, as the sun sets, seven fairies in pure white robes descend from heaven to earth to play chess and bathe in the stream. Therefore, the locals named the cave Con Tien (Fairy Hill).
The romantic imagery from the legends evoking peace has been forgotten since the establishment of Con Tien Base, part of the US-backed South Vietnamese defense system in North Quang Tri in 1967. Con Tien Base was a crucial link in the McNamara electronic barrier, where fierce battles took place between the US-backed South Vietnamese forces and our army and people. Today, Con Tien-Doc Mieu Base is one of the typical revolutionary historical relics of Quang Tri province's resistance against foreign invaders.
Rice paddies laden with grain stand beside lush green plantations and rubber forests in Hai Thai commune, Gio Linh district - Photo: D.T.
According to historical records, on March 19, 1975, Hai Lang, the last district of Quang Tri province, was completely liberated. With the war over, the people of Quang Tri enthusiastically began building a new life. However, the consequences of the war remained severe, with barren land and dense bomb and shelling.
Faced with a difficult and challenging situation, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee issued Resolution No. 136-NQ/TU on August 23, 1975, on the relocation of the population to build new economic zones in the province. This aimed to redistribute the population and labor force across regions, resolve the imbalance between population and land, exploit the strengths of different regions within the province, and gradually develop the economy.
Responding to the call of the Party and State to build new economic zones, on September 20, 1975, people from four communes: Hai Quy, Hai Tri, Hai Truong, and Hai Tho in Hai Lang district set off for Gio Linh district to start a new life. On September 22, 1975, the last truck from Hai Lang district carrying people to Gio Linh stopped on a hill covered in wild grass and reeds, still reeking of gunpowder.
From here, the people of the rice-growing region of Hai Lang reunited to form Hai Thai commune. They "carried the names of their communes and villages with them in each migration," as a line from the poet Nguyen Khoa Diem's poem suggests. "Hai" comes from the place name Hai Lang, their ancestral homeland, and "Thai" represents the aspiration for peace, harmony, and prosperity. Hai and Thai, both supporting each other, peacefully coexisted, creating the flourishing midland region we see today.
As natives of Hai Lang district, the people of Hai Thai commune have always possessed the virtues of diligence and creativity in labor and production; at the same time, Gio Linh, their second home, has instilled in the people of Hai Thai a spirit of bravery and resilience, never backing down from any difficulties and hardships in the cause of protecting and building their homeland. The rich traditions of the two regions of Hai Lang and Gio Linh have instilled in the people of Hai Thai a strong belief in the country's renewal under the leadership of the Party, and a determination to build an increasingly prosperous and beautiful homeland... |
According to the elders, when the commune was first established, it had 803 households and 4,230 inhabitants, including 1,620 main laborers. Emerging from a brutal war, the people of Hai Thai, like many people in Quang Tri in the post-war period, had nothing but their bare hands. They had to work tirelessly to reclaim land riddled with bombs and bullets to grow rice, potatoes, and cassava to stave off hunger; filling in bomb and artillery craters to build houses and establish gardens. Back then, roads, food, and clothing were extremely difficult to come by.
On the narrow village road winding through the hills, barely wide enough for a person's foot, a slight deviation from the path could lead to the detonation of unexploded landmines or grenades. Armed only with hoes and iron probes, the people of Hai Thai search for remaining explosives, neutralizing the threat of bombs and ammunition before striking the ground with their hoes.
A single swing of the hoe into the ground here was a life-or-death choice. Statistics show that in just three months (October-December 1976), the people of Hai Thai cleared and removed nearly 9 tons of bombs, mines, and artillery shells; reclaimed over 170 hectares of land, including 100 hectares for planting sweet potatoes and cassava, and nearly 70 hectares for planting rice on the hillsides. To gradually replace the barren hillsides with greenery, damaged by bombs, bullets, and harsh weather, the commune established a nursery, producing 1,000 seedlings each season, including jackfruit, bamboo, and eucalyptus; all seven production groups have nurseries, ensuring a reliable source of seedlings for forest planters.
It is heartbreaking that as the land becomes increasingly covered in greenery, more and more people of Hai Thai fall or are injured by unexploded bombs and ammunition. For the land to be reborn and for people to rebuild and start businesses in Hai Thai, countless innocent people have paid the highest price in blood!
Two major local events profoundly impacted the development of Hai Thai commune. On March 19, 1979, Con Tien High School was established by Decision No. 304/QD-UBND of the People's Committee of Binh Tri Thien province, laying the foundation for the "nurturing of human resources" in the western Gio Linh region. On June 1, 1985, Hai Thai commune merged with Con Tien State-owned Farm.
Throughout the period from 1986 to 1992, the people of Hai Thai wore the uniform of workers, toiling on their homeland's land with a completely new and progressive style. Nearly two years after Gio Linh district was re-established, in March 1992, six western communes were brought back under district administration. From then on, Hai Thai commune reverted to its old name, embracing many new opportunities to continue building and developing its homeland...
The path to prosperity
Having interacted extensively with the people of Hai Thai, I've always admired one quality: they never show any signs of fatigue or lack of faith, even during the most difficult and challenging times. From the days when their bare feet trudged along dusty, bomb-strewn roads, where not a single meter of concrete existed in the village, let alone a path to the fields, to the time when their homeland shone brightly alongside the long and wide Ho Chi Minh Highway, with roads leading to countless destinations a hundred times more convenient than before, the people of Hai Thai have maintained their gentle, confident, and diligent nature, skillfully striving to become masters of their own destiny.
The house has a garden decorated with bomb casings left over from the war in Hai Thai commune, Gio Linh district - Photo: D.T.
With its predominantly hilly terrain sloping from west to east, and a total natural land area of over 2,500 hectares, Hai Thai commune has 2,304 hectares of agricultural land under production, accounting for 91%. Since the implementation of the new rural development program, agricultural production has achieved many results, especially the development of many crop farming models linked to product consumption; livestock and aquaculture farming have yielded high efficiency; and agricultural mechanization from land preparation to harvesting has developed strongly.
Basic infrastructure investment has met the requirements of socio-economic development, directly serving the production and lives of the people. It can be affirmed that the new rural development program is gradually contributing to changing the face of the countryside, improving the quality of education, health, and culture; strengthening the political system from the commune to the village level; and raising the income and living conditions of the people in Hai Thai commune.
Now, in Hai Thai, the green of planted forests, rubber trees, pepper plants, and fruit trees in home gardens and hillside orchards has covered the barren hills. Many farm-based cattle breeding models, green pomelo and Vinh orange cultivation models applying Israeli drip irrigation technology; and models for growing ginseng and vetiver for incense production have emerged.
Notably, the main source of income for the people in the commune is rubber trees, with over 793 hectares under cultivation, yielding an estimated average of 125 quintals/hectare/year (dry weight), and a total production of nearly 9,000 tons. Pepper plants are also being harvested on over 18 hectares, yielding nearly 15 quintals/hectare and a total production of over 27 tons. Forest area has also expanded to over 600 hectares. The commune's main products are primarily purchased by local factories and contracted businesses, including wood chip factories, timber processing plants, and numerous rubber latex purchasing facilities. Since the implementation of the New Rural Development program, by the end of 2022, the average per capita income in the commune had reached over 45 million VND.
It can be said that the Fourth Industrial Revolution and digital transformation are fundamentally changing the operating mechanisms of the economy and the dynamics of society. Although located in the midland region, Hai Thai commune has also undergone a very clear transformation. All villages in the commune have internet access, meeting the needs of the people; the percentage of households using computers and phones with internet access has reached 85%.
The commune applies information technology in its management and administration; 100% of commune officials and civil servants are provided with computers for work; the commune uses software and digital signatures; and utilizes document management and operational systems; email systems and an electronic one-stop service have been implemented, contributing significantly to administrative reform and bringing many conveniences and benefits to citizens and businesses...
...At night, returning from visiting a friend's house in Hai Thai, the car carried me through a vast, tranquil rubber plantation. Figures could be seen diligently collecting the drops of "white gold" oozing from the sturdy rubber tree trunks. The atmosphere was so peaceful, "so peaceful, one can only see it in dreams," as the Russian poet Alexander Blok once wrote.
To enjoy such peaceful years, even in moments of tranquility, on a land once known as a "fire zone," a "hill of blood," a "hill of minced meat" riddled with bombs and bullets, the people and land of Western Gio Linh have endured a long and arduous journey of hardship and sacrifice, fighting valiantly alongside their homeland and country until the reunification of North and South Vietnam.
A colleague of mine from Cam Lo told me that, while often driving friends and visitors back and forth along the road through Hai Thai commune, every time he sees the rows of rubber trees swaying in the breeze, he is filled with emotion and the word "peace." It is concrete and close, evident and convincing: the fragrant, delicious meals they eat every day, the spacious houses under construction, the vast green expanse, and the endless rows of rubber trees standing in formation like soldiers...
And you uttered a sentence that left me feeling pensive: "At the Truong Son National Martyrs' Cemetery, next to those rubber plantations, the graves of the soldiers also stand in a formation like that..."
Dao Tam Thanh
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