A traditional festival in Binh Dinh

In the old days, Kien My is a hamlet belonging to Kien Thanh, Tuy Vien district of Quy Nhon. It has then belonged to Phu Phong town of Tay Son district since 1976. It is the cradle of Tay Son movement as it is the hometown of Nguyen Nhac, Nguyen Lu, and Nguyen Hue.

Under the Nguyen dynasty, their house was destroyed and the Kien My villagers built a communal house there.

The betel trading was very popular in Kien My under the Tay Son dynasty; thus, the Truong Trau wharf was built for the good exchange between Kinh and ethnic minority people. The wharf is located on the left bank of the Kon River and 300 meters far from Kien My bridge.

When the Tay Son uprising began starting, the wharf became a popular place for any meetings of the Tay Son insurgent army. It was recognized as a historical relic in 1988.

On the way to An Vinh commune, there is another famous place called Go Da Den which is 300 meters far from the Quang Trung Museum. It has a mysterious beauty thanks to black stones with different shapes and sizes. Go Da Den became a training place for Tay Son army in 1773. Although it was almost destroyed by time, Go Da Den was also recognized as a historical and cultural relic in 1988.

There were seven hamlets in Kien My and each hamlet had a traditional craft. However, they partly sank into oblivion after hundreds of years.

According to the oldest villagers, the Hung Nguyen forge hamlet used to be very busy hundreds of years ago. The local people forged different tools and sold them to ethnic minority people. However, the craft no longer existed due to the low income and high competitiveness.

The Hung Hoa betel hamlet was the place for the exchange of trau cau (betel and areca) between mountainous and lowland areas. It is also the place where the Truong Trau wharf was built. After the forging craft and betel trading had no longer developed, two hamlets partly merged with the tofu hamlet. At present, in addition to field work, they also do different jobs to earn their living.

As for the tofu hamlet, the local people have still kept their traditional craft as they are able to manually make tofu from soya beans and supply them to Phu Phong and neighboring areas.

Similarly, the Hung Buu rice vermicelli hamlet has still developed. Over 50 percents of its households follow the traditional craft. Alongside these, there are other hamlets whose traditional crafts have been preserved until now.

The Quang Trung Museum which is not far from Hung Buu hamlet was built on a spacious area which used to be a market in Kien My. It was once the biggest market in the region. The market no longer operates now and the whole area was used to build the Quang Trung Museum park in 1977.

Living and working in Kien My for the whole life, the villagers built many dams and canals to supply water to rice fields. The Van Phong irrigation canal is, for example, an important one providing water for a large area. It meanders across the museum, creating a beautiful scene.

Kien My is also one of martial arts villages where practising Tay Son martial arts has become popular. All of these features make Kien My become a model of traditional culture with distinctive patterns.

• Source: NDO