On 26th July morning, Nghe An Department of Transport (Nghe An DoT) and Vietnam Inland Waterways Administration (VIWA) organized the Award ceremony to receive the certificate recognizing The Canals of Anterior Le Dynasty as National relic site, at Nghi Yen commune, Nghi Loc district, Nghe An.

The ceremony saw the attendance of Mr. Hoang Hong Giang - Head of VIWA and Members from Nghe An Provincial Standing Committee: Mr. Le Minh Thong, Vice President of Provincial People’s Committee, Mr. Le Hong Vinh – Chairman of Provincial Party Committee of Inspection and Mr. Nguyen Hong Ky – Member of Provincial Party Executive Committee, Director of Nghe An DoT.

Representatives from VIWA and Nghe An province’s leaders attended the ceremony.

Constructed from The Anterior Le Dynasty, The Canals which are more than 500 km in length flow through 4 provinces: Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh. The stretch over Nghe An province is128 km long from Vinh city to Hoang Mai town, and was one of the fierce battlefields in the two Vietnam’s resistance wars.

Mr. Le Minh Thong – Member of Nghe An Provincial Standing Committee, Vice President of Provincial People’s Committee gave his statement at the ceremony.

Mr. Hoang Hong Giang – Head of VIWA stated his opinion at the ceremony.

Especially, during the Resistance War against America, The Canals of The Anterior Le Dynasty was one of arterial waterways to transport food, weapons and ammunition for South Vietnam, supporting the people there against the imperialism.

Thanks to the great contributions of Transport sector, the entire system of The Canals in Nghe An in particular and 4 provinces in general has always been providing navigable clearance.

Mr. Nguyen Hong Ky – Member of Provincial Party Executive Committee, Director of Nghe An DoT made a speech at the ceremony.

Over the resistance wars, The Canals saw the endless effort from 1,350 officers, employees, workers, youth volunteers, civilians, etc. who relentlessly worked on the fronts of demining, channels dredging and anti-blockade in nearly 10 years, with 130 people heroically sacrificing their lives in Nghe An province.

To commemorate and express gratefulness to those heroic soldiers from waterway sector and the legendary canals; in 1996, Nghe An’s Transport sector decided to build Monument of The Canals of The Anterior Le Dynasty on Than Vu mountain, the nearby mountain to the burial place of 130 martyrs in Nghi Yen commune, Nghi Loc district. In 2015, the monument was renovated and restored by Nghe An’s Transport sector to make it match the historical values and upgraded view of the Canals.

The certificate was conferred to recognize The Canals of The Anterior Le Dynasty as National relic site.

The cultural, historical and scientific values of the The Canals of The Anterior Le Dynasty were also emphasized by Mr. Hoang Hong Giang – Head of VIWA and Mr. Le Minh Thong – Vice President of Nghe An People’s Committee in their statements at the ceremony.

The overview of the Canals after renovation and restoration.

Mr. Hoang Hong Giang also stressed the importance of effective methods of preservation to maintain and enhance the values of this National relic site in order to build it as not only a solemnly spiritual place but also a famous landscape which considerably contributes to the conservation of Vietnamese heritage and development of the province’s tourism.

Reporter: Thanh Le

Translator: Hien Nguyen-Baonghean.vn