Should Kien Hong commune in Hai Duong be named?

According to the overall plan for the arrangement of commune-level administrative units in the period of 2023 - 2025 of the People's Committee of Hai Duong province submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Hong Phuc commune merged with Kien Quoc commune (Ninh Giang) and is expected to take the new name Kien Hong, with its office at the People's Committee of Hong Phuc commune. Some officials, party members and people have expressed concerns about the meaning of the name Kien Hong.

Hai Duong Newspaper reporters discussed this issue with some people who are knowledgeable about Chinese characters and language.

According to historian Tang Ba Hoanh, Chairman of the Historical Science Association of Hai Duong province, the names of the two communes are very good and meaningful. Kien Quoc means building the country. Hong Phuc means great fortune. If the name Kien Hong is used, in Chinese it is not written like that but Hong Kien, meaning great construction. However, this word is rarely used in literature and naming places.

Mr. Tang Ba Hoanh said that if the name Kien Hong is used, it will be understood in Nom, the pure Vietnamese meaning is red ant and it should not be named like that. "For example, the national name of our country during the Ho Dynasty was Dai Ngu, which means the desire for a great peace throughout the country. But now, Chinese characters are no longer popular, so naming it like that can easily lead to many people misunderstanding it as having a bad meaning," Mr. Tang Ba Hoanh added.

Historian Tang Ba Hoanh, Chairman of the Provincial Historical Science Association
Hai Duong talks about the name Kien Hong

Chairman of the Hai Duong Province Historical Science Association Tang Ba Hoanh said that if we still want to use the elements of the two current commune names to name a new commune, the name Kien Phuc is the best, with the meaning of building happiness.

Sharing the same opinion that the name Kien Phuc is the best and most meaningful when combining the names of two communes, teacher Nguyen Dinh Ke, former lecturer of Chinese literature at Hai Duong Pedagogical College (now Hai Duong University) said that the coincidence with the reign name of the short-lived Nguyen Dynasty king was just a coincidence and did not affect the choice of such a name.

Currently, Khuc Thua Du Temple is located in Cuc Bo village, Kien Quoc commune. Some language researchers believe that the name Hong Chau is also a suggestion to consider naming a new commune while still keeping the word Hong of Hong Phuc commune, while being closely associated with the name Khuc Thua Du.

Some people with a practical point of view think that either Hong Phuc or Kien Quoc is good. If the new commune keeps one of the two names, it will save a lot of costs and efforts of the political system as well as the people.