People struggling with literary district town

Passion for Tu Luc Van Doan

Cam Giang town is the place associated with Tu Luc Van Doan (consisting of 7 members: Nhat Linh, Khai Hung, Hoang Dao, Thach Lam, Tu Mo, The Lu, Xuan Dieu). In particular, this land gave birth to and nurtured the souls of the three writer brothers Nhat Linh, Hoang Dao, Thach Lam. Many famous images in literature such as An and Lien (short story Two Children), mother Le (short story Mother Le's House)... by writer Thach Lam all originated from real people here.

Therefore, when coming to this small town, it would be a mistake not to visit the old house of Tu Luc Van Doan. And for visitors from far away who want to learn about Tu Luc Van Doan, according to the locals, "must visit Mr. Thong".

Without any remuneration, for many years now, when artists or tourists from near and far come to Cam Giang, if they ask, Mr. Tran Quang Thong is always there, enthusiastically providing information and documents about the old house and Tu Luc Van Doan. Even Ms. Nguyen Tuong Nhung, daughter of writer Thach Lam, when she visited the old place, the old Cam Giang camp - the soul of the Tu Luc Van Doan group, she wrote an emotional letter, thanking Mr. Thong for helping her recall the past and "seeing again the relatives who used to live here"...

Around 2005, Mr. Thong and some enthusiastic people such as former Director of Hai Duong Provincial Museum Tang Ba Hoanh, former Principal of Hai Duong Provincial School of Culture and Arts Khuc Ha Linh traveled to Hoi An (Quang Nam) to learn about the origin of the Nguyen Tuong family (of the Thach Lam brothers). "The result was that the Nguyen Tuong family did indeed originate from Hoi An, but a branch had been living and doing business here for a long time. Among them was the family of writer Thach Lam," said Mr. Thong. That made Mr. Thong even more proud. Today, the graves of the ancestors of this Nguyen Tuong branch are still in Cam Giang. Every few years, descendants from all over return to gather...

In 2008, the Scientific Conference on Preserving and Promoting the Ancient House of Tu Luc Van Doan was held with the participation of many famous historians in the country. Mr. Thong was the one who made great contributions in collecting documents, organizing a series of sideline activities to contribute to affirming the literary value of Tu Luc Van Doan, a school, a literary innovation movement, and at the same time a cultural innovation and social reform movement, representing the romantic and modernizing tendency of Vietnamese literature in the period 1930 - 1945.

Mr. Thong said that his whole life working locally or participating in the provincial Literature and Arts Association was just to have the conditions and opportunities to do something for the Self-Reliant Literary Group. After decades of working as a photographer, he won the first prize of the national gold medal in the Labor-themed Art Photography Contest in 1986, but that was not the greatest work of his life. “My greatest wish is for the Self-Reliant Literary Group memorial site to be built on my old home. That is the greatest work of my life,” Mr. Thong said.

Author of street names

Walking along the green leafy streets of Cam Giang district with names like Doc Lap, Thach Lam, Chien Thang, Vinh Quang, Thanh Nien, Pho Ga… I asked:

- Who is the author of these street names?
Immediately, a local asked me back:

- You must be from somewhere else? Because here, everyone knows that Mr. Thong is the one who named these familiar streets.

In 1958, Cam Giang town was established (separated from Kim Giang commune) but until 1994, it still had no street or road names. All administrative transactions of the people encountered difficulties. In 1995, local leaders were concerned about naming streets, but how to make them suitable for reality, close to people's lives and especially have their own unique, cultural features, reflecting the land of culture.

From his love for his homeland, Mr. Thong, who was then the Standing Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Cam Giang town, came up with the idea of ​​a set of street names: Doc Lap (associated with the event of the founding of Cam Giang town on September 19, 1958, with the meaning that Cam Giang officially became a new administrative unit); Vinh Quang (this is the place where the first government was won in the province on August 17, 1945, with the meaning of glorious revolutionary tradition); Ga Street (associated with the memory of Cam Giang station being built more than 100 years ago on the Hanoi - Hai Phong railway line. The prototypes in the works of writer Thach Lam also originated on this street); Thach Lam (a famous writer, born, raised and has works that mark Cam Giang town)...

After consulting the people, creating a spread and consensus, at the end of 1995, the People's Council of Cam Giang town approved the proposals on naming streets and house numbers. So 6 streets in the town were installed with nameplates. Of which, the main street of nearly 1 km of the town was named Doc Lap. The shortest Ga Street has only more than a dozen roofs but has become the symbol and soul of the town for decades...