Historic Thanh Dong - Heroic Hai Duong City

Glorious tradition

Going back in history, during the Le Dynasty, the Hai Duong capital was Van citadel (Chi Linh city), then moved to Mao Dien (Cam Giang), and then moved to Han town. Han town at that time was the confluence of Han Giang and Ke Sat rivers, belonging to Han Giang, Han Thuong and Binh Lao villages. Here, in 1804, the Nguyen Dynasty built a solid citadel named Thanh Dong, laying the initial foundation for the development of Hai Duong city today.

Through many historical events and ups and downs, Thanh Dong has been constantly consolidated and developed. From a military and administrative center of Dong under the Nguyen Dynasty, Thanh Dong has strongly grown into a first-class urban area, the economic, political and cultural center of Hai Duong province. Over the past two centuries, Thanh Dong in the past - Hai Duong City today has always carried the spirit of uprising in the struggle and the strong will to rise up, the desire to develop.

Since the Party took leadership, this place soon became the cradle of the revolutionary movement. In August 1938, the first Party cell of the town was established at 17 Dong Mon Street. From this nucleus, a vibrant, strong and widespread revolutionary movement of the masses arose, such as rallies, parades, demonstrations of force, and the destruction of Japanese rice warehouses. The climax was the uprising to seize power in the town on August 17, 1945.

In 1946, the French colonialists returned to invade our country. Responding to President Ho Chi Minh’s call “Rather sacrifice everything than lose the country, absolutely refuse to be slaves”, the army and people of Hai Duong town heroically rose up and achieved many resounding victories. Many fierce battles took place at Nha Nong Pho, Chai Factory and Con Gai School…

The army and people of Hai Duong town united in hundreds of large and small battles, destroying outposts, destroying enemy positions, ambushing and blocking enemy supply routes, killing and capturing nearly 3,500 enemies. Hundreds of tons of weapons, ammunition and war vehicles were destroyed, leaving the mark of "Thunder on Route 5" and contributing with the whole country to the historic victory of Dien Bien Phu "famous in five continents, shaking the earth".

On October 30, 1954, Hai Duong town was completely liberated. From here, a new page of history was opened, the town and the whole country entered a new period of economic recovery and development.

During the resistance war against the US to save the country, Hai Duong town had an important strategic position, being a vital traffic hub, connecting the capital Hanoi with the port city of Hai Phong and the provinces in the region. Many locations such as Phu Luong bridge, Grinding Stone Factory, Porcelain Factory, Hai Duong Railway Station, etc. became the focus of fierce bombardment by the US air force.

The town's army and people were brave, resilient, and steadfast in the rain of bombs and bullets, directly participating in the fighting on the battlefields and devoting human and material resources to support the fronts, for the sake of the beloved South. The army and people of Hai Duong town, together with the whole country, wrote an epic poem to defeat the American invaders with the victorious conclusion of the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign on April 30, 1975.

In recognition of the great achievements and contributions of the people, cadres and armed forces of Hai Duong town, the Party and State have awarded many noble titles, especially the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces. Hai Duong city was also honored to welcome Uncle Ho to visit. Remembering Uncle Ho's teaching "We must strive to progress", the Party Committee and the people's government of the city are always united, united in strength and heart, working diligently and creatively to build the city, contributing to building our country more and more dignified and beautiful.

Steady step forward

When the country was independent, with the tradition of solidarity, joint efforts, unanimity, the spirit of hard work, dynamism, creativity, and high determination, the Party Committee and people of Hai Duong City achieved great and proud achievements, contributing to the cause of building socialism and defending the Fatherland. In 1997, Hai Duong town became a type III urban area under the province and was established as a city by the Government. Promoting the tradition of previous generations, the Party Committee and people of the city continued to unite, join efforts, unanimity, overcome all difficulties and challenges, focus on socio-economic development, strengthen management and build a civilized urban lifestyle, and expand the city space.

After 12 years of efforts, in 2009, the Prime Minister recognized Hai Duong City as a class II urban area. On October 30, 2014, on the occasion of the 210th anniversary of Thanh Dong's founding and the 60th anniversary of the city's liberation, Hai Duong City was honored to receive the Second Class Independence Medal.

In 2019, the city was recognized as a class I urban area, opening a major turning point in the process of construction and development. With a new position and new opportunities, Hai Duong City will steadily move forward.

After 220 years of establishing Thanh Dong, 70 years of liberating the city, Thanh Dong, Hai Duong city today is increasingly expanding in scale and stature. From an area of ​​0.35 km²With about 1,000 people in the past, Hai Duong city is now a class I urban area with an area of ​​over 111 km2.², population over 300,000 people with 25 administrative units.

From the first Party cell with only 3 party members, the City Party Committee now has over 19,000 party members operating in 69 grassroots party organizations. Cadres and party members of the City Party Committee have always been at the forefront of the patriotic emulation movement and left their mark in all fields to be worthy of being the political, administrative, economic, cultural and social center of the province. The Resolution of the 17th Provincial Party Congress for the 2020-2025 term has identified Hai Duong City as the center of the province's economic development strategy to 2030.

The 23rd Hai Duong City Party Congress in June 2020 set a goal of striving to become a green, smart, friendly and safe city by 2030. To achieve this goal, on the basis of the master plan until 2040 approved by the Prime Minister, Hai Duong City has made constant efforts by implementing key projects and works. Focusing on developing a green economy, mobilizing all resources to complete urban infrastructure. At the same time, gradually building urban government, e-government, digital government... All are aimed at the biggest goal of improving the quality of people's lives, making Hai Duong City a livable place.

Looking back over the past, when it was first recognized as Hai Duong City in 1997, the city's industrial production value was only 200 billion VND, but now it has reached over 120,000 billion VND, 600 times higher. The agricultural production value was 63 billion VND, but now it has reached 1,400 billion, 22 times higher. In recent years, the city has had an economic growth rate of over 14%, with the structure shifting rapidly towards increasing the proportion of services and industry.

Currently, the city has 3 industrial parks and 6 industrial clusters, with occupancy rates of over 90%, with more than 8,000 operating enterprises. The average income per capita in 1997 was 2.9 million VND/person/year, but now it has reached 80 million VND/person/year, 28 times higher.

The urban space and infrastructure of Hai Duong City are constantly being invested and developed through many new urban construction projects with a planned land fund area for new urban development of up to 1,200 hectares, and a new residential land fund of nearly 400 hectares. Of which, over 260 hectares of residential land have been completed and put into use, meeting the development needs of over 30,000 apartments in the city.

Education and training have many positive and substantial changes, with the goal of training and developing comprehensive education in knowledge, physical fitness, skills, ethics, and lifestyle. Along with developing education towards the future, the city is interested in preserving and promoting the cultural and historical values ​​of the ancient Dong Citadel - Hai Duong City today...

220 years of founding Thanh Dong, 70 years of liberating the city is a glorious journey. The Party Committee, government and people of Hai Duong City will continue to uphold the heroic tradition, sense of responsibility, will of self-reliance, solidarity, dynamism, creativity, confidence in the Party's innovation policy, be exemplary in labor, study, work, strive to successfully carry out socio-economic development tasks, build the city increasingly rich, civilized, worthy of being the political, administrative, economic, cultural, scientific - technological, and service center of the province, one of the central urban areas in the key economic region of the North and the Red River Delta.