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| Ngu Phung (Five Phoenixes) Pavilion. Photo: Bao Minh |
More than five years ago, an official in the Thua Thien Hue authority, Mr. Phan Ngoc Tho, talked about the Hue dream: "The Hue dream is not far-fetched, yet it heads towards a prosperous, peaceful and friendly society”. This is simply a peaceful and lovely dream, but there are those who do not cherish it. People do not stop at the melody “Go to sleep, dreams are still normal” as in Huy Can's poem Ngam Ngui (Bittersweet) because the feeling is more exciting that, once you dream, it is normal that you reach a higher realm. If you have a dream, it has to be “extraordinary”, since just being ordinary is not “worth it” to dream with dreams! In fact, the scent of apricot flowers and dreams is just another way of saying future wishes.
The Hue’s Dragon Dream being both a tradition and a projection of Hue in the future.
From a dystopian region of O Chau in the early days of the Southward advance, to becoming the capital of the whole country during the Nguyen Dynasty was also a Dragon Dream of Hue. But Hue dragons are flanking dragons, as seen in folk songs: "Flanking dragons in Hue; Sacrificial horse in Dong Nai …”. Flanking dragons are ceremonial and decorative dragons, so even if they want to wave sideways, they are mostly limited to the image of two dragons competing for a pearl (two dragons competing for a pearl), or obediently two dragons flanking the same moon (two dragons and moons). Meanwhile, in the flow of history, the Northern dragon soars into the blue sky like the dream of Ly Cong Uan (Thang Long), or the dragon spreads in nine directions (Cuu Long) like in the South.
Hue’s dream in the year of the Dragon is to maintain Hue’s ancient dragon position; But we must transform the flanking dragon, the Kim Long dragon, the Long Tho dragon, the Ham Long dragon, etc., into eternal majesty, nestling and adorning the authority of the emperors and mandarins at one time, to become flying dragons, gliding dragons, carps passing heaven's gate to become a dragon. It is a symbol of three typical features of dragons: Fairy-tale beauty but still close to real life; dedicating noble and noble appearance into cultural and economic value to serve the country and its people; not losing its role in the Four Quarters (Dragon, Kylin, Turtle, Phoenix) but still modernizing into the dragon of the century.
From dream to reality is not a process of transforming from a snake into a dragon, but a process of building a vision, through leadership and implementation, requiring appropriate personnel and planning. Vision is a long-range view that does not deviate, specifically like the “three trees” wisdom bag, which are three plans to sow seeds and breed investment from the immediate future until hundreds of years later: If your plan is for one year, plant rice; if your plan is for ten years, plant trees; if your plan is for one hundred years, educate children. Hue's dream on the way to reality is not beyond the scope of such an investment plan. In economics and mathematics, people divide into “necessary” and “sufficient” conditions. Necessary ones refer to the “must-have” conditions as a basis for building capital resources, and sufficient ones are the conditions of coordinating and balancing what we have to create finished products and products.
Hue's specific dream is becoming beautiful and rich. In the old days, the popular humorous “rhyming” game in Hue had the saying: “Hue is poetic, Hue is dreamy, Hue has two ends empty, etc.”. The simple meaning is that Hue is beautiful, yet not well-off. Today, Hue is still beautiful, but are the two ends... still empty? Upon returning to visit their homeland, Hue expatriates see that the villages now have electricity, running water, Internet, spacious houses, cement roads and people no longer “lack clothes in winter or food in summer”. However, I still understand from the bottom of my heart that Hue people are not rich. When hearing Hue people around the world calling each other “I love you so much, Hue!” during seasons of natural disasters and floods, every Hue expatriate sobbed and missed the distant homeland. Therefore, Hue’s dream is to get better and gradually become rich. Hue only acquires the necessary conditions of a solid foundation in terms of nature and geography.
Hue City has been expanding to the south and north. The expansion of Thua Thien continues towards its Eastern and Western mountains and forests, as well as rivers and seas, but the economy of Thua Thien Hue cannot depend only on exploiting the traditional tourism, culinary, handicraft, agriculture and fishery industries, but also must break through to more modern fields of enrichment. Hue’s intellectuals inside and outside the country all expressed their satisfaction when hearing Mr. Phan Ngoc Tho, a leading figure in the Thua Thien Hue authority, emphasize one of the trends in local economic development, which is heading towards intellectuals and technology.
Except for Japan, other Asian countries are considered “third countries”, one of which includes Vietnam. The common characteristic of third countries is that their economies rely on means of production as a medium to shape the economy such as agricultural economy, tourism economy, culinary economy, handicraft economy. However, the knowledge and technology economy, which forms, builds and produces finished products made by professions derived from science and technology, is found lacking.
Along with other provinces and cities across the country, Thua Thien Hue has also thriven in its specific material and spiritual conditions. However, Thua Thien Hue is lacking the decisive economic form for prosperity, which is a modern intellectual and digital economy.
Over the past half century, Western economic and technical circles have constantly talked about the transformation of the “four Asian dragons” which are the four developed economies in East Asia, including South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. Two bold features emphasized about the outstanding characteristics of these “dragon lands” are exports from technological products and population as well as a highly educated workforce. A technology engineer, according to international standards, has a production level that benefits the company and the country dozens or even hundreds of times more than a normal unskilled worker.
In the past five years, Vietnam has also been mentioned for its potential to catch up with other Asian “Dragons”. With access to countries with the world’s leading technical economies expanding and encouraging, Thua Thien Hue, with its diverse and rich university system, along with Hue parents and children with a long tradition of studiousness combined with the leadership's vision of highly and appropriately appreciating the intellectual economy, Hue's dream, as well as the country dream, of becoming an “Asian dragon” economic sector is most likely is within reach.
In terms of landscape and appearance, Hue is in the “top five places of interest”. But that’s just about the beauty of Hue. Being beautiful yet not well-off, you're still “two ends empty”; This means that the Hue dream is not complete, while a Hue’s Dragon Dream requires a form that attracts both beautiful vision and rich content.
The country has a prosperous horizon, and Hue has a rich and beautiful future. This is referred to as Hue's Dragon Dream on the occasion of the spring and Tet holiday.