NATURAL CONDITIONS OF LANG SON PROVINCE

          Geographic location : Lang Son is a mountainous province in the North East of Vietnam. It is 154 km far from Hanoi capital and 165 km far from the capital city. Cao Bang is bordered to the north by Quang Ninh Province to the north, Quang Ninh Province to the southeast, Bac Giang Province to the south, Thai Nguyen Province to the south, and Bac Kan to the west. North - south from 22 ^° 27'- 21 ^° 19 'north; east east - west 106 ^o 06 - 107 ⁰ 21 'east.

           TopographicThe topography of Lang Son is lowland and hilly, with little mountains and no high mountains. The average height is 252m above sea level; The lowest place is 20m in the south of Huu Lung district, in the Thuong river valley; The highest point is Phia Mep mountain (belonging to Mau Son mountain massif), which is 1,541m above sea level. The terrain is very diversified and complicated. The northwest and southeast directions are in the shallow valley of That Khe - Loc Binh, on which there are valleys of Bac Khe, Ky Cung and Tien Yen rivers (Quang Ninh) Tam has been filled with Tertiary and Quaternary sediments, forming mountain valleys of value to the agricultural sector of the province, such as That Khe, Na Duong, Ban Nga; The north-southeasterly direction is shown in the mountainous direction of Huu Lung, Bac Son, Chi Lang and Van Quan districts and most of Van Lang district. This direction is also seen in the hills of Cao Loc district (Loc Yen, ThanhLen and Thach Bien); The north-south direction is shown in the mountainous direction of Trang Dinh, Binh Gia and the western part of Van Lang district. East - West is represented in the direction of Son Son with about 80 mountains.

           Land : According to statistics (10/1995), natural land area is 818,725 ha, of which agricultural land is 64,630.61 ha, accounting for 7.59%; Forest land with natural forests and planted forests is 172,635.01 ha, accounting for 21.08%;10,787 ha of specialized land, accounting for 1.33%; Residential land is 4,611.48 ha, accounting for 0.56%; Unused land and other land types are 565,969, 7 hectares accounting for 69.13%. Lang Son land is divided into 7 regions with 16 sub-geographical geographic areas, including 43 different types of land suitable for many different crops.

           Mineral products : In the area of ​​Lang Son, metallic minerals include ferrous, iron, manganese, platinum, precious metals (gold) and rare metals (tin, molybdenum, vanadium, mercury); Non-metallic minerals include mineral fuels (lignite, peat); Minerals used as piezoelectric and piezoelectric materials (technical quartz); minerals used as raw materials and fertilizers; Minerals used as building materials.

          Climate:  Lang Son is typical of the climate of North Vietnam is tropical monsoon climate, the average temperature from 17 to 22 ⁰ C, the coldest months can be reduced to 5 ⁰  C, sometimes 0 ⁰  C or less 0 ⁰  C. Located in the northernmost part of the low latitude zone near the northern hemisphere, between latitudes 21 ⁰ 19 'and 22 ⁰ 27' north latitude, and between 106 ⁰  06 'and 107 ⁰ 21 Lang Son has a rich source of radiation, allowing four-season crops and livestock to flourish; However, Lang Son is located at the gateway to the winter monsoon, where the monsoon is the earliest and the end of the North in our country should be cold winter.

           The average annual humidity of air in Lang Son is 80-85%, much lower than in other areas of Vietnam. There is little difference in relative humidity between regions and between elevations in the province.

          Rainfall:  Lang Son is located in the Northeast, less rainfall in the northern climate; The average annual rainfall is 1,200 - 1,600 mm. The only area with rainfall of over 1,600mm is Mount Mau Son (2,589mm); in Lang Son with Na Thom (1,118 mm) and Dong Dang (1,100 mm) are dry centers of the North.

         River:  dominated by tropical monsoon climate, located in sloping land in the North East mountain area, Lang Son has a quite rich river network. The river network density varies from 0.6 to 1.2 km / km ² . Compared to the average density of rivers and streams of the whole country is 0.6 km / km ²  , the density of rivers and streams of Lang Son is from medium to very thick. Lang Son has 5 independent main rivers: Ky Cung, Thuong, Luc Nam, Tien Yen - Ba Che (Nam Luoi - Dong Quy) and Na Lang.

(Source: Lang Son diocese)

SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITION OF LANG SON PROVINCE

A. Economic conditions

        Population, labor - employment:  According to the socio - economic overview of Lang Son province in 2012 of the Provincial Statistical Office, it is estimated that the population of Lang Son province is about 745 thousand people.Of which 372 thousand male, accounting for 49.95% of the total population of the province; 373 thousand people, accounting for 50.05%. The population of the urban area is 143.3 thousand people, accounting for 19.22% of the total population; The population of rural areas is 602.1 thousand people, accounting for 80.7%. 

         The population structure of Lang Son is young, the labor force is abundant. The number of workers aged 15 and over in 2012 was 490.6 thousand, an increase of 2.38% compared to 2011; Of which, male workers account for 50.16%, females 49.84%. Labor structure in agriculture, forestry and fisheries accounts for 78.05%; the industry and construction sector accounts for 4.65%; service sector accounted for 17.3%.

           Branches and localities have implemented a number of vocational training programs for rural workers to provide on-the-job employment and labor supply to industrial sectors.

          Transportation:  Lang Son is one of the northern mountainous provinces with relatively distributed transportation network that can use both railways, roads and waterways.

          - The trans-international railway from Hanoi to Dong Dang - Lang Son and the border of Viet Nam with the length of 165 km is one of the advantages of Lang Son.

         - Lang Son Road is distributed fairly equally in the province with a total length of 2,828 km, density of 0.35 km / km ² , including national highways: 1A (linking Lang Son - Hanoi 154 km); 1B (Dong Dang - Thai Nguyen 105 km, running through the districts of Van Quan, Binh Gia, Bac Son, followed by Bac Can and Thai Nguyen), 4A (Lang Son - Cao Bang 66 km through Van Lang, Trang Connecting with Cao Bang); 4B (80 km long connecting Lang Son with Quang Ninh through Dinh Lap and Loc Binh border districts); National highway 31 (Dinh Lap - Bac Giang 61 km long); National Highway 279 (Binh Gia - Thai Nguyen 55 km long). Provincial roads 1,350 km long and district roads 974 km long. Lang Son Road has reached all district towns, border gates, border markets and 226 communes and wards of the province.

       - Waterway: Some sections of Ky Cung river, from Loc Binh district through the city to Van Lang and Trang Dinh.Volume of freight is small.

        Irrigation and water supply:  Irrigation in Lang Son is one of the sectors that are interested early and invested a lot of capital, to develop the works for production and living of the people. The total number of constructed works is 3,170, of which 34 are large dams of 100 ha or more. Total capacity of irrigation works is 38,838 ha. The irrigation works served the most for 22,927 hectares of crops.

        Power system:  Lang Son is one of the mountainous provinces in recent years that have made great efforts in pulling the national power grid to all 11 districts, towns in the province, to border gates and border markets. Until now, Lang Son has a wide distribution network and synchronous network from 110KV to 35KV and 10 KV. The total length of the grid is 451.6 km. Total electricity supply for the whole province is 27,000 KVA. Commercial electricity output has increased rapidly over the years.

         Telecommunication network : The communication  network is one of the early fields of investment, innovation with fast, synchronous and modern development. The construction and installation of equipment has been put into exploitation, effective use, serving production and people's life. Modern telecommunication network is connected by fiber optic cable, microwave transmission to 11/11 districts, cities, 100% communes, the border use rate reached 12.6 fixed telephone / 100 people. The post office of the province is strictly organized, so letters, correspondence, telegrams daily to the villages in the highlands. Broadcasting and television systems are invested.

         Works for the people:  The offices in the city, town and district are invested urgently with the repair, planning, the system of roads, water supply ... The school system schools, hospitals, amusement parks, public recreation areas are invested completely new construction; renovated and upgraded.

B. Socio-cultural conditions

           Ethnicity:  Like the northern mountainous provinces, Lang Son is a province with a high proportion of ethnic minorities (84.74% of the province's population). It is a place of coexistence of many ethnic groups, of which the Nung is 43.9%, the Tay 35.3%, the Kinh 15.3%, the majority in the towns and towns; Dao, 3.5%, Hoa, San Chay, Mong and other ethnic groups make up 1.4%.

          Education:  To date, Lang Son has strengthened and developed a complete education and training system from pre-school to upper secondary education, from distance education to vocational secondary schools, vocational training, semi-boarding education to boarding ethnic minorities; From public schools, people set up to private schools ...

         In 2012, 100% of the communes will reach the standard of primary education universalization - illiteracy elimination; universal primary education at the right age; maintain, strengthen and improve the quality of secondary education universalization of 226/226 communes. Construction of schools of national interest: 99 schools. There are 127,036 school children in the 2012-2013 school year; There are 5,323 elementary school teachers, 4,294 secondary school teachers and 1,849 high school teachers.

        Vocational colleges, vocational schools and vocational schools in Lang Son continue to work in enrollment.Schools have been maintained and strengthened, the quality of training has been improved, the application of information technology in teaching and learning has been improved, meeting the requirements of socio-economic development.

          Health care and population health:  The health care of the people has many positive changes. There are 210/226 communes meeting the national standard for commune health, accounting for 92.9%; reaching 22.16 beds / ten thousand people; 8.4 doctors / ten thousand people.

          Sports:  Lang Son has a traditional lion dance in the congregation of Tay, Nung; There is also cross-country shooting; tug of war; Throwing away ... the modern sports such as football, table tennis, badminton, volleyball ... also quite developed. The network of physical training and sports centers has been expanded to include districts, towns, communes, wards, agencies, enterprises, farmers' organizations. To meet the increasing demand of sport of the people in the province.

         Material and spiritual life of the Tay, Nung:

         - Housing: Tay people in Lang Son mainly do house on stilts, some places have houses and land, some houses have half floor, half land; Nung is also on the floor, but surgery is usually smaller, simple structure; Nung popular in the land (the wall, fried).

         - Apparel: mainly sewn from eucalyptus-woven cotton fabrics; with different styles. Typical of Tay women with long dress (slurred); Nung women also have the same five-dimensional as the Tay but different in pattern, the waist, shorter body; Thus the Tay people are called by other peoples  to shiver - long shirt; Nung people  need to clean up  - short clothes. The Nung women also have short sleeves (Nung flu, shorts) with the pattern, different patterns. Tay men's shorts are four-breasted shorts, split with chest; Previously, he also wore a five-piece long-sleeved shirt on his pillow, with a decorative waist; Nung men only have short sleeves four, chest split (khat).

       - Traditional cuisine: sticky rice, sticky rice, sticky rice cake, waffle cake, thick cake, worm cake, ash cake -  cut off, bitter cake , slurry cake, dry rope ... ); boiled bitter shoots, fried vegetables, bamboo shoots; stuffed mushrooms (...) mushroom soup (bjoóc đin, bjoóc pjào); dishes made from fish (grilled fish, dried fish); from meat (roast duck, roast pigs, humiliation, feet stuffed, chickens ...).

          - Beverages: Tay people in some places have the habit of drinking water from the bamboo tube for drinking and living; Nung has the habit of cooking porridge diluted in the kitchen, especially in the summer. Alcohol is a popular drink in the Tay, Nung. Koreans cooked rice, corn (hot pot); liqueur in pots (hot pot);

          - Singing folk songs of Tay, Nung: then singing (Tay, Nung), dance; sing sloong olo; village (Nung); singing drum (Tay); hot pot; knife games and children's games; proverbs, proverbs; sing lang lang; lullaby; folk quizzes; Tales of Nung.

          - Beliefs, religions: worship ancestors; worship other gods in the house: (Nung choi or the ancestors of the Tay people have a sacred worship, placed on the ancestral altar is the place worship Buddha of Guan Yin Bodhisattva and Black Tiger, are two gods, can help the family minus ghosts); worship the Lady; worship the Apple; worshiping teacher Cao, Mo teacher, Mr. Then. Worship the gods of the village: shrines (thuy); Some places have worshiped the royal family, ...

         - Main ceremonies of the year: Lunar New Year (gongs, gongs, keng gong); Association of cage (association to copper); Tet (three graves, three days lunar calendar); Tet holiday is 5/5 lunar calendar, also known as pest kill (large scale); Offering rice fields, buffalo; Mid-Autumn Festival (full moon in August); New noodles and rice in September and ten lunar months; Lunar New Year, July 14th.

            Arts and crafts in Lang Son : rearing; cotton growing, weaving and brocade.

           Art literature:  Some authors, such as Tran Kham (1258 - 1308), King Tran Nhan Tong with the song "Lang Chau scenery"; Pham Su Manh "The Road to Lang Son" (Lang Son dynasty); Nguyen Nghiem (1668 - 1775) edited the book of Lang Son Doan map; Le Quy Don (1726 - 1784) poem "The Mountain of Sisters"; Ngo Thi Nham (1746 - 1803) with the song "Road through Lang Son"; Phan Huy Ich (1750 - 1822) with the poem "Landscape on Lang Son Road"; Nguyen Du (1766-1820), author of Tale of Kieu, wrote the poem "Road through Lang Son"; Ngô Thì Hương (1774 - 1821); ... The two most prominent authors are Ngo Thi Sy (1726 - 1780) with many poems on the rock such as: Painting battle; Tam Thanh cave; Author Nguyen Tong Khue (1693 -1767) with the article "Landscape of Lang Son", episode "Missionary story" 1670 words long bowl of Nôm script.

           Folk arts:  folk paintings, national paintings; Performances and traditional art spaces: Abstinence at funerals;martial artist; corn; her two; Chorus; ...

          Lang Son - Scenic Area : The favorable natural conditions have made Lang Son many attractive attractions for people. Ngo Thi Sy from the eighteenth century has found for Lang Son eight beautiful scenes, he called the Joint Venture that is:

- The Youth Union,

- Ky Le Market Street,

- Thanh Tam foot,

- Ky Cung Junction,

- Nhi Tam Thanh stream,

- Tien pagoda cave,

- Hoanh Duong hamlet,

- Duong Tran grill.

             Typical monuments, landscapes: in the area of ​​Lang Son city, Nhi Tam Thanh tourist complex, To Thi mountain, Mac dynasty; Tien pagoda caves, wells; Thanh Pagoda (literally: Dien Khanh); Ky Cung Temple (name: Ky Cung Dai Vuong from); Ta Phu Temple (name: Ta Phủ linh); West Gate (name: Ngu Nhat from); Temple of the East (name: Dong Mon linh linh). Bac Le Temple (name: Bac Le linh, Tan Thanh commune, Huu Lung district); Mau Dong Dang (Dong Dang town, Cao Loc district); In addition, Lang Son also has many other historical and cultural relics such as: Archaeological relics, Bac Son culture cluster; Historical vestiges of Chi Lang District; Memories about President Ho Chi Minh; Memories about comrade Hoang Van Thu; memorial about Mr. Luong Van Tri;

(Source: Lang Son geography and population data, education and health from the Socio-Economic Review

2012 of Lang Son Statistical Office)

POTENTIAL ECONOMY

1. Areas of economic advantage

In addition to the natural conditions, natural resources, cultural rich culture ... Lang Son is also a mountainous province with convenient transportation system, border line with China 253 km long; There are two international border gates (Huu Nghi border gate and Dong Dang railway border gate), two national border gates (Chi Ma, Binh Nghi) and seven pairs of border markets. It is an important trade center of the province throughout the country with China, then Central Asia and Europe. Especially in the current situation, when the State is implementing investment policy to develop border gate economic zones, Lang Son has the conditions to develop economic sectors, especially economic - trade calendar - service. The border gate economic zone is one of the key economic areas, the most dynamic development area,

Lang Son has the advantage of economic and trade development, with the favorable conditions of the border gate economic zone, convenient transport system, the trade in the past years is very exciting, the goods in the province, the provinces in the country through Lang Son exports to China in large numbers, the next year higher than the previous year. Every year, hundreds of enterprises in the country participate in border export, attracting many domestic and foreign enterprises and economic sectors engaged in trade, service and tourism at border gates. in the local area. The rapid development of the Lang Son trade has contributed to the development of production, the improvement of people's living standards and the increase of income for local and central budgets. Annual trade taxes account for over 80% of total provincial budget revenue.Together with the developed trade, Hospitality, tourism, hotels and restaurants have also grown rapidly to meet the demand of local and international tourists. At present, the province has 15 State hotels and hundreds of hotels, guest houses, guest houses of agencies, collectives and private. Hotels and guest houses are upgraded with air conditioning, television, telephone service to better social needs.

The banking system is concentrated in the city, the border economic zones are dynamic and effective, the procedure is relatively simple, tight, convenient for economic activities, exchange activities sale of goods and foreign currency.

2. Tourism potential

Lang Son is a province with a great advantage in tourism development, because of its rich combination of geography, nature, history and people. Lang Son is a border area, border gate in the North of Vietnam, it is located on a very convenient road to connect with the capital of Hanoi, regularly attract tourists to visit, exchange, exchange and activities. trade between Vietnam and China. In addition, nature has given Lang Son many caves, natural forests and beautiful landscapes with a cool, cool summer climate, which is considered as an ideal resort and holiday destination. Guests from far to Tam Thanh, Nhi Thanh, To Thi mountain, Mau Son tourism ... Lang Son is also famous for many historical sites such as Nam Quan, Chi Lang, The Mac Dynasty has witnessed the battles of invading invaders during the process of building and defending the country, or with the Bac Son culture, the Bac Son revolutionary base. People need to respect tourists with the festival, cultural traditions make Lang Son is always attractive tourist destination for the cross.