Located over 30km from Dien Bien Phu city, Muong Phang commune used to be an important base for the Dien Bien Phu Campaign in 1954.
Dien Bien Phu Victory Monument (Photo: VNA)
At that time, the commune was selected to house the headquarters of the campaign’s command, which nestled in forest at the foot of Pu Don mountain.
The nerve-centre agency of the Vietnamese army was stationed there from January 31 to May 15 in 1954.
At this place, General Vo Nguyen Giap made important decisions which led to the historic Dien Bien Phu victory.
The highest peak of Pu Don mountain range was the place where 64 years ago the Vietnamese army built a watchtower to monitor the situation in Muong Thanh hollow.
The area attracted large numbers of tourists each year, especially around the anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory (May 7).
The Dien Bien Phu victory played a decisive role in ending Vietnam’s resistance war against the French and bringing a new momentum to the country’s revolution and the struggle for peace, national independence and socialism.
The battle occurred in Dien Bien between March and May, 1954 under the command of General Vo Nguyen Giap. The victory led to the signing of the 1954 Geneva Accord in which France agreed to withdraw its forces from the colonies in Indochina
The landscape in Muong Phang has changed a lot since then.
Vice Chairman of the commune’s People’s Committee Mua A Kenh said Muong Phang has over 1,130 households with 5,250 people of the ethnic groups of Kinh, Thai and Mong.
The local living standards have improved greatly over the past years, he said, noting that the ratio of poor households dropped to below 20 percent at present from 43 percent in 2011.
The commune has adopted effective agricultural models to bring high and stable incomes for locals, with 500 hectares of rice and nearly 300 ha of other crops. Local farmers also raise fish in over 63 ha of water surface.
Muong Phang market is always busy with sellers and buyers. Roads to villages have been concretized, facilitating travelling and trade.
Muong Phang is expected to become a new rural area in late 2018 as it has fulfilled 16 out of the 19 criteria under the national programme on new rural area development.
Mua A Kenh, Vice Chairman of the commune’s People’s Committee said the locality aims to rely on tourism to boost local socio-economic development.-VNA