# Ân Thi district

Ân Thi [ən˧˧:tʰi˧˧] is a rural district of Hưng Yên province in the Red River Delta region of Vietnam.

## History
### Middle Ages

According to An Nam chí lược by official Lê Tắc, in April 1297, the Trần Dynasty established an administrative unit called Thiên Thi rural district (天施縣, Thiên Thi huyện) in the area of Khoái canton (Khoái lộ) in Thiên Trường prefecture and garrison (Thiên trường phủ lộ). Its name means "the gift of heaven".
During the Later Lê Dynasty, Thiên Thi rural district was part of Sơn Nam garrison (Sơn Nam trấn), then Sơn Nam Thượng garrison (Sơn Nam Thượng trấn).
In the 12th year of Minh Mệnh (1831), "province" regulation has been set to replace "garrison". Therefore, Thiên Thi was belonged to Hưng Yên province. However, by the 15th year of Tự Đức (1862), Annamese court said that word "thiên" belonged to the sacred category for deserving reverence, so all places containing that word must be changed. Examples : Thiên Bản, Thiên Lộc, Thiên Nguyên, Thiên Quan, Thiên Thi, Thiên Thụy... Thus, Thiên Thi was changed as Ân Thi rural district (恩施縣, Ân Thi huyện). Its name means "the gift of grace".
In 1885, there was a very serious storm in the whole Hưng Yên province that caused the Red River dike to be broken. Big Waters have flooded all districts along the river, making the terrain almost unable to live. From a large population for many centuries, the Southern domain of Hưng Yên province became a swamp with insignificant population density. A low-ranking official named Nguyễn Thiện Thuật relied on this factor to urge his relatives as well as the Sơn Nam people to build a basis to oppose the protecture government. This event was still known in history as the Bãi Sậy Uprising (荻林起義, khởi nghĩa Bãi Sậy, "the uprising at the mop bund"), which originated from the typical flora of the domain for many years after the flood.
On February 25, 1890, to deal with the uprising movement in the East of Hanoi, Governor-General Jean-Luc de Saint Peauxpa has signed a decision to merge all the Red Riverside rural districts of three provinces Bắc Ninh, Hưng Yên, Hải Dương to form a new administrative unit : Địch Lâm garrison (荻林道, Địch Lâm đạo). Accordingly, this domain was organized according to the regulation like a special-military zone, which the head must be a French colonel (quan năm vành vàng, "fifth-level official with golden lines"). Since this time, some of Ân Thi rural district's flooded communes were merged into Địch Lâm.
Right after the revolt movement was defeated in 1891, the Governor-General restored civil administrative regulations, therefore, the area of Ân Thi was restored as before.

### XX century

Under the State of Vietnam regime, Ân Thi rural district has been changed to Ân Thi district (quận Ân Thi). Until 1955, it was restored to the "rural districf" regulation under the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
On February 24, 1979, according to Decision 70/CP of the Council of Ministers, Ân Thi merged with Kim Động into Kim Thi rural district (金施縣, huyện Kim Thi), belonging to Hải Hưng province.
After 17 years of consolidation, in April 1996, to implement Decree 05/NĐ-CP dated January 27, 1996, by Prime Minister Võ Văn Kiệt, Kim Thi rural district was separated into two districts of Ân Thi and Kim Động as before.

### XXI century

On October 24, 2024, the National Assembly Standing Committee issued Resolution 1248/NQ-UBTVQH15 on the arrangement of the commune-level administrative unit of Hưng Yên province in the period of 2023–2025, what has been valid from December 1, 2024. Accordingly, 6 communes in Ân Thi rural district were merged each other to implement the streamlined policy of the apparatus (chính-sách tinh-gọn bộ máy nhà-nước) that Party's General Secretary Tô Lâm set out.

## Geography
### Topography

Ân Thi rural district covers an area of 128 km$^2$. In particular, most of its terrain is flat, with some locations still in a state which is lower than the sea level, thus, they are easily affected by floods in every rainy season.
Currently, Ân Thi is divided into 18 commune-level administrative units.
* 1 township : Ân Thi (capital).
* 17 communes : Bắc Sơn, Bãi Sậy, Cẩm Ninh, Đa Lộc, Đặng Lễ, Đào Dương, Hạ Lễ, Hồ Tùng Mậu, Hoàng Hoa Thám, Hồng Quang, Nguyễn Trãi, Phù Ủng, Quảng Lãng, Quang Vinh, Tiền Phong, Vân Du, Xuân Trúc.

### Population

According to the 2021 statistical yearbook of the whole Hưng Yên province, as of 2020 Ân Thi rural district had a population of 135,075. Besides, the population of the whole rural district is fully registered as Kinh people.
The area of Ân Thi rural district is known as the shared place of two large dioceses in Vietnam.
* Thái Bình Cathedral Diocese : There are all 3 parishes in the domain of Ân Thi district, where said to have welcomed the Gospel in 1616, includes as Đan Chàng (or Tân Viên, Kẻ Vân), Hạ Lễ and Ngọc Châu. Their patron saint is Immaculate Heart of Mary.
* Hải Phòng Diocese : There are 2 parishes, belonging to Kẻ Sặt Deanery, where have welcomed the Gospel in 1655, includes as Đào Xá and Phần Lâm of Đào Dương commune. Their patron saint is Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. The current priest is Bishop Joan-Baptista Nguyễn Quang Sách, who was ordained at 15:00, November 5, 2021.

## Culture

Ân Thi rural district is said to be one of the cradles of traditional Vietnamese music. Many of quan họ and chèo's very ancient tunes have been kept by folk artists from Ân Thi. In particular, Đào Quạt village is the birthplace of a form called "military drum singing" (hát trống-quân). According to researcher Trần Văn Khê, it appeared as early as the 19th century.
Until 2024, the rural district had a total of 14 historical and cultural relics recognized at the national level. In addition, 43 relics are recognized and protected at the provincial level.

## Economy

Ân Thi is a purely agricultural rural district, therefore, it is always ranked as one of the most underdeveloped localities in Vietnam over decades. Until 2024, there were only a few traditional craft villages in the area of the rural district, but their total income was generally not high. Currently, the Ân Thi District People's Committee has set a plan to develop the green economy (kinh-tế xanh) in the period from 2025 to 2035.