Every Day Is Special: Vietnam

Showing posts with label Vietnam. Show all posts

May 19 - Ho Chi Minh's Birthday in Vietnam

Posted on May 19, 2020

Today is apparently one of the most important holidays in Vietnam. Of course the global pandemic is putting a damper on the usual celebrations, big-time, right now; on the other hand, Vietnam is one of the nations doing the best against the virus. Also, many of the normal celebrations for Ho Chi Minh's birthday are safe to carry on in a socially distanced world.

Ho Chi Minh banners and Vietnamese flags will no doubt be raised and draped and proudly displayed. The usual documentaries will be aired on TV. It's possible that a few masked dignitaries will place the ritual wreaths at the mausoleum - but probably televised, rather than having crowds of people watching.

So...who was Ho Chi Minh?

Born in a village on this date in 1890, "Uncle Ho" grew up in a Vietnam that was ruled by France. He did well at his studies, but his father was demoted from a local position and refused to work for the French, so Ho Chi Minh lost hope for a governmental scholarship to continue his studies. Instead, he traveled south to Saigon and got a job working in the kitchen on a French steamer. He arrived in France in 1911 and applied to go to the French Colonial Administrative School - and was rejected.

He again turned to travel, and he began working on a variety of ships to visit as many countries as possible. He probably lived in the United States for a year - and certainly did at least visit the US aboard a ship. He also lived and worked in the United Kingdom; he apparently worked as a pastry chef in a London hotel, for example.

Ho Chi Minh became interested in politics and joined a group of Vietnamese patriots in France. They agitated for independence for civil rights, and they asked for these things specifically as a part of the peace talks after World War I. They were ignored.

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was one of the leaders who ignored the letters from Ho Chi Minh and other Vietnamese leaders. If only, if only Wilson and the other Western leaders had acknowledged the letters, spoken to the independence seekers, and taken up their cause in the peace talks - then Ho Chi Minh would undoubtedly have become more pro-American and possibly less radical. Probably there would have been no Vietnamese War, and more than a million people would not have died in a terrible and deeply unpopular war!

There are many - way too many - heartrending and disturbing
photos of the Vietnamese War. But I don't want to post super
terrible photos. I just want to state firmly that the war WAS terrible.

Ho Chi Minh returned from France and led the Vietnamese independence movement. He was a key figure in North Vietnam during their victory over France; he established Communist rule and served as the first President and Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (aka North Vietnam). He continued to lead as the U.S. and other nations embarked on the long and terrible Vietnamese War.

Ho Chi Minh died in 1969, around six years before the Vietnam War ended and the U.S. forces and their supporters left in defeat.

Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

Also on this date:

Anniversary of a Cosmic Non-collision

Anniversary of a dark day

May Ray Day

Holiday of Poetry in Turkmenistan

Birthday of the Ringling Brothers Circus

Malcolm X Day

National Scooter Day

Birthday of Bacteriologist / Immunologist Ruth Ella Moore

Birthday of Resistance hero Tina Strobos

Youth and Sports Day in Turkey

Vesak in Indonesia and India
(Varying Dates)

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

April 30 – Vietnamese Celebration!

Posted on April 30, 2020

There are several names for today's holiday in Vietnam. One name is Liberation Day - the anniversary of the day in 1975 when North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces captured South Vietnam's capital city, Saigon.

Another name is Reunification Day. Again, this is about that anniversary - this time emphasizing South and North Vietnam becoming one nation.

On April 30, 1975, Vietnam went from
being North Vietnam and South Vietnam (above)
to being simply Vietnam (below).

A final name for today's holiday is Victory Day. Same anniversary, but emphasizing that the North triumphed over the South.

Of course, historical events are never simple, and there were South Vietnamese people who were terribly upset that the North won.

As a matter of fact, around a million Vietnamese people left within the first two years of that "victory."

Today a united Vietnam can perhaps celebrate another victory - because that country is doing surprisingly well against the global pandemic. COVID-19 may have been eliminated there, thanks to the nation's swift action of closing borders, "contact tracing" (testing and quarantining EVERY person exposed to the virus from a known infected person), and lockdown / social distancing.

According to a news story from April 24, 2020, there have been no new cases of COVID-19 since April 16, and the numbers of cases and deaths in Vietnam - a nation that shares a land border with China! - is remarkable: only 270 confirmed cases and zero deaths!!

One reason that the Vietnam has done so well is that it is a single-party state, an authoritarian state.

Because of this, the nation's government is not as oriented on people's rights and liberties as many are. The government was able to use security forces and military personnel as well as police officers to enforce lockdown, mask-wearing, etc. Also, people in Vietnam are used to following orders and reporting to the government if neighbors aren't doing so.

Still, it's exciting that someone is doing great against this tiny worldwide invader...