ESL Blogs

       I have had a plan to write a blog that introduces Vietnam thoroughly to everyone here. The deeper I explore, the more confused I feel. I don’t know where I should start: from the Vietnamese communist revolutionary leader, Ho Chi Minh: the father, the teacher, the friend, the hero of the Vietnamese people, who all Vietnamese call Uncle Ho- an old father of the nation, or from the history of Vietnam that is a quite immortal epic. There have been masses of foreigners who have asked me about these matters. They told me that "I know your country, Vietnam, your country has a great history, the Vietnamese are brave", or "My friend, tell me about Ho Chi Minh". I honestly feel proud of Vietnam when someone asks me those questions like that.” One more thing; I don’t know how many facts I should pick up with and put into my writing. That’s why I delay writing this over and over again. 

               Vietnam is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia

       Let’s start with our great father- Ho Chi Minh, who devoted his whole life to the national liberation of the Vietnamese people. I am sure that however many words I write about him are not enough. There are not only foreign writers, journalists, and historians but also the ones in my country who have spent quite a lot of time on him and his life. Consequently, I will briefly summarize the stages of his life as generally as possible in the limit of this blog. He was born on 19 May, 1890 and passed away at 9:47 a.m. on the morning of 2 September, 1969 from heart failure at his home in Hanoi, aged 79. He had been tramping abroad through thick and thin in search of a way to save the country within 30 years (1911-1941). In 1941, he returned to Vietnam to lead the independence movement directly. And then, he was prime minister (1945–1955) and president (1955–1969) of Vietnam. My dears, if anyone is interested in his stories, please tell me; I will try to answer any questions with my limited knowledge. You can reference: "Ho Chi Minh"

         Regarding the history of Vietnam, perhaps when mentioning the history of Vietnam, the majority of people will remember the Vietnam war, specially with the US military. Yes, we won, this is absolutely meaningful. The father of our nation said: “Nothing is more valuable than independence and freedom. It is better to sacrifice everything than to live in slavery!” Yes, we did. Thousands of years ago, our ancestors never bowed down before any enemy powers and this has become a certain thing that ran in our bloodline. I believe that no one wants war to break out in his country. It is too gruesome, horrible, painful, dreadful…

         To get back to the main points, let me show you an outline of the history of Vietnam. Here are my personal statistics that I have synthesized from several different sources. Please, forgive me if I make mistakes, my knowledge is limited. I merely list important milestones in the history: 

        - If the history of Vietnam was considered by the beginning of human settlements that based on archaeological evidences, it is a history dating back centuries BC. In ancient times, it rooted from Lower Paleolithic Age (23.000 BC) to Iron Age (700 BC- 100).

       - If the calculation is based on the evidence of the earliest established society, it was over 4000 years ago, from Hong Bang Dynasty (2879–258 BC) until now. Reference: The history of Vietnam

       - The 6th-7th century  BC, 15 tribes occupied the Red River and Horse River Delta in present-day Northern Vietnam. The ancient Vietnamese kings of the Hồng Bàng period, collectively known as the Hùng Vương, ruled the country until 258 BC and consisted of 18 lines of kings.

      - The Long Eclipse: Chinese Millennium (111 BC – 938 AD).

      - Late Dynastic Period (939 – 1945). You can reference “List of Vietnamese monarchs”.

        +> National Day of Vietnam ( or Indepentdent Day of Vietnam): 2 September, 1945.

       - On 2 September, 1945, Hồ Chí Minh read the Declaration of Independence in Ba Đình Square that declared Vietnam's independence.

        +> From 1945 to 1975, we went through thirty years' war with various nations such as China, Japan, France, and the United States. On 30 April, 1975, Reunification Day liberated South Viet Nam and reunified the whole country. This event marked the end of the Vietnam War that prolonged 30 years of Vietnam's history last century.

         - After 1975, there were a series of border clashes between the People's Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam following the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979. These border clashes lasted from the end of the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979 until 1990. We also suffered heavy losses from these conflicts.

       +> Name of Vietnam : Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1976–present)

                         ______________To be continued....__________

( Thanks Noaslpls for prompting me to write this blog series hehehe and Thanks Teacher AC for Correction)