(VOVworld)-70 years ago President Ho Chi Minh read a Lunar New Year poem he wrote to the Vietnamese people for the first time on Radio the Voice of Vietnam. From 1947 until his death in 1969, President Ho Chi Minh’s 21 New Year poems inspired the Vietnamese people’s struggle for national independence and freedom.
During war time, radio was the most effective information channel in Vietnam. On Lunar New Year’s Eve, people gathered around the radio, eagerly waiting to hear President Ho Chi Minh’s poem. For poet Vuong Trong, this moment left an unforgetable memory.
“There was a public loudspeaker in my village, which was connected to a radio in a barracks in the neighborhood. We often listened to poem recital programs at 9pm on Wednesday and radio dramas on Saturday. On Lunar New Year’s Eve, we gathered to hear President Ho Chi Minh’s poem”, Mr. Trong recalled.
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21 verses by President Ho Chi Minh reached the entire Vietnamese people on New Year’s Eve via Radio the Voice of Vietnam from 1947 to 1969
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With short, sharp, simple words which highlighted the ultimate goal of national resistance-national independence, freedom and happiness-the New Year poems were a great source of encouragement to the Vietmamese people.
“President Ho Chi Minh’s verses have been set to music. His poems conveyed specific messages, which were first to drive away the American imperialists and then break the Saigon regime”¸ veteran and poet Vuong Trong said.
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| Poet Vuong Trong (Photo: vtv.vn) |
President Ho Chi Minh’s Lunar New Year poems were an appeal to the whole nation in the fight for national independence. Tran Duc Nuoi, a former radio reporter says that the poems nurtured people’s confidence and optimism for a better year.
“President Ho Chi Minh created soulful verses which were something like a forecast. His poems inspired people a lot as a new year began”, Mr. Nuoi elaborated.
President Ho Chi Minh passed away nearly half a century ago but his New Year poems are a constant reminder of the values of independence, freedom, solidarity and peace.