Gift of Vietnam-China friendship

Prof. Hoang Tranh presented the publication to the Ho Chi Minh Museum during his visit to Vietnam, October 2024. (Source: Ho Chi Minh Museum)

Professor Hoang Tranh, former Director of the Guangxi Institute of Social Sciences, has written and edited many books and documents about President Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary activities in China, especially during his time in Guangxi.

His latest book, titled “Stories of Sino-Vietnamese Friendship in Guangxi,” was published as a meaningful gift on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries (January 18, 1950 - January 18, 2025) and the Vietnam-China Humanitarian Exchange Year.

Continuously deepen research

Sharing about the opportunity that led him to delve into the revolutionary life of President Ho Chi Minh during his time in China, Professor Hoang Tranh recalled that in the mid-1960s, he graduated from the History Department of Zhongshan University, then had the opportunity to work at the Guangxi Institute of Social Sciences, specializing in historical research, focusing on the history of Sino-Vietnamese relations and local history of Guangxi.

During his research, Mr. Hoang Tranh realized that President Ho Chi Minh had long-term revolutionary activities in China, especially in Guangxi, and that there was a deep revolutionary relationship between China and Vietnam.

“From there, I came up with the idea of ​​carrying out a systematic research project on important historical events related to the China-Vietnam friendship, revolving around the theme of 'Ho Chi Minh and China', to contribute to promoting and honoring the friendship between the two countries,” said Professor Hoang Tranh.

Under the direction and support of the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences, since the 1980s, Mr. Hoang Tranh has written and edited many books related to the topic of Ho Chi Minh and the Chinese revolution. The research process encountered difficulties because the events occurred before the founding of China (October 1, 1949), and reference materials were scarce, forcing him to seek out witnesses and people who knew the events to exploit information from their personal memories, or use those oral documents as clues to continue investigating and discovering valuable sources of information from other channels.

However, with persistent efforts and the desire to preserve and promote the Sino-Vietnamese friendship, a valuable asset cultivated by Chairman Mao Zedong, Chairman Ho Chi Minh and previous generations of leaders of the two countries, Professor Hoang Tranh has accumulated extensive professional knowledge and a rich amount of documents related to the topics of “Ho Chi Minh and China”, “Guangxi and Vietnam” in modern history. This has created a favorable foundation for him to research the topic and publish the book “Stories of Sino-Vietnamese friendship in Guangxi” recently.

Be encouraged and inspired

According to Professor Hoang Tranh, the compilation and publication of the book “Stories of Sino-Vietnamese Friendship in Guangxi” was a predestined opportunity for him. In March 2023, the bilingual Chinese-Vietnamese photo book “Ho Chi Minh and Sino-Vietnamese Friendship”, edited by the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences and directly compiled by Professor Hoang Tranh, was published.

The book played an active role in promoting friendly exchanges between the people of China and Vietnam, and was warmly welcomed by many classes of Vietnamese people. That brought great encouragement to the Chinese scholar.

In addition, the Chinese expert recalled that during the State visit to Vietnam in December 2023 by General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping, the leaders of the two countries reached a common understanding on building a community with a shared future of strategic significance. During his stay in Hanoi, General Secretary and President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech to the youth of the two countries and representatives of friendly people with the title "Inheriting traditional friendship, opening a new path in building a community with a shared future between China and Vietnam".

At that time, the Chinese leader mentioned many specific stories about “President Ho Chi Minh and the Sino-Vietnamese friendship”, with many contents related to Guangxi. Typical stories such as President Ho Chi Minh's long-term revolutionary activities in Guangxi; farmer Nong Ky Chan in Long Chau district, Guangxi once sheltered him from danger; President Ho Chi Minh wrote “Letter to the Vietnamese people” in Guangxi; the story of him returning to the country from the Guangxi border to lead the Vietnamese revolution to victory... greatly encouraged him to continue collecting and compiling books about these fascinating stories in the relationship between the two countries.

“When I read this information, I was deeply moved. Despite being busy with a thousand things, General Secretary Xi Jinping still paid special attention to, studied and introduced valuable documents about the Sino-Vietnamese friendship in Guangxi. As a historian in Guangxi researching this field, shouldn’t I make more efforts?”, Professor Hoang Tranh expressed his emotions.

According to Professor Hoang Tranh, although documents about the Sino-Vietnamese friendship in Guangxi have been introduced here and there, they still lack a comprehensive system. Therefore, he decided to take advantage of the documents accumulated over many years to urgently compile a systematic book recording important historical events about the Sino-Vietnamese friendship that took place in Guangxi. That is the origin of the book "Stories about the Sino-Vietnamese friendship in Guangxi" - a meaningful gift that a historian in Guangxi gave to the friendship "both comrades and brothers" between the two countries sharing the same land and river during the Vietnam-China Humanitarian Exchange Year.

Through this, he wanted to send a message to the people of the two countries, especially the young generation. “The foundation of the Sino-Vietnamese friendship lies in the people, the future lies in the youth. The young generation of the two countries is the future and hope of each country. The young generation of the two countries need to follow the bright example of the previous leaders, becoming the successors of the Sino-Vietnamese friendship,” Professor Hoang Tranh emphasized.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/mon-qua-cua-tinh-huu-nghi-viet-nam-trung-quoc-311501.html