A Journey to Vietnam: A More Modern Apocalypse

I have been having some problems with my desire to express myself recently, so I can only write this much in my travelogue. So that’s it.

Before every trip, I would think about how I should view the destination and how it relates to my hometown and my personal growth experience.

Interestingly, a lot of the information I got was not directly from the destination, nor from the standpoint of the country I was in. Although Vietnam is a neighboring country of China, it is too far away from my hometown in the north. Emotionally, I cannot distinguish Vietnam from Guangxi or Yunnan, both of which are vast and vaguely bordered "souths". At the same time, my impression of Vietnam in terms of history and culture did not come from Vietnam itself, or even from mainland China, but mostly from the United States and Hong Kong, so I got to know neighboring countries through third parties.

This is a cognitive experience with a lot of contradictory fun. Vietnam is one of the important symbols of popular culture and social movements in the second half of the 20th century. People's discussion on Vietnam has risen to the level of pessimistic analysis of human civilization, but other than that I know nothing about Vietnam. I have hardly watched any Vietnamese movies or novels, and I have no understanding of Vietnamese youth popular culture. I don't know what people in this country are paying attention to, what they are playing, and what their lifestyle and living conditions are like. These attracted me to go to Vietnam in person.

In recent years, there have been many negative comments about traveling to Southeast Asia on the Chinese Internet. In addition to security issues such as fraud and drug abuse, the integrity of local officials and police is also a big problem. Before I arrived in Vietnam, I saw many complaints about customs officials asking for bribes from Chinese people, but from my personal experience, the customs clearance speed at Hanoi Airport was very fast. I just handed in my passport and visa paper, and the customs stamped it directly. I don’t know how customs officials would ask for bribes in front of so many foreigners, but some friends mentioned that if you enter through a land port, there is indeed a phenomenon of asking for bribes.

There are buses from Hanoi Airport to the city center, which cost about 2.6 RMB, which is much cheaper than Beijing. However, the airport is far from the city center and the road conditions are poor. By the time I got off the bus at the old city, an hour had passed.

Hanoi's evening rush hour is very scary. The sound of motorcycles evokes memories of the motorcycle-slashing gangs, and the Pearl River Delta during its heyday may be comparable to them. I have to admit that walking from the bus station to the hotel is a rare real fear experience in my travel career. I even thought of the psychology of infantry facing cavalry charges in ancient wars.

What I want to say is that in the following half a month, I gradually got used to weaving freely among the motorcycles like a local, and even discovered the spontaneous order formed in this seemingly chaotic traffic situation. Cars will not give way to people, but they will not hit people either. People do not need to give way to cars, otherwise they will never be able to cross the road. As long as you maintain a constant speed and move forward firmly, the traffic will automatically judge the trajectory and avoid you.

The weather in Hanoi reminded me of the Pearl River Delta when I was in college. Fortunately, when I came, the dry season had just ended and the rainy season had not yet arrived, so the temperature was not very high, but it was already hot and humid enough to make me uncomfortable. It was not until the evening that some cool breeze blew.

My first impression of Hanoi's Old Quarter was that there were too many Europeans and Americans. The capital of this socialist country was no different from its Southeast Asian neighbors, only from its northern neighbors. I saw more Europeans and Americans in Hanoi in one day than I saw in Beijing in a year. The hotel I stayed in was surrounded by gold shops that exchanged currency, with free exchange, open Internet, and a large number of foreign tourists. This was completely different from the Vietnam in "Boat to the Wrath of the Sea". I couldn't bring in the identity fantasy of a Western journalist, as if I were entering a closed country from the free world to visit or hunt for curiosity. Instead, I came from a closed country, and Vietnam was the free world.

The weather was a little cooler at night, so I came to a coffee shop with winding paths and very classical furnishings. There was a clothing store in front of the store. I had to walk through the store into a traditional Chinese living room, which was the front desk of the coffee shop, and then walk up the winding stairs to the third floor. I sat on a small balcony and could see the whole Hoan Kiem Lake. It turns out that to find a good coffee shop in Hanoi, you have to be brave enough to explore the alleys and go upstairs. Although there are many Europeans and Americans sitting at the door of some of the more lively coffee shops, it does not mean that the coffee in this shop is really delicious. Those Europeans and Americans just like to sit at the door.

I came to this shop to taste Vietnam's famous egg coffee. This kind of coffee was invented because there was a shortage of milk supply at that time. The Vietnamese used egg white instead of milk to make the effect of cappuccino milk foam. To be honest, the egg layer on top is very good and quite creative. I was worried at first whether it would have a fishy smell, but in fact it was not fishy at all, but too sweet.

The next day I got up early and saw groups of motorcycles passing by on the street. As a Southeast Asian country, the pace here is much faster than in Thailand. I found a shop to have a cup of coffee. Before coming to Vietnam, my friends said that Vietnamese music is jazz, experimental, and noise, each one is better than the other, but what attracted me first were the various Chinese pop songs covered in Vietnamese on the street, such as the Vietnamese version of "Rain Butterfly" played in the cafe.

Whenever I travel to a city, I will go to the museum first, because I know nothing about Vietnam’s own history. The changes of ancient dynasties in Vietnam are quite complicated. In the museum, I can only rely on the clue of its relationship with China to sort out part of Vietnam’s history. The most important theme in the Vietnam History Museum is the "Northern Pirate Invasion."

According to myths and legends, the earliest dynasty in Vietnam was Van Lang, founded by Hong Pang. The Shang Dynasty of China invaded Van Lang, and the Hung King sent a three-year-old child, King Dong, to repel the Shang army. Hong Pang was destroyed by Shu Pan in 257 BC. Shu Pan was a descendant of Bi Ling of the ancient Shu Kingdom of China. Bi Ling was a minister of Wangdi Du Yu and proclaimed himself Emperor Cong. After the ancient Shu Kingdom was destroyed by the Qin State, Shu Pan led his army south to attack Hong Pang, proclaimed himself King of Anyang, and changed the country's name to Ou Luo.

The Qin Dynasty established three counties in the south, among which Xiang County was located in the north of Vietnam. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, Zhao Tuo, the prefect of Nanhai County, established the Nanyue Kingdom. In 111 BC, Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty destroyed the Nanyue Kingdom, and northern Vietnam became the territory of the Han Dynasty. During the Han Dynasty, two women, Zheng Ce and Zheng Er, rebelled, which was called the "Second Zheng Uprising". The court sent General Ma Yuan to suppress it, and Ma Yuan was therefore named General Fubo. There are many temples in Vietnam to commemorate the Second Zheng Uprising.

I have a vague impression of this. When I was a child, I read the story of Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions during the Han Dynasty. Zhang Qian was stopped by the Xiongnu on his way to Dayuezhi. The Xiongnu Chanyu said that how could the Han Dynasty send envoys to Dayuezhi through the Xiongnu? Then, can the Xiongnu send envoys to Nanyue through the Han Dynasty? From this point of view, the Xiongnu in the north should know the existence of Nanyue, but it is not clear whether any Xiongnu envoys really came here at that time.

The Battle of Bach Dang River in 938 AD was the founding battle of Vietnam to break away from Chinese control. At that time, China was in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Ngo Quan, the actual ruler of northern Vietnam, defeated the army of the Southern Han regime of China and established the Ngo Dynasty in 939. The Ngo Dynasty was very short-lived. In 968, the nobleman Dinh Bu Linh proclaimed himself emperor and established the Dinh Dynasty, named Dai Co Viet. The Dinh Dynasty sent envoys to pay tribute to the emperor of the Song Dynasty of China and was canonized as the Prince of Jiaozhi. The historian community usually regards the Dinh Dynasty as the beginning of Vietnam's national independence.

In 980, Le Hoan proclaimed himself emperor and established the Pre-Le Dynasty. The following year, he fought with the Chinese Song army at the Bach Dang River and eventually defeated the Song army. However, in order to avoid a long-term military confrontation, he continued to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty. In 1009, Ly Cong Uan established the Ly Dynasty and named the country Dai Viet. The following year, he moved the capital to the Tang Empire's Dai La City and renamed it Thang Long, which is today's Hanoi. The ruins of the Thang Long Imperial City still exist in Hanoi.

Although a large part of the museum talks about the confrontation between Vietnam and China, there is a huge painting in the center of the museum, which describes the most powerful opponent in Vietnam's history - Mongolia. From the description, we can see the pride of the Vietnamese people. The victory against Mongolia is part of the shaping of Vietnam's national pride. Mongolia was able to occupy Java further south, which shows that it was not difficult to attack tropical regions through vassal troops and the former Southern Song navy, but ultimately failed to conquer Vietnam.

At the end of the Ly Dynasty, the powerful Tran family rose to power and forced the emperor to abdicate, and the Tran Dynasty was established. Soon, the Mongol Empire invaded and broke through the capital Thang Long. The Tran army tried its best to resist, and the Mongol army was not adapted to the tropical environment and finally retreated, and the Tran monarch was named the King of Annan. In 1284, Kublai Khan attacked Vietnam again. Tran's general, King Tran Quoc Jun of Xingdao, led the resistance. The Yuan army had an advantage in the early stage, but the Vietnamese resistance was tenacious. In 1285, the Vietnamese army defeated the Yuan army. Then in 1288, the Yuan army was severely defeated by the Vietnamese army in Bach Dang River. After the war, the Tran Dynasty paid tribute to the Yuan Dynasty to show goodwill. It happened that Kublai Khan died, and the successor Yuan Chengzong decided that the two countries would not go to war again.

After the Yuan Dynasty was replaced by the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Taizu and the Tran Dynasty of Vietnam exchanged envoys to establish friendly relations. The Ming Dynasty canonized the King of Annan, and the two sides established a vassal relationship. The Ming Taizu listed Annan as a country that would not be conquered. At the end of the Tran Dynasty, the minister Le Qui Ly usurped the throne and proclaimed himself emperor. He restored his ancestral surname, Hu, and claimed to be the descendant of China's Yu Shun. He changed the country's name to Dayu and established the Ho Dynasty. In the early days of the Ho Dynasty, the Ho Dynasty sought to make peace with the Ming Dynasty and was canonized as the King of Annan by the Ming Dynasty. However, later someone claimed to be a descendant of the royal family of the Tran Dynasty and accused the Ho Dynasty of seizing the Tran regime to the Ming Emperor. The Ming Dynasty sent troops to escort the royal family back to Vietnam, but they were intercepted and killed at the border. The Ming Dynasty then attacked the Ho Dynasty, and eventually the Ho Dynasty was destroyed and annexed by the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty's rule in Vietnam was extremely cruel and tyrannical. In 1418, the powerful Le Loi rebelled against the Ming Dynasty, which was called the "Blue Mountain Uprising". As the war became increasingly unfavorable to the Ming army, the Ming Dynasty decided to withdraw its troops and Vietnam regained its independence. In 1428, Le Loi proclaimed himself emperor, named his country Dai Viet, and established the Later Le Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty conferred a title on Le Loi to maintain friendship.

Seeing this, many people will have a question, is Annan Vietnam? Actually, not really. Annan is just the north of Vietnam, while the south is still Khmer. The approximate territory of today's Vietnam was not formed until the end of the 17th century. The historical descriptions we see in the museum are all from the perspective of northern Vietnam. If we start from the perspective of southern Vietnam, China's influence is probably absent. Chinese forces have never entered southern Vietnam.

This problem exists in the historical narratives of both China and Vietnam, that is, looking back at history from the perspective of contemporary political national boundaries. However, Vietnam at different stages in history is very different from Vietnam today, and China at different stages in history does not overlap with China today.

The impression given to me by the entire Vietnam History and Ancient Museum is very similar to the narrative style of Chinese history museums. Although there are fierce conflicts between the nationalists of China and Vietnam, the Chinese believe that Vietnam has been a vassal of China since ancient times, while the Vietnamese believe that they have resisted Chinese invasion for a thousand years, but the basic historical concepts of both sides are very similar. The vassal relationship in the ancient Eastern world was very complicated. Some relationships were very close, while others were very loose. The nominal tribute and enthronement were more like a truce and surrender agreement, and did not mean actual political affiliation.

At the end of the Later Le Dynasty, the country fell into chaos, and experienced the divided Southern and Northern Dynasties and the struggle between the two rulers of Zheng and Nguyen. At this time, the Qing Dynasty replaced the Ming Dynasty in China, and the Zheng rulers who ruled northern Vietnam established a vassal relationship with the Qing Dynasty. In 1802, the last dynasty of Vietnam, the Nguyen Dynasty, was established. When envoys were sent to the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Jiaqing believed that the area actually controlled by the Nguyen Dynasty did not match the "South Vietnam Kingdom" in history. The main territory of South Vietnam was already within the territory of the Qing Dynasty, while the main territory of the Nguyen Dynasty was further south of South Vietnam. Therefore, he refused to confer the title of South Vietnam on the emperor, but instead conferred the title of King of Vietnam. From then on, the country was named Vietnam.

Since the Nguyen Dynasty had sought help from the French when it was established, French forces began to enter Vietnam. In the Sino-French War of 1883, the Qing Dynasty signed a treaty that was unfavorable to itself even though it still had a certain degree of resistance militarily. From then on, it lost its political influence on Vietnam. Vietnam entered the French colonial era and was incorporated into the French Indochina colony. The museum also entered the modern history section.

Unlike ancient history which is closely entangled with China, I could not find any trace of China in the Modern History Hall of the Vietnam History Museum, including relations with China during Ho Chi Minh's anti-French revolution and China's support for the North Vietnamese regime. There were only two photos related to China, "A bridge destroyed in the northern border conflict in February 1979" and "Jiang Zemin's visit to Vietnam in 1999". There was no praise or slander, and China did not exist.

I had expected to see records of the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese border war in Vietnam, but there was almost no description of this in Vietnamese museums. The official Vietnamese statement was that the national war ended with the unification of North and South Vietnam in 1975, and the country entered a stage of economic construction. The contradictions between socialist brothers were downplayed or simply ignored, which formed an interesting tacit understanding with the official attitude of China. The Chinese government rarely mentioned the border war with Vietnam, but instead focused the conflict on the dispute over the ownership of the South China Sea islands.

After leaving the History Museum, I passed by the Hoa Lo Prison, which was built by the French in 1896. It was called "Hoa Lo" because it was originally a kiln for firing ceramics. After the outbreak of the Vietnam War, the US Air Force bombed North Vietnam, and some bombers were shot down by the North Vietnamese air defense forces. The pilots were imprisoned here. The US military named it "Hanoi Hilton". One of the most famous prisoners here is John McCain, who later became the Republican presidential candidate.

After visiting Huolu Prison, I walked through Gaolang Street. Something happened here that most Chinese people should know. In 1938, Wang Jingwei came to Hanoi from Chongqing via Kunming and lived here. He issued a statement of collusion with Japan and treason.

After the July 7 Incident, Wang Jingwei advocated friendship with Japan. On November 3, 1938, Japanese Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro announced a "New Asian Order" statement. On December 19, Wang Jingwei went to Hanoi via Yunnan and issued a telegram in response to Konoe's statement advocating peace talks with Japan. However, the Konoe Cabinet suddenly resigned on January 4, 1939, and Wang Jingwei's response lost its effect. After that, he began to go further.

During Wang Jingwei's stay in Hanoi, Chiang Kai-shek sent agents to assassinate him many times. On March 21, 1939, the Military Intelligence Bureau agents were ordered by Dai Li to assassinate Wang Jingwei at No. 27 Gaolang Street. However, Wang Jingwei gave his large room to Zeng Zhongming and his wife who were raising their children. He lived next door. The agents mistook Zeng Zhongming for Wang Jingwei and launched an assassination attempt. Wang Jingwei escaped. On May 8, Wang Jingwei arrived in Shanghai and later established the Wang Puppet National Government.

On the way back to the hotel, I passed by the Guangdong Association Hall. It was originally a chamber of commerce built by people from Nanhai and Shunde, Guangdong. Now it is an art center. There is a sign at the door saying that Sun Yat-sen had been here. Inside the guild hall, I saw a sponsorship stele for the reconstruction. It was engraved in the 14th year of the Republic of China. The writer was a graduate of the National Guangdong Normal School. This is very interesting. Just one year before the stele was engraved, in the 13th year of the Republic of China, the school was renamed National Guangdong University, and one year after the stele was engraved, in the 15th year of the Republic of China, it was changed to National Sun Yat-sen University.

The Hoan Kiem Lake is very lively at night, with many street musicians performing by the lake, especially some middle-aged and elderly jazz musicians who attracted me. Street art in Hanoi is very developed. In the old town, there are some performances with strong ethnic style, more like the local operas of Guangdong and Fujian, while there are more jazz and pop music by the Hoan Kiem Lake, which is also due to the public education of Western music brought by the French colonial period.

There are two small islands in Hoan Kiem Lake. The smaller one is off-limits to tourists and has a Turtle Tower on top of which a miniature Statue of Liberty was erected during the French colonial period. The larger island is Ngoc Son Island, which can be reached by bridge. There is a Ngoc Son Temple on the island dedicated to the national hero Tran Hung Dao, who, as mentioned earlier, led the Tran Dynasty army to successfully repel two Mongol invasions.

The endangered Yangtze giant softshell turtle once lived in Hoan Kiem Lake. Specimens of the turtle can be seen in the Ngoc Son Temple. On January 19, 2016, the last Yangtze giant softshell turtle in Hoan Kiem Lake died. In 2023, the last female Yangtze giant softshell turtle died in Dong Mo Lake in Vietnam. Since then, there are only two male Yangtze giant softshell turtles left in the world, and the species is actually extinct.

Hoan Kiem Lake is the most famous attraction in Hanoi, but its origin is related to the resistance against Chinese rule. Before the Blue Mountain Uprising against the Ming Dynasty, a fisherman caught a sword with the words "Shun Tian" engraved on it while fishing in Hoan Kiem Lake. The fisherman gave the sword to the leader of the uprising at that time, Le Loi, who eventually defeated the Ming army and established the Later Le Dynasty.

After the establishment of the Xin Dynasty, one day when Le Loi was visiting the lake by boat, a golden turtle emerged from the water and swam towards him, took the sword and dived underwater. Le Loi believed that it was this turtle that gave him the sword to defeat the enemy, and now that the war was over, he took the sword back, so he named the lake "Hoan Kiem Lake". I visited the Le Thai To Monument by the lake, which many tourists would ignore. There is a stone column in the yard, and the statue on the top is Le Thai To holding a sword and throwing it into the lake.

The most popular attraction in Hanoi is the Railway Road Cafe. Although some tourists claim that this place is over-commercialized and that you can only enter if you buy coffee, in fact, if you simply walk into this block, it is free and free to pass. It’s just that there are cafes on both sides of the railway track. When the train passes, people have to stay in the roadside shops for safety, so they have to consume.

I thought the train would be a certain distance away from the crowd, but when the train came, it really whizzed past my face, making me want to hit it. I was very curious why the government did not take any protective measures and allowed businesses to operate and tourists to enter. Of course, the government did not do nothing. They set up special people to guard and warn at the intersection, and there were inspectors to remind tourists on the roadside not to get close before the train came.

I don't know if any tourists, especially children, have had any accidents here. If it were in China, it would definitely be closed and no one would be allowed to enter, let alone operate. Of course, there would be no fun of everyone cheering after the train passes. I am curious why Chinese people are more frightened and sensitive to risks than people from other countries, but this cautiousness does not reduce the hardships of life.

I have tried iced egg coffee before, and the taste was barely drinkable. This time I tried hot egg coffee in a cafe by the railway. The hot egg coffee tasted better, and there was no fishy smell of egg at all. The foam on the surface mixed with the coffee was like melted toffee, and the softness contained the bitterness of the coffee inside. The taste really showed that it was invented to replace cappuccino.

One thing I regret most about Vietnam is that the best way of life brought by Chinese civilization - tea drinking - has been abandoned. There are coffee shops everywhere in Vietnam, but almost no teahouses for drinking tea. There are only some milk tea or fruit tea shops. However, Vietnam is a major tea-producing country. Many tea merchants from Fujian and Taiwan have opened tea plantations in Vietnam. Most of the tea here is sold overseas. In Vietnamese supermarkets, only the local specialty lotus tea sells well.

What’s interesting is that although tea drinking is no longer practiced in Vietnam, people still retain the habit of eating sunflower seeds. In a cafe, I eat sunflower seeds while drinking Vietnamese coffee. I respect multiculturalism and try to stay away from chauvinism, but I also feel sad that I don’t see the majesty of Han officials.

The next morning, I came to Zhenwu Temple to the north of the Imperial City of Hanoi. As soon as I walked in, I saw two words "Zhenbei" on the flag in the courtyard. There are many meaningful couplets in the Taoist temple, and a huge bronze statue of Zhenwu Emperor is enshrined in the center. Zhenwu Temple is a royal Taoist temple and the largest Taoist temple in Hanoi. What's interesting is that most of the worshippers here cannot read Chinese characters, and they seem to like to use whiskey to worship the gods. There are a lot of liquor in front of the statues.

Although Vietnamese writing has been Latinized, some traditional religious sites still retain Chinese characters and use Chinese writing methods to write alphabetic characters. In the Temple of Literature, there are some calligraphy works of Chinese characters after Latinization. It seems that the Vietnamese have not developed the faithful calligraphy combination or calligraphy paintings of Arabic letters like the Hui people in China, but rather the cursive Latin alphabet words, which only retain the form of Chinese calligraphy.

Compared with China, the security measures on the streets of Vietnam are very simple. I passed the Central Office of the Workers' Party of Vietnam and the National Assembly Building on the way to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. In the heart of the Vietnamese Communist regime, I couldn't see any police patrols. There was only a guard with an idle look at the gate.

The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was built on August 29, 1975. It was mainly modeled after Lenin's Mausoleum in Moscow. The Vietnamese name of Chairman Ho Chi Minh is inlaid with rubies above the porch. In fact, Ho Chi Minh expressed in his will that he hoped to be cremated after his death and his ashes buried in the mountains in central, southern and northern Vietnam. Therefore, the preservation of Ho Chi Minh's remains violated his wishes during his lifetime.

It was a weekend when I went there. Groups of primary school students dressed in uniform visited Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. This scene was very familiar to me, and even a little nostalgic. I also visited the Martyrs' Cemetery in this way when I was a child. These children would take the initiative to greet foreigners, just like the slogan that our teacher taught us when we were young, "Be enthusiastic when meeting foreign guests." But I was curious about how these children recognized that I was also a "foreign guest." I think I don't look much different from the locals, and there are Chinese people in Vietnam.

Next to the Ho Chi Minh Memorial Hall is a museum displaying his revolutionary career. An interesting point is that there is a small temple called One Pillar Pagoda at the entrance of the museum. When you walk into the temple, you can see the symbol of the communist regime behind the Buddhist flag. This Buddhist temple was built on a large stone pillar in a pond. It is said that King Ly Thai King dreamed of Guanyin Bodhisattva holding a baby in her hands, standing on a lotus platform in the pond, so he ordered the construction of the temple in imitation of a lotus emerging from the water.

I originally thought that the Ho Chi Minh Museum would be a boring place full of socialist preaching, but it is much more exciting than I expected. The museum uses a lot of modern installation art to express Ho Chi Minh's political influence. What's more interesting is that a considerable number of chapters introduce the inspiration of European art trends on Ho Chi Minh himself and the Vietnamese national revolution.

Although Ho Chi Minh's official image is that of an amiable, somewhat rustic, thin old man, and this image also stands at the main entrance of the museum, he was actually an avant-garde young man who went to study in France and was very sensitive to artistic trends. This also applies to the leaders of the Cambodian Khmer Rouge. These revolutionaries who seemed to have a strong local flavor all studied in France.

During World War I, a large number of colonial soldiers and laborers from Vietnam were conscripted to the European battlefield, which gave these Asians the opportunity to directly contact the European continent and aroused awareness of racial equality and national independence. An interesting point is that these Vietnamese had the opportunity to date or have sex with European women, and some even got married formally. The most private boundary between races was broken, and European men were furious but had no choice. Sex and love became the introduction to resist colonial oppression after the war. Once authority is broken once, it is difficult to restore it to its original state.

Embers of War tells the history of Vietnam from 1940 to 1959. The disintegration of French colonization in Indochina and the involvement of the United States, Japan's expansion gave Southeast Asia the opportunity to get rid of European colonial rule. With the victory of the Japanese army, local people found that Europeans could not always rule Asians, just like the inspiration of the Russo-Japanese War to the Chinese at that time. There is a line in Embers of War that Ho Chi Minh once loved the United States, even more sincerely than Mao Zedong in Yan'an. For the group of Asian leaders who experienced World War I, the United States was the beacon savior, but in the end he found that the Vietnamese had to rely on themselves.

Chinese content appears in the Ho Chi Minh Museum. Compared with the History Museum, the political tendency here is more obvious. After all, the former communist brotherhood cannot be completely ignored. The connection between Ho Chi Minh’s early revolutionary career and the Chinese revolution is mentioned, but the most important connection between Ho Chi Minh and China is still concealed - his Chinese wife.

For lunch, I went to an Indonesian restaurant next to the Ho Chi Minh Museum. There were many photos in the restaurant about the friendly relations between Vietnam and Indonesia, including a photo of Ho Chi Minh and Sukarno. I decided to have classic Indonesian fried rice and satay chicken skewers to pay tribute to the great unity of the ASEAN people.

After a symbolic and quick visit to the ruins of the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, I walked past the Hanoi Flag Tower and arrived at Lenin Park, which was the only Soviet relic I saw during my stay in Vietnam. Although there are the Soviet-Vietnamese Friendship Palace and the Cuban Hospital farther away, I wonder if China doesn’t even have a statue of Lenin.

I have an interesting observation in Vietnam. Most of the locals look the same as Chinese people. Their attire and temperament are even more Chinese than Japanese and Korean people. But they can tell I am a foreigner at a glance. There are many beautiful Vietnamese women, but they are not the Central Asian or North Asian looks that I am fascinated by. When ancient China mentioned the beauties from neighboring countries, they said that the Koreans were the most beautiful, and rarely mentioned the south.

The next day I visited the only mosque in northern Vietnam, located in the north of Hanoi Old Town. It was built by merchants from Mumbai, India, in the late 19th century. Most of Hanoi's Muslims are Indian, and there are many Indian restaurants, as well as some Indonesians. There is no snack shop next to the mosque, but there is a flower market. There is only a family kitchen next to the prayer hall that is open for a limited time, but it was not open when I went there, which was a pity.

There used to be native Muslim ethnic groups in central and southern Vietnam. The Vietnam National Museum introduces the Cham people living in central and southern Vietnam. They used to have an independent country called Champa. They originally believed in Hinduism, and later some of them believed in Islam. However, some introductions say that they believe in a kind of Islam that has been transformed by Malays and Indonesians. It is divided into two factions, the old faction, the old faction is completely localized and integrated with folk beliefs, and many of its habits are different from those of most Muslims, while the new faction migrated back from abroad and has relatively orthodox beliefs.

Today, Cham Muslims mostly live in the southern interior and are rare in big cities, where mosques are mostly sponsored by Malaysia and Indonesia and serve mainly foreign tourists and businessmen.

After staying in the center of Hanoi's Old Quarter for three nights, I decided to move to a hotel on the outskirts to have a quiet rest. Although the hotels in the Old Quarter were convenient, the living conditions were not good. There was a building with guards standing next to the new hotel. I checked the map and found that it was the Office of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, which is equivalent to China's democratic parties plus the CPPCC. Their state organs are relatively simple.

In the north of the old city, I went for a walk to the Dong Xuan Market. The Dong Xuan Market, like the nearby Long Bien Bridge, is an important building built during the French colonial period. During the Franco-Vietnamese War in 1947, the Viet Minh army had a fierce battle with the French army here. To commemorate this battle, the Vietnamese government erected a monument at the main entrance of the Dong Xuan Market. There is a cylindrical building next to the market, which is a water tower. Before the water tower was built, Hanoi people could only drink lake water or well water, just like the water supply channel built in the Soviet era when I went to Uzbekistan before. Clean water sources and public health systems are a positive argument that cannot be avoided in all discussions about Western colonialism.

Along the Dong Xuan Market, I came to the Long Bien Bridge. This road is very dangerous. Many roads in Vietnam do not have traffic lights. Pedestrians rely entirely on waving their hands and moving quickly to shuttle between motorcycles. What surprised me was that a tacit order was formed among them.

I walked along the roadside, facing the army of motorcycles, to the steel bridge across the Red River. In 1897, the French colonial authorities solicited bridge design plans, and the work of Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, the designer of the Eiffel Tower, was selected. I originally wanted to walk across the bridge, but the direction of traffic on this bridge is in the opposite direction. It was not a pleasant experience to walk along the motorcycle traffic while the road was shaking violently and the pedestrian path was hollowed out in many places.

On my last afternoon in Hanoi, after visiting the Temple of Literature, I came to the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, which is more interesting than the History Museum. It first introduced the influence of ancient India and China on Vietnam from an artistic perspective. Indian culture prevails in most parts of Southeast Asia, but in northern Vietnam, China has a strong cultural influence with the help of Confucianism and Buddhism, as well as the conquest wars of successive dynasties.

During the French colonial period, Western-style public education gave Vietnam the national confidence to break away from the influence of Chinese culture. Then, after World War I, the national independence movement began. During World War II, Japan expelled French colonists and supported Vietnam's independence. Thereafter, during the division and communist periods, art in different historical periods represented changes in political situations and thoughts.

Here we can see a clear line of colonization and national independence in Southeast Asia. Western colonization forcibly instilled European culture into the local area, but it also brought political awakening to the local area, allowing the original pre-modern country to have modern consciousness. This is the first layer. The second layer is Japan's expansion against Europe and the United States, which in fact created opportunities for Southeast Asia and even South Asia to fight against colonialism and strive for the independence of nation-states.

From this perspective, China only has the first layer, while the second layer is the opposite of Southeast Asia. The premise of Japan's expansion against Europe and the United States is precisely the invasion of China. From China's perspective, Japan is the biggest colonial enemy, while Europe and the United States are relatively more like liberators. This difference can explain many of the complex relationships between China and Southeast Asia in the future.

Today, as a Chinese, you will not feel unfamiliar when you come to Hanoi. Here you can feel the similarities between Vietnam and China. This is not only reflected in the influence of Chinese culture behind some Chinese characters, but also in the pursuit of modernization and the official dominance of modernization. This kind of modernization in socialist countries often means removing regional and ethnic colors, so Hanoi is more like a Chinese city than a Southeast Asian city.

Leaving Hanoi, I headed to Hue, the last imperial city of Vietnam and the site of the most intense fighting during the Vietnam War.

It has been a long time since I took this kind of sleeper long-distance bus. Although I really want to experience the Vietnamese train, overnight buses are more developed and convenient. There are toilets and charging ports on the bus. The driver gave me an upper bunk near the front, but I was afraid of falling off at night, so I changed to a lower bunk.

The Hue Imperial Palace was the imperial palace of the Nguyen Dynasty, the last dynasty of Vietnam. It was severely destroyed during the war. Even after restoration, it is still very dilapidated and has the atmosphere of an abandoned palace of the previous dynasty.

The first half of the Nguyen Dynasty achieved great success in unifying Vietnam, but as a result, French colonists arrived. It was not until 1945 when Japan saw its defeat that it remembered to overthrow French colonialism and support Vietnam's independence. However, only half a year later, the August Revolution broke out, Emperor Bao Dai abdicated at the Meridian Gate, and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was established. Afterwards, Emperor Bao Dai established the State of Vietnam in South Vietnam and confronted North Vietnam. After the Geneva Conference, French Indochina was completely dissolved, and a referendum established the Republic of Vietnam. Emperor Bao Dai went into exile in France and died in 1997.

Hue is actually just a transit station for me. I came here just to see the Royal Palace and then went to the next stop, Hoi An.

The impression that Hoi An gave me was that of a small town that is completely oriented towards tourists, especially foreign tourists. In this tropical city, the streets are full of leather shops and suit shops. This popular business that is inconsistent with the local climate is very interesting.

Hoi An was once an important international trade port, where Japanese, Chinese and European merchant ships gathered. In the 16th century, the Ming Dynasty ended its policy of isolation and began to trade with Southeast Asia. At the same time, Japan also expanded its exchanges with Southeast Asia and purchased Chinese goods through Southeast Asia. In the early 17th century, Hoi An had already formed a Japanese neighborhood, but due to the Tokugawa shogunate's isolation and persecution of Catholics, the number of Japanese in Hoi An gradually decreased.

After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, many Chinese immigrated to central Vietnam to establish the Ming Xiang community. More and more Chinese settled in Hoi An, replacing the Japanese in business. In the 18th century, Hoi An was caught in war, and Chinese people immigrated to the Saigon area in the south. After that, the Nguyen Dynasty implemented a policy of isolation, and Hoi An lost its status as an international port. By the end of the 19th century, the French colonial government focused on the development of Da Nang, and Hoi An's business gradually declined. Fortunately, it did not suffer large-scale destruction in the war, and many ancient buildings were relatively well preserved.

The night market in Hoi An is very lively and it is especially suitable for a few friends to come and have fun together. It is a comfortable place in a highly commercialized tourist town. Compared with Dali in China, Hoi An offers pure happiness and is more cost-effective. There is no comparable place in China. Next time I should ask my friends to come here for vacation.

In Hoi An, I found a Ming Xiang Cuixian Hall. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, some refugees who followed the Ming Dynasty fled to Vietnam. The Vietnamese monarch accepted them, and they formed the Ming Xiang Society in Vietnam. However, many people who call themselves Ming Xiang people now are not recognized as Chinese and cannot speak Chinese. It is more of a historical and cultural community identity. There are no traces of anti-Qing and restoration of Ming in this hall.

In the Teochew Guild Hall, I saw an interesting sign with "General Fubo" written on it. I had previously learned about the Er Zheng Uprising against the rule of the Han Dynasty at the Vietnam History Museum in Hanoi. The famous Eastern Han Dynasty General Fubo Ma Yuan got his name from suppressing the Er Zheng Uprising. This is why the Vietnamese are now focused on the economy and not playing the little pink game, otherwise they would continue to be anti-Chinese.

Hoi An has vigorously developed the cultural and tourism industry. Several Chinese associations charge admission, but there is a Chinese Association that is free to enter. There is a Chinese school inside, and on the walls and in the office there are inscriptions such as Dr. Sun Yat-sen's will, the Three Principles of the People, and propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame. Now the Three Principles of the People have really left no kings with an inch of land, and only these Nanyang Chinese educations "know that there are loyal people overseas."

There are far fewer Japanese relics in Hoi An than Chinese relics. Only one famous Japanese bridge is still under renovation, but after many renovations, it is difficult to see the Japanese architectural style. This bridge is also a symbol of Hoi An's culture and tourism. I noticed that there are animal statues on both sides of the bridge, one is a monkey and the other is a dog. It seems that the Japanese used the monkey god and dog god statues to suppress the river monster. There is also a saying that the meaning of the monkey and dog comes from the fact that the project started in the year of Shen and ended in the year of Xu.

Walking to the end of the Japanese Quarter, I saw a red and black sailing ship model. This ship was given by Nagasaki to Hoi An to commemorate the trade history between the two places. The introduction mentioned an important figure, Araki Sotaro. Araki Sotaro was a representative figure of the Japanese expatriates in Hoi An. He was engaged in the red seal ship trade between Japan and Southeast Asia. He married Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hua, the adopted daughter of Nguyen Phuc Nguyen, the monarch of Quang Nam. He was given the Vietnamese name Nguyen Taro and was made a noble. The sailing ship model I saw was a red seal ship. These ships had red seal certificates issued by the shogunate, which were overseas trade franchise licenses.

Due to the Imjin War, Japan's trade with the Ming Dynasty, Korea, and Ryukyu was cut off or declined. At this time, the Nanman trade represented by the Portuguese emerged, which had a significant impact on Japan's military and economy. The Portuguese acquired Macau as a trading base in 1557 and opened a trade route from Macau to Nagasaki in 1571, and the triangular trade between Portugal, Ming, and Japan began. During the Tokugawa Ieyasu period, the red seal ship trade created by Toyotomi Hideyoshi was institutionalized. Ships could only engage in overseas trade if they held a red seal certificate issued by the shogunate. The Tokugawa shogunate established the Nagasaki Bugyosho to manage it, requiring all red seal ships to sail and return from Nagasaki, and sent a letter to the ruler of Annan requesting protection for Japanese merchant ships holding red seal certificates.

I have a special feeling in Hoi An, a city that is oriented towards foreign tourists. Chinese people can hardly understand what it is like for the whole society to serve foreign tourists. I don’t know if Southeast Asian countries are more likely to accept this kind of relationship. The high pressure and hostility in Chinese society, in turn, make people very sensitive to self-esteem and equality. This sensitivity makes me feel somewhat uncomfortable in a society that is oriented towards foreign tourists.

Most of the countries I visited before have underdeveloped tourism, and people have strong self-esteem and are relatively introverted. On the contrary, they take the initiative to chat with foreigners out of genuine curiosity and equal communication. However, in Vietnam, this kind of communication relationship where people gently coax you into spending money may not be suitable for me.

After leaving Hoi An, I had to take an overnight sleeper bus to the last stop of this trip, Ho Chi Minh City.

I had an experience taking a motorcycle from my hotel in Hoi An to the bus station. If you are carrying a big bag, don't tell the driver that you are in a hurry. I really felt that a flesh-wrapped iron was swaying and shuttling among a pile of iron-wrapped flesh. My backpack was swinging its tail due to inertia, as if a bear was scratching me from behind.

In Ho Chi Minh City, I live next to the famous Pham Lao Ngu Street. Pham Lao Ngu is the name of a general who played an important role in the second and third wars of the Tran Dynasty against the Yuan Dynasty. The Vietnamese regard him as one of the outstanding military strategists in Vietnamese history.

Nowadays, Fan Laowu Street is famous for its nightlife, with bars and nightclubs on both sides of the street. Although Vietnam is not as open as Thailand in terms of debauchery, it is still more than 800 times more open than China. Interestingly, I saw a familiar scene here: a vehicle with red and blue police lights flashing, which looked like an urban management vehicle, drove into the bar street. The guys soliciting customers on both sides immediately took the initiative to maintain pedestrian order. The beautiful women dancing on the tables also helped to clean up the chairs that were occupying the road. This made me suddenly feel like I was in China.

There is an interesting colonial perspective on Vietnam in Chinese social media, which often starts from the perspective of male sexual repression and marriage difficulties, and sees Vietnam as a source of "cheap" sex or marriage. I cannot condemn this idea with excessive moral demands, but it is indeed one of the reasons why Chinese male tourists are more likely to be deceived in Southeast Asia.

When traveling in Ho Chi Minh City, many people will go to the famous pink church, but I first want to find a place where the most famous photos of the Vietnam War and the anti-war movement in the United States in the 20th century were taken. I found this intersection, a bronze statue of a monk on the side of the road, with flames behind him. People who are familiar with the Vietnam War and the Western anti-war movement must know this incident. On June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc set himself on fire with gasoline at a crossroads in Saigon, which was recorded by David Halberstam, a reporter for the New York Times. It directly affected the United States' Vietnam policy, and eventually the Ngo Dinh Diem government was overthrown.

The intersection was next to the Cambodian Embassy at the time, and this location was chosen to show the good relationship between Vietnamese Buddhists and Cambodian King Sihanouk, as the South Vietnamese government and Cambodia had long been at odds over Buddhism. During the French colonial era, only Catholicism was recognized as an official religious identity, and the Ngo Dinh Diem government did not abolish this policy. Under Ngo Dinh Diem's ​​rule, the Catholic Church was the largest landowner, and the land owned by the church was exempted from land reform. Catholics were exempted from the government's compulsory labor, and more American aid materials were allocated to Catholics.

Thich Quang Duc set himself on fire to protest the South Vietnamese government's policy of persecuting Buddhists. After he set himself on fire, the South Vietnamese Army Special Forces raided many temples, including the Relic Temple, causing serious damage to the temples and a large number of casualties. They also took away Thich Quang Duc's heart relic, leading to even larger protests. Eventually, the army launched a coup and Ngo Dinh Diem was executed.

I came to Cholon, where Chinese people live, to look for the place where Tony Leung Ka Fai dated a French girl in the movie "The Lover". However, the indoor scene in the movie was actually shot in a studio, and they just took a street view here. I really found it, but I couldn't feel the romantic atmosphere in the movie at all. The sanitation of the streets in Vietnam is quite bad. Ho Chi Minh City is even worse than Hanoi. The Chinese area is the dirtiest. The Chinese area used to be a relatively superior place in Saigon. I don't know how it became like this.

Cholon, the Chinese district in Ho Chi Minh City, was originally an independent urban area. In the mid-to-late 18th century, Chinese people from central Vietnam migrated south to the western part of today's Saigon. Because the Chinese built dams along the Saigon River to prevent flooding, they used "Chlon" as the name of this new settlement. By 1930, Cholon had expanded to the edge of Saigon, so the French colonial government merged the two areas into Cholon-Saigon. In 1955, after South Vietnam gained independence from France, it established its capital in Saigon and officially merged the two cities into Saigon.

Walking eastward from the St. Francis Xavier Church with its Chinese-style gate are various Chinese associations. The Lizhu Guild Hall is a goldsmith union, the Erfu Guild Hall belongs to Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, the Xiazhang Guild Hall belongs to Zhangzhou, the Fu'an Guild Hall belongs to the Mingxiang people, the Wenling Guild Hall belongs to Quanzhou, the Yi'an Guild Hall belongs to Chaozhou Hakka, the Sanshan Guild Hall belongs to Fujian, and the Suicheng Guild Hall belongs to Guangdong. All the way to the easternmost end is a mosque built in 1932.

Unlike the Chinese Association in Hoi An, which is more used for cultural and tourism exhibitions, the Chinese Association in Ho Chi Minh City is actually in daily use, with a bustling crowd and smoke. I noticed that there are a lot of Vietnamese patriotic education and official political propaganda content in the Chinese Association here, which is also a common style in socialist countries. The public space of the Chinese particularly highlights these official symbols. I don’t know whether it is due to fear of anti-Chinese sentiment or the love of embracing power wherever they go.

Back in Saigon, I went to the Presidential Palace during the South Vietnam period. During the French Indochina period, the French built the Governor-General's Office of Cochinchina and the Governor-General's Office of French Indochina here, and rebuilt it as the Presidential Palace during the Republic of Vietnam period. There is a helicopter landing pad on the roof of the Presidential Palace, marked with two circles. In 1962, the Independence Palace was bombed by fighter jets driven by rebel soldiers, and the following year, Ngo Dinh Diem was executed by a coup.

On April 21, 1975, after resigning as the President of Vietnam, Nguyen Van Thieu visited Taipei, in fact, he went into exile in Taiwan. Although the Republic of China government did not directly send troops to participate in the Vietnam War, it was very active in aiding Vietnam. However, the United States was worried that the Republic of China wanted to use the Vietnam War to counterattack the mainland through Southeast Asia, so the Republic of China only sent a military observation advisory group during the Vietnam War.

I met a Taiwanese uncle in the Presidential Palace. He knew a lot about Vietnamese history and had read the news about President Nguyen Van Thieu's exile in Taiwan when he was young. He asked me, "Vietnam and you also fought in the 1980s, right? Who do you think won?" The Taiwanese tour guide next to me didn't want to cause an argument, so he interrupted and said, "They all said they won, and it was the common people who died." The Taiwanese uncle then said, "Luckily it was Vietnam that fought and not us."

Leaving the Presidential Palace and crossing Bookstore Street, the Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon near the Saigon Center Post Office is under repair. To the south of the church is a shopping mall called Saigon Center. Opposite the mall, Apartment No. 22 Gia Long Street is where another legendary photo of the Vietnam War was taken. I gave the administrator 20 yuan and he allowed me to take the elevator to the rooftop. I really found this place, the rooftop where the famous "Fall of Saigon" was taken. Although this was just a very ordinary scene in the entire Saigon evacuation process, it became a representative of an era.

Before the North Vietnamese army entered Saigon on April 30, 1975, tens of thousands of local citizens and Americans fled in panic. Operation Frequent Wind, carried out mainly by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, became the largest helicopter evacuation operation in history.

During the Vietnam War, the building housed USAID personnel in Vietnam, and the top floor housed the office of the deputy chief of the CIA Saigon station. On April 29, 1975, while documenting the final days of the collapse of the Republic of Vietnam government, journalist Hugh Van Es saw a helicopter evacuating personnel from the rooftop and took ten photos, though the photos are often mistakenly attributed to the rooftop of the U.S. Embassy in South Vietnam.

Following the clues of the Vietnam War, I visited the War Memorial Museum in Ho Chi Minh City. The displays here were more shocking than I had imagined. Only in this museum could I be reminded that this is a country that has been fighting continuously with the three major powers of France, the United States and China for more than 30 years. The French instigated the separation of the North and the South, the Americans slaughtered the Vietnamese like monkeys, and the Chinese even removed all the telephone poles in northern Vietnam. But now there is no hatred towards the world in Vietnam. On the contrary, it is extremely international and open. It is really amazing.

The largest mosque in Ho Chi Minh City is located in the most prosperous commercial district. This year, my birthday dinner was held in a restaurant opposite the mosque. Last year, I celebrated my birthday in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, and searched the streets for Chinese birthday noodles. This year, I completely accepted Vietnamese rice noodles as a substitute. Growing up is a process of constantly breaking obsessions and enjoying diverse happiness.

The Muslim community in Ho Chi Minh City flourished during the French colonial period. Some Muslim merchants and laborers from British India came here, so most of the mosques in Ho Chi Minh City were originally built by Indians. After the unification of North and South Vietnam, Indian merchants left Vietnam for fear that their property would be confiscated. Malaysia and Indonesia began to dominate the Muslim community in Vietnam, especially Indonesia, which gained more favor from the Vietnamese government as the leader of the non-aligned countries.

Compared to Hanoi, there are more Muslim and halal restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City, but they are basically fusion cuisine, mostly serving Malaysian and Indonesian tourists. This kind of diet with mixed ingredients and lack of large pieces of meat is not to my taste. Even in Malaysia, Indians dominate street food. The Vietnamese learned some cooking techniques from China. Although they did a great job of seasoning, they obviously only learned a few varieties.

Leaving Ho Chi Minh City and returning to China was not a smooth journey. Ho Chi Minh City Airport was very convenient. There was a bus next to my hotel. I could bring water with me during the airport security check. I didn’t need to take out my electronic products and toiletries. It was very backpacker-friendly. The only strange thing was that the airline asked me if I had any marriage experience. Maybe it was because many Chinese men had bigamy in Vietnam, which caused legal and diplomatic disputes.

At Ho Chi Minh Airport, my flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Shenzhen was delayed for two hours. I thought I would definitely miss the second flight from Shenzhen to Beijing, but the customer service said that I had already checked in and could not change my flight, and I could only contact the airline after landing in Shenzhen.

As a result, when I landed in Shenzhen, I received a notification that the second leg was also delayed for two hours. I was very happy at first, but the plane I was on was parked at the farthest point of the airport, and the shuttle bus was slow. By the time I passed customs, got my boarding pass and ran to security, it was past the departure time. The boarding gate was in a distant satellite terminal. Fortunately, the security personnel agreed to let me run over to try my luck. When I ran to the boarding gate, the passage was closed. I suddenly felt cold in my heart and thought I really had to change my ticket this time. As a result, I found that the plane was still delayed and boarding had not started yet.

During my stay in Vietnam, I rewatched the famous Vietnam War movie "Apocalypse Now". The original story was set in Africa, but the movie was set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, about how fragile human civilization is and how easy it is for darkness, evil and cruelty to occur. But this trip gave me an idea: if director Coppola came to Vietnam today, would he feel that civilization is so strong? It only takes a very short time for all the pain to be forgotten, and two groups of people who slaughtered each other like monkeys will gather together to revel. Vietnam's history over the past half century seems to have witnessed that the collapse and reconstruction of civilization are actually very easy.

I originally wanted to write more about my experiences and feelings during my trip to Vietnam, but for some reason, my desire to express myself was at a low point after I returned home. Perhaps it was because Vietnam was too lively and the weather was too humid and hot, which prevented me from being in the mood to observe, record and think during my trip, so naturally there was nothing I wanted to write about when I came back. It may also be that I am not suitable for traveling to countries with too prosperous tourism and business, and I need to maintain a certain distance.

Perhaps the problem does not lie with Vietnam itself, but domestic reasons that make it difficult for me to distinguish between China and Vietnam. It is more like what the Book of Apocalypse Now tries to describe, but I vaguely feel that this question no longer needs to be answered in Vietnam, but it is still a profound question in China.