PRESIDENT HO CHI MINH COMMEMORATIVE SITE IN KIM LIEN WARD

President Ho Chi Minh commemorative site in Kim Lien ward is located at No. B8, Kim Lien Collective Quarter, Kim Lien ward, Dong Da district, Hanoi city.

Kim Lien is the first collective quarter with high-rise buildings in Hanoi which was built in 1960. On 5th June 1960, just a few days after the ground breaking ceremony, Uncle Ho visited the work site. He recommended the workers: “Everyone has to help each other in competition movement so that you will get improvement together. In competition movement, all the people needs to pay attention to saving materials, complying with construction engineering, increasing labour productivity and reducing the price. You needs to be tightly solidary, to strive together in performing the plan set by the State well and timely. This is the first work site in our country where tower crane is used, so our officials and workers need to learn from the foreign experts, especially the hands-on experience in construction and installation so that we can construct many other residential buildings by ourselves in the future.”

After the collective quarter with high-rise buildings had been put into use for 3 years, on 17th March 1963, Uncle Ho visited Kim Lien the again. He visited the collective dinning hall which served the officials and staffs. He praised good cooking skills and recommended the dining hall attendants to frequently put everything in order to make sure the dining hall clean and tidy. He advised: “Kim Lien means Golden Lotus; Golden Lotus must be fragrant all the time and scent to far distance. We have to make sure we receive more compliments and less criticism day by day”.

In summer of 1965, when the Kim Lien collective quarter already had many high-rise buildings in use, Kim Lien people had the honor to receive Uncle Ho the third time. This time, he visited some families in C5, B8 buildings. After having a look at some apartments, he told the constructional chief to continue studying to make the apartment more comfortable for the occupants, such as there must be place for hanging out the washing. He recommended the residents to be solidary in building Kim Lien into a civilized, clean and beautiful collective quarter with airy houses and flowerful gardens.

Bearing in mind and following Uncle Ho’s advices, for the last over 50 years, the Party Committee, authority and the people of Kim Lien ward have been striving to make the collective quarter become one of the advanced residential area of the capital.

To commemorate Uncle Ho’s visits to Kim Lien, on the occasion of Anniversary of his 100th birthday (19/5/1890-19/5/1990), the Party Committee, People’s Council and People’s Committee decided to build the President Ho Chi Minh Commemorative Site in the playground of the B8 building where Uncle Ho had a talk with the officials and people of Kim Lien in the past.

It was also in here on 14th May 1993 that the Workshop “Uncle Ho to Kim Lien – Kim Lien to Uncle Ho” and the twining ceremony between Kim Lien ward, Dong Da district, Hanoi city and Kim Lien commune, Nam Dan district, Nghe An province were organized.

The President Ho Chi Minh Commemorative Site now is located in a spacious area with boundary walls, which creates a solemn and quiet space. There is an entrance gate at the front; inside the area there are Guard house, Uncle Ho statue, commemorative house and a very large yard covered with bricks; in the year there are rows of green trees in budding and blossoming out. The center of the vestige is Uncle Ho statue placed on a squared pedestal which is covered with dark-red stones on 4 sides. Behind the statue is the commemorative house in traditional style. In the vestige, some photos of Uncle Ho on his visits to Kim Lien are displayed. In the middle compartment, there is a small altar for the people to thurify and kowtow.

Every year, on the occasions of national holidays and Uncle Ho’s birthday, people from various organs, unions, schools and residents in the Kim Lien Collective Quarter come to the site and thurify to commemorate the beloved Father of the nation. This is an annual activity to educate contemporary generations of Uncle Ho’s moral example, create the motivation in studying, working and creating to build the Vietnam country beautiful, prosperous and civilized as the inner wishes of Uncle Ho when he was alive.

For a long time, President Ho Chi Minh Commemorative Site has become the address for cultural activities of the ward’s residents, and is the historical site for extra-curriculum activities of pupils and students in Dong Da district and Hanoi city areas. Acknowledging its significance and values, in 1999, the People’s Committee of Hanoi City classified the President Ho Chi Minh Commemorative Site in Kim Lien ward as the City historical – cultural vestige.