Spreading patriotism and diplomatic pride through 'Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space' in Guangzhou, China

Bác Hồ làm việc tại Trụ sở chính của Hội Việt Nam Cách mạng Thanh niên.

Uncle Ho works at the Headquarters of the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association. (Source: Vietnam Consulate General in Guangzhou)

Along with the birth of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam was also established and was honored and proud to be directly led and directed by President Ho Chi Minh as the first Minister of Foreign Affairs.

He left modern Vietnamese diplomacy a unique diplomatist ideology - Ho Chi Minh's diplomatist ideology. His diplomat culture carries unique values expressed through his ideology, activities, knowledge, language, art and behavioral style. These values need to be further affirmed, applied and developed in the current diplomat activities.

“Disseminating the values, thoughts, views on life, and progressive and noble worldviews of the Vietnamese people, especially through the image and ideological values of President Ho Chi Minh” is a major goal set out in the Cultural Diplomacy Strategy to 2030 issued by the Prime Minister. This strategy has set a specific goal that by 2030, all Vietnamese representative agencies abroad will build a “Vietnam Corner” or “Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh Space”.

Currently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is designing a model of “Ho Chi Minh Space” with flexible components such as portrait statues, national flags, photo and document exhibition areas, and multilingual bookcases on Ho Chi Minh's ideology and Vietnamese culture, on the one hand meeting the need to standardize Vietnamese representative agencies, on the other hand helping to promote more effectively the work of introducing and honoring President Ho Chi Minh in the world in a synchronous manner.

Tác phẩm điêu khắc ánh sáng 'Việt Nam - Những trang sử vàng' là một món quà ý nghĩa của Tổng Bí thư Tô Lâm.

Vietnamese Consul General in Guangzhou Nguyen Viet Dung presents a gift from General Secretary To Lam to the Director of the Guangdong Museum of Revolutionary History on the occasion of the 135th birthday of President Ho Chi Minh. (Source: Vietnamese Consulate General in Guangzhou)

Spiritual assets and cultural bridges

Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China is a place associated with the revolutionary journey of President Ho Chi Minh. The relics and publications about him in Guangzhou are not only a “living museum” of an important historical period with profound meanings, but also contain current values and are a cultural bridge between Vietnam and China.

Expressing his luck that the Vietnamese Consulate General in Guangzhou is located in an area with many historical relics associated with Uncle Ho's activities and the Vietnamese Revolution, Consul General Nguyen Viet Dung affirmed that these are priceless historical relics associated with the glorious revolutionary struggle of early revolutionary soldiers.

According to the Consul General, currently the relic sites are being restored by the authorities of Guangdong province and Guangzhou city, creating favorable conditions for the local public and Vietnamese delegations and tourists to visit.

This is an extremely favorable condition for the construction of "Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space", because the headquarters of the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association Relic Site or the Exhibition "Revolutionary Path - Comrade Ho Chi Minh in China" opened at the Guangdong Museum of Revolutionary History in May 2025 are tangible and available cultural spaces related to President Ho Chi Minh in the area, which are important premises for exploiting and promoting values.

Consul General Nguyen Viet Dung said that the construction of the "Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space" in Guangzhou - the cradle of the Vietnamese Revolution, is extremely important, because this will be the place where the ideology, morality, style and revolutionary career of President Ho Chi Minh are constantly present, becoming a spiritual asset, a precious cultural value that guides and inspires the thoughts and actions of cadres, party members, students, and overseas Vietnamese living and studying in China in general and Guangzhou in particular.

The stories and images of Uncle Ho at the representative agency will certainly help raise awareness of national pride, pride in the diplomatic sector, and sense of responsibility and spirit of service of the officials working at the representative agency.

In addition, the “Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space” in Guangzhou will also help tell touching stories about the traditional friendship between the two Parties and peoples of the two countries, especially the close relationship between Uncle Ho and the leaders and people of Guangdong province.

With such great and practical significance, the “Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space” in Guangzhou will need to be built comprehensively, including both “tangible cultural space” and “intangible cultural space”. The tangible cultural space can include an area displaying paintings, photos, books, newspapers, and magazines related to Uncle Ho and the traditional friendship between Uncle Ho and the leaders and people of China, especially publications about the feelings between Uncle Ho and the leaders and people of Guangdong province.

“Intangible cultural space” can be formed through activities such as film screenings and thematic activities about Uncle Ho's example and thoughts to help generations of Vietnamese people in the area, especially young people, understand and love Vietnamese history, especially historical periods associated with Uncle Ho's activities in China.

In addition, the Consulate General is also considering building an "Online Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space" on the website with a repository of photos, articles, infographics, video clips, electronic bookcases, etc.

Các đại biểu chụp ảnh trước Khu di tích Hội Việt Nam Cách mạng Thanh niên.

Consul General Nguyen Viet Dung and officials and party members of the Consulate General at the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association Relic Site. (Source: Vietnam Consulate General in Guangzhou)

Promote creativity and promote the image of Vietnam

According to Consul General Nguyen Viet Dung, Guangzhou is home to many images, artifacts, documents and red addresses related to Uncle Ho's revolutionary activities. Furthermore, the construction of the "Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space" has been identified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a consistent orientation and policy to spread the values of Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and style, which will not only be a political and historical task, but also a foundation to promote creativity and promote the image of Vietnam to the world.

In addition, in Guangzhou there are many other "red addresses" related to Uncle Ho's revolutionary activities in the period from November 1924 to May 1927 such as: Huangpu Military School, Peasant Movement Training School headed by Comrade Mao Zedong, the relic of the Guangdong Provincial Farmers' Association, the relic of the Headquarters of the General Confederation of Labor (Confederation of Trade Unions) of China, the relic of the Guangdong Headquarters Parliament...

“Historical relics related to the revolutionary activities of President Ho Chi Minh and previous generations of Vietnamese leaders in Guangzhou city and Guangdong province are available resources, “solid historical foundations” for us to build a cultural space to help people deeply understand the life and revolutionary career of President Ho Chi Minh in Guangzhou, or in other words, we have a valuable historical 'fulcrum'”, Consul General Nguyen Viet Dung emphasized.

In addition, the good and substantive cooperation in many aspects between Vietnam and China as well as with Guangdong province at present is also a very favorable condition for implementing this work. The cooperation between departments, branches, and agencies in the fields of culture, information, and museums of the two sides has created successful cooperation programs and projects, with effective propaganda and widespread influence in Vietnam and the host country.

In the past time, relevant agencies of both sides have actively coordinated in the process of restoring and embellishing the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association Headquarters Relic Site for more than 2 years so that it can open to visitors in early 2024 - on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh starting his revolutionary activities in Guangzhou.

Or most recently, the Guangdong Museum of Revolutionary History and the Ho Chi Minh Museum (Vietnam) have presided over and coordinated with many museums and revolutionary memorials in the provinces of Guangxi, Yunnan, and Chongqing to organize thematic exhibition "Revolutionary Path - Comrade Ho Chi Minh in China" for 3 months from May 10 to August 10, 2025, on the occasion of the 135th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh's birthday.

These are cultural spaces that help people deeply understand the life and revolutionary career of President Ho Chi Minh and the tradition of friendship between Vietnam and China.

Bí thư chi bộ, Tổng Lãnh sự Nguyễn Việt Dũng phát biểu tại Lễ kỷ niệm.

Consul General Nguyen Viet Dung speaks at the 100th Anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day at the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association Relic Site. (Source: Vietnam Consulate General in Guangzhou)

Promoting the role of Vietnamese representative agencies in the host country - a place to connect the Vietnamese community, introduce the image of Vietnam to the world and spread the values of ideology, morality and style of Ho Chi Minh - a symbol of peace, humanity and aspiration for development, 100% of delegations coming to work in Guangzhou in the past time have been supported by the Consulate General to arrange to visit and study at these relics and exhibitions.

The vivid and intuitive images and stories deeply moved many cadres and delegates, becoming valuable experiences and constant reminders of living up to the values that previous generations have worked hard to cultivate, thereby transforming "Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space" from a physical space to an intangible space, becoming spiritual values that guide the thinking and actions of each person.

Based on the valuable 'fulcrum' of history, the Vietnamese Consulate General in Guangzhou clearly defines its mission as finding ways to exploit the available cultural and historical spaces in the area to the maximum, to form a "Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space" that is large enough, comprehensive, and deeply connected between the past and the present, so that studying and following Uncle Ho becomes a "lifestyle and working style" of local cadres, party members, overseas Vietnamese, and students.

Pointing out many multimedia communication methods, the support of science and technology and agencies and departments to be able to deploy "Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space online", Consul General Nguyen Viet Dung believes that this is a suitable direction for the trend of modern, creative, close and accessible communication, helping to attract the attention of all groups, especially young people at home and abroad.

However, the Consul General also points out some challenges that the implementation of "Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space" may encounter, such as requiring many resources, especially the need to build and share a digital resource warehouse related to Uncle Ho such as: paintings, documentary photos, e-books, infographics so that representative agencies can access and exploit. In addition, the information infrastructure also needs to be quickly upgraded to be able to adapt promptly to the way digital communication is changing every day, every hour today.

Another issue is the need to train and build a team of cultural diplomacy staff with knowledge and skills to meet job requirements. To realize good ideas and projects, a team of staff with sufficient capacity, creativity and dynamism is needed to implement them. In particular, we need diplomatic staff who can skillfully combine cultural diplomacy and foreign information, and know how to take advantage of the advantages and trends of digital media and multimedia communications today.