Hanoi Vietnam: Ever present change keeps it new

by YankeeJim | October 9, 2010 at 02:44 pm

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If you have ever worked with Vietnamese people you may observe resiliency and adaptivity that seems unique. From where does this behavior come? Like Koreans, they are a nation that has experienced imperialism of various forms and an ever present neighbor of huge proportion.

They have experienced civil war, and now that the dust has settled, they find themselves again as entrepreneurs and innovators piercing a modern world with an elegant cultural backdrop.

Hanoi is a 1,000 year old capital.

“Vietnamese Try to Let Loose for Their Capital’s 1,000th Birthday

HANOI, Vietnam — A musical refrain blared from a loudspeaker as this weekend began — “Hanoi, Hanoi, Hanoi” — and on the sidewalk below, Nguyen Thi Thuy was selling red heart-shaped decals printed with the gold star of Vietnam’s flag.

Students near Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum in Hanoi. Communists have kept a tight grip on political control in Vietnam.

“I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time,” said Ms. Thuy, a 20-year-old college student, who had pasted one of the decals on her cheek. “This day only comes once every thousand years.”

With parades and concerts and flamboyant propaganda kitsch, Hanoi is celebrating its 1,000th anniversary on Sunday, and much of city life has stopped to make way for it.

Ms. Thuy was selling her decals at Hoan Kiem Lake, in the heart of old Hanoi, for 10,000 dong, or about 50 cents, after buying them for 5,000 dong each. “Yes, capitalism,” she cried, delighted at the thought.

High above her on the wall of the central post office, the country’s Communist patron, Ho Chi Minh, looked down at her from a poster that read: “Live, fight, work, study according to the example of the great Uncle Ho.”

The dissonance was emblematic of Hanoi today, a Communist capital hurrying into a more market-driven future — bigger, faster, noisier than ever, grasping for a new identity as it embraces the modern world.

Like most of their countrymen, few Hanoians, absorbed in getting and spending, live their lives to the rhythms of the patriotic marching tunes that filled the air last week.

But in the symbolism of the celebration, the Communist Party ruled supreme, just three months before a once-every-five-years party congress, at the pinnacle of a history that includes royalty and feudalism as well as revolution.

Red flags with their single gold stars filled the streets, and banners celebrating the city’s 1,000 years of history were trumped by others that declared, “The Vietnamese Communist Party will live forever!””