Preserving and promoting the value of the National Historical Site of Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School
Comrade Le Quoc Minh, member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association emphasized: “The establishment of Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School is a milestone of Vietnam's revolutionary journalism; The school has been restored and embellished as an important cultural and historical work to honor the great journalism heritage that President Ho Chi Minh and previous revolutionary journalists have left for generations of journalists today and tomorrow.”
On August 9, the Vietnam Journalists Association and the Provincial Party Committee, People's Council and People's Committee of Thai Nguyen province held a ceremony to inaugurate and hand over the project to restore and embellish the national historical site of Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School in Tan Thai commune, Dai Tu district (Thai Nguyen).
Attending the ceremony were Party Central Committee members: Nguyen Thi Thanh, Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly; Le Quoc Minh, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association; Trinh Viet Hung, Alternate Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Thai Nguyen province.
Also attending were comrade Phan Xuan Thuy, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department; Nguyen Thanh Lam, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, leaders of the Vietnam Journalists Association, veteran journalists, representatives of many departments, ministries, branches, Thai Nguyen province, leaders of press agencies, Journalists Associations of provinces, cities, Dai Tu district and a large number of journalists nationwide.
This is a meaningful activity to celebrate the 79th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day September 2, the 79th anniversary of the Liberation of Thai Nguyen province (August 20, 1945 - August 20, 2024), the 75th anniversary of Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School (1949 - 2024) and is the opening event towards the 100th anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day (June 21, 1925 - June 21, 2025).
Comrade Le Quoc Minh, member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association spoke at the ceremony.
Milestone of revolutionary journalism
In 1949, the resistance war against France entered a fierce phase, requiring the promotion of press propaganda to carry out revolutionary tasks in the preparation phase for the general counter-offensive and the victorious general counter-offensive. President Ho Chi Minh directed, founded, named, and instructed the Viet Minh General Department and the Resistance Press Corps to establish the Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School.
On April 4, 1949, in the middle of the Viet Bac mountains and forests, Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School was established and opened its first course. The students were more than 40 political, military and press cadres sent from all over the country. The School Board of Directors was established with 5 people: Mr. Do Duc Duc, Deputy Secretary of the Viet Minh General Department, as Director; Mr. Xuan Thuy as Deputy Director.
Comrade Nguyen Thi Thanh, member of the Party Central Committee and Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly, affirmed the significance of the restoration and renovation of relics.
More than 30 lecturers participating in the teaching are all leaders with rich political experience and rich theoretical and practical knowledge, and are famous cultural and artistic activists and revolutionary intellectuals such as: Truong Chinh, Vo Nguyen Giap, Hoang Quoc Viet, Le Quang Dao, To Huu, Nguyen Thanh Le, Quang Dam, Nguyen Dinh Thi, Nguyen Huy Tuong, Xuan Dieu...
General Secretary Truong Chinh taught directly at the School, leaving his handwriting in the course's Impressions Book: "This first course of Huynh Thuc Khang School is a good experiment. I believe that after learning from this course, the Viet Minh Headquarters will be more successful in training cadres to fight the enemy with their pens and guide public opinion."
Due to the war situation, Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School only organized a short course within 3 months, from April 4, 1949 to July 6, 1949, but it helped students acquire a massive program including theory, expertise and practice. After graduating, many students became key writers of many press agencies or in the country's cultural and artistic fields. In 2019, Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School was ranked as a National Historical Site.
Comrade Nguyen Thi Thanh, member of the Party Central Committee, Vice President of the National Assembly, presented a souvenir to the Vietnam Journalists Association.
Speaking at the inauguration and handover ceremony of the project to renovate and embellish the national historical site of Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School, comrade Le Quoc Minh, member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association, emphasized that the establishment of Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School is a milestone of Vietnam's revolutionary journalism.
The renovated and embellished school is an important cultural and historical work to honor the great journalistic heritage that President Ho Chi Minh and previous revolutionary journalists left for today's and future generations of journalists.
President Ho Chi Minh, the genius leader of our nation, the first teacher of Vietnam's revolutionary journalism, personally chose to place him at the School, paid special attention to the course, and twice spent time writing letters to encourage the teaching and learning spirit of teachers and students at the school at that time. He advised: "This class is the first journalism class, I hope you all compete to study and practice to be worthy of being pioneers on the journalism front. The press must also carry out the slogan: 'All for victory!'".
Comrade Le Quoc Minh affirmed, honored and recorded the merits of President Ho Chi Minh and a generation of pioneering resistance journalists on the press front who devoted their lives to the goal of "All for victory", contributing to the glorious tradition and vitality of our country's revolutionary press; at the same time, with the desire to continue to preserve and promote the value and historical stature of the Relic, the Vietnam Journalists Association directed the Vietnam Press Museum to carry out the project of restoring and embellishing the Relic of the Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School's founding site from socialized capital and to complete the restoration and embellishment within nearly 7 months to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the School's founding and towards the 100th anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day.
Promoting the value of relics
To maximize the effectiveness of the project, comrade Le Quoc Minh suggested that the Vietnam Press Museum coordinate with relevant units to continue researching and perfecting plans and projects to manage, protect and promote the value of relics, linking with historical and cultural sites of the Viet Bac War Zone in the past, forming a meaningful source tourism route, commemorating the merits of our ancestors, while experiencing local culture and exploring the beauty of the "Capital of Thousand Winds" in the present-day war.
The leaders visited the exhibits at the relic.
At the same time, promote propaganda to local journalist associations, branches and journalist associations nationwide with the hope that the press will clearly see the importance of this relic, consider it a red address for journalists, especially young journalists, to turn to the source to learn about the heroic history of journalism, listen to stories about generations of predecessors and build for the future of the country's journalism.
The National Historical Site of Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School was renovated and embellished on an area of 859m2, including the following items: Exhibition House - Miniature Museum of Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School, in the form of a 4-level house of 80m2 built on a high hill, modeled after recorded documents and some remaining documentary images, formerly a bamboo house, now a wooden frame house, with a fireproof artificial thatched roof.
Comrade Trinh Viet Hung, alternate member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Thai Nguyen province presented Certificates of Merit to the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group and the Vietnam Press Museum.
Stilt House - Miniature Museum displaying the Press of the Viet Bac War Zone 1946-1954, 80m2 wide, built from the stilt house of the Viet Minh Headquarters, where resistance press activities were directly directed and also where the Vietnam Journalists Association was established in 1950; Portrait reliefs of 48 members of the Board of Directors, lecturers and students of the School, nearly 3m high and nearly 8m wide; Hall inside the hill serving conferences, seminars and other activities, with a capacity of more than 150 people and a "mini square" serving event organization, 200m2 wide.
From the career of Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School, up to now, the whole country has had more than 10 training facilities for press staff for all 4 types: print newspapers, radio newspapers, television newspapers, electronic newspapers with degrees from bachelor to doctorate. In 1949, the whole country had about 10 newspapers with about 300 journalists, by the end of 2023, the whole country had 6 main multimedia communication agencies, 127 newspaper agencies, 671 magazine agencies, 72 radio and television agencies and more than 40 thousand journalists.
Lecturers and students of Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School.
Speaking at the ceremony, Comrade Nguyen Thi Thanh, Member of the Party Central Committee, Vice President of the National Assembly praised the great contributions of President Ho Chi Minh, the teacher of Vietnam's revolutionary journalism, and reviewed the career of Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School, which contributed to shaping the qualities, mettle, and capacity of many famous journalists, making great contributions to the cause of resistance and national reunification, becoming precious bricks that built a solid foundation for Vietnam's revolutionary journalism.
The Vice Chairman of the National Assembly highly appreciated the Vietnam Journalists Association and Thai Nguyen province for their cooperation in renovating and embellishing the Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School National Monument. The inauguration of the project deeply demonstrates the sense of responsibility, pride, and gratitude for the contributions of previous generations who have devoted themselves to the Party's revolutionary cause, to the nation's aspiration for independence and freedom, and to the people's happiness.
At the same time, honor the glorious tradition, noble mission and great contributions of the Vietnamese revolutionary press in the struggle for national independence, national reunification, building and defending the Fatherland, and carrying out the renovation and international integration.
This is also an opportunity to review the nation's heroic revolutionary tradition and the glorious history of Vietnam's revolutionary press, to gain deeper awareness and contribute more responsibly to promoting the healthy development of the press and media to promptly meet the requirements of the new period with many new difficulties and challenges.
Affirming the importance of the Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School Relic, comrade Nguyen Thi Thanh requested that the functional agencies of Thai Nguyen province, after receiving the handover, should closely and regularly coordinate with the Vietnam Journalists Association to deploy useful activities, exploit and effectively use the functions of the restored and embellished items to continue to preserve, conserve and promote the sustainable value of the relic with its sacred stature and meaning, which is a place connecting the history, present and future of Vietnam's revolutionary journalism, meeting the needs of people for research, study, sightseeing and "returning to the source" tourism.
On this occasion, the People's Committee of Thai Nguyen province awarded Certificates of Merit to the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group, the Vietnam Press Museum; the Vietnam Journalists Association awarded Certificates of Merit to collectives and individuals with achievements and contributions to the restoration, embellishment and promotion of the Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School Relic.
