"Vietnam was very beautiful at that time. Just click the button and you will have a beautiful photo and the people always have smiles on their faces," journalist Michel Blanchard recalled.
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| From April 8, the exhibition “Vietnam in the 80s” by journalist Michel Blanchard at the French Cultural Center (Trang Tien, Hoan Kiem) introduces to the public photos of the country and people of Vietnam before the renovation period. As an AFP reporter from 1976 to 2006, Michel Blanchard held the position of director of the AFP office in Hanoi from 1981 to 1983. |
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| In his memories and photos, Vietnam at that time was very simple. Life was difficult a few years after the country was unified. Most people rode bicycles, there were very few motorbikes. |
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| Michel often rents a bicycle to go everywhere in Hanoi because the city is beautiful, with many lakes and parks. The photo captures a "mobile photography studio" in Thong Nhat Park. The memory he remembers most at that time was the intersection near the park at night with only one electric light. "Once, I saw two students studying right under the street light. That is an image I will never forget, unfortunately I did not record it," he said. |
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| During his stay in Vietnam, Michel Blanchard had the opportunity to report on the 5th Party Congress in March 1982. In difficult working conditions, with telephones often broken, and only a typewriter, computer and fax machine, he still regularly transmitted news of the congress to Paris. |
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| Waterway traffic on the Red River. |
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| Father and son on the banks of Hoan Kiem Lake. In the French journalist’s memory, although they did not understand foreign languages, Vietnamese people in the 1980s were still very friendly and approachable. Smiles were always on their lips whenever they saw him raise his camera. |
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| The AFP office was then located on the small street Phung Khac Khoan. Opposite the office was a house where four children, Phong, Phuong, Duong and Mai, often played. Michel took a picture of the boy Phong on a summer day in 1983, in front of the house. Later, when he returned to Vietnam, he had several reunions with Phong - now a man over 30 years old. |
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| Royal poinciana flowers bloom next to the airy Thien Quang lake, where vendors often pass by. "In our memories, these images are not too far away. But it is also fun to be able to look back at a time gone by, from the simple clothes of barefoot women walking around the streets, or the boys peeking through the train windows. These are images very familiar to our generation. Through the photos, we see that the author has a warm, gentle view of the Vietnamese people of that time," Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan, a Hanoi resident, commented when looking at the photos. |
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| Tet flower market in Hanoi. According to a French journalist, Tet in Vietnam is a very special occasion, flowers are everywhere and when you go out you can see the joy of welcoming the new year on everyone's face. Once, Michel Blanchard was invited to a local's house to celebrate Tet, eat jam and drink tea. Those are special memories for him. |
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| A war invalid on crutches walks on Cha Ca Street (Hanoi) in 1982, a common image in the post-war period. |
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| Michel shared that he has traveled all over Vietnam to write articles and record people's lives through photos. In the photo is a suspension bridge and an early morning market in Lang Son. |
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| The gate of Hue National School 30 years ago is no different from today. |
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| A shop in Da Lat. Before the reform years, there were very few businesses, a few large private stores selling goods to foreigners, the rest were state-owned trading establishments. Vietnam's economy was in decline, imports and exports were shrinking, difficulties surrounded on all sides. |
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| Unlike peaceful Hanoi, Saigon at that time was more bustling and crowded. Image of a barber on Dong Khoi Street in 1983. "I have written many travel books about Vietnam to introduce to everyone. I think it would be a pity not to share these photos. This may not be the most beautiful image but it is the most meaningful to me because it truly shows Vietnamese life at that time," Michel Blanchard said, adding that when he heard a friend say "Maybe Vietnamese people will be interested, because Vietnamese youth today often do not know much about this period" he had more motivation to open the exhibition. The exhibition will run until April 30. |
According to VNE
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