Nghe An: Solemn ceremony to honor and commemorate the 250th birth anniversary and 200th death anniversary of Poet Ho Xuan Huong

Panorama of the ceremony to honor and celebrate the 250th birth anniversary and 200th death anniversary of Poet Ho Xuan Huong. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Leaders, former leaders of the Party, State and Nghe An province, international delegates and a large number of people attended the ceremony to honor and commemorate the 250th anniversary of the birth and 200th anniversary of the death of Poet Ho Xuan Huong. Photo: Thanh Cuong

INTERNATIONAL IDEOLOGICAL AND ARTISTIC VALUES

BEYOND THE TIME

Poet Ho Xuan Huong is a native of Quynh Doi, Quynh Luu district, Nghe An. She is an outstanding female poet of Vietnam in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, honored as the "Queen of Nom poetry" with many works reaching the pinnacle of Nom poetry, a rare phenomenon in world literature.

Ho Xuan Huong left behind about 150 poems, including the poetry collection "Luu Huong Ky" with 24 poems in Chinese characters, 28 poems in Nom characters and 100 Nom poems in a folk, unrestrained style, expressing the uniqueness and richness of the Vietnamese language.

Comrade Bui Dinh Long - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Vice Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee, gave a speech announcing the reason for organizing the Ceremony to honor and celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth and 200th anniversary of the death of Poet Ho Xuan Huong. Photo: Thanh Cuong.

Over the centuries, Ho Xuan Huong's poetry is still loved by contemporary generations, because each of her poems represents the thoughts, feelings, desires to love and live, and the fierceness in the fight for equality... of women.

With its international and timeless ideological and artistic values, Ho Xuan Huong’s poetry has been translated into 12 languages. Many great foreign poets praise her as one of the leading female poets in Asia, and the most unique Vietnamese female poet in world poetry.

At the 41st General Assembly in November 2021, UNESCO passed a Resolution to honor and celebrate the 250th anniversary of her birth (1772 - 2022) and the 200th anniversary of her death (1822 - 2022) of Poet Ho Xuan Huong.

Of the six Vietnamese celebrities honored by UNESCO (Nguyen Trai, President Ho Chi Minh, Nguyen Du, Chu Van An, Ho Xuan Huong and Nguyen Dinh Chieu), only Ho Xuan Huong is female.

Art program at the ceremony to honor and celebrate the 250th birth anniversary and 200th death anniversary of poetess Ho Xuan Huong. Photo: Thanh Cuong

The fact that UNESCO honored poetess Ho Xuan Huong is a very important political event, an honor and pride not only for the Party Committee, Government and People of Nghe An province, but also for our country. This is also an event of great significance for the economic, cultural and social development of the locality, especially in the cultural field.

HONOR, BE PROUD, AND TREASURE THE LEGACY OF HO XUAN HUONG

Delivering a speech at the Celebration Ceremony, Nghe An Provincial Party Secretary Thai Thanh Quy emphasized: In 2022, along with the 35th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh being honored by UNESCO as a national liberation hero and outstanding cultural figure, Nghe An province is extremely proud to have another daughter of the homeland, poetess Ho Xuan Huong, honored by UNESCO in a resolution and participating in the celebration.

Nghe An Provincial Party Secretary Thai Thanh Quy delivered a speech at the ceremony to honor and commemorate the 250th birth anniversary and 200th death anniversary of Poet Ho Xuan Huong. Photo: Thanh Cuong

“This great honor is also a common joy for the whole country, bringing global recognition to the ideals of peace, social equality, and lifelong learning that Vietnam shares with the world, in line with the common goals of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization and the beauty in the soul and intelligence of the Vietnamese people,” said the Provincial Party Secretary.

This is also an affirmation of the continuity of the cultural source, tradition, and position of Nghe An land and people over the past 990 years, a vivid demonstration of a land of "spiritual land and talented people", where there are people who "know how to write poetry and fight the enemy", "every era has famous people, every region has many heroes with great ambitions" who have made many glorious contributions and dedications to the Fatherland and made their homeland shine.

Provincial Party Secretary Thai Thanh Quy affirmed: The honoring and commemoration ceremony is an opportunity to honor, be proud of and cherish more the heritage that cultural celebrity Ho Xuan Huong left for posterity, thereby better understanding the source of cultural strength, culture is the soul of the nation.

From there, awareness and responsibility are higher for the task of preserving and promoting the heritage values ​​and thoughts of poetess Ho Xuan Huong in building cultural people and cultural families of Nghe An to meet the requirements of integration and development; making practical and specific contributions to the task of reviving and developing advanced Vietnamese culture, imbued with national identity in the spirit of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress.

On this occasion, on behalf of the Party Committee and the people of the whole province, the Provincial Party Secretary respectfully expressed his deep gratitude to the Party Central Committee, the National Assembly, the Government, the ministries, branches, central agencies, localities and units for their affection, attention and valuable help to Nghe An throughout the past development journey, as well as in the process of completing the dossier to submit to UNESCO to honor Poet Ho Xuan Huong; hoping that in the coming time, we will continue to receive more attention, support and help.

At the same time, the leaders of Nghe An province respectfully thanked UNESCO for honoring the cultural celebrity Ho Xuan Huong; thanked the countries that supported Vietnam in this honoring process, thanked the representatives of the embassies of countries in Vietnam and international organizations for attending and sending their best wishes on this event.

Mr. Christian Manhart - UNESCO Representative in Vietnam spoke at the event. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Speaking at the Ceremony, Mr. Christian Manhart - UNESCO Representative in Vietnam expressed his honor to represent UNESCO at the Ceremony right in the hometown of poetess Ho Xuan Huong.

He said: Vietnam's proposal has been supported by many member countries and has convinced 193 members of UNESCO, because Poet Ho Xuan Huong is one of the typical female poets of Asia.

“And what is special is that during her lifetime, she demonstrated a mindset that transcended her time, an activist for gender equality from the very beginning. This was a highlight in the social context of the 18th and 19th centuries. Therefore, she was the one who pursued the ideals and priorities that later became UNESCO’s mission,” affirmed Mr. Christian Manhart.

Mr. Christian Manhart - Head of UNESCO Representative Office in Vietnam presented Resolution No. 41C/15 of UNESCO honoring and participating in the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth (1772 - 2022) and 200th anniversary of the death (1822 - 2022) of Poet Ho Xuan Huong. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Next, Mr. Christian Manhart presented the Resolution honoring and commemorating the 250th anniversary of the birth (1772 - 2022) and 200th anniversary of the death (1822 - 2022) of Poet Ho Xuan Huong to Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung and leaders of Nghe An province.

CONTINUE TO WIDELY PROMOTE THE WORKS OF "THE QUEEN OF NOM POETRY"

On behalf of the Party and State leaders, speaking at this event of special significance, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc expressed his joy at the remarkable changes and development in Nghe An's economy and society.

That result is a testament to the mettle, intelligence, and aspiration of the Party Committee, people, and army of the province, opening a new period of development full of promise, building Nghe An homeland not only as a "fairly prosperous province" but also as a "good province" of the whole country, as a center of finance, trade, tourism, education - training, science - technology, health, culture, sports, and high-tech industry of the North Central region.

Comrade Nguyen Xuan Phuc - Politburo member, President of the State delivered a speech at the ceremony to honor and commemorate the 250th birth anniversary and 200th death anniversary of Poet Ho Xuan Huong. Photo: Thanh Cuong

The President affirmed: Celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth and 200th anniversary of the death of poetess Ho Xuan Huong is to express pride and honor her great contributions to Vietnamese culture and human culture, but also to find in her legacy valuable experiences and lessons for the development of the locality and the country in the future.

“Reviewing the past to learn the present” is a way to continue and promote the nation’s historical and cultural traditions, learn from the cultural heritage of our ancestors, and also implement the spirit of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress and the National Cultural Conference chaired by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in November 2021,” said President Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

The President requested the central ministries, departments, branches, the Party Committee and People of Nghe An province, researchers and scientists to continue to study and clarify the ideological height and artistic value of Ho Xuan Huong's works; to study more deeply her life and career; to continue to introduce and promote the works of the "Queen of Nom poetry" to a wide audience at home and abroad, to promote the cultural values ​​of Ho Xuan Huong in the new period, to focus on applying achievements of information technology to research, teaching, promoting works, cultural and artistic creations and to digitize heritage related to the person and career of Ho Xuan Huong.

Art program at the ceremony to honor and celebrate the 250th birth anniversary and 200th death anniversary of poetess Ho Xuan Huong. Photo: Thanh Cuong