Vinh - the time of rubble

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Vinh city's founding, 235 years of Phuong Hoang Trung Do - Vinh, Nghe An Newspaper respectfully introduces an article by the late poet Thach Quy about the origin of the poem "Bricks of Vinh city" written in 1966 as well as his memories of a Vinh city of the days of... broken bricks.

This article was written by poet Thach Quy in 2018.

Is there any city like this city?
Never seen a tall building shining in pink
See the pink smile in the rubble?

I arrived in Vinh in the summer of 1957. I walked from Do Luong, through Truong Bon, through Nam Dan, through Hung Nguyen, from 4am to 5pm I arrived in Vinh. Before my eyes were piles of rubble.

Rubble piled high on both sides of the road like dikes. The first time I came to Vinh, I could not see any citadel or streets, only rubble. Rubble lay bare on both sides of the road. Rubble stood in high piles hidden in the weeds. Rubble lay flat across the main road. Rubble was zigzagged like rows of potatoes, hidden in the alleys. There were bricks everywhere. The whole city was littered with rubble.

As for Vinh city, from the first time I met it, I could not have any other impression than the mark of rubble. Therefore, I cannot write about Vinh without talking about rubble! I thought I would come to Vinh to see the rubble and then return. Unexpectedly, that summer I passed the entrance exam to Huynh Thuc Khang High School. So my fate with the rubble of Vinh city had to continue. I stayed in Vinh, borrowing a local house to stay and study.

From then on, going to school twice a day, “climbing on rubble”, “putting on rubber sandals on quicksand” wandering through every alley and corner of the city. At Huynh Thuc Khang School, we students worked together to carry rubble to build a brick foundation at the foot of the flagpole.

The brick floor at the foot of the flagpole was built with broken bricks, curved like a turtle shell. On top of that broken brick shell, we tilted good bricks to form a five-pointed star, painted it with white lime in a sawtooth shape, which looked very beautiful.

Every time I carry the rubble that falls down, I hear the stirring sounds in my heart. Because of that reality, readers will later find the verse “Rubbish rushes to embrace the flagpole” in the poem “Rubbish of Vinh City”, which I wrote in 1966.
My youth is full of fate with the rubble of Vinh city.
Le Mao Flower Garden today, used to be a sunken road. We students carried the rubble to fill that road, then piled up the soil to plant flowers, and turned it into a flower garden right from that day. We also sat there breaking bricks all summer to pour the foundation for the high-rise building at the headquarters of Military Region 4 in front of the People's Theater.

The rubble of that time, through the hands of our generation, also contributed to building the high four-sided wall at the city stadium, the library, the hospital, and the People's Theater. That's why there are these verses:
We're grown up! This is not the time of innocence.
Gently play marbles under the trees
Clicking my tongue regretting every fallen brick
Looking at the street, looking at the river, rubble piled up
The first enemy bomb bit into the body of the North
Is in Vinh. Rubble to the construction site
Oh! Rubble climbed up the stairs
University steps, commercial roofs…

In 1947, our people destroyed our beautiful hometown city with their own hands to wage a scorched earth resistance war. With the determination:“Rather be broken bricks waiting for each other/ Determined not to share heaven and earth with the enemy!”.

During the 9 years of resistance against the French colonialists, Vinh city was deserted, without a single roof, all was just a pile of rubble. The rubble patiently waited for people to return, patiently and faithfully throughout nearly 10 years of resistance, the piles of rubble seemed to still be listening for the footsteps of loved ones who had left without a return date.

Therefore, when the victorious army returned, the rubble-strewn brick roads in Vinh city seemed to be filled with new life: “The bricks stirred and stirred with pink colors”! On the day the army returned, the children went to the banks of the Cua Tien River to wait for the army. The scene was joyful and extremely touching.
Children throwing darts on Cua Tien wharf
Seeing the army marching, he smiled and ran back.
That is Vinh. A sunny afternoon.
We return to find our old street
Rubble piled up around the flagpole.

In 1954, with the victorious army returning, on the rubble of the completely ruined city, our people, with empty hands, began to collect and save to rebuild their houses. A completely new Vinh city. A very strange Vinh city:

"Is there any city like this city?"A city where all the houses are made of bamboo, thatch, and thatch? Densely packed on both sides of Phan Dinh Phung Street, Quang Trung Street, and Tran Phu Street… house after house, wall after wall, roof to roof, everything is made of bamboo, thatch, and thatch. Surely everyone still remembers the fire in 1961 in Vinh City, where hundreds and thousands of houses were burned down, leaving the city on a black ground.

The people and army of Vinh city started a new labor. A labor and rebuilding of the city for the second time. From then on, spacious houses began to be built. A 2-storey department store at the Vinh market intersection, a 3-storey cotton and textile factory near the 6-way intersection and scattered on the streets, the houses of the people began to have red tiled roofs.

Thanh Vinh like a beautiful girl, once again"The blue sky is used to the habit of the red cheeks fighting with jealousy."That was when the American bombs and bullets began to rain down. Vinh was a fiery cauldron, the place where the American invaders attacked most fiercely in their war of destruction in the North. Therefore, the poem about Vinh citadel continues. The rubble of Vinh citadel continues to steadfastly confront the American invaders in a new battle.
Now the green roofs are riddled with bullet holes
Through the enemy's bullet holes we see the high sky
Even ten years Twenty years
Even if our city turns to rubble
Rubble back here to rebuild the trench!
Like a hero's face lit up red
Shining bright with hardships and achievements
The heroic city smiles in the fallen bricks
The bricks are stirring with pink colors…
Is there any city like this city?

Is there any city like this city? - That is the question of Vinh city since the time of rubble. A burning but proud question about our hometown city. A question raised from the rubble of war. Today, Vinh city is dignified, big and beautiful. A spacious city has shone on a new face. Rubble of Vinh city. Recalling the time of Vinh city, the poem has existed with the hometown city for more than 50 years. Today, in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the city, do you still hear the echo of a burning but proud question raised from the rubble of the past?

Vinh City is brilliant with flags and flowers to celebrate its 60th anniversary.

September 20, 2023 15:18