Editing Ho Chi Minh (section)

==Personal life==
[[File:Hochiminh and Bebet.JPG|thumb|left|Hồ Chí Minh holding his goddaughter, baby Elizabeth (Babette) Aubrac, with Elizabeth's mother, [[Lucie Aubrac|Lucie]], 1946.]]

In addition to being a politician, Hồ Chí Minh was also a writer, journalist, poet<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/ho-chi-minh-prison-diary/|title=Ho Chi Minh: From 'Prison Diary'|first=Ho Chi|last=Minh|date=7 May 1968|magazine=The Nation}}</ref> and [[Multilingualism|polyglot]]. His father was a scholar and teacher who received a high degree in the [[Nguyễn dynasty]] [[Imperial examination]]. Hồ was taught to master [[Classical Chinese]] at a young age. Before the August Revolution, he often wrote poetry in [[Chữ Hán]], the Vietnamese name for the Chinese writing system. One of those is ''Poems from the Prison Diary'', written when he was imprisoned by the police of the [[Republic of China (1912–49)|Republic of China]]. This poetry chronicle is Vietnam National Treasure No. 10 and was translated into many languages. It is used in Vietnamese high schools.<ref>Translated version:

* French – [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927194357/http://www.tienphongonline.com.vn/Tianyon/Index.aspx?ArticleID=58996&ChannelID=7 Người tình nguyện vào ngục Bastille dịch "Nhật ký trong tù"]
* [[Czech language|Czech]] – by {{ill|Ivo Vasiljev|cs}}.
* [[Korean language|Korean]] – [http://www.dangcongsan.vn/cpv/Modules/News_English/News_Detail_E.aspx?CN_ID=11422&CO_ID=10048 "Prison Diary" published in Korean] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016113410/http://www.dangcongsan.vn/cpv/Modules/News_English/News_Detail_E.aspx?CN_ID=11422&CO_ID=10048|date=16 October 2015}} by Ahn Kyong Hwan.
* English – [https://www.amazon.com/Poems-Prison-Diary-Chi-Minh/dp/0971219877/sr=1-28/qid=1157099378/ref=sr_1_28/104-5826911-2900749?ie=UTF8&s=books by Steve Bradbury, Tinfish Press]
** Older version – [http://www.monash.edu/library/collections/exhibitions/communism/virtual-exhibition/items2/item45 by Aileen Palmer]
* Spanish – [https://web.archive.org/web/20031216001859/http://www.vnn.vn/vanhoa/vandekhac/2003/10/32274/] by [[Félix Pita Rodríguez]]
* [[Romanian language|Romanian]] – by [[:ro:Constantin Lupeanu]]
* Russian – by [[Pavel Antokolsky]]</ref> After Vietnam gained independence from France, the new government exclusively promoted [[Chữ Quốc Ngữ]] (Vietnamese writing system in Latin characters) to eliminate illiteracy. Hồ started to create more poems in the modern Vietnamese language for dissemination to a wider range of readers. From when he became president until the appearance of serious health problems, a short poem of his was regularly published in the [[Tết]] (Lunar new year) edition of ''[[Nhân Dân]]'' newspaper to encourage his people in working, studying or fighting Americans in the new year.

[[File:President Ho Chi Minh watching soccer 1958.jpg|thumb|Hồ Chí Minh in 1958 watching a football (soccer) game in Hanoi in his favorite fashion, with his closest comrade Prime Minister Phạm Văn Đồng seated to Hồ's left (photo right)]]

Because he was in exile for nearly 30 years, Hồ could speak fluently as well as read and write professionally in several different languages, including French, Russian, English,<ref>{{cite web |title=1960s Interview with Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTwJse0KCvI |website=YouTube | date=12 February 2015 |publisher=Kinolibrary |access-date=5 December 2023}}</ref> Cantonese and Mandarin, as well as his mother tongue Vietnamese.<ref name="Duiker"/> In addition, he was reported to speak conversational [[Esperanto]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-06/esperanto-language-love/5504884|title=Esperanto the language of love|last1=Brown|first1=Simon Leo|publisher=[[ABC (Australian TV channel)|ABC]]|date=6 June 2014|access-date=29 May 2019}}</ref> In the 1920s, he was bureau chief/editor of many newspapers which he established to criticize French Colonial Government of Indochina and serving communist propaganda purposes. Examples are ''Le Paria'' (The Pariah) first published in Paris 1922 or ''[[Thanh Nien]]'' (Youth) first published on 21 June 1925 (21 June was named by The [[Government of Vietnam|Socialist Republic of Vietnam Government]] as ''Vietnam Revolutionary Journalism Day''). In many state official visits to the Soviet Union and China, he often talked directly to their communist leaders in Russian and Mandarin without interpreters, especially about top-secret information. While being interviewed by Western journalists, he often spoke French, regardless of the language being spoken to him.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}} He spoke Vietnamese with a strong accent from his birthplace in the central province of [[Nghệ An Province|Nghệ An]], but he could still be widely understood throughout the country.{{Efn|1=He sometimes went on-air to deliver important political messages and encourage soldiers.{{sfn|Marr|2013|p=}}{{page needed|date=May 2021}}}}

As president, he held formal receptions for foreign heads of state and ambassadors at the [[Presidential Palace, Hanoi|Presidential Palace]], but he did not personally live there. He ordered the building of a [[stilt house]] at the back of the palace, which is today known as the [[Presidential Palace Historical Site]]. His hobbies (according to his secretary [[Vũ Kỳ]]) included reading, gardening, feeding fish (many of which are still{{when|date=October 2017}} living), and visiting schools and children's homes.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}}

Hồ Chí Minh remained in Hanoi during his final years, demanding the unconditional withdrawal of all non-Vietnamese troops from South Vietnam. By 1969, with negotiations still dragging on, his health began to deteriorate from multiple health problems, including [[diabetes]] which prevented him from participating in further active politics. However, he insisted that his forces in the South continue fighting until all of Vietnam was reunited regardless of the length of time that it might take, believing that time was on his side.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}}

Hồ Chí Minh's marriage has long been swathed in secrecy and mystery. He is believed by several scholars of Vietnamese history, to have married a Chinese midwife named Zeng Xueming in October 1926,{{sfn | Neville | 2018 | p=33}}{{sfn|Brocheux|2007|p=39}} although only being able to live with her for less than a year. Historian Peter Neville claimed that Hồ (at the time known as Ly Thuy{{sfn|Brocheux|2007|p=39}}) wanted to engage Zeng in the communist movements but she demonstrated a lack of ability and interest in it.{{sfn | Neville | 2018 | p=33}} In 1927, the mounting repression of Chiang Kai-shek's KMT against the [[Chinese Communist Party|Chinese Communist]]s compelled Hồ to leave for Hong Kong, and his relationship with Zeng appeared to have ended at that time.{{Sfnm|1a1=Duiker|1y=2000 |1pp=143–145, 198 |2a1=Brocheux |2y=2007 |2p=40|3a1=Neville |3y=2018 |3p=33}} In addition to the marriage with Zeng Xueming, there is a number of published studies indicating that Hồ had a romantic relationship with [[Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Duiker|1y=2000 |1pp=198-189 |2a1=Brocheux |2y=2007 |2pp=62–63|3a1=Neville |3y=2018 |3p=34 | 4a1=Lanzona | 4a2=Rettig | 4y=2020 | 4p=34. Quote: "In fact, Minh Khai managed to gain the attention of Nguyen Ai Quoc [...] whom she married in late 1930 or early 1931."}} As a young and high-spirited female revolutionary, Minh Khai was delegated to Hong Kong to serve as an assistant to Ho Chi Minh in April 1930 and quickly drew Hồ's attention owing to her physical attractiveness.{{sfn|Duiker|2000|pp=185, 198}} Hồ even approached the [[Far Eastern Bureau of the Comintern|Far Eastern Bureau]] and requested permission to marry Minh Khai even though the previous marriage with Zeng remained legally valid.{{sfn|Brocheux|2007|p=63}}{{sfn|Duiker|2000|p=199}} However, the marriage was unable to take place since Minh Khai had been detained by the British authorities in April 1931.{{sfn | Marr | 1984 | p=244}}{{sfn|Duiker|2000|p=199}}