Editing Ho Chi Minh (section)

==Legacy==
[[File:Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum 2006.jpg|thumb|Hồ Chí Minh Mausoleum, [[Hanoi]].]]
[[File:Georgi-Malenkov-Ho-Chi-Minh-Mao.jpg|thumb|1954 [[postage stamp]] of Hồ Chí Minh with [[China|Chinese]] [[Paramount Leader of China|Leader]] [[Mao Zedong]] and [[List of leaders of the Soviet Union|Soviet Leader]] [[Georgy Malenkov]].]]
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam still praises the legacy of Uncle Hồ (''Bác Hồ''), the Bringer of Light (''Chí Minh''). Although Hồ Chí Minh wished for his body to be cremated and his ashes spread to North, Central, and South Vietnam, the body instead is embalmed on view in a [[Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum|mausoleum]]. His image is featured in many public buildings and schoolrooms, and other displays of reverence.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Marsh |first1=Viv |title=Uncle Ho's legacy lives on in Vietnam |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-18328455 |website=BBC |access-date=2 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150411012824/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-18328455 |archive-date=11 April 2015 |language=en|date=7 June 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> There is at least one temple dedicated to him, built in then Việt Cộng-controlled [[Vĩnh Long]] shortly after his death in 1970.<ref>{{cite web |title=Đền Thờ Bác Hồ |trans-title=Temple of Uncle Hồ |url=https://skydoor.net/place/%C4%90%E1%BB%81n_Th%E1%BB%9D_B%C3%A1c_H%E1%BB%93|website=SkyDoor|publisher=[[Vietnam National Administration of Tourism]]|access-date=14 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903033702/https://skydoor.net/place/%C4%90%E1%BB%81n_Th%E1%BB%9D_B%C3%A1c_H%E1%BB%93|archive-date=3 September 2011|url-status=live|language=vi}}</ref>

[[File:Ho Chi Minh statue and flag of Vietnam.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Hồ Chí Minh statue and a yellow star as depicted in the [[Vietnamese flag]]]]
[[File:Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh Statue, 2020-01 CN-01.jpg|thumb|170px|Hồ Chí Minh statue outside Hồ Chí Minh City Hall, [[Hồ Chí Minh City]]]]

In ''The Communist Road to Power in Vietnam'' (1982), Duiker suggests that Hồ Chí Minh's cult of personality is indicative of a larger legacy, one that drew on "elements traditional to the exercise of control and authority in Vietnamese society."<ref>[https://newpol.org/review/sky-without-light-vietnamese-tragedy/ Manfred McDowell, "Sky without Light: a Vietnamese Tragedy", ''New Politics'', Vol XIII, No. 3, 2011, pp. 131–136, p. 133.]</ref> Duiker is drawn to an "irresistible and persuasive" comparison with China. As in China, leading party cadres were "most likely to be intellectuals descended [like Hồ Chí Minh] from rural scholar-gentry families" in the interior (the protectorates of Annam and Tonkin). Conversely, the pioneers of constitutional nationalism tended to be from the more "Westernised" coastal south (Saigon and surrounding French direct-rule [[Cochinchina]]) and to be from "commercial families without a traditional Confucian background".{{sfn|Duiker|1982|p=25}}

[[File:TTHCM.JPG|thumb|left|Shrine devoted to Hồ Chí Minh]]
In Vietnam, as in China, Communism presented itself as a root and branch rejection of Confucianism, condemned for its ritualism, inherent conservatism, and resistance to change. Once in power, the Vietnamese Communists may not have fought Confucianism "as bitterly as did their Chinese counterparts", but its social prestige was "essentially destroyed." In the political sphere, the puppet son of heaven (which had been weakly represented by the Bảo Đại) was replaced by the people's republic. Orthodox materialism accorded no place to heaven, gods, or other supernatural forces. Socialist collectivism undermined the tradition of the Confucian family leader (''Gia Truong''). The socialist conception of social equality destroyed the Confucian views of class.<ref>Pham Duy Nghia (2005), "Confucianism and the conception of the law in Vietnam," ''Asian Socialism and Legal Change: The dynamics of Vietnamese and Chinese Reform, ''John Gillespie, Pip Nicholson eds., Australian National University Press, pp. 76–90, 83–84</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Pham |first1=Duy Nghia|editor1-last=Gillespie|editor1-first=John|editor2-last=Nicholson|editor2-first=Pip|title=Asian Socialism and Legal Change: The dynamics of Vietnamese and Chinese Reform|date=2005|publisher=[[ANU Press]]|isbn=978-1-920942-27-4|pages=76–90|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/j.ctt2jbjds.12.pdf|access-date=3 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227153955/https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/j.ctt2jbjds.12.pdf|archive-date=27 February 2022|language=en|chapter=4 Confucianism and the conception of the law in Vietnam|jstor=j.ctt2jbjds.12 }}</ref>

[[File:Tượng Nguyễn Sinh Sắc trong khu di tích.jpg|thumb|Temple devoted to [[Nguyễn Sinh Sắc]], Hồ Chí Minh's father]]

Duiker argues many were to find the new ideology "congenial" precisely because of its similarities with the teachings of the old Master: "the belief in one truth, embodied in quasi-sacred texts"; in "an anointed elite, trained in an all-embracing doctrine and responsible for leading the broad masses and indoctrinating them in proper thought and behavior"; in "the subordination of the individual to the community"; and in the perfectibility, through corrective action, of human nature.<ref>See also R. Peerenboom (2001).'Globalization, path dependency and the limits of the law: administrative law reform and the rule of law in the PRC', ''Berkeley Journal of International Law'', 19(2):161–264.</ref> All of this, Duiker suggests, was in some manner present in the aura of the new Master, Chi Minh, "the bringer of light", "Uncle Hồ" to whom "all the desirable qualities of Confucian ethics" are ascribed.{{sfn|Duiker|1982|pp=26–28}} Under Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnamese Marxism developed, in effect, as a kind of "reformed Confucianism" revised to meet "the challenges of the modern era" and, not least among these, of "total mobilization in the struggle for national independence and state power."<ref>McDowell, p. 133</ref>

[[File:P20230911OC-0770 (53233824487) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|U.S. President [[Joe Biden]] with Vietnamese Prime Minister [[Phạm Minh Chính]] in front of a statue of Hồ Chí Minh in Hanoi, September 2023]]

This "congeniality" with Confucian tradition was remarked on by Nguyen Khac Vien, a leading Hanoi intellectual of the 1960s and 70s. In ''Confucianism and Marxism in Vietnam''<ref>Nguyen Khac Vien, '''' Confucianism and Marxism in Vietnam'''' in Nguyen Khac Vien, ''Tradition and Revolution in Vietnam'', Berkeley, the Indochina Resource Center, 1974</ref> Nguyen Khac Vien, saw definite parallels between Confucian and party discipline, between the traditional scholar gentry and Hồ Chí Minh's party cadres.<ref>Stein Tonnesson, [http://www.cliostein.com/documents/1993/93%20from%20confucianism%20to%20communism.pdf ''From Confucianism to Communism and Back: Vietnam 1925–1995''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801202016/http://www.cliostein.com/documents/1993/93%20from%20confucianism%20to%20communism.pdf |date=1 August 2020 }}, paper presented to the Norwegian Association of Development Studies, "State and Society in East Asia", 29 April – 2 May 1993.</ref>

A completely different form of the cult of Hồ Chí Minh (and one tolerated by the government with uneasiness) is his identification in Vietnamese folk religion with the [[Jade Emperor]], who supposedly incarnated again on earth as Hồ Chí Minh. Today, Hồ Chí Minh as the Jade Emperor is supposed to speak from the spirit world through Spiritualist mediums. The first such medium was one Madam Lang in the 1990s, but the cult acquired a significant number of followers through another medium, Madam Xoan. She established on 1 January 2001 the Đạo Ngọc Phật Hồ Chí Minh (the Way of Hồ Chí Minh as the Jade Buddha), also known as Đạo Bác Hồ (the Way of Uncle Hồ) at đền Hòa Bình (the Peace Temple) in Chí Linh-Sao Đỏ district of [[Hải Dương]] province. She then founded the Peace Society of Heavenly Mediums (Đoàn đồng thiên Hòa Bình). Reportedly, the movement had around 24,000 followers by 2014.<ref>Chung Van Hoang, ''New Religions and State's Response to Religious Diversification in Contemporary Vietnam: Tensions from the Reinvention of the Sacred'', Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2017, 87–107.</ref>

The Vietnamese government's attempts to immortalize Hồ Chí Minh were also met with significant controversies and opposition. The regime is sensitive to anything that might question the official [[hagiography]]. This includes references to Hồ Chí Minh's personal life that might detract from the image of the dedicated "father of the revolution",<ref name="Damau">{{cite web|last=Dinh|first=Thuy|title=The Writer's Life Stephen B. Young and Hoa Pham Young: Painting in Lacquer|url=http://gardendistrictbookshop.shelf-awareness.com/?issue=55#m985|work=The Zenith by Duong Thu Huong|publisher=Da Mau magazine|access-date=25 December 2013}}</ref> the "celibate married only to the cause of revolution".<ref name="Baker">{{cite news|last=Baker|first=Mark|title=Uncle Ho: a legend on the battlefield and in the boudoir|url=https://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/08/14/1029113957710.html|access-date=25 December 2013|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=15 August 2002}}</ref> William Duiker's ''Ho Chi Minh: A Life'' (2000) was candid on the matter of Hồ Chí Minh's liaisons.<ref name=Duiker />{{rp|605, fn 58}} The government sought cuts in the Vietnamese translation<ref name="theage">{{cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/08/14/1029113955533.html|title=Great 'Uncle Ho' may have been a mere mortal|date=15 August 2002|newspaper=The Age|access-date=2 August 2009}}</ref> and banned distribution of an issue of the ''[[Far Eastern Economic Review]]'', which carried a small item about the controversy.<ref name=theage/>

Many authors writing on Vietnam argued on the question of whether Hồ Chí Minh was fundamentally a nationalist or a Communist.{{Sfn|Moise|1988|p=6}}

===Depictions of Hồ Chí Minh===
{{Synthesis|date=March 2022}}
[[File:Ho-chi-Minh with children (7).jpg|thumb|Ho Chí Minh pictured with children in a photo by state media]]
Busts, statues, and memorial plaques and exhibitions are displayed in destinations on his extensive world journey in exile from 1911 to 1941 including France, the United Kingdom, Russia, China, and Thailand.<ref>[https://www.vietnambreakingnews.com/2017/05/the-places-where-president-ho-chi-minh-lived-and-worked-in-thailand/ The places where President Ho Chi Minh lived and worked in Thailand] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706202049/https://www.vietnambreakingnews.com/2017/05/the-places-where-president-ho-chi-minh-lived-and-worked-in-thailand/ |date=6 July 2017 }}, Vietnam Breaking News, 19 May 2017</ref>

Many activists and musicians wrote songs about Hồ Chí Minh and his revolution in different languages during the Vietnam War to demonstrate against the United States. Spanish songs were composed by [[Félix Pita Rodríguez]], [[Carlos Puebla]] and [[Alí Primera]]. In addition, the Chilean folk singer [[Víctor Jara]] referenced Hồ Chí Minh in his [[anti-war song]] "El derecho de vivir en paz" ("The Right to Live in Peace"). [[Pete Seeger]] wrote "Teacher Uncle Ho". [[Ewan MacColl]] produced "The Ballad of Ho Chi Minh" in 1954, describing "a man who is the father of the Indo-Chinese people, And his name [it] is Ho Chi Minh."<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/fjzMWumVhV8 Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20150112033410/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjzMWumVhV8&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web |title=The Ballad of Ho Chi Minh – Ewan MacColl with the London Critics Group |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjzMWumVhV8 |website=Youtube | date=19 May 2011 |access-date=21 June 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Russian songs about him were written by [[Vladimir Fere]], and German songs about him were written by [[Kurt Demmler]].{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

Various places, boulevards, and squares are named after him around the world, especially in [[List of socialist states|Socialist states and former Communist states]]. In Russia, there is a [[Ho Chi Minh monument|Hồ Chí Minh square and monument]] in Moscow, a Hồ Chí Minh boulevard in [[Saint Petersburg]], and a Hồ Chí Minh square in [[Ulyanovsk]] (the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin, a sister city of [[Vinh]], the birthplace of Hồ Chí Minh). During the Vietnam War, the then-[[West Bengal]] government, in the hands of [[CPI(M)]], renamed Harrington Street to Ho Chi Minh Sarani, which is also the location of the consulate general of the United States in [[Kolkata]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/layers-of-history-most-indian-street-names-honour-little-men-for-the-wrong-reasons/cid/1022991|title=Layers of History – Most Indian street names honor little men for the wrong reasons|website=www.telegraphindia.com}}</ref> According to the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Vietnam)|Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs]], as many as 20 countries across Asia, Europe, America and Africa have erected monuments or statues in remembrance of Hồ Chí Minh.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tuoitrenews.vn/politics/39214/remembering-vietnams-late-president-ho-chi-minh-in-foreign-countries|title=Remembering Vietnam's late President Ho Chi Minh in foreign countries – Tuoi Tre News|date=4 December 2014 }}</ref>