An eleventh century pagoda sits in a corner of the vast complex containing Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, constructed in violation of his written will to be cremated. Although the location is probably coincidental, the pagoda is consistent with his style. He rejected the elaborate building occupied by the French governor in favor of a wooden structure on stilts, also in the complex. Nevertheless, he is remembered by a huge Soviet style mausoleum.
It is becoming more widely known that Ho Chi Minh admired the United States and incorporated part of its Declaration of Independence in the Vietnamese declaration. He petitioned two American presidents for help in gaining independence from the French - Woodrow Wilson in Paris after World War I and Harry Truman after World War II - with no success. As they say, the rest is history.
Now his embalmed body rests in a Soviet style mausoleum. A couple in our group who visited it 20 years ago said the embalmed body was seated in a throne-like chair. It is now lying down. Suspicions of Madame Tussaud's involvement have been voiced.
The partially reconstructed pagoda sits on a single column and evokes a lotus in the Buddhist tradition, another dimension of Vietnamese identity. Nearby, another eleventh century construction, the Temple of Literature, honors Confucius and his legacy, the examinations through which government administrators were selected into the time of French Indochina. The temple is another complex with ceremonial gates, courtyards and a principal temple at which people pray, despite the technicality that Confucius was a philosopher not a deity.
Thanks for the updates.
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