Saigon For Saigon

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:14][music] [music] [music] Before the 17th century, the area around Saigon was called Pray Ncore, which means "city in the forest" of the Khmer people.

[00:00:42]Later, the Chinese immigrants called it Tài Ngòn.

[00:00:46]In 1698, Governor Nguyen Huu Canh presented an order to Lord Nguyen Phuc Chu to survey the South and establish Gia Dinh prefecture, making Saigon the Tan Binh district. This was the first administrative apparatus that shaped the center of Saigon.

[00:01:03]In 1679, Vietnamese and Chinese people from central Vietnam settled here, laying the foundation for what would later become the large Chinese community in Cholon. In the first half of the 19th century, Saigon-Gia Dinh, having completed its administrative system under the Nguyen dynasty, was the capital of Southern Vietnam and played a crucial political role in the Mekong Delta region.

[00:01:27]In 1862, France occupied all five regions of Vietnam, and Saigon became the administrative, economic, and cultural center of the Indochina Federation.

[00:01:38]On October 20, 1879, the Cholon City Council was established, and Saigon was nicknamed the "Pillar of the Far East" or "Little Paris of the Far East."

[00:01:50]From 1949 to 1955, Saigon was the capital of the State of Vietnam, and later of the Republic of Vietnam, under the name Saigon Metropolitan Area. The communists invaded South Vietnam under the guise of the National Liberation Front, forcibly seizing Saigon on April 30, 1975, and subsequently renaming it Ho Chi Minh City.

[00:02:18]After the collapse of communist Russia, the Russians abandoned the name Lingard, reverting to the old name Sam Petersburg, and abandoned the name Stalingr, reverting to the old name Sarisin.

[00:02:33]One day, the Vietnamese people will abandon the name Ho Chi Minh City and reclaim the name Saigon, a place name that has existed for over 300 years in Vietnamese history.

[00:02:53]On July 2, 1976, the National Assembly of the Communist Party of Vietnam passed a resolution renaming the city of Saigon-Gia Dinh to Ho Chi Minh City.

[00:03:04]On May 2, 2005, Father Nguyen Huu Le, a victim of 13 years in prison at Cong Troi prison camp, wrote an article titled "30 Years Since Saigon Lost Its Name," which stirred the hearts of people both inside and outside Vietnam regarding the communists' blatant erasure of the name of Saigon, a land with a 300-year history of the Vietnamese nation.

[00:03:29]Five months later, an organization was formed called the National Movement for the Restoration of the Name Saigon and arrested people on May 2, 2006, at the Vietnamese-American Monument Park in Southern California.

[00:03:44]Besides Vietnamese people in California, the event was attended by Vietnamese people from various US states and countries such as Canada, New Zealand, France, New Zealand, and Australia. In May 2007, the movement launched its compatriots' association in Paris.

[00:04:05]On May 1, 2009, a movement took place to arrest those filming the movie "The Truth About Ho Chi Minh" in Saigon.

[00:04:14]On October 15, 2010, at the film premiere in Houston, Texas, Father Nguyen Quyen Huu Le stated that removing the name Ho Chi Minh City could only be achieved when the communist regime was no longer in power.

[00:04:28]The movement also produced the English-language film Ho Chi Minh The Man and the Myth and donated two English-Vietnamese editions to the Library of Congress.

[00:04:44][Music] The movement to erase the name Saigon is synonymous with erasing the myth of Ho Chi Minh, and also synonymous with abolishing the communist regime, just as the Russians and Eastern Europeans brought down communist regimes in 1990 and 1991.

[00:05:23][Music] On April 30, 1975, after President Duong Nhan Minh ordered the army to lay down their weapons, there was one unit that resolutely fought and refused to surrender to the enemy; that was the Dung Tao military academy. With a force exceeding that of a regular battalion, they captured the entire army, determined to seize the school. But the cadets, with an average age of 15 or 16, fought like skilled soldiers, and the enemy still couldn't capture the school. The following morning, the communist forces sent officials to conduct a reconnaissance. The students agreed to hand over the school, but on the condition that the fighting cease so that the cadets could perform their final flag-raising ceremony. A squad of cadets and two children advanced towards the flagpole. From the upper floors, from their foxholes and trenches, without being told, the children all stood up and sang the national anthem in unison. The Vietnamese flag was lowered alongside rows of flags stretching north. That was the last flag-raising ceremony in the South.

[00:06:44][Music] Craig Vanhoy, the renowned explorer, led a mountaineering expedition, accompanied by media representatives. He planted the Vietnamese flag on Mount Everest on May 17, 2004.4 2003 and 2004 I was doing business with a local sign shop gentleman by the name of Vin and um at a certain point when he told him I was going to be climbing Mount Everest he asked me said hey can you do me one favor uh before you leave I would like to send a flag with you um representing our Vietnamese community and uh so it was my privilege and back in 2004 uh when I was leaving from Mount Everest in the spring of 2004 to um to have a business relationship with Vin at that time and uh and to take that flag actually all the way to the top of Mount Everest.

[00:07:47]While I was on Mount Everest, um I uh there were several different companies that were filming. Uh there was uh folks from the IMAX Everest film that were there doing a film for Paramount pictures.

[00:08:04][Music] On May 17, 2008, on a cruise ship near Sydney during the 23rd International Youth Day held in Sydney, Australia, young man Pham Vu Anh Dung presented 16 Vietnamese national flags to Pope Benedict XVI. He bestowed his blessing and draped the sash around his own neck.

[00:08:31]The Sydney Morning Herod, published on May 21, 2008, wrote: "The war may be over, but not for the [clear-voiced] Vietnamese community in Sydney. The flag of South Vietnam is the most clearly visible symbol among the forest of flags and religious banners at the Pope's Mass.

[00:08:55]Although it is a symbol without a nation and planted in its original place, this is the flag [clear-voiced] of a free Vietnam.

[00:09:09][music] When leaving the U.S. Embassy in Saigon in 1975, former CIA officer Frank Snap carried with him the flag of the Republic of Vietnam that he had kept since 1969.

[00:09:27]On November 9, 2019, after 50 years of keeping it, he donated the flag to the Vietnamese Heritage Museum.

[00:09:40][music] In August 1945, while the Tran Trong Kim government was forming the government, the Viet Minh rose up They seized power under the guise of the Autumn Revolution.

[00:09:57]On May 30, 1975, with the strong support of the international communist movement, the Vietnamese communists seized power from the Republic of Vietnam under the pretext of liberating the South.

[00:10:09]In world history, there have been three large-scale acts of seizing power that have left lasting tragedies for humanity: the Bevic coup in Russia in 1917, the Chinese communist coup in 1949, and the Vietnamese communist coup from 1945 to the present day. The Treaty of Jell in 1954 divided the country.

[00:10:32]The North became the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, recognized by five countries: the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Cuba, and Sweden. The South became the Republic of Vietnam, recognized by 77 countries. These two images illustrate the legitimacy of the Republic of Vietnam and the lack of legitimacy of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on the international political stage. In order to distort the truth of history, the Vietnamese communists are rewriting history according to their perspective and survival needs. At the hands of the victor. From the perspective of democratic nations, the illegal and unconstitutional seizure of power from the Republic of Vietnam was an act of terrorism and treason, regardless of whether it was proclaimed as the liberation of the South or national liberation.

[00:11:23][Music] At the end of the 19th century, our country was occupied by the French and divided into three regions.

[00:11:31]Southern Vietnam was a colony, while Central and Northern Vietnam belonged to the Vietnamese court under French protection. When the anti-French movement broke out, Emperor Bao Dai issued several reforms, including the Long Tinh national flag used in Central and Northern Vietnam. Southern Vietnam, being a colony, had to use the French national flag. After the Japanese coup against the French, Emperor Bao Dai declared Vietnam's independence on May 11, 1945, and the Tran Dong Kim government was inaugurated on April 17, 1945. The Ly Trigram flag, also with a yellow background and three red stripes, but with two stripes on either side connected and a broken stripe in the middle, was chosen as the national flag of Vietnam. But the nation This flag was not used in Southern Vietnam because the Japanese did not grant it to Vietnam.

[00:12:24]On May 14, 1945, Japan surrendered, and Emperor Bảo Đại was forced to abdicate by the Viet Minh Communists on May 24, 1945. The Pacific War in World War II ended. The French returned to reoccupy the South and established the Republic of Southern Vietnam. On May 26, 1946, the national flag of the Republic of Southern Vietnam was a yellow background with five horizontal stripes: three blue and two white stripes in the middle. In 1948, at a meeting in Hong Kong, in the presence of representatives from many political and religious organizations and prominent figures, Emperor Bảo Đại chose the design by artist Lê Văn Đệ as the national flag. The flag had a yellow background with three consecutive red stripes. The yellow background symbolized the nation and the three red stripes symbolized the unification of the three regions of South, Central, and North Vietnam after 80 years of French colonial division. According to the Five Elements of Yin and Yang, yellow belongs to the Earth element, and red represents the Earth element.

[00:13:31]Red belongs to the element of fruit. Because fruit gives rise to Earth, the two colors are very compatible. Yellow symbolizes territory, and also symbolizes power according to the concept of ancient nations. On June 2, 1948, this flag was officially recognized as the national flag of Vietnam by the provisional government of Nguyen Van Xuan.

[00:13:54]In 1951, Vietnam participated in the League of Nations conference. The Vietnamese flag flew proudly in the San Francisco sky.

[00:14:08][Music] [Music] Vietnam [Singing] Vietnam, Vietnam, and here is Vietnam [Music] beside me, Vietnam, the country, together with Vietnam [Music] Vietnam, called myself, Vietnam, who can say after life [Music] Vietnam, I ask to marry Vietnam [Singing] Vietnam, living against the people, love is [Music] who wants life, Vietnam, demanding bones and mouths [Music] up, all the love, Vietnam, walking the long, long line, Vietnam on the road [Music] I ask on the line, Vietnam has fought for [Music] love, this is the people, the new namin [Music] I ask the Vietnamese people South Vietnam Vietnam [music] time [singing] Vietnam Vietnam [music] sky.

[00:15:47][music] [music] Vietnam, please Vietnam has lived [music] lived, who is calling Vietnam [music] Vietnam together, Vietnam finished as where [music] Vietnam on the tree, Vietnam is coming to the city [music] for life, please tease the body, please [music] tease, swear, the world [music] Vietnam Vietnam country [ music] time Vietnam [singing] Vietnam Vietnam Vietnam [music] Vietnam Vietnam [singing] Vietnam, the road is far [music] Vietnam Vietnam Vietnam [music] Vietnam [music] Vietnam, two words, rising up Vietnam, the dragon in the fairy land, mother's love [music] Hung Vuong, the birth of the ice orchid, the green water city, together handing, stopping the mountain, following the sound in the spirit, the true army, shaping the image [music] ancient heroic ceremony, spring, southern country, the road, the battle, the white road [music][singing] enlightenment, power, breaking evil, five love, the shore, the spirit, the long, leisurely life for honor Rhyme [music] The righteous general Le Hoan left the city [music] destroyed the river and sang a heroic song [music] often resounding throughout the land, making the people live as a vow, the child longing for the heart of the country, the ancient border of Ly Thanh Tong, heroic [music] Ham Tuong Tran Truong Duong, the back of the righteous emperor, the original destruction [music][singing] made the mountain in the army, the vow, the dream of the indifferent Le, the child's words, killing the sacred courtyard [music] treacherous people of Vietnam [singing] Vietnam, two words, heavenly palace [singing] southern line, Chau Tien Lac Long [music] mother O Co [singing] together bursting from birth [music] spreading, stopping the country, building the city, together handing, stopping to welcome, following [music] the sound of the Me Linh, witnessing with the army of To Nam, the heroic ancient emperor [music] golden spring of the southern country, passing through the stream, the path, the price of enlightenment, granting power [music] southern image, the model [singing] for thousands of generations, letting the child go [music] true righteous path, Le, golden Thang Long, inexplicably leaving the city [music] killing foreign invaders and singing [Singing] Together with my elder brother, the resounding notes of the mountains and rivers [Music] as desired, the virtuous son of the treacherous, the ancient Great Viet, the unreasonable, the heroic Saint Tong, the glorious four Tran Truong Duong [ Singing] celebrating the defeat [Music] of the Mongol army, the Ming army, the dream of King Le, the words of Quang Trung [Music] death of the treacherous Khanh Giang, the words of Vietnam [Singing] Vietnam, a heroic nation [Music] [ Music] Vietnam, Vietnam [Singing] Vietnam, a debt to all generations, Vietnam beside me [Music] Vietnam, the country of Vietnam, Vietnam, called [Music] as a Vietnamese, who can speak of it when life is in Vietnam [Music] Vietnam, I beg Vietnam, the old woman lives, who is the love in life? [ Music] Vietnam, the hip bone, Vietnam, the rope, where are the rights?

[00:20:31][Music] Vietnam, the thread, the thread, Vietnam has been [Music] fought for, this is the body [Music] New Vietnam, true [ Music] Vietnam [Singing] Vietnam [Music] Vietnam, the time of Vietnam [Singing] Vietnam, Vietnam [Music] Vietnam [Singing] injustice is returning [music] here with the soul of a man remembering revenge when he left [music] he was determined to nurture resentment, a thousand sacred words, three souls still strong [music][singing] vow to bring the moment of victory, deep through generations [music] the spirit has how many times [singing] now quickly, the whole body builds a fortress, time is always indifferent.

[00:21:41]Stop the silence, [music] the color is dim, the divine watch reveals the nameless warrior [singing]. [music] An [ music] [music] in world history, there is almost no case where a nation ceases to exist but its national flag still exists strongly in places with Vietnamese refugee communities around the world like the Vietnamese national flag.

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