Nha Rong Wharf, a hundred years of flowers and waves...

In June, when the North enters summer, the South is in the rainy season. The water on the Saigon River rises, encroaching on the rows of trees along the banks. The leaves seem greener. At Nha Rong Wharf, waves crash on the shore, creating halos of light like vast white flowers on the water's surface. At night, the scene becomes even more magical and shimmering. Many locals and tourists call it wave flowers...

A place where gratitude and ideals converge

Every summer, people and tourists from all over the world flock to Ben Nha Rong. In the hearts of generations of Vietnamese people, coming to Ben Nha Rong is not only for tourism and sightseeing, but deep in their souls, everyone has a special feeling, coming here to report to Uncle Ho, to be filled with faith and motivation from the spiritual energy of the country. "Tell anyone who stops at Ben Nha Rong/ Report to Uncle Ho to satisfy your wishes..." That oral poem has become a folk song of people and tourists every time they set foot in the city named after Uncle Ho. In recent years, the urban renovation along both banks of the Saigon River in the city center has been carried out synchronously, enhancing the ancient and solemn beauty of the red-roofed building on Ben Nha Rong, where the patriotic young man Nguyen Tat Thanh left to find a way to save the country on June 5, 1911.

This summer, exactly 114 years since that historic moment, where he left the country, the old river wharf has become the center of Ho Chi Minh's cultural space, connecting the socio -economic development of the Saigon River, where history meets the present and the future...

At 7am on a day in early June, Ben Nha Rong was bustling with visitors. The voices of students were bustling in the wind of the Saigon River, in the brilliant colors of flowers. In their hands were fresh flowers. Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha, residing in Ward 11, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, led her twin sons who had just completed the 10th grade entrance exam, carrying a bouquet of white lilies, waiting in line to offer incense to Uncle Ho. She said:

- My two children have grown up. I am very happy because they are both good students and obedient children. I brought them here to report to Uncle Ho, hoping that they will learn from Uncle Ho's ideals, nurture their dreams and ambitions to become useful citizens for the country.

Nha Rong Wharf seen from Bach Dang Wharf, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: XUAN CUONG

Accompanying Ms. Ha and her children were many teachers, parents, and students from various schools. When the book page closed after a year of studying and taking exams, everyone returned to Ben Nha Rong as a red address for studying and traditional activities. In the tourist groups, some were familiar with this place through every wave, while others were visiting this place for the first time, associated with a historical turning point of the nation. Each person had a different thought, but everyone stopped longer than usual in front of the picture of Him on the Latouche-Tréville ship, gathered under the statue of Nguyen Tat Thanh on the wharf, looking out at the river with its hundred-year-old waves...

Nha Rong Wharf, where Uncle Ho left to find a way to save the country, is not only a place of gratitude, but also a space connecting memories, pride and ideals. Teacher Nguyen Thanh Tam, Nguyen Van To Secondary School, District 10, shared: “Nha Rong Wharf is an attractive and lively learning environment about ideals. What you feel here today will remain in your memories as a student, helping you step confidently into life.”

Historical space, future momentum

In the development orientation of Ho Chi Minh City to 2030, with a vision to 2045, Nha Rong Wharf is one of the driving forces of the Saigon River tourism economic development strategy with the connection and exploitation of potentials and strengths in geography, history, culture...

The Saigon Riverside space in the city center, stretching from Saigon Bridge to Bach Dang Wharf, is being restructured in the direction of modern urban development associated with preserving and promoting cultural and historical identity. Nha Rong Wharf, as the origin of the relic route, is the focal point in the chain of relics and historical and cultural works on both sides of the river. From Thu Thiem tunnel to Ba Son bridge, from Mong bridge to Bach Dang wharf, from Khanh Hoi bridge around Nha Rong Wharf... new works are continuing to be planned and completed to connect the depth of cultural history with the modern, spacious beauty, creating an open museum complex, creative space, light park, gratitude square... Every step along the riverbank will be an experience, an exploration of history, culture, and urban civilization. That is the material, the driving force to promote tourism economy and cultural industry...

During a survey trip to the Seine River (France) in June 2023, a delegation of senior leaders of Ho Chi Minh City led by Comrade Nguyen Van Nen, Politburo member and Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, studied and consulted the integrated model: Conservation-tourism-transportation-creation. This is one of the bases for the city to submit to the Central Government a plan to develop the economic development project of the Saigon River associated with the Ho Chi Minh City cultural space.

In a recent meeting with leaders of central and Ho Chi Minh City press agencies, comrade Nguyen Van Duoc, member of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee affirmed that in the development orientation following the policy of streamlining and merging; the space and economic potential of rivers and seaports of Ho Chi Minh City will open up great opportunities. The city's leaders hope to receive suggestions and constructive comments from experts and people to promote the combined strength for sustainable development.

From a dialectical perspective, Doctor of Philosophy Pham Dao Thinh (Saigon University) believes that we need to “read” Ben Nha Rong with a mindset of inheritance and development. Uncle Ho’s departure was for the future of the country, and today, the development of the Saigon riverside space is to contribute to ensuring that future with economic, scientific-technological and cultural capacity.

From historical memories and traditional values, Ho Chi Minh City is creating a new vision. The Saigon Riverbank space will be a dynamic development axis, a place connecting the past, present and future, between conservation and creation. Nha Rong Wharf, where he set out to find a way to save the country more than a century ago, is also a place that suggests to Ho Chi Minh City a direction for development from internal strength, potential of river economy and seaports in the journey of global integration.

Nha Rong Wharf, where the great journey of national history began, where gratitude and aspiration to rise up converge. From where he left, today the City continues to send the ship out to sea from that river, from his light, from the seasons of flowers that never stop blooming...

PHAN TUNG SON

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Source: https://baodaknong.vn/ben-nha-rong-tram-nam-hoa-song-254647.html