Telling Peace Stories: Small Narratives in the Great Affairs of the Country

Parents and brother by author Doan Khuyen (Parents' Love Story)

Why does the peace story receive so much attention?

Writer and researcher Nguyen Truong Quy - a member of the jury - said: "The contest has evoked collective memories and shown the community's deep concern for a major historical event like April 30, in which they and their families have never been outsiders." According to him, Tuoi Tre newspaper has created a forum for "small stories" to have the opportunity to be told in that grand historical context.

From over 800 entries, the jury selected 16 entries to be awarded on April 26. The entries that passed the preliminary round were also selected to be published in the book Telling Peace Stories, which was released on this occasion.

Award Ceremony, Book Launch of Peace Stories

Unforgettable stories

50 years have passed since April 30, 1975, the country is peaceful and unified. But there are things that "maybe I will never forget for the rest of my life".

Reunion News by author Vu Thi Thuy Duong (HCMC) recounts a touching memory of the separation and reunion of Ms. Ta Thi Mai's family (born in 1951) in a turbulent historical context.

Because she was angry at her grandfather's betrayal, in 1954, Mrs. Mai's grandmother took her three grandchildren (including Mrs. Mai, 3 years old) "back to her hometown (Ninh Binh) to visit and let him know her face". Who would have thought that the trip would last more than 20 years. Then on April 30, 1975, hearing the news of victory on the Voice of Vietnam Radio , the whole North burst into joy of unification, Mrs. Mai shed tears because she was about to see her parents again.

The reunion took place in July 1975, at Bach Dang wharf, full of bitterness, sadness but also sweetness; and most importantly, mother and daughter were still able to meet each other again.

Ms. Duong is Mrs. Mai's adopted daughter. She was told this story by her mother when she was young and it left a deep impression on her. For the past 30 years, she has lived with that story. She told Tuoi Tre that the story of her adoptive mother's family reunion is both personal and a vivid generalization of the values ​​and aspirations for peace of all Vietnamese people.

Summary clip of the Peace Storytelling writing contest - Source: Organizing Committee

Or in the article "Parents' Love Story", author Doan Khuyen (HCMC) tells the touching love story of her parents, starting from a chance letter in the last days of the war.

At that time, my father drew many portraits of my mother, always putting a black dot on her chin to remember her distinctive mole. When the war ended, he was determined to find her and marry her, and they have been in love for half a century.

In The Fate of Gain and Loss, author Nguyen Lan Quy (from Binh Dinh) tells a very different story. The article is about her mother, the wife of a Saigon government officer who passed away while she was pregnant.

At the age of twenty, she sent her children to her grandparents to continue their studies. In March, the Central Highlands fell, and with the help of the army, she went to Saigon. Later, although she had the opportunity to board an evacuation ship, she decided to return to Kon Tum to find her elderly mother and young children.

After the war, she started a new life. She met Lan's father - a veteran who had regrouped in the North in 1954, who had experienced a broken marriage. They came together, overcame social prejudices, did not distinguish between biological and stepchildren, built a home and together reclaimed the land full of bombs and mines left over from the war. When reading this article, many people admired her mother's strong vitality and refusal to surrender to fate; at the same time, they thought about the reconciliation after 50 years of peace.

There are many other stories to be told. Like a mother about to give birth receives news of her husband's death when the time for peace and national reunification is near (in Saigon, April 30 and Mother by author Nguyen Quoc Dat, Ho Chi Minh City).

Or the father's hasty stops home, he did not tell his children to be good and study well, he only told them "when you hear the sound of a plane, run down to the basement, you hear, live and go back to your hometown, you hear" in Father's Day (author Le Thi Nga, Da Nang)...

And the returns, many reunions mixed with joy and sadness. There is also loss, a void that cannot be filled. Above all, the vitality and strength of the Vietnamese people during the war stand out, told in a simple, everyday way, anyone can find a piece of their soul there.

Judge, Dr. Nguyen Thi Hau - Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Historical Science Association, General Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Historical Association - confided that many stories were similar to her family's. "When reading, I almost "relived" the emotions of the time from the days before peace, after peace and the moments when my family from the North came to the South to reunite after 20 years apart," she said.

Parents of author Le Thi Nga, author of the song Father's Day Return

Young people's feelings

Journalist Nguyen Truong Uy - Deputy General Secretary of the Tuoi Tre Newspaper - said that when making a special issue to celebrate the 50th anniversary of peace and national reunification, Tuoi Tre Newspaper immediately thought of how to get more readers, especially young readers, to be interested and participate in telling stories of peace to spread the value of peace to everyone, every home.

Why tell a story of peace, not a story of war?

He said, "The war has been over for 50 years." After 50 years, Vietnam is a country with a young population. Generations of fathers and grandfathers who experienced the war are getting older and fewer, and there needs to be a next generation to tell their stories from today's perspective. "Those stories are not only valuable from the past, but through them, young people will learn lessons for themselves and understand more about the value of peace today," Mr. Uy said.

I am very pleased that after more than a month of launching, Tuoi Tre newspaper received more than 800 articles from all over the country, mostly from young people and many of them were of high quality.

According to journalist Nguyen Truong Uy, young people have participated in the past 50 years, participated in a part of their grandparents' and parents' lives and told that story from their own perspective. Besides the past, they think and reflect on the present, looking more towards the future. The content and expression are not only one-sided or personalized emotions but also general and representative.

War, to today's youth, is not just a folded page of history. It is present in grandmother's old radio, in bomb craters in the countryside, in the chaotic roads that their grandparents once walked...

Reading the article Bomb Craters in My Hometown, author Nguyen Van Phuc has some interesting thoughts. Not only a physical dent, a painful mark left by war, bomb craters are also a "legacy" for young people to understand that peace does not come naturally. And what must people today do to turn the voids left by war into places to cultivate new life?

When concluding his article, author Nguyen Quoc Dat said that on April 30, his birthday, he took his mother to visit Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City. This is the place that his mother always talked about in her heart, where she used to live, receive medical and educational support, and be taken care of by strangers but extremely kind people. It is also the place where her relatives have fallen but the two of them will go in the beautiful days of peace.

The Peace Storytelling Contest is organized by Tuoi Tre newspaper, accompanied by Vietnam Rubber Group, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the country's peace.

The jury of the contest includes: journalist Nguyen Truong Uy - deputy general secretary of Tuoi Tre newspaper, Dr. Nguyen Thi Hau - deputy general secretary of Vietnam Historical Science Association, general secretary of Ho Chi Minh City Historical Association, researcher - writer Nguyen Truong Quy.

As a result, the first prize went to author Doan Khuyen with the work The love story of parents. The two second prizes were awarded to author Nguyen Quoc Dat with the work Saigon, 30-4 and mother and author Nguyen Lan Quy with the work The gain and loss are arranged by fate.

The three third prizes were awarded to authors Vu Thi Thuy Duong with the work Reunion News, Bao Nam with The April Storyteller, and Huynh Toi with Tears Burst Out at Noon on April 30 of that year.

10 consolation prizes went to the authors: Hoang Don Nhat Tan (The Last Hour of War), Pham Thi Ngoc Diep (That was April 30), Truong Thi Hien (Peace, Missing Mom), Hoang Viet Hang (There are invisible wounds), Nguyen Ngoc Tue Minh (My Grandmother's Old Radio), Le Thi Nga (Father's Return Day), Tam Nguyen (My Homeland Still Waits for My Father to Return), Phan Khuong (9X Thinking About Peace), Tran Hong Hanh (Why Are Tears of Joy Falling), Cao Hy (Peace of Soldiers).

The selected entries were published in the book Peace Stories, released on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of peace.

Very meaningful contest

One time, by chance, reading Tuoi Tre newspaper, I learned about the Peace Storytelling writing contest. Immediately, the name of the contest attracted me. It was a simple name, very suggestive and allowed the participants to tell their stories in the most intimate way.

During those days, I re-read my father’s memoir (about 200 pages thick). Having been told about my parents’ love story before, reading it again, I was even more moved. April 30 was an important milestone, I thought, I needed to retell that story, for myself.

Most notably, my entry was published on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the country's peace and unification, which was also my parents' 50th wedding anniversary.

Author Doan Khuyen's joy when seeing his entry appear in Tuoi Tre newspaper

On the anniversary, my family held a "golden wedding" for my parents in Con Dao (where they also lived), inviting close friends to attend. I brought 100 copies of Tuoi Tre newspaper with my articles from the mainland to the island, giving each guest a copy to read for fun. Everyone who came to the wedding laughed out loud. My father was very happy, but my mother was very embarrassed.

I suddenly felt a strong connection between the story in my memory, the newspaper page and today. April 30th was like a milestone, opening up a completely different future. In that flash of fate, of history, my parents had a timeless and admirable love story. It was their love for each other that their children and grandchildren always looked up to and lived beautifully, overcoming all difficulties in this life.

Thank you Tuoi Tre newspaper for organizing such a meaningful contest. I hope there will be more contests like this because Vietnamese people still have tens of millions of stories to tell. And each story is as important as the others.

I believe that personal stories, small stories of each person contribute to completing the portrait of Vietnam during the war. It is not a face of iron and blood, but also flowers, suffering - burning, fluttering happiness. Through that, we can see how thirsty the Vietnamese are for life, thirsty for love, and love peace. That is also the secret, the attraction of our country's history.

Author Doan Khuyen, first prize in the Peace Storytelling Contest

War memories open up a light of hope

April 30, war, peace, is not the story of any individual but the common story of many Vietnamese people, of this country.

The entries in the Peace Storytelling writing contest show that readers all have the same thoughts about the past 50 years of peace, and see how precious peace is and how it needs to be preserved for the future.

Journalist NGUYEN TRUONG UY

As the name of the contest, Telling stories of peace, peace and unity are still the highest values ​​that Vietnamese people strive for.

That is why there are many articles mentioning the memories of war that are still heavy, even painful, but when they end, there are still sparkles, lights of hope, of reunion, of the future.

Dr. NGUYEN THI HAU

Retelling the past can be difficult and not everyone has the courage or the ability to express themselves well.

But fortunately, the quality of the articles has improved significantly over time, with articles that have stories and more vivid character experiences, and even some that are emotional.

The contest attracted stories from many different sides of the war and unification. I was especially impressed and sympathetic to the stories that were personal or about healing.

In my opinion, the perspective of ordinary people on the past is also very important and can create a balance between perspectives in society when referring to a special historical event like April 30.

Writer NGUYEN TRUONG QUY

LAUGHING PINE

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ke-chuyen-hoa-binh-nhung-tieu-tu-su-trong-dai-su-dat-nuoc-20250427183804593.htm