President Ho Chi Minh’s three-year trip to London more than a century ago had an important meaning to his revolutionary career, British historian John Callow, former Director of Archives, Marx Memorial Library, has said.

Drayton Court Hotel in which President Ho Chi Minh toiled in the kitchens in 1914 (Photo: VNA)

Talking to Viet Nam News Agency, Callow held that London was a destination for Ho Chi Minh after a long journey to many other places because that was known as the workshop of the world. It was the cradle of the Industrial Revolution, the centre of the greatest empire in terms of land mass that the world had ever known, and the world's top financial centre. His journey is intensely practical and a way to discover the politics, the economics and the cultures of very different civilisations, the scholar stated.

He stressed that it was a brave step for Ho Chi Minh to leave his homeland with a desire to learn, to witness with his own eyes the fast changing world, and to see for himself the bases of the imperial power.
“During his tour, he got a sense of change, a possibility and the power of an organised working class to make progressive change. He could take certain lessons back home with him to change the lives and the realities of the Viet Namese people for the better. But from London, he had some weed,” he said.

In Thailand, Nguyen Thi Xuan Oanh, a member of the management board of the Ho Chi Minh Monument Site in Udon Thani province said President Ho Chi Minh is admired and respected among overseas Viet Namese youngsters.

Speaking to Viet Nam News Agency in Thailand on the occasion, Oanh said that older generations of Viet Namese community in the province have worked to maintain Viet Namese language for their offspring, ensuring that they know well about Viet Nam and the late President. She expressed her hope that the Party and State will coordinate with the Viet Namese community in Thailand to teach Viet Namese language to the third and fourth generations of overseas Viet Namese in Thailand, thus maintaining and promoting the national tradition in the country.

Udon Thani, the largest province in the northeastern region of Thailand, is hosting the largest number of overseas Viet Namese in Thailand.

President Ho Chi Minh arrived in the province in July, 1928. During his stay until 1929, the leader used the name of “Thau Chin” and resided in Nong Bua area, which is near the train station of Udon Thani province today. He then moved to Nong Om hamlet in Chiang Phin commune, Muang district, which is 12km from Udon Thani.

With the support of overseas Viet Namese and locals of Thailand, the leader worked to reinforce the “Hoi Viet Nam Cach mạng Thanh nien” (Viet Namese revolutionary youth union) in the country. Despite his short time in the locality, the President won deep sentiments from the Viet Namese and local communities there. In 2002, the local administration and the Viet Namese Association in Udon Thani coordinated to build a 10,000sq.m monument site commemorating the Viet Namese national leader.

Meanwhile, to mark the 132^rd birthday of President Ho Chi Minh, a contest themed “rich and beautiful Viet Namese language” was held for Viet Namese students in Kazan city, the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The contest aims to create an interesting playground for students to explore the beauty of the Viet Namese language, thus promoting traditional culture and the Viet Namese language among the Viet Namese community.