Lifestyle

Unveiling the Untold Story: The Revolutionary Cultural Base of the Viet Minh

12 October, 2025

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THE HANOI TIMES — On the southern bank of the Vinh Tuy Bridge once stood a five-room tiled house, serving as the headquarters of the National Salvation Cultural Association. This Viet Minh organization played a pivotal role in the success of the August Revolution.

In May 1941, President Ho Chi Minh established the Viet Minh Front, advocating for the creation of National Salvation organizations. These groups aimed to unite people from all social strata and patriotic political factions, rallying the entire population to rise and seize power.

Duong Viet Tien (third from left), son of Duong Quang Tri, releases a book about his family. Photos: Ngo Minh/The Hanoi Times

In February 1943, Party General Secretary Truong Chinh drafted the Outline of Vietnamese Culture. Inspired by this document, the National Salvation Cultural Association was founded in April 1943. It attracted renowned cultural and literary figures, including playwright Hoc Phi, and celebrated writers and journalists such as Nguyen Huy Tuong, Nam Cao, Nguyen Hong, To Hoai, Nguyen Dinh Thi, and Thep Moi.

After its original base on Pho Duc Chinh Street was compromised, the association relocated to the home of engineer Duong Quang Tri and his wife, Luu Thi Huong. Luu Thi Huong was the younger sister of diplomat Luu Van Loi (1913-2016), and their home was in Vinh Tuy village, Hanoi.

Within the five-room tiled house, the association hosted numerous thematic talks, drawing intellectuals, cultural figures, and ordinary citizens. They launched the Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper and published works by leading poets and writers, including Xuan Dieu and Hai Trieu.

By 1944, as the Viet Minh movement gained momentum, the National Salvation Cultural Association expanded its influence. Many cultural activists and communist fighters who had escaped from prison found refuge in Tri’s house. Tri and Huong provided them with food, shelter, safety, and secrecy.

Located near a French military outpost, the house faced constant danger. During a time of widespread hardship and hunger, it became a steadfast refuge for members of the Cultural Association.

Veterans are moved by the story of Duong Quang Tri’s family.

In the lead-up to Hanoi’s General Uprising, Tri’s family and association members worked tirelessly. They prepared red and yellow cloth for national flags, banners, and slogans, as well as microphones and loudspeakers for the August 19 rally. The association also helped construct the podium and decorate the Ba Dinh flower garden area for the September 2, 1945, ceremony. It was here that President Ho Chi Minh read the historic Declaration of Independence.

In later years, many senior revolutionaries of the Cultural Association returned to visit the house. They fondly recalled the days when Tri and Huong sheltered them and served simple yet heartfelt meals.

At the outbreak of the August Revolution in 1945, Duong Quang Tri worked at the Bach Mai Radio Transmission Station. This facility, built by the French in 1912, was a Morse code relay between Hanoi, Saigon, and Paris. As one of the most advanced facilities in Indochina and Asia, it later became the first broadcasting site of the Voice of Vietnam after the revolution.

As chief of the transmission shift, Tri and his patriotic technicians successfully broadcast President Ho Chi Minh’s Declaration of Independence to the world.

In December 1946, Tri and his colleagues transmitted a special broadcast carrying the “National Resistance Order” from Minister of National Defense Vo Nguyen Giap. Shortly after, French forces destroyed the station.

In 1947, Tri was transferred to the radio communications unit of the Party Central Office, operating in the Viet Bac war zone. After peace was restored, he and his family returned to Hanoi. There, he served as a logistics officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until his retirement.

The historic house at No. 8, Alley 120, Vinh Tuy Street, was burned down by French troops on December 20, 1946, following the outbreak of the nationwide resistance war. After the liberation of Hanoi in 1954, Tri’s family returned from Viet Bac and built a thatched house on the old foundation. From this home, they endured the nation’s fierce wars and the hardships of the post-war subsidy period, raising their children to adulthood.

Today, the house, now numbered 96 Nguyen Van Vien Street, Vinh Tuy Ward, Hanoi, has been officially recognized as a historical site by the Hanoi People’s Committee.

A book written by Duong Viet Tien, son of Duong Quang Tri.

Duong Viet Tien, the son of Duong Quang Tri and Luu Thi Huong, has chronicled the story of his family’s home in the book Beloved Old House. This book is not a personal or family memoir but a proud history of a lineage that significantly contributed to the nation’s resistance against foreign invasion.

Recently, Tien’s book and his family story were celebrated in Hanoi during a ceremony hosted by the Soldiers’ Hearts organization. Artists of the organization restored portraits of martyrs and revolutionary veteran Duong Quang Tri, honoring those who dedicated themselves to the national revolution.