THUA THIEN-HUE — An exhibition of calligraphy on President Ho Chi Minh's poems, which is being held in Hue, is attracting art lovers.
The exhibition, organised by the city's Ho Chi Minh Museum, the Viet Nam – Republic of Korea Friendship Association, and the Korean Calligraphy Association, features 52 works on paper by 25 leading South Korean artists.
The works are based of Nhat Ky Trong Tu (Prison Diary), a popular collection of poems by President Ho.
They were earlier on show in major South Korean cities like Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Daecheon, Ulsan and in Ha Noi.
Nhat Ky Trong Tu was written during a 12-month stint between 1942 and 1943 when Ho Chi Minh was imprisoned by the Chinese nationalist Chiang Kai Shek army in Guanxi Province.
President Ho used his incarceration to burnish his skills as a revolutionary poet and produced what has become his most enduring literary work which includes the celebrated poems Troi Hung (The Weather is Clearing) and Nua Dem (Midnight).
The 50 verses in the collection embody the universal appeal of Ho Chi Minh's rational, romantic and conscientious poetry.
In the last 50 years, Nhat Ky Trong Tu has been translated into many languages and become an inspiration for many foreign people, including artists.
It was first translated into Korean in 2000 and then republished several times.
The calligraphy exhibition will go on until June 13.
After the exhibition, the organisers said, the collection would be donated to the Ho Chi Minh Museum in Ha Noi.
Calligraphy was popular hundreds of years ago in Viet Nam.
Calligraphy in the Vietnamese language began in the early 1930s when the New Poetry movement, begun by poets like Tan Da, Nguyen Binh, and Xuan Dieu, spread around the country.
Poets started writing in Vietnamese rather than Chinese or Nom (the traditional Vietnamese characters).
In the late eighties, many writers transliterated their works using Vietnamese calligraphy on traditional paper to gift their loved ones.
It has now become common for artists to write poems using calligraphy.
A number of calligraphy clubs have sprung up in Ha Noi, Hue, and HCM City, attracting both old and young people.
It is now common to see calligraphy in newspapers and magazines, with poems and cau doi (couplets) calligraphy depicted. —VNS