This event is a meeting in celebration of the 60th anniversary of Hanoi Liberation Day, the 15th year since Hanoi being recognized as the City for Peace by UNESCO and the awards ceremony of this contest. The exhibition “15 years of Hanoi - The City for Peace” was one of those event.
At the opening ceremony, Ambassador of Palestine, one of the authors who have taken a lot of photos of Hanoi, said: “I did not came here as a guest, but I came with my love as the love of a son towards his homeland where he got his baggage of life. It left to me the unforgettable memories and was where I started to deeply feel and admire the historical traditional, magnanimous culture and humanity of the Vietnamese people”.
Hanoi is always a “pinky heart” in the mind of Vietnamese people, a capital with thousands years of cultural history. In the mind of international friends, Hanoi is also a land that represents the glorious history of audacious struggle to guard the nation and peaceful aspiration to build the nation. The legend of Hoan Kiem Lake where Le Loi returned his magical sword to the Golden Turtle becomes a noble symbol of peaceful aspiration of the nation as Nguyen Trai wrote, “compassion is the virtue to embrace in place of violence”. The spirit of “valuing the lasting peace” is also a lesson for the next generations of Vietnamese people.
After the reunification between the North and the South in 1975, Hanoi has pioneered in the process of renovating and reconstructing the country, becoming the bridge of friendship and culture among international friends. The transformation to a dynamic city and the integration into the modern world haven’t change Hanoi’s nature of peace, morality, incisiveness and its unique culture. However, the development path for Hanoi in the future also faces difficulties and challenges that requires dedication, determination and breakthrough thinking of its leaders and its people, to pave the way for the cultural values of Hanoi shining forever in the City for Peace.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, on behalf of Hanoi‘s authorities, Mr. Ho Quang Loi, Member of the Standing Committee of Hanoi Party Committee, Head of Hanoi Department for Education and Information, highly appreciated the initiation of this meaningful exhibition, specially the authors who had sent their photos to this exhibition. They are truly the special friends of Hanoi Capital. He was also very pleased that this exhibition had attracted not only professional and but also non-professional authors, including foreign diplomats working in Vietnam, historical researchers, painters,etc... from different countries in the world, who always cherish and ardent their love for Hanoi through the photos of simple moments of the daily life of Hanoi City and its people. It became more special when the photos exhibiting in this exhibition were taken by people who always love Hanoi, such as: Ambassadors, painters, photographers,etc...Due to this reason, a lot of people had visited this exhibition and decided to return to witness Hanoi through the photos taken by international friends”. They said: “This exhibition is very significant. By visiting this exhibition, I feel like I can comprehensively look at Hanoi in the course of integration and development. I believe that in the future, Hanoi will be more developed and will become an amazing destination for international friends”.
15 years is not a very long period in comparision with the historical development of Hanoi City. However, what Hanoi has been doing shows that this city will always deserve the noble title “The City for Peace”
