At the conference summarizing 30 years of cooperation between the Management Board of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Russian Institute of Medicinal Science and Essential Oils (VILAR), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked to strive for complete mastery of technology for long-term preservation and safe protection of the body of late President Ho Chi Minh in all conditions by 2030.
A scientist, who did not want to be named for security reasons when answering RFA by phone on August 15 from Hanoi, said that Vietnam had mastered the technique of embalming, and the Vietnamese leader said so just for diplomatic reasons only:
“Firstly, about preserving the body of late President Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam has had a policy for a long time. One year before Uncle Ho’s death, the Politburo sent Doctor Quyen – Head of Anatomy Department of Military Medical Institute 118 secretly to the Soviet Union to study embalming. The person who assigned the task was Mr. Le Duc Tho, head of the Central Organization Department, who said that ‘this is the first time we have done something against Uncle Ho’s wish.’ Second, when Uncle died, of course, there were Soviet experts beside them to do the preservation techniques, and at the same time, Vietnam also imitated the embalming of a beggar as a control.”
According to this scientist, the mummification technique that Vietnam got was partly due to stealing:
“After several decades, I heard that while working at the military medical academy, there were a number of secret doctoral theses on preserving President Ho Chi Minh’s body. In my opinion, until now Vietnam can master the technique of preserving Uncle’s body, in the past, there were some chemicals that Vietnam couldn’t do. But there are things that they have stolen, I know because when I was abroad, the leader in charge of me was a person who used to serve Russian embalmers. He said that once when taking experts to eat, drink and swim, he got the key to the laboratory to take chemical samples and analyze them.”
Over the years, Vietnam’s state-controlled media has always had articles praising Ho Chi Minh’s body preservation work since 1969 and calling for it to continue for a long time. However, in the public for a long time, there have been questions about whether to continue embalming the late President Ho Chi Minh.
Journalist Nguyen Vu Binh, who used to work at Communist Magazine, commented to RFA on August 15:
“In my opinion, his body should not be embalmed anymore, because I read the will of Mr. Ho Chi Minh, he said that the body should be cremated, not built into a mausoleum. That’s one, and secondly, it’s too expensive, maintenance of the Mausoleum Command every year is very costly. Now, if it’s removed, it’s just in line with Mr. Ho Chi Minh’s wish, and it’s also less costly for the people… I’ve seen many people say this before, but they just won’t stop changing.”
Female artist Kim Chi, who has lived and worked for a long time in the North, when answering RFA regarding this issue, previously said that Mr. Ho’s body should not be preserved, but should be cremated according to his will.
“In my opinion, Mr. Ho’s wish was to be cremated, not to build a mausoleum and embalm it, which is too expensive. But in terms of feng shui, people are also very abstinent, if the body is kept moving up and down, how can the people do business, how can the country prosper? In terms of spirituality, I think it should be burned as he wanted. This is both good for national feng shui and economical.”
On social networks many years ago, a part of Mr. Ho Chi Minh’s will in the aftermath was also spread on social networks… including the passage: “After I’m dead, don’t hold a grand funeral, so as not to waste people’s time and money. I asked that my body be burned, that is, cremated.”
The scientist in Hanoi, who did not want to be named, said:
“Should be mummified or not mummified depends on the situation, depending on each person. In my opinion, firstly, it has scientific and technical value, since Vietnam doesn’t know anything, now it owns most of it. And now they say that’s diplomacy I don’t know. In my opinion, scientifically, Vietnam has mastered a scientific project. Secondly, in terms of Asian people and political institutions, it is also a symbol, such as the mausoleum of the Nguyen kings, Minh Mang’s tomb, Tu Duc … is a mark of a historical period. Even Lenin’s mausoleum remained, despite the collapse of the Soviet Union. The embalming of Ho Chi Minh is considered as a symbol for the regime to maintain their political power and internal unity.”
According to information made public by the State of Vietnam, late President Ho Chi Minh died on September 2, 1969. At that time, Politburo decided to best perform the task of long-term preservation of the body and construction of Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum.
Then, with the help of Soviet medical experts, Vietnam preserved Mr. Ho’s body. By 1994, Vietnam was self-sufficient in regular medicine production, and in 2004 received the transfer and built a laboratory system for self-dispensing and testing preserved marinade solutions. By 2019, Vietnam got a full technology transfer from Russia.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
