Nguyen Tat Thành - Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com

This statue of Ho Chi Minh (1880-1969) is located on the northern side of the Ho Chi Minh Museum, in central Ho Chi Minh City. The name used on the statue, Nguyen Tat Thành, was the name granted, as was the custom, by his father (a Confucian scholar) on his 10th birthday. This names means “Nguyen the Accomplished”. It was not until Nguyen was 50 years old (1940) that he used the name Ho Chi Minh (which translates as "He who enlightens the spirit and light"). This was when Ho returned to Vietnam and began, with the assistance of the USA, to lead a resistance movement against the Japanese.

The statue is taller than life-sized, and depicts Ho Chi Minh as a young man, staring and moving earnestly forward, wearing casual western clothes. The status stands on a plinth, on a dais. There is a plaque (in gallery) on the plinth. It is most likely constructed from bronze.

There is a date on the plaque: 5th May 1911. I believe that this refers to the date that Ho Chi Minh passed through this customs house when he departed Saigon to go into exile for three decades. There is also a phrase on the plaque that does not translate well (google translate), but seems to be a benediction.


Ho Chi Minh was a Vietnamese military and political leader who guided the communist movement to victory in his homeland of Vietnam.

At his birth Vietnam was part of French Indochina. An independence movement formed in the early 20th century, seeking freedom from colonial rule. This led to open conflict after WW2. First the French were defeated in 1954, then the USA in 1975, after a great deal of fighting, death, and financial cost.

Politically, Ho Chí Minh was a Marxist-Leninist. He was a key figure in the foundation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945. He held the positions of Prime Minister (1945–1955), and also President (1945–1969) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). He was also instrumental in forming and leading both the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Viet Cong (NLF) during the Vietnam War. Following the communist victory, Saigon, the capital of Republic of Vietnam, after the war, was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in his honour.

URL of the statue: Not listed

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