At the start of the ceremony, local residents held a procession to carry sedan chairs of Emperor Quang Trung and Empress Le Ngoc Han to a temple dedicated to him at the Dong Da Mound.
In his speech, Hanoi Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung recounted the remarkable military feat of Emperor Quang Trung and his soldiers in repulsing the foreign aggressors and liberating the country.
He affirmed that 1789 went down in Vietnamese history as one of the most glorious springs, representing the indomitable spirit, great unity and immense creativity of the Vietnamese people.
When China’s Qing Dynasty invaded Vietnam in 1788, Nguyen Hue proclaimed himself Emperor Quang Trung and swiftly marched his troops from Phu Xuan (present-day Hue) to Thang Long (now Hanoi) and defeated the Qing forces in the early days of the Lunar New Year of 1789.
Dong Da Mound, believed to be a burial mound of Qing troops, is considered as a symbol of victory, evidence of the patriotic tradition and an everlasting heroic epic of the Vietnamese people.
On the occasion, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc handed over a certificate recognising Dong Da Mound as a special national site to the government of Hanoi and Dong Da district where the mound is situated.
Following the traditional rituals there was a performance re-enacting Emperor Quang Trung’s military feat of routing the Qing aggressors and regaining national independence and freedom.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc handed over a certificate recognising Dong Da Mound as a special national site to the government of Hanoi. (Photo: Tran Hai)
