Monthly Photos Mar 2023 : At a Buddhist Temple near the Vietnam-China Border

Ban Gioc Buddhist Temple was built on a mountain near the Vietnam-China border in 2014. In the main hall, General Vo Nguyen Giap (1911-2013) is enshrined alongside of the Buddhas and Ho Chi Minh. The statue of the general faces to China under the inscription “Hộ Quốc An Dân” (“Protect the country and secure the people”). This long-lived general, who was the commander in chief of Vietnam People’s Army during the wars against France and the United States, is presumably a symbol of strength and power to the Vietnamese people. However, it seems to the photographer that Le Duan (1907-1986), the supreme leader at the time of Vietnam-China border war in 1979 also deserves to be remembered.

September 10, 2017
Ban Gioc Temple, Cao Bang, Vietnam
Photograph by Hirohide KURIHARA