Ho Chi Minh Cave in Bameng, Jingxi

The Ho Chi Minh Cave in Bameng, Jingxi

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In the early summer of 2021, I drove from Jingxi to Quyang Lake. When I was almost there, I noticed something on the roadside. A sign: Ho Chi Minh Cave, my heartstrings moved, "You can't find a place without wearing iron shoes, it takes no effort to get there"! After taking a boat ride to see the beautiful scenery of Quyang Lake, the string in my heart became more itchy, and I strongly recommended that my friends go to see Ho Chi Minh Cave together.

When I came to work in Jingxi, a small border town, I noticed the unusual relationship between Jingxi and Ho Chi Minh. At that time, Ho Chi Minh often traveled over mountains and ridges to Jingxi to carry out revolution, and many traces of his activities and cultural relics were left here. In the very center of the city, in a very luxurious old house where he lived, is the former site of the Viet Minh Office, and there is an exhibition related to "Ho Chi Minh and the Zhuang People". I learned from there last year that Ho Chi Minh once lived in three caves in Jingxi, and I have been planning to visit them if I have the chance.

Ho Chi Minh Cave is a naturally formed cave on Fudong Mountain in Bameng Village. Fudong Mountain is a common steep mountain in Guangxi. It has now been developed into a tourist attraction by the villagers. According to the tour guide, the entrance to the cave was very hidden at that time, and one had to climb trees and ancient vines to get in and out. However, the cave was spacious and bright, with a constant temperature all year round, warm in winter and cool in summer. It was originally a place where a villager made wine. In December 1940, in order to lead the struggle against the French colonists and Japanese invaders, Ho Chi Minh and his members of the overseas branch of the Communist Party of Vietnam came to Jingxi from Guilin and made many Zhuang friends, including Xu Weisan from Bameng Village. Became "sworn brothers". In order to avoid the pursuit of the Kuomintang reactionaries, Xu Weisan arranged for Ho Chi Minh to stay in this cave.

Ho Chi Minh carried out revolutionary activities in Jingxi, organized training courses for Vietnamese cadres, drafted the famous "Letter to Vietnamese Compatriots", and wrote many revolutionary poems. For the sake of revolution, he traveled to many places in Jingxi and lived, studied, held meetings, etc. in the cave of Bameng. He lived intermittently for a relatively long time. It was not until August 1942 that Ho Chi Minh went to Chongqing to find Zhou Enlai. Escorted to leave.

Walking into the cave along the developed mountain road is where the villagers make wine and where Ho Chi Minh lived. There are also wooden buckets, stoves and simple beds covered with straw that Ho Chi Minh used. Revolutionary artifacts. In the place where Ho Chi Minh slept and studied, there is a small opening, which allows you to see the situation outside the cave from a high position. It is not only conducive to lighting, studying and working, but also allows you to observe the situation outside. It is truly a beauty made in heaven.

Walking further inside, under the illumination of colorful lights, the spectacle of stalactites is so beautiful and colorful that it is dizzying. Some are like an eagle, some are like a throne, and some are like a meditative immortal... Accompanied by the tinkling sound of spring water in the cave, it is like entering a fairyland. But think about when Ho Chi Minh was here, there was no electricity, no roads, how lonely and deserted it was, along with the passion and romance of Ho Chi Minh’s revolution?

Following the newly built winding path, passing through all kinds of strange stalactites, and bypassing the gurgling water, on a rock wall in the cave, the tour guide pointed out to us the words "Sworn Brothers" written by Ho Chi Minh himself. "One Heart" and an untitled poem: "The sunrise is red in the east, and the sky is full of stars and the moon is dim." The tour guide pointed to the cave entrance on the other side and asked us to look up. Look, what Ho Chi Minh wrote is the scene of the cave entrance changing every day. Sure enough, one feels like one is at the bottom of a ditch, with the entrance of the cave hanging high in the east, vividly described in poetry. Thinking back to those days when Ho Chi Minh was in this cave, looking at the sunrise and sunset at the entrance of the cave, the stars and dark clouds, and thinking about the love of sworn brothers and the flames of the Vietnamese revolution, his heart must have been surging, full of passion, and high-spirited, writing poems and expressing his ambitions in one go. Ho Chi Minh's Chinese characters are neat and clear, with beautiful structure and accurate meaning, which makes me sigh with emotion.

Walking further, closer to the east entrance, you will see Ho Chi Minh’s simple conference table. I don’t know how many state affairs Ho Chi Minh and his comrades studied here, but the ink marks left on the surrounding rock walls include "implement a new life and return my old mountains and rivers", "implement work and achieve the goal", "live in seclusion" and "show Songyan". , indicating that others are in the cave, their hearts are outside the cave, and their thinking has no boundaries. He named the cave "Xiusongyan" himself and regarded it as his study and command room.

Walking up the steps, in a side hole there is another simple bed where Ho Chi Minh rested, with some straw spread on it, which reminded me of the story of "sleeping on fuel and tasting courage". I stood still and looked back at the entire cave, which was more than 600 meters from west to east. It was so transparent that the mountain was almost hollow. The high part of the cave is tens of meters, and the low part is as tall as one person. The entrance to the west is relatively hidden, while the entrance to the east seems larger. I can't help but have some suspicions. There were no roads built in the cave now, and there was no electricity or lights. It should be difficult to walk from the west to the east. Ho Chi Minh should have entered and exited through the cave entrances on both sides, right? Unless there is an emergency, you generally won’t go to the central part, right? Maybe, when Ho Chi Minh was tired from studying and working, he might walk inside and admire the strange stalactites.

Ho Chi Minh left this cave in August 1942 and wanted to go to Chongqing to find Zhou Enlai. Yang Tao from Bameng volunteered to escort him. Unfortunately, they were caught by the Kuomintang minions as soon as they reached Debao.

Ho Chi Minh was holding a letter of introduction from a reporter of the International Anti-Fascist League. Although he was not shot immediately, he was transferred to Liuzhou after being detained in Jingxi for more than forty days. Because the Kuomintang suspected that Ho Chi Minh was a communist and Chiang Kai-shek also deliberately delayed it, Zhou Enlai went through all kinds of troubles and it took more than two years to be rescued and released. But Ho Chi Minh was an extraordinary figure. He faced imprisonment calmly several times. He once wrote boldly: "The body is in prison, but the spirit is outside prison. If you want to achieve great things, you must have a great spirit." Unfortunately, Yang Tao He died of tuberculosis in prison. Ho Chi Minh specifically wrote a poem to Yang Tao in the poem "Prison Diary": "There are waves rising from the ground for no reason, sending you Yang Tao to jail. The fish in the city's fire pond are sighing, and now you have coughed into tuberculosis." Yang Tao is the only one who has suffered from tuberculosis. Martyrs who died protecting foreign heads of state. In 2013, China and Vietnam jointly erected a monument for martyr Yang Tao at the foot of Futong Mountain.

Walking out of Ho Chi Minh Cave, there is a propaganda page about Ho Chi Minh and China next to the trail going down the mountain, showing the deep friendship between China and Vietnam. A commemorative "Brothers Pavilion" was built next to the cave, silently telling the story of cross-border sworn brothers.

After Vietnam gained independence, Ho Chi Minh did not forget the affection of the Ba Mong people. When Xu Wei's third son got married, he also gave him a quilt as a congratulatory gift, and he also invited Bameng friends to visit Vietnam.

The people of Bamon named the cave where Ho Chi Minh lived Ho Chi Minh Cave. This transnational friendship and story will be passed down from generation to generation, and will also leave unlimited thinking and education to future generations.