In Remembrance of the Border War
Translated by: Phạm Đoan Trang Dear, if you ever go to the border you’ll find plenty of rose myrthes shining their colour of purple in that windy and sandy land. They are as purple as the colour of faith in the heart of the young soldiers in the land of the border… These beautiful lyrics of the song “Border Rose Myrthes” by songwriter Minh Quang arose from the inspiration he found in a 1979 trip to the northern border of Vietnam. The song would later be completed in 1984 amid tensions between Vietnam and China. Not long before his trip, on February 17, 1979, first sounds of gunfire echoed in the border area between the two countries, marking the return of Chinese invaders 190 years after their defeat in Dong Da, Ngoc Hoi (now part of Hanoi). 500,000 Chinese soldiers and civil defend servants from 9 combat corps of the PLA, together with many other military units, were deployed. At 5am, February 17, 1979, they opened fire, launching a large offensive across the entire north
