Quezon Memorial

Well, I'm wrapping up my time here in Manila, so I'm going to try and get a bunch of posts up about different things I've seen, and a little about where I've been working all this time! But today, I'll start with a pretty cool memorial near where I've been living and working.

The University of the Philippines is in one of the cities which makes up Metro Manila, called Quezon City. The city is named after Manuel Quezon (1878-1944). Quezon was instrumental in getting the United States to agree to give the Philippines independence, a plan which was agreed upon in the 1934 Tydings-McDuffie Act. This act created a transition period for the Philippines, where the Philippines would have a self-governing Commonwealth while the United States retained sovereignty until a deadline of 1946, when the Philippines would become independent. Quezon became the president of the new Commonwealth in 1935, a position he would hold until his death in 1944.

Sadly, Quezon died in the United States rather than in his beloved Philippines, since Japan conquered the Philippines in 1942, forcing the Commonwealth government to flee to the United States. It remained there until the reconquest of the Philippines in 1944-45. Therefore, after the Philippines became independent in 1946, the government immediately began plans to build a memorial to the late leader.

The monument was going to be in "Quezon City," then a suburb of Manila which had begun construction while Quezon was still president in the 1930s. The plan had been to relocate the capitol to Quezon City upon independence, but the Japanese occupation and the destruction of Manila in the reconquest of the Philippines interfered with those plans.

We often forget the loss of the Philippines in the United States when we remember World War II, but the occupation and the reconquest left the Philippines absolutely ravaged. At the time, it was said no cities were more devastated by the war than Warsaw and Manila. Here are some photos of Manila after the reconquest in 1945:

The Philippines have come a long way since 1945, though.

Quezon Memorial, AKA Isengard

Ren Mark, my friendly guide

All of that to say...in 1978 construction finished on the Quezon Memorial, a 66-meter high tower (for Quezon's 66 years) at the center of the Quezon Circle, a large park at the center of Quezon City, which had been meant as the site for the presidential palace, Congress, and the Supreme Court. Now, it is a gathering place for families, with amusement park rides, the Quezon museum, a large amphitheater, and lots of goods for sale.

Most important for me, nerd as I am, is the Quezon Museum in the Quezon Memorial tower. A history BA student who worked at the museum, named Ren Mark, was very welcoming to me, and showed me all over the museum.




He showed me the dresses of Mrs. Aurora Quezon:

And the surviving pieces of Quezon's office:

As well as Quezon's tomb, his remains having been returned to the Philippines from upstate New York after the war. Quezon wanted it to resemble Napoleon's tomb in the Hotel des Invalides:

Finally, and most generously, Ren Mark stayed late and took me up the tower, so I could experience Gandalf's imprisonment on the top of Isengard. Thankfully, I didn't have to catch a moth and get the Eagles to come rescue me (magical eagles, not Don Henley). Wonderfully, this gave me the best views of Manila I've ever had:

Looking down on the Quezon Circle, with the fountain at its center.

Great view up Commonwealth Avenue, leading out toward the edge of Manila, and the mountains.

Looking back toward the sea, and the heart of urban Manila. Gives you a sense of the city's size.

Looking out toward the University of the Philippines: the bell tower near the center of the frame is on the UP campus; a little to the right from the tower is the main administrative building, and diagonally behind it, the library, where I spend most of my time.

A sunlit glimpse of the sea beyond all the buildings, to the north.

Yours truly. Thanks to Ren Mark for the photo, and the privilege!

It was an incredible privilege to get these great views, and Ren Mark was a generous and gracious host. He did the Quezon Museum a great service--if you head out that way, ask for Ren Mark!

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And now for something completely different.

Just in case you hadn't seen it. I'm not sure if Peter Jackson copied the Quezon Memorial, or if the builders just read The Lord of the Rings a lot...

Vietnam Omnibus

My sincere apologies for going AWOL for the last few weeks: I was in Vietnam for a week earlier this month, and since I returned to the Philippines I’ve kept putting off getting all the pictures together. Well, here they are, at long last: in a full, omnibus edition.

Hiep and his lovely wife, Huyen.

I went to Vietnam at the invitation of my great friend Hiep Nguyen, a Hanoi native whom I met through the Baptist Campus Ministry’s international student outreach when I was an undergraduate at Western Kentucky University. We became good friends, and were roommates for my first year of grad school at WKU, while Hiep finished his MBA. After graduation, Hiep returned to Vietnam, started an English as a Second Language teaching business, and got married! (If you’re interested in learning English in Vietnam, there’s no better place than http://globalchange.edu.vn/.) He’s wanted me to come to Vietnam ever since, and my being in the Philippines seemed close enough. Moreover, the last week in January coincided with the lunar new year, or Tet in Vietnam, the most important holiday of the year, when families gather together from around the country. I felt more privileged than I can say to be invited to join in Hiep’s family celebrations.

The 'turtle temple' at the center of Hoàn Kiếm Lake

Due to a scheduling snafu on my end, I arrived the day after the new year itself, but thankfully the Tet celebrations last for several days. The night of my arrival, Hiep drove me around Hanoi, and especially to a central place in the city, Hoàn Kiếm Lake, or “Lake of the Returned Sword.” As casual passers-by enjoyed a Tet family outing at the lake, Hiep told me the story of the lake: according to legend, the turtle in the lake gave a sword to a Vietnamese king of old, who used the sword to defeat the invading Chinese. Then, the king returned the sword to the turtle and the lake. The turtles who lived in the lake could live for hundreds and hundreds of years, and Vietnam mourned last year when the last was killed, apparently by an invasive species of Chinese turtle. Maybe the humans will help the turtles turn back the invaders this time.

Huyen's family, taking a picture for Tet.

The next morning, Hiep and his lovely wife Huyen drove me to Uông Bí, a city near the coast, to visit Huyen’s family. Although no one but Hiep and Huyen spoke very much English, Huyen’s family could not have made me feel more at home. Huyen’s grandfather (who made me really wish I could speak Vietnamese!) was particularly gracious, even entertaining Hiep and I with a performance on what I believe is the đàn nguyệt (literally, moon string instrument). Then, in what will remain one of my favorite moments in life, he pulled out an electric guitar and played the same song.

đàn nguyệt

Electric guitar

Ba Vang Pagoda

Huyen’s grandfather also took me to the newly completed Ba Vang Pagoda, one of the largest Buddhist pagodas in the world. The visit made me want to brush up on my Buddhism, as I realized how little of the iconography I understood! It is always a special experience to learn about others’ religious beliefs, and to engage in conversation about them. I appreciate Huyen’s grandfather bringing me along for what was a special and meaningful visit at an important time of year.

Ha Long Bay

The next morning, Hiep took me to Hạ Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site and possibly the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Nothing I have seen in all the world has more convinced me of a Creator behind the beauty in our world, though others might interpret the geologic processes which carved these beautiful islands out of limestone karst differently. (Interestingly, this karst is much like that in Kentucky, and its famous Mammoth Cave. In fact, Hiep proudly informed me on arrival that the Hang Son Doong cave system in central Vietnam has recently surpassed the Mammoth Cave system as the largest cave system in the world!) Looking back at these images brings to mind God’s answer to Job, when he asks “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?…Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb…? …The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment” (Job 38:4, 8, 14, NIV). On one island, we got to enjoy a cave, as well as a visit from an enterprising monkey taking advantage of the tourists to get some treats, including a banana—which it opened just like my Grandpa always told me, from the bottom. It then ate it in one bite.

Cute children

Monkey

Quốc Tử Giám

The next morning, we returned to Hanoi to visit more with Hiep’s family. In the afternoon, Hiep took me to the Quốc Tử Giám, or Imperial Academy, better known as the “Temple of Literature,” in downtown Hanoi. The complex, set up as Vietnam’s first national university in 1076 (!), was the site for study of Confucian classics by scholars preparing for exams to serve in the royal court. The gate to the inner courtyard, pictured here, is the symbol for Hanoi. Also pictured are huge stelae from 1484, set on the backs of turtles (who represent wisdom and learning in Vietnamese iconography), recording the names of doctors who passed the royal exams. I think when I (someday) finish this PhD, I should get a stele on the back of a turtle.

Turtle stele; available on Amazon?

Just outside the Temple of Literature, especially for Tet, calligraphists gather to write Chinese characters for luck. Hiep gave me one, with the appropriate word “Serendipity”—though I certainly see it as providence, I am grateful God brought Hiep and I together six years ago when he walked into the Baptist Campus Ministry!

Our calligrapher

All of this provides a good opportunity to discuss the ambiguous and ambivalent Chinese-Vietnamese relationship, as I observed it as an ignorant outsider who visited for a week. Chinese symbols and characters are everywhere, as Vietnam used the Chinese script, and was considered a part of the Sinic, Confucian world, prior to French colonization in the 1880s. (The French introduced the Romanized alphabet currently used for Vietnamese.) Yet, for all these affinities, a great deal of hostility toward China for its numerous conquests, or attempts at conquest, of Vietnam over the last two millennia, remains. The latest, in 1979 (an engagement which Vietnam decidedly won), provided the context for the calligrapher who wrote Hiep’s and my letters. He told us that after serving in the 1979 war, he learned Chinese so he could better understand how to fight them! Yet, his livelihood is selling Chinese characters to display proudly in Vietnamese homes!

 National Museum of Vietnam

The same theme emerged the next day, when Huyen, Hiep, and I went to the National Museum of Vietnam. Before the section on the anti-French anticolonial movement (which I found most interesting due to my interest in anticolonialism), practically the entire museum consisted of Vietnamese dynasties driving out, or repelling, Chinese invaders! Even though I tend to focus on European colonization, the museum provided a useful reminder that in the long, two millennia history of Vietnam, the French period (1880s-1954) consisted of a blip in time. Yet, the French and American wars in Vietnam scarred the countryside, and killed more people, than perhaps any of the hundred wars in the previous twenty centuries. The rusty French railway bridge we crossed later that day represents, for me, both the enduring legacy of the colonial era, and its utter hubris. The French didn’t assimilate Vietnam (though the Vietnamese have certainly mastered the baguette!), they built a piece of steel, no longer used for its original purpose, but appropriated by generations of later Vietnamese people.

Elaborate metaphor for colonialism

On a cheerier note, next to the museum, we visited a phở restaurant owned by Hiep’s brother. The phở, pictured here, was delicious: although it’s pretty common in the USA, this was easily the best I’d ever eaten. Usually eaten for breakfast, the rich broth, slurpy noodles, and tender beef are a perfect combination. With some lime juice squeezed in, and lots of herbs, you can’t beat it. Try it if you haven’t. And if you’re in Hanoi, be sure to go to the restaurant!

Hiep and Huyen in old Hanoi

Later that day, we also walked around the crowded streets and alleys of old Hanoi, with its old streets and colonial-era buildings—and lots of Westerners, since Vietnam has become a very attractive tourist spot.

On Friday, Hiep and I went to the outlying village of Bat Trang (after he mercifully let me sleep in), famous for its marvelous pottery. Hiep and I tried our hand at spinning the wheels (Hiep more successfully than I), but after we painted our beautiful vase and brought it back to Hiep’s house, we found it had crumbled in the wrapping! Alas.

Bat Trang

Hiep painting our ill-fated goblet

Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh

Saturday, my final full day in Vietnam, Huyen, Hiep and I went to the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, leader of the Vietnamese Communist Party from the 1930s until his death in 1969, and revered as the founding father of Vietnam, having led the Viet Minh against the Japanese and the French, and then the North Vietnamese regime against the USA and the US-allied Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Ho’s face graces all of the currency, and his mausoleum (where he lies in state, like Mao and Lenin) rather outshines the National Parliament across the street. His humble abode, nearby, was a testament to the common touch which enabled him to lead a popular movement for decades, and reach nearly all of his goals. As an American, whatever one believes about Ho, the Vietnam War, or communism, his political and strategic acumen cannot be disregarded.

Van Phuc

Card patterns for silk looms

Finally, we dropped by Van Phuc, a little village tucked within Hanoi, famous for its silk production. As we shopped for beautiful silk scarves and shirts, we also dropped in on a small mill producing silk garments, using the sort of punch-card patterns my great-grandfather used in western North Carolina to make textiles. I don’t think he ever made any silk scarves, though!

All through my time in Hanoi, I got to spend time with Hiep’s family: his two older brothers, his oldest brother’s wife and two children, and Hiep’s parents. I enjoyed playing with Hiep’s nephew and niece (who were amused to no end by my repetition of their nonsense words), and receiving Hiep’s mother’s constant urges to eat more, from noodles and vegetables to more soybeans or more tea! Our last night together was bittersweet, as I expressed to Hiep’s father how grateful I was for his family welcoming me, and affirming that my family considers Hiep a member as well. He expressed hope that our relationship would continue to grow, and would bode well for continued US-Vietnamese cooperation and reconciliation. I could not concur more heartily.

Hiep with his (very silly) niece and nephew

Hiep's mother, in a typical scene, bringing more food. Hiep's brother and sister-in-law are in the center, with Hiep's father to the left. 

Hiep's father managing hotpot night!

A pretty great moment: with (from left) Hiep's father, nephew, brother, niece, and sister-in-law. And me, with a lovely gift (replica of a drumhead which we saw at the Temple of Literature and the National Museum) from the family. Their hospitality was gift enough by far!

Then, it was time to go. With a sad farewell, I left Hanoi. I hope to go back soon—to see Hiep and his family again, to learn some Vietnamese, to explore more of a beautiful country, and to better understand its history.

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And, to keep up tradition, here is a totally unrelated video:
Don't think about it too hard.