“Nuoc non ngan dam ra di…
“In the one-thousand-mile exodus,
“Wait, and wait patiently…”
“Wait patiently, still, Simone, Mi Uyen of the past,” I said to myself.
Alone in the country of my birth, I reminisced over all the old dreams and disappointments that seemed to have ebbed softly away, like the last note of the choral symphony before silenced rushed into the hall.
In that silence, I found in me the seed for a new longing. From the muddled stream of lives crossing and recrossing, O-Lan’s exclamation leaped clearly to my mind: a silk farm and a baby girl would make Grandma Que’s soul very happy! The words shone on me and became a broad spray of light for the future. Somewhere in the village of Quynh Anh, there was an abandoned silk farm, almost a century old, waiting to be rebuilt. There was a baby girl, waiting for the tender arms of a lonely woman who had loved and who had lost. I longed to touch silk wrapped around the feathery warmth of a child.
The day had ended, and I looked up to Saigon’s sky, hearing my voice lingering on my high note, my question echoing in the air:
In this life, will I let go of Cinnamon’s floating coffins and the garden of a place that is no more?
THE END
APPENDICES
Historical facts that supplied the background for Daughters of the River Huong, Mimi and Her Mirror, and Postcards from Nam, the trilogy written by Uyen Nicole Duong
I. Chronicle of Vietnam as a Nation
Prior to 257 BC: Kingdom of Van Lang, ruled by Hung kings—the Hung or Lac era.
257–207 BC: Kingdom of Au Lac, the Thuc era.
207–11 BC: Kingdom of Nam Viet, the Trieu era.
3 BC–203 AD: The district of Giao Chi, under occupation and domination by the Han Dynasty [first part].
40–43 AD: The reign of Trung Vuong (the Trung Sisters) independent from China (the Han Dynasty).
203–544: The district of Giao Chau, under occupation and domination by the Han Dynasty [second part of the Han Dynasty, including the Tuys and the Ngos (Wus)].
225–248: Resistance and uprising led by Trieu Thi Trinh (Lady Trieu) against the Wus.
544–603: Kingdom of Van Xuan, under Ly Nam De.
603–939: The district of An Nam, under occupation and domination by the Tang Dynasty.
968–1054: Kingdom of Dai Co Viet, the Dinh Dynasty.
1054–1400: Kingdom of Dai Viet, consecutively ruled under the (first) Le, Ly, and Tran dynasties. During the Tran Dynasty, General Tran Hung Dao defeated and blocked the aggression of Khan’s army on Bach Dang River.
1400–1407: Kingdom of Dai Ngu, under Ho Quy Ly.
1407–1427: Occupation and domination by the Ming Dynasty.
1427–1802: Kingdom of Dai Viet, under the (second) Le Dynasty, including the period of civil war between the Trinh Lord (north) and the Nguyen Lord (south). This period of time included the reign of the Tay Son Dynasty (founded by Emperor Quang Trung, who defeated the Manchu army in aid of King Le, in what is now known as Hanoi).
1802: The Empire of Viet Nam, declared by a descendant of Lord Nguyen and founder of the Nguyen Dynasty, Emperor Gia Long, who began to build the royal palaces (Cung Thanh, the Citadel, a miniature of Bejing’s Forbidden City). Cung Thanh was later named the Violet City (Tu Cam Thanh) by Gia Long’s successor, Emperor Minh Mang.
1884: The Treaty of Hue or Protectorate Treaty was concluded (June 6, 1884) between France and Vietnam. The treaty, which formed the basis for French colonial rule in Vietnam for the following seven decades, was negotiated by Jules Patenôtre, France’s minister to China, and hence is often known as the Patenôtre Treaty.
July 1885: The Mandarins’ Revolt in Hue, under the leadership of twelve-year-old King Ham Nghi and his two regents. Armed resistance at the Mang Ca Post led to the massacre of Hue. The French stormed the royal palaces. King Hàm Nghi and part of the royal family left Hue for Quang Tri. The guerrilla resistance movement of Can Vuong (“Mandarins in Aid of the Emperor”) began.
1933: The execution of Nguyen Thai Hoc, a college student and founder of the Vietnamese Nationalist Party, and his twelve compatriots at Yen Bai, for having led a military coup against French colonial authorities.
April 1945: Ho Chi Minh declared independence. The last monarch of Vietnam, King Bao Dai, abdicated.
1945–1954: The Indochina War between France and the Vietminh (joined by several nationalist parties).
1954: The battle of Dien Bien Phu. French troops surrendered; an accord under the Geneva Convention was signed, dividing Vietnam into two states, North and South, awaiting a general election.
1954–1975: Era of the Vietnam War and the United States’ involvement—armed conflict between South Vietnam (backed by the United States) and North Vietnam (the Vietcong) (backed by the Soviet Union and China).
February 1968: The Tet Offensive by the Vietcong, the Lunar New Year of the Monkey. The Vietcong took over the City of Hue and rocketed Saigon. U.S. Marines and the South Vietnamese Amy reclaimed the city and uncovered thousands of bodies of Hue citizens (the massacre of Hue, attributed to acts of the Vietcong), and successfully removed the Vietcong from Saigon.
1972: The Paris peace treaty officializing the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Vietnam.
April 1975: The fall of Saigon and the end of the evacuation of South Vietnamese refugees by the United States (South Vietnam became a defunct state. Subsequently, approximately 150,000 airlifted Vietnamese refugees were settled in America. South Vietnamese associated with the former Saigon regime who stayed behind were sent to labor camps by the new government.) Thereafter, Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.
1976: Reunification of Vietnam into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
1978-79: The new Vietnam was again at war with Cambodia (the Khmer Rouge) and China.
1975–1990: Period of Boat People escaping Vietnam at sea and the implementation of family reunification/humanitarian immigration policies by the United States.
1985: The Socialist Republic of Vietnam first opened itself to the West under a “Renovation” policy.
April 1994: Lifting of the U.S.’s trade embargo against Vietnam. The first waves of commercial contracts between Vietnam and U.S.–based multinationals were signed.
1995: Normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam.
II. History of the Extinct Kingdom Champa and the
Southward Expansion of Vietnam
982: Vietnam force led by General Ly Thuong Kiet attacked and pushed Champa’s border to south of Hoanh Son (the province of Thanh Hoa in what is known today as central Vietnam).
1069: King Ly Thanh Tong of Vietnam invaded Champa.
1307: Vietnamese princess Huyen Tran married King Jaya Sinhavarman III of Champa (Che Man), in exchange for the two provinces, Ô and Ly’ (encompassing the City of Hue today).
1402: Vietnam again invaded Champa. Vietnamese ruler Ho Quy Ly forced Cham King Campadhiraya to concede Indrapura (today’s Quang Nam, south of Hue) and the territory of Amaravati (north of Champa) to Vietnam.
1471: Vietnamese army led by King Le Thanh Tong captured and destroyed Vijaya. Vietnam annexed the new land as provinces of Thang Hoa, Tu Nghi, and Hoai Nhon.
1578: Lord Nguyen Hoang annexed the Cham region of Phu Yen.
1653: Lord Nguyen Phuc Tan invaded the Cham region of Kauthara and pushed Vietnam’s southern border to what is known as Port Cam Ranh today.
1692: Lord Nguyen Phuc Chu annexed the remaining Champa territory as the new prefecture of Tran Thuan Thanh. The Kingdom of Champa ceased to exist. It became what is now known as central Vietnam, including the ancient capital city of Hue.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vietnam-born Uyen Nicole Duong arrived in the United States at the age of sixteen, a political refugee from a country torn apart by war. She received a Bachelor of Science in Communication and Journalism from Southern Illinois University, a law degree from the University of Houston, and the a
dvanced LLM degree from Harvard. She was also trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena. She has been a journalist, public education administrator, attorney, law professor, and a self-taught painter whose work focuses on l’Art Brut. The author resides in Houston, Texas.
1 Mimi is the protagonist in Mimi and Her Mirror, by the same author, published by AmazonEncore.
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