In 2005, I was fortunate to meet Dang Van Viet, a revered elder, in Hue, where he had come from Hanoi to join the 60th anniversary of the Frontline Youth School. There, I learned that he was the one who, together with a comrade, raised the red flag with the yellow star over the Phu Van Lau (Phu Van Pavilion) flagpole on August 21, 1945-when the August Revolution had yet to break out, Japanese forces were still armed, and the Nguyen dynasty still stood in the imperial capital of Hue.

“Together Vietnam moves forward - One billion steps into a new era” took place simultaneously in 34 provinces, cities, 3,321 communes, wards, and special administrative zones across Vietnam on the morning of August 16.

Appearing during the revolutionary movement in 1940 in the South, the red flag with yellow star – a particularly sacred symbol of Vietnam– is closely associated with the Vietnamese People’s history of defence and preservation of national independence, as well as the renewal and development process, standing shoulder to shoulder with great powers across the five continents.