The Red River

Red River starts from the Van Nam province in China, flows through Hanoi before going out the East Sea. Because of the river, Hanoi has its name. "Ha", in Vietnamese, means "river", and "Noi" means "inner". It is said that when emperor Ly visited Hanoi in 1010, he saw a golden dragon rising up from the river, hence changed the city's name to Thang Long (Ascendance of Dragon) and moved the capital here. The Red River, as it gave birth to the Northen Delta of Vietnam, has witnessed the development of Hanoi in particular, and the entire north of Vietnam in general, from the very onset. In the song "Let's Flow, River Dear" (Chảy đi sông ơi), it was nicely put: "stories from generations the river knows all, nevertheless it never gets old..."
When I was growing up, there were 2 Red Rivers that I knew of. One was from the book, and the other from the news. The one from the news was no where close to be as beautiful and peaceful as the one in the book. For example, once in a while, they would say the river was about to flush the whole city. Some other time, it would get deep into the bank, take away with its powerful flow all the houses, vehicles or even lives of innocent poor people. And the worst part was that the news would warn teenagers such as myself directly that we shouldn't play, swim or hang around the river, because the heartless sand whirl at its deep bottom would pull us along ruthlessly. I was terrified every time we got close the river...
Now, it isn't the same Red River in my heart anymore. At first, I realized that rivers didn't kill people for nothing; it was protecting itself, warning people about their negligence. During its God-knows-how-long history, people never gave as little care to the river as they do right now. They need a city, so they change its current. They run out of places to dump their trash, so there goes the river. Industrial waste, unmonitored chemical garbage and everything else are taken care of by the river. Then constructions in the modern city need sand and soil, they take it straight out from the river as much as wanted...
So I got closer to the river, to understand it better. Sometimes, I would enjoy hours standing on the Thang Long or Chuong Duong Bridge, hear the whispering of the waves, and feel the winding up my face. Or as the song "Hanoi and I" put it, I would "quietly listen in the wind of the night the sigh of the Red River..." Inside the strong and forever flow, there are so many unspoken feelings that have accumulated over years.
Surprisingly, although I tried, I never could understand the river as it did me. I came there as frequently as I could, stood on the bridge and let the river tell me my own story. It told me my desire to reach the world as it reached the ocean. It told me how I kept my memory in my heart as it kept stories of generations in its flow. And sometimes, from the Thang Long Bridge looking toward Hanoi center, it could tell me how I want to embrace the entire Hanoi in my own hands, just like it has always done.
The Red River has been in my confidence for years. Regardless of what the news might have said or will have said about it, I could find nowhere safer than the Red River of Vietnam...
-nxh