Nguyen Chi Thien spent a total of 27 years imprisoned at the hands of the Vietnamese communist regime due to his speaking the truth to his fellow countrymen. The Epoch Times had a chance to speak with him at the Human Rights Torch Relay events in San José and San Francisco.
Epoch Times: You were twice nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and were called "The Solzhenitsyn of Vietnam" by Michael Lind, in his essay in New America Foundation. What keeps you going?
Nguyen Chi Thien: My lifelong "duty" is fighting for a better life for my fellow-Vietnamese. Opposing evils is the responsibility of human beings to the end of time. I hope to witness true justice in my country in the near future.
Now I'm writing my memoirs about Vietnamese society, about the suffering of the Vietnamese people from 1945 until 1995. It is very important to have a truthful description of Vietnamese history under communist tyranny, because in our history, there was never a time so tragic, so miserable and so barbarous. Not only in prisons, but in that society, life did not deserve to be called life, especially before the so-called renovation, in 1995. All peasants, without exception, have been starving, during all those years.
ET: When and where are you going to publish your memoirs?
NCT: I think it will take two more years. There are many publishers who want to publish it, but most probably I'll have it published through Yale University Press, publisher of my essays.
ET: What helped you survive those agonizing 27 years in communist jails?
NCT: I was put in leg shackles in a dark cell for eight years, and I was given a tiny portion of rotten rice with salt water once a day. In those terrible conditions, it was meditation that helped me to survive the madness all around. It helped me to reach a tranquility of mind.
Also, I had great passion for poetry, so lying shackled in leg fetters, I had been concentrating all my efforts, all the power of my mind, creating poetry. It kept me alive, and helped me not to become insane. I've learned to take advantage of every adversity, every misery, so I could extract something beautiful, something useful.
They exiled me to the heart of the jungle
Wishing to fertilize the manioc with my remains.
I turned into an expert hunter
and came out full of snake wisdom and rhino fierceness.
They sank me into the ocean
Wishing that I remained in the depths.
I became a deep sea diver
And came up covered with scintillating pearls.
NCT: Poetry cannot be translated well into other languages, because it's impossible to preserve the original rhythm, and the rhythm is the soul of poetry. But I still want to recite to you in English one of my favorite verses. It is about a destiny, a fate that every human being has. And I believe that every human being has a soul.
Poet, my friend,
You must know how to keep your soul always unsullied
Like that proverbial pink lotus that spreads fragrance
Even in the midst of slime,
Like a lone star shining in a pristine night sky
Twinkling far, far away, and glistening with dew…
You must also know, my friend,
How to live in this world as if you were deathless
In spite of all its misery and cold, dangers and tragedies.
And though your body may be ravaged by illnesses
And shrinking day by day,
Your spirit must still be stronger than rock or steel
Standing firm in the midst of destructive time.
Only then can you let your poetic mind roam free
Flying high and wide even in an iron trap.
As for dying or getting out of here—
That's heaven's decision, not one that is up to you!
I always firmly believed that the communist regime is contradictory to human nature. I had a strong belief that if I survived, I would see a better day.
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