Stories of state gifts from Xi: 19 issues of People's Daily bear witness to China-Vietnam friendship

On Nov. 13, 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, presented 19 issues of People's Daily to Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, as a national gift, during his state visit to Vietnam.

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, for a state visit to the southeast Asian country on Nov. 12, 2017. (Photo/Xinhua)

Of the 19 issues of People's Daily, three contain news reports on Nguyen Phu Trong's visit to China in January 2017, and the other 16 issues contain articles about the late Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh's visit to China in 1955.

The gift was presented in front of a modest two-storey stilt house located on the west side of Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi, Vietnam. It is where Ho Chi Minh used to work and live.

These are the newspapers with stories about President Ho Chi Minh's visit to China in 1955. It took the Chinese side some effort to find them, Xi Jinping told Nguyen Phu Trong, who was happily surprised by the gift.

Photo shows the front page of an issue of People's Daily dated June 26, 1955. (Photo/People's Daily)

On the front page of the People's Daily newspaper dated June 26, 1955, there's an eye-catching group photo featuring the older generation of CPC leaders, including Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, with Ho Chi Minh.

On the front page of the next day's People's Daily is a remark by Ho Chi Minh, which goes, "It's unquestionable that the friendship and close relations between our two peoples are eternal and unbreakable. Anyone cannot alienate us from each other or thwart our friendship."

Chinese President Xi Jinping (left), also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, takes a stroll with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong at the former residence of late Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi, Vietnam, Nov 13, 2017. (Photo/Xinhua)

On Nov. 13, 2017, Xi Jinping and Nguyen Phu Trong went to the former residence of Ho Chi Minh to review the brotherly ties forged by the older generation of the two countries' leaders.

China and Vietnam should follow the example set by Chairman Mao Zedong, Premier Zhou Enlai and President Ho Chi Minh, and do a good job inheriting and carrying forward the China-Vietnam friendship to benefit the two peoples, Xi Jinping said.