Requiem held for over 2 million Vietnamese famine victims

A requiem for over 2 million Vietnamese famine victims who died in 1945 took place in Hai Phong City on August 31.

A requiem for over 2 million Vietnamese famine victims who died in 1945 took place in Tien Lang district, the northern city of Hai Phong on August 31.

 Illustrative photo

The starvation, a result of the Indochinese war, killed 280,000 in Thai Binh alone over the course of five months and nearly 2 million others in 32 cities and provinces, including Hanoi and Hai Phong. 

Foreign invaders depleted Vietnamese agriculture by forcing farmers to sell rice to be stockpiled in their countries and grow fibre and oil-yielding plants in place of rice, said Venerable Thich Quang Minh, Head of the Executive Board of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha’s Tien Lang chapter. 

Excessive taxation also pushed them into poverty, he added. 

On the occasion, a photo exhibition on the 1945 famine was opened. 

On the evening of the same day, 3,000 coloured lanterns were released into the Van Uc River to pray for national peace and prosperity.