RIP
PSA: Comrade Nguyễn Phú Trọng’s surname is Nguyễn, not “Trong”, his first name is Phú Trọng, not Trong.
NYT also made the same mistake, by referring to him as “Mr. Trong”: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/19/world/asia/nguyen-phu-trong-dead.htmlThis would be like referring to Mao Zedong as “Dong” or “Mr. Dong”.I thought this was a mistake, but according to Vietnamese customs “Mr. Trong” or “Trong” is indeed a valid way to refer to Comrade Trong. This is a humiliating display in lack of investigation by myself.
The point about Mr. Dong still stands for Chinese names.
There’s no going back from this comment: he’s Mr. Dong forever now.
It’s not even the goofiest name a communist leader has had. Stalin quite literally changed his birth name to, “Joe Steel”, like he’s some sort of cosplaying superhero.
If we can have a Joe Steel, then we can absolutely have a Mr. Dong.
Oh we should absolutely refer to him as Mr. Dong now.
From 2010 to 2020, Vietnam lifted 10 million people out of poverty. For nine of those years, Phú Trọng was general secretary. Rest in peace, comrade.
Rest in power.
What does this mean for Vietnam now? I assume like China there are unfortunately liberal capitalist roaders who want to take the road to ruin. I hope this doesn’t give them an opening.
Rest in peace comrade 😢
