Nguyễn Sơn


Nguyễn Sơn, also known by his Chinese name Hong Shui, was a Vietnamese military leader who participated in the Communist Revolution in China and the First Indochina War against the French. Sơn spent much of his early years in China, and was one of the few Vietnamese who had participated in and survived the Long March with the Chinese Communist Party. He was awarded the rank of Major General in both the Vietnam People's Army and the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
He married Lê Hằng Huân, a daughter of the writer Lê Dư, his sisters-in-law being Lê Hằng Phương wife of the writer Vũ Ngọc Phan, and Lê Hằng Phấn wife of the writer Hoàng Văn Chí.

Early life

Nguyễn Sơn was born on 1 October 1908 in Gia Lâm District in Hanoi. He was the son of Vũ Trường Xương. When he was five years old he began to learn French at a Catholic school in Hanoi. When Sơn was fourteen years old he passed the Hanoi Teachers College. He often organizes students from the School of Education and the Guardian School to fight against Westerners in other schools. His parents married him to Nguyễn Thị Giệm four years older than him. He pretended to drink alcohol to causing trouble with his father-in-law and to get rid of his older wife.