Teacher Ta Chi Tao donated valuable artifacts to Gia Lai Provincial Museum

Mr. Ta Chi Tao was born in 1957 in Tay Son district, Binh Dinh province. He was formerly the Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Training of Chu Se district, a member of the Gia Lai Province Literature and Arts Association. In 2015, Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital concluded that he had nasopharyngeal cancer, so he took a one-time leave of absence to focus on treatment.

“At first, I had to undergo continuous radiation therapy, which caused me to lose my teeth, hair, and weight of more than 10 kg, but I remained optimistic. I focused on composing more poetry to overcome the pain, especially poetry about Uncle Ho,” said teacher Ta Chi Tao.

Mr. Ta Chi Tao (right cover) at the ceremony of donating artifacts to the Provincial Museum. **Photo: Ba Tinh**

After 10 years of persistent treatment, his condition has improved significantly. During that time, he has published 9 poetry collections, notably: "Wave Eyes" (2016), "One, Half" (2017), the epic "Tay Son Flag" (2019), "79 poems about Him" (2020) and 4 poetry collections titled "108 two-verse six-eight verses about Him" (published in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025), the epic "Eternal Great History of Him" with 500 six-eight verses (2024)"... This is a great effort by teacher Ta Chi Tao while having to constantly go in and out of Ho Chi Minh City for treatment.

The image of a skinny man, “carrying a bag in one hand and a bag under the other” slowly walking into the Provincial Museum moved us deeply. In addition to the poetry books about Uncle Ho, he also brought half a brick and two stones to give to the Provincial Museum. The two stones were taken from the K9 Da Chong Relic Site (Ba Vi, Hanoi); the other half of the brick was picked up from Uncle Ho’s garden in Nam Dan, Nghe An.

Mr. Tao recalled: “More than 20 years ago, when I was a representative of the People's Council of Chu Se district, I was assigned to lead a delegation of Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, Heroes of the Armed Forces and seriously wounded soldiers of the district to pay respects to President Ho Chi Minh at the Mausoleum and visit the K9 Da Chong relic site and Uncle Ho's hometown (Nghe An). This was a heavy task because the delegation was mainly elderly people and wounded soldiers, but it was also an honor and pride for me. I suddenly thought that I had to ask for an artifact from each relic site to bring to Gia Lai as a souvenir.”

Listening to the tour guide introduce the K9 Da Chong relic site, which has many sharp, upright rocks like spikes, hence the name Da Chong, he came up with the idea of finding two small rocks, one low, one high, and asking for permission to bring them to Gia Lai to remember where Uncle Ho lived, worked and preserved his body when he passed away.

Visiting Uncle Ho's house in Lang Sen, he was wondering what to ask for to bring to Gia Lai when he saw some old bricks neatly arranged in the corner of the garden. He happily picked up half of one and asked permission from the Relic Management Board to bring it with him.

Returning to Chu Se, teacher Ta Chi Tao personally made a wooden shelf to display 2 stones and half a brick in his family's living room. Visiting his house, I also saw many pictures, documents, artifacts... about President Ho Chi Minh. Only then did I know how much he loved and respected Uncle Ho!

Mr. Le Thanh Tuan, Director of the Provincial Museum, said: “The artifacts that teacher Ta Chi Tao donated are all valuable artifacts related to Uncle Ho that the Museum does not have. We highly appreciate his kindness and will complete the collection procedures and present him with a certificate at the “Cultural Festival 2025” organized by the Museum on the occasion of the Vietnam Cultural Heritage Day on November 23.”