(VOVworld) – Anyone who visits the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is moved by the President’s rubber sandals made from old tires. The simple sandals and clothing symbolize his modesty. Such sandals were used by Vietnamese soldiers during Vietnam’s two national resistance wars. Most are now on display in museums but artisan Pham Quang Xuan is able to reproduce them. Duc Quy reports:

Xuan reproduces President Ho Chi Minh’s rubber sandals in the presence of visitors to the Ho Chi Minh Museum in Hanoi. He finishes the task in just 30 minutes. Xuan says that because President Ho’s sandals were made from the Michelin tires, they were very durable. The sandals accompanied him to different parts of Vietnam and to many other countries. Many Vietnamese people preferred this type of sandals during the war and still like them today because they are weather-proof and convenient. We visited Xuan’s workshop in a small alley off Nguyen Bieu street in Hanoi. The 70-year-old artisan was attaching straps to some sandals. He told us: “Making rubber sandals is our traditional craft. I learned the trade in 1968. People began to make sandals from rubber tires in the 1940s and the trade gradually became more popular.”

Xuan’s son-in-law Nguyen Tien Cuong quit his job as Vice President of an accounting software company to pursue his family’s trade. Cuong said: “These products, which originated in the wartime, are made totally by hand. They are of historical and social significance. They are made from recycled rubber.”

Cuong visited many museums and archive centers to collect images of rubber sandals in different periods. He then asked his father-in-law to reproduce them. Dien Bien Phu Battle sandals, Ho Chi Minh sandals, and rubber sandals of young volunteers are each associated with a particular period in Vietnam’s wars of resistance against French colonialists and US imperialists. Mrs. Thoa, a former young volunteer, told VOV: “Young volunteers were given only a pair of rubber sandals. Our sandals had 4 straps, one in the back and 3 in the front. This type of sandal is very convenient and durable and can be used in different terrains.”

Since 2012 each pair of sandals produced by Xuan’s family is carved with a map of Vietnam which includes the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes. Xuan said: “A foreign visitor came to my house and ordered a pair of sandals. He asked me to carve something as a memory of Vietnam on the sandal. I thought of a map of Vietnam with the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes.”

Cuong immediately decided to make this his family’s logo: “Some argue about our placing the map under the sandals. I think it is appropriate because we walk on our territory and when we bring them abroad, we confirm our national sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa islands. I hope that foreigners will understand this about our sandals and back home will tell stories about Vietnam through the sandals.”

Xuan’s family has shipped more than 8,000 pairs of rubber sandals to 2,000 customers in 30 countries over the last 5 years.