Vietnam is set to hold its biggest celebration of the fall of Saigon on its 50th anniversary Wednesday, including Chinese troops for the first time after Xi Jinping visited to portray Beijing as a more reliable partner than Washington.

Thousands of excited citizens -- many wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the Vietnamese flag -- began gathering on the streets of the renamed Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday, preparing to sleep out overnight ahead of the display's 7:00 am (0000 GMT) start.

The celebrations come half a century after tanks of communist North Vietnam crashed through the gates of the city's presidential palace, defeating the US-backed South and delivering a painful blow to American moral and military prestige.

"I am proud of having contributed to liberating the south," said 75-year-old veteran Tran Van Truong who had travelled -- dressed in full military uniform -- from the capital Hanoi to see the parade.

"But what's gone is gone, I have no hatred for those from the other side of the battle," Truong told AFP. "We should join hands to celebrate the end of the war."

Around 13,000 people, including........

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