Fall of the Berlin Wall: Readers react

Celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall are under way.

On 9 November 1989, the first people crossed the border between East and West Germany.

To mark the anniversary, world leaders will symbolically walk across the first East German border crossing to open in 1989.

A number of BBC sites around the world have been receiving messages to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of Berlin Wall. Here is a selection of their views:

BBC VIETNAMESE READERS' REACTION

The Berlin Wall fell because it was an obstacle in the way of development of the former socialist block. It actually surrounded them. Internally, they had felt that the Wall blocked their way so they had to tear it down. But in Vietnam, the Ben-Hai River also divided Vietnam on a smaller scale. That demarcation line was abolished in 1975 by communist force. Now, as the socialist block has already disappeared and collapsed, will the (Vietnamese) model of "market economy with socialist orientation" be able to survive?
Dan Dat To, Hanoi

Communism was born with the most beautiful ideals of bringing the best life quality to people. Unfortunately, it evolved in such a downward way, rotting from within. Capitalism was born very ugly. Today it is still ugly but it has evolved and keeps doing so, so it will last and develop.
Huu Tai

Why did Germany manage to unify both geographically and in its people's minds, but not Vietnam? In my view, there is a fundamental difference between Germany and our nation. That is after (World War II), they went on to have reconciliation but in post-war Vietnam there was robbery in the name of socialist reconstruction. Thirty years later some people began to talk about national reconciliation but the majority oppose that idea. When the Berlin Wall came down, the Western Germans cheered up, not because they would have a chance to steal from their compatriots in the East, but because their brethrens would be liberated. When the bridge Hien-Luong re-linked South and North Vietnam in 1975, millions of South Vietnamese had to leave their homeland in tears.
Hoang Viet, Ho Chi Minh City

BBC CHINESE READERS' REACTION

People of Eastern Europe won freedom! Even if there are still problems here and there, people's living standards have risen considerably and social stability has been achieved. They came back to the civilised world and forever left behind the life of fear and lack of freedom. Not many people miss the life before. China should send a TV crew to report the commemoration activities and tell the truth.
Human Rights

I was very excited when the Berlin Wall fell, but look what has happened since. In the Eastern part (of the country), the force on the right is gaining ground and there is rampant xenophobia. Many foreigners don't dare go there, there is high unemployment and a talent drain. In the West, welfare has gone down because we have to pay the Unification Tax to subsidise the East. So, what is good about turning capitalist?
Helbe, Hamburg

If what happened to East Europe had happened to China in 1989, China would have become a US colony. So, the fall of the Berlin Wall had no benefit to the socialism system and the media should not exaggerate its role.
Xin Xianghong

The collapse of the Berlin Wall marks the collapse of the European empire, just like World War I and World War II. It marks the transition of the centre of civilisation from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. This will be the direction for the world in the next 20 years.
Lu Guo

BBC RUSSIAN READERS' REACTION

I think there still remain walls to be destroyed - on the US-Mexican border, the one in Jerusalem and, to complete the picture, the Great Wall of China. Then we will have a real democracy.
Uncle Sasha, St Petersburg, Russia

Has anything changed? Of course not. If you move furniture around the flat, it does not change the personalities of the people who live there. I deal a lot with Germans, both from the West and from the East. They are still finding it hard to live together. It is the same as in Texas - ask the locals about racism there. It is easy to break down the wall but it is stupidity, verging on a criminal offence, to hope that this will change people.
Vasily, Moscow, Russia

The wall was never broken down, it was just moved further East. And it will never be broken down until Russia becomes a colony of Western countries and its people their slaves.
Igor, Russia

In 1983 I was in East Germany for student practice. In Berlin I asked my student-friends from Ilmenau what they thought of the fact that their people had been divided. They wisely avoided answering the question shifting the conversation elsewhere. I then knew what the KGB was but I did not know what Stasi was. It is a miracle that just six years onwards Germany was reunited and there was one less unfairness in the world. I am grateful to Germans for their balanced foreign policy and knowing how to be grateful.
Vladimir, Smolensk, Russia

Where were you when the Berlin Wall came down?