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The Bat Trang village’s artisan Tran Do introduces a model of seal. Photo T.A |
Evidence of the Tay Son dynasty has been found in not only Binh Dinh, the hometown of Emperor Quang Trung, but also northern provinces, such as Hai Duong, Bac Ninh, and Bac Giang.
The famous ceramic village of Bat Trang in Hanoi’s Gia Lam District is one of the above-mentioned places. This is an interesting coincidence when the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long – Ha Noi is coming.
Achievement of the villagers
Hopefully, the antiques related to the Tay Son Dynasty could be restored thanks to the all-out efforts of experts and Bat Trang local authority and villagers. Among many antiques preserved at the Bat Trang village, there are 16 honor-conferring diplomas dating back to the Tay Son Dynasty.
Honor-conferring diplomas always contain many cultural and historical features under any Dynasties. The preservation of the Tay Son Dynasty related historical relics and documents which were lost through the wear and tear of time and also destroyed by the revengeful Nguyen Gia Long, a nephew of the last Nguyen Lord who regained the throne with French support in 1802, also means that the Tay Son Dynasty always grows in popularity even when its historical role ended.
“Our ancestor once had to bury antiques under the sand,” said Le Thanh Loi, head of the Bat Trang village.
“When the U.S army bombed the Thien Luong pontoon bridge in 1967, a bomb was dropped near the Bat Trang communal house in which 44 honor-conferring diplomas were stored,” said Pham Van Mai, a Bat Trang villager. “Fortunately, the bomb didn’t explode.”
After the communal house had been torn down in 1970, 44 diplomas and other antiques were kept by the local residents.
“The villagers still preserved the antiques for more than 20 years, which could be an achievement of the village,” Mai proudly said.
Two of 16 diplomas originated from the Tay Son dynasty and 5 ceramic models of Quang Trung Emperor’s seal made by the artisan Tran Do were sent to Binh Dinh last week.
Expectation of the province
A conference, jointly held by the People’s Committee of Binh Dinh Province and Vietnam History Museum in Ha Noi on June 5, was aimed at reviving honor-conferring diplomas and seals related to the Tay Son Dynasty.
Nguyen Dinh Chien, deputy director of Vietnam History Museum, said among the imperial seals remaining in Vietnam, four are from the Tay Son Dynasty (used to refer to the reign of the peasant brothers).
One of them was used to stamp on the king’s decree, another on honors conferred to people for making significant contributions to the dynasty, one on important administrative documents and another on documents that conferred the village diety status, according to Pham Quoc Quan, director of the Museum of Vietnamese Revolution.
Some experts have suggested that the first seal be restored in bold or bronze.
Tran Bac Ha, president of Bank of Investment and Development of Vietnam, said the seal should be cast in bronze and gilded with gold to save money.
He said it will cost dozens of billions of dong to cast the seal, weighing 6-7 kilograms, completely in gold.
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