Associate Professor Tran Nghia had the book entitled “The remaining documents under Tay Son dynasty in Thang Long” published, adding to the various documents about the biggest farmer uprising in Vietnam in late 19th century.
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Associate Professor Tran Nghia |
Nghia and his associates spent more than 20 years in studying many documents written in Chinese Han script and Nom (Chinese-based ancient Vietnamese script). These which are believed to belong to the Tay Son dynasty have been found in libraries, steles, and ancient items in Ha Noi. The book is the achievement of their studies.
We must study more
The work is one of 100 books belonging to the 1000-year Thang Long bookcase and getting published on the occasion of the 1,000th anniversary of Thanh Long – Ha Noi. Nghia said the publication of the book saw a hard time.
Parts of the book were completed in 1988 and he intended to have it published on the occasion of 200th founding anniversary of Tay Son dynasty; however, it took him 20 years to finish the book.
In 1984-1985, a delegation of Nghia Binh Province (present-day Binh Dinh) came to work with him to search for documents related to the Tay Son dynasty. The group of 5 authors, including Tran Nghia, Lam Giang, Vu Thanh Hang, Pham Van Tham, and Nguyen Doan Tuan collected valuable documents about Tay Son, but they decided not to get the book published two years later because they were afraid that there might be other documents they hadn’t found.
In 2008, the group focused on remaining documents related to Thang Long – Ha Noi before having the book published in 2010. During these two years, they found many rare documents.
A dynasty and remaining items
Did you face any challenges when collecting remaining documents related to Tay Son dynasty in Thang Long?
During 14 years of existence, the Tay Son dynasty saw many valuable bibliographies; however, there are not many remaining documents until now as they were almost destroyed by the dynasty’s enemies. Also, writers living under the following dynasties had to “censor” their documents about Tay Son because they could be imprisoned.
We, thus, had to carefully edit them before studying to make it remain intact. As for worm-eaten documents, we must make a “guess” for lost information and then explain them in the book, helping the readers to clearly understand.
Are there any progressive political ideas in remaining documents belonging to Tay Son dynasty?
There are two points that I lik most, that is “opportunity” and “the use of man”
The article inscribed on the bell at Lac Lam pagoda tells a story. Nguyen Huu Chinh, appointed to an important position under the Tay Son dynasty, had an “initiative” to heat bronze bells to cast coins after Emperor Quang Trung had returned to Thuan Hoa. When Quang Trung killed him, he ordered to rebuild pagodas, recast many bronze bells and steles.
Under the Tay Son dynasty, “opportunity” and “way of nature” were a problematic issue of the leadership.
Which lessons could we learn from such ancient documents?
Human being’s thought must be adjusted to be suitable to the changes of life. I think it looks like a clock. It may be different at different seasons or places. We shouldn’t blame the clock for such changes as it’s up to our environment. In the modern society, everything is changing quickly and we should live as a chess player who knows how to move his playing pieces.
How about the point of using man?
Tay Son brothers are originally farmers; thus, they understood what people wanted. They also knew strength and weaknesses of people living in the south and north to use for their tasks.
It was not by chance that Nguyen Hue used Nguyen Huu Chinh and Phan Huy Ich to help them. He explored strength and weaknesses of feudal intellectuals in the north.
Let me take an example. In 1789, when leading the insurgent army to fight against Qing troops in the north, Nguyen Hue allowed his soldiers to enjoy the Tet (lunar New Year) festival in Nghe An. His decision was very familiar with local residents, encouraging his soldiers’ bravery.
It took 20 years for you and your associates to write a 900-page book. Are you worried about special treatment?
Initially, we worked for no remuneration as we already have salary. As for me, I thought I must leave something valuable for the next generation as I enjoy much happiness when I was born. We thought a lot about the honour when we contributed something to the society.
Moreover, where there are works needed to be done, we must eager to study. We should learn and write what we know and we’ll have great enthusiasm for studying.
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