Vice spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry Doan Khac Viet. (Photo: VNA) Under the instruction of the Foreign Ministry, the Vietnamese Consulate General in China’s Shanghai city contactedand held working sessions with competent agencies of Shanghai, asking for thesuspension, the vice spokesperson noted.
The Consulate General also asked Shanghai to provideinformation about the ordination documents, Viet said, stressing that theministry will coordinate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism(MCST), concerned localities and Vietnam’s representative offices abroad to continuekeeping a close watch on the case, and take further countermeasures.
According to the MCST, Shanghai Yangming Auction Co.,Ltd posted information about 12 royal ordination documents expected to be put up for auctionon April 22, on its website. Among them, three may be originated from a templein Di Nau commune, Tam Nong district, the northern midland province of Phu Tho,and nine are likely from Hanoi, and the northern provinces of Bac Ninh, Ha Namand Hai Duong. There are also many other royal ordination documents and objects listed for auction on the website that may be associated with relic sites in differentVietnamese localities.
Royal ordination was a type of administrativedocuments issued by Kings to confer or elevate titles for individuals who renderedgreat service, or outstanding mandarins.
Such documents have been preserved at historical relicsites as cultural heritage which holds significance in many aspects, not onlyin science but also in the spiritual life of Vietnamese people.
Both Vietnam and China are members of the 1970 UNESCOConvention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import,Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, under which memberstates committed “at the request of the State Party of origin, to takeappropriate steps to recover and return any such cultural property importedafter the entry into force of this Convention in both States concerned”./.
VNA
