Ceremony to receive certificate recognising ‘Hoang Hoa su trinh do’ as Documentary Heritage in Asia and the Pacific under UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme (Photo: VNA) The two belong to Truong Luu village in Kim Song Truongcommune of the province’s Can Loc district.
Last year, the provincial People’s Committee sent a documentto the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO on the nomination of ‘Hoang Hoa sutrinh do’ as World Heritage.
In the coming time, more books on "Hoang Hoa su trinh do" willbe published and introduced on the mass media.
"Hoang Hoa su trinh do” (literally translated as mapsand itinerary of the envoy’s journey to China) belongs to the Nguyen Huy family.
With writings, drawings and maps, the book records thediplomatic relationship between Vietnam and China in the 18th century throughjourneys of Vietnamese envoys. It was compiled and edited by Nguyen Huy Oanh(1713-1789) based on documents of previous envoys and historical records aswell as notes from his own journey in 1766-1767, during which he worked as the chief envoy of the Vietnamese delegation.
According to Professor Nguyen Huy My, a 16th-generation descendant ofthe Nguyen Huy family, the book was copied by Nguyen Huy Trien in 1887 from theoriginal version. The manuscript measures 30cm in length, 20cm in width and 2cm inthickness. The main content is a journey map with detailed notes covering 204pages, describing mountains, rivers, villages, citadels, relic sites andnatural landscapes and communication activities between envoys and localauthorities and residents.
Meanwhile, Phuc Giang school woodblocks were used to printmaterials in Chinese and Nom (a classical vernacular script of the Vietnameselanguage) for learning and teaching at Phuc Giang school, a private school setup by the Nguyen Huy family in mid-18th century.
Each individual woodblock, 25-30 cm in length, 25-28 cm inwidth and 1-2 cm in thickness, is a unique work of art, aesthetically carvedwith beautiful calligraphic styles.
The total set originally had around 3,000 blocks, but manyhave been damaged or destroyed over time. Presently, the set comprises 383well-preserved blocks. They are the only ancient woodblocks created by a familyfor education preserved till today in Vietnam./.
VNA
