Deputy Scholar Nguyen Sinh Sac: An exemplary figure dedicated to the nation and its people.
Nearly a century has passed since the death of Mr. Nguyen Sinh Sac, a scholar of high academic rank. Every time we mention him, we feel even more respect and gratitude for a talented and virtuous man who nurtured and raised a great man: President Ho Chi Minh – the national liberation hero and a world cultural figure.
NOBLE CHARACTER
Mr. Nguyen Sinh Sac was born in 1862 in Lang Sen village, now part of Kim Lien commune, Nam Dan district, Nghe An province. His parents died early, and at the age of 16, he was mentored by the scholar Hoang Xuan Duong.in Hoang Tru village(That is, Chùa village, also belonging to Kim Liên commune) adopted him and provided him with food and education. Intelligent and studious, he soon became a renowned and excellent student, revered as one of the "Four Tigers of Nam Đàn" (along with Phan Bội Châu, Vương Thúc Quý, Trần Văn Lương, and Nguyễn Sinh Sắc). At the age of 22, his adoptive parents married their daughter, Hoàng Thị Loan.
In 1894, Mr. Sac passed the Bachelor's examination. The following year, he went to Hue to take the Imperial Examination but failed. Undeterred, he applied for a position in the Ministry of Finance and simultaneously enrolled in the National Academy, determined to pursue a scholarly career. Mrs. Loan brought her two sons, Nguyen Sinh Khiem and Nguyen Sinh Cung, to Hue to live with her husband, leaving her eldest daughter, Nguyen Thi Thanh, in their hometown to care for her grandmother. Day after day, she diligently spun silk and wove cloth, earning money to support her husband's studies and raise her children. In 1901, Mrs. Loan fell ill and passed away after giving birth to her youngest son, Nguyen Sinh Nhuan (who also died a few days later). That same year, Mr. Sac passed the Vice-Bachelor's examination. In the early years after passing the Vice-Bachelor's examination, Mr. Sac refused to become an official, living a simple life as a teacher, studying modern books, raising his children, and befriending patriotic scholars...
In 1906, Mr. Sac assumed the position of Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Rites. Although a court official, he believed that: "Officials are slaves among slaves, even more so," and "loyalty to the king is not patriotism, but patriotism is love for the people." He often taught his children: "Do not adopt the style of the officialdom as your own." He was strict in raising his children but also very respectful of them. Having supported Phan Chu Trinh's reformist policies, from 1905 he sent his two sons, Nguyen Sinh Khiem and Nguyen Sinh Cung, to study at the Franco-Vietnamese Primary School in Dong Ba, Hue...
In 1909, Nguyen Sinh Sac, a high-ranking official, was appointed District Chief of Binh Khe (Binh Dinh province). Despite his position, he associated with patriotic scholars, championed the poor, and hated powerful landlords who oppressed farmers. In early 1910, after he had a powerful landlord arrested and subsequently released, only for the landlord to die shortly afterward, he was punished and demoted by the court. He resigned from his post and traveled through the southern provinces, earning a living while contacting and meeting with patriotic intellectuals (including Phan Chu Trinh) in an attempt to arrange for his son to go abroad to seek a way to save the country.
It can be said that, up to this point, the virtues, character, and especially the progressive, patriotic, and people-respecting ideology of Deputy Scholar Nguyen Sinh Sac had a profound influence, becoming an example for his son Nguyen Sinh Cung, significantly contributing to the formation of the personality and aspirations of the young Nguyen Tat Thanh, as well as the patriotism, revolutionary ideals, and moral ideology of leader Nguyen Ai Quoc - Ho Chi Minh.
DEDICATED TO THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE FOR LIFE
After Nguyen Tat Thanh left Nha Rong Wharf (Saigon, June 5, 1911) to begin his journey to save the country on the Admiral Latouche Tréville ship, Mr. Nguyen Sinh Sac continued his travels throughout Southern Vietnam, even going to Cambodia, both to provide medical care and to anxiously await news of his son. Wherever he went, he sought to contact patriotic monks, Confucian scholars, and political prisoners who had participated in the Can Vuong, Dong Du, and Duy Tan movements and were either under house arrest or hiding from French secret police. He helped many temples annotate Buddhist scriptures and offered advice to the Buddhist Revival movement. Some temples in Southern Vietnam still preserve his handwritten notes and couplets.
In late 1916, through meetings with several intellectuals, including his former students in Saigon, Mr. Sac was introduced to Mr. Councilman Hien (Le Quang Hien), a native of Cao Lanh, then part of Sa Dec province. Through conversation, he developed an affection for the land and people of Cao Lanh, so in 1917 he followed Mr. Hien there. In Cao Lanh, he met the son of an old acquaintance, Mr. Tran Ba Le (Ca Nhi Nguu), a patriotic landowner who had contributed money to the Dong Du movement. After being arrested by the French colonialists and having his property confiscated, he had to sell his house and land to bribe his way out of prison. Mr. Le built a small house for him on his family's land.
Every day, besides dispensing medicine and treating the people, he interacted with patriotic dignitaries, intellectuals, and Confucian scholars such as Le Van Dang (Chanh Nhat Dang), Vo Hoanh (Cu Hoanh)... But he only stayed there for a short time, leaving Cao Lanh in 1919 to continue traveling to many provinces and cities in Southern Vietnam to meet like-minded comrades and spread patriotic ideas. Through intellectuals like Phan Chu Trinh and Nguyen An Ninh, he learned that the famous figure Nguyen Ai Quoc was actually Nguyen Tat Thanh. Due to his connection with the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth League in the Mekong Delta, he was monitored by secret police, but they lacked sufficient evidence to arrest him.
In 1927, Mr. Sac returned to Cao Lanh. The Vietnam Revolutionary Youth League in Cao Lanh arranged for him to stay at the house of Mr. Nam Giao on the banks of the Cai Tom canal in Hoa An village (now Hoa An commune, Cao Lanh city, Dong Thap province). Every day, he went to the Hang An Duong traditional medicine shop in Cao Lanh market to examine patients and get medicine, and in the afternoons he prepared medicine at home. For the poor, he not only didn't charge for examinations but also gave them medicine for free.
In Cao Lanh, he was loved, cared for, and protected by the people. Whenever visitors came to see him, Mr. Nam Giao would go out to the yard to do odd jobs and keep watch. Miss Ba Enh (Nguyen Thi Be, 17 years old) was assigned to clean the house daily, go to the market, and cook for the two old men. Occasionally, she would row a boat to take the Deputy Scholar to doctor's appointments and to meet friends. At this time, despite his advanced age and frail health, he still frequently traveled to Sa Dec, Saigon, Long Xuyen, Chau Doc... and repeatedly sent letters to Phnom Penh to Mrs. Luong Van Can - a branch of the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth League in Cambodia, but all the letters fell into the hands of French secret agents.
In late November 1929, Mr. Nguyen Sinh Sac fell seriously ill and passed away. He was buried by the people of Cao Lanh next to Hoa Long Pagoda. Many newspapers in Saigon simultaneously published news of his death, showing the influence and respect that the intellectuals of the time held for him. An article by journalist Phan Khoi in the Than Chung newspaper on December 22, 1929, included the following passage: “What kind of person was he that he suddenly abandoned his official position and left to wander aimlessly like that?... What kind of person was he that, while his family was in ruins, his children had all left, and he was an old man wandering in a foreign land, he remained unaffected, without sadness or complaint to anyone?... He was truly a man of the people... His death is truly the loss of a model of being a man of the people...”
After decades of immersing himself in the world and wandering in foreign lands, Mr. Nguyen Sinh Sac, a scholar of the highest rank, rests forever in the South. He passed away without seeing the return of his son, to whom he entrusted his aspirations and ambitions; without witnessing the success of the Revolution, the independence of the country, and the freedom of the people; and without knowing that after years of wandering "in search of the image of the nation," his son, Nguyen Sinh Cung - Nguyen Tat Thanh, had become the leader Nguyen Ai Quoc - Ho Chi Minh, a great man of Vietnam and humanity.
In 1954, the tomb of Mr. Nguyen Sinh Sac was renovated by the army and local people, and photographs were sent to President Ho Chi Minh in the North. Immediately after the liberation of the South and the reunification of the country, in accordance with the wishes of the people, in August 1975, the Sa Dec Provincial Party Committee built the tomb complex for him, which was completed in February 1977.
Currently, after numerous renovations, the tomb of Deputy Mandarin Nguyen Sinh Sac has become a national historical and cultural relic complex, located at 123/1 Pham Huu Lau Street, Ward 4, Cao Lanh City, Dong Thap Province. Each year, the site attracts hundreds of thousands of domestic and international visitors.
