Saving Han-Nom heritage by 'digitalization'

(Baonghean) - As a border land of the country, throughout history, from generation to generation, Nghe An has had heroes and cultural celebrities; they have left for future generations a unique cultural heritage, including many Han - Nom documents.

Many valuable documents were damaged.

According to Mr. Phan Van Hung - Deputy Director of Nghe An General Museum, Han - Nom heritage in Nghe An is very rich and diverse in both form and content such as: Royal decrees, royal decrees, degrees, orders, genealogies, land registers, rare medical books, longevity wishes, petitions, funeral orations, royal decrees, woodblocks, parallel sentences...

Among the above documents, the most notable are the royal decrees of feudal dynasties currently preserved at a number of historical and cultural relics in the province such as: Phan Van family temple (Bac Thanh, Yen Thanh), Linh Kiem temple (Thuan Son, Do Luong), Dinh family temple (Hung Trung, Hung Nguyen), Thai Bao Nguyen Ke Sai temple, Nguyen Xi temple and Nguyen Dinh family temples (Nghi Hop, Nghi Loc), Qua Son temple (Boi Son, Do Luong), Dang family temple (Lam Son, Do Luong)...

Ancient Han - Nom documents are digitized on a scanner.

The Han-Nom documents are scattered in pagodas, family temples, village communal houses, and residential communities and are considered extremely important and valuable historical sources, containing great historical and humanistic values, contributing to demonstrating the long-term formation and development process of the homeland.

However, currently, the Han-Nom heritage in the province is facing many challenges in preserving and promoting its value. Most of the Han-Nom heritage is expressed on organic materials such as: Do paper, wood, fabric, silk, leaves... and has existed for hundreds of years, so now many documents are rotten, the content of the documents is also lost.

Han-Nom documents kept by the people are mainly preserved by traditional experience, usually by rolling up documents and putting them in the kitchen attic or in boxes, and drying them 1-2 times a year, causing the rare documents to be seriously damaged and no longer able to be restored. Some Han-Nom documents are still relatively intact but are being preserved unscientifically and are also deteriorating.

Along with that, the number of people who can read ancient Han-Nom documents in the province is limited, causing many Han-Nom sources to not be exploited effectively. The remaining number knows, can read, and translate Han-Nom but lacks professional knowledge, leading to the situation of conveying incorrect content, making many people not understand the values ​​of the source documents.

Tens of thousands of Han-Nom pages digitized

In order to contribute to preserving the Han - Nom heritage in the province, since 2015, the Management Board of Monuments and Landscapes of Nghe An province has coordinated with the Ho Chi Minh City General Science Library to implement the Han - Nom digitization program in 6 districts: Nam Dan, Thanh Chuong, Yen Thanh, Do Luong, Quynh Luu and Nghi Loc. The digitization of ancient historical documents is the initial basis for scientists to learn and research more deeply about ancient Han - Nom documents... preserved through feudal dynasties in Nghe An province.

Holding the box containing the family's royal decree in his hand, Mr. Thai Huu Thuyen - representative of the Thai Huu Family Council excitedly said: "Through the announcement of the local government, I learned that there was a working group researching, translating, and digitizing Han-Nom documents, so as a representative of the family, I brought the royal decree for the staff in the group to help translate. I hope that the good values ​​​​in the decree will be passed on to future generations."

Digital processing at the relic

It is known that to carry out the work of digitizing Han - Nom documents requires meticulousness and detail. After recording and evaluating the current status of the documents, experts clean and flatten the documents, arrange them in the correct order of pages and documents, then use a specialized scanner or a high-quality digital camera to digitize the documents page by page and use graphics software to process the captured image files.

The next step is to translate a summary of each document, then process and classify it into management files using specialized software; organize the storage according to the collection of each owner such as temple, pagoda or church. After processing and classifying, the digitized documents will be processed, the summary translation will be printed on CD.

Ms. Tran Thi My Hanh - Head of the Provincial Monuments and Landscapes Management Board said: "It can be said that the effectiveness of the program of "digitizing" Han - Nom documents is very great and has been widely supported by the people. During the digitization process, we encountered many advantages, however, due to the incomplete awareness of the significance of digitizing Han - Nom documents, many individuals who are preserving royal decrees, medical books... of their family, for fear of losing copyright, do not allow digitization staff to access, photocopy and translate their documents.

In addition, some families have taken that heritage to preserve far away from their hometowns, so the digitization process is still difficult. In the coming time, the Provincial Library recommends that the province expand and implement the program of "digitizing" Han - Nom documents to the remaining districts, because preserving and promoting the value of Han - Nom cultural heritage left by our ancestors is an urgent issue.

At the same time, we also hope that all levels and sectors will pay more attention and participate more actively in propaganda work so that relic and landscape management teams, clans, individuals and organizations can participate more fully, contributing to the preservation and conservation of the province's ancient Han-Nom script documents."

Pham Thinh