Professor Le Thuoc

(Baonghean.vn) Professor Le Thuoc was born in 1891 in Trung Le village, Ngu Lam commune, now Duc Trung commune, Duc Tho district, Ha Tinh province. He graduated from Quoc Hoc Hue in 1909 and taught primary school in Vinh. Later, he studied Chinese and in 1918 took the exam and passed the Giai Nguyen (first place in the Huong exam) at Nghe school. Continuing to work both teaching and studying, in 1921, he graduated from Hanoi Pedagogical College and became the Principal of Cao Xuan Duc School, Vinh, and concurrently worked as an inspector of primary and primary schools in Nghe An.

Therefore, in the General Yearbook of Indochina (Annuaire Général de L'Inđochine) in the section on Inspection of French-Vietnamese Schools, it was written “1922-23: Pihé: Inspector and Le Thuoc: apprentice”. Not long after, he was transferred to teach at the Vinh National School. Because he often contacted former political prisoners such as Le Huan, Nguyen Dinh Kien and new scholars active in politics such as Ton Quang Phiet, Tran Phu, Ha Huy Tap, Tran Mong Bach, Phan Kiem Huy...so in 1927 the authorities transferred him to the Xaro School (Albert Sarraut), to use French to teach Vietnamese to the majority of students who were children of French officials and capitalists. After that, he was transferred to teach in Cao Bang and then back to Thanh Hoa. In 1943, he had to retire. Perhaps because he was a patriotic teacher who hated tyranny?!

During those thirty years of teaching and studying, Professor Le Thuoc left beautiful impressions on his students. Professor and scientist Nguyen Xien wrote in the newspaper To Quoc (No. 10-1975): “The most valuable harvest during our time studying at Vinh National School was his (Le Thuoc) lectures on Vietnamese, French and history. His graduation thesis at the Pedagogical College, titled “Vietnamese Sinology”, raised the issue of national consciousness in our country’s history for the first time… taught us to love our mother tongue. He made us proud of our country’s literary heritage…”. The second part is Le Thuoc’s works. By that time, he had the following books: The Story of Nguyen Du (1924), The Career and Literature of Uy Vien General Nguyen Cong Tru (1928) and a wealth of documents on historical and literary research projects that he was nurturing.

Retiring at the age of 52, Le Thuoc returned to his farm, plowing the fields and teaching his children and grandchildren. Of course, the main character in him was still a researcher. The August Revolution succeeded, Le Thuoc was happy to be a citizen of an independent and free country. The national resistance war broke out, he and his family enthusiastically set an example in their duties in the rear. He had a son, Le Thieu Huy, who died on the Mekong River in March 1946, while on an international mission to help Laos. Another son was injured and a son-in-law died in the resistance war.

In the fall of 1954, Le Thuoc was invited to work at the Museum Department of the Ministry of Culture, then at the Library Department of the Ministry of Education. His main job was to translate and edit books and historical and literary documents from Chinese and French. Another extremely valuable thing was that he was always enthusiastic in giving advice and helping young research classes. They were grateful to him, a teacher of high morals and virtue. In 1964, he resigned.

So in his life, he retired twice. But even with this second time, for him, retirement did not mean stopping doing research work. As before, since then he has had many important articles published in the magazines Literature, History, To Quoc newspaper and the Literary Documents column in the Van Nghe Weekly.

Let's take a brief look at the academic path, thinking, endurance and dedication of the professor Le so that we can find out, in his life, especially during his time studying at Quoc Hoc Hue, how did Le Thuoc get to know and what memories did he keep of his schoolmate: Nguyen Sinh Cung (birth name Nguyen Tat Thanh)?

Le Thuoc was one year younger than Nguyen Sinh Cung, but when he was at Quoc Hoc, he was one grade above Cung. Because Thuoc's childhood was smoother than Cung's. In 1900, while Cung and his brothers were living in Hue, their mother passed away. They had to follow their father back to their mother's hometown (Hoang Tru). In 1901, after Nguyen Sinh Sac (Nguyen Sinh Cung's father) passed the Pho Bang exam, his family returned to his paternal hometown, Kim Lien village (in the same commune as Hoang Tru). In the fall of 1905, Cung followed his father back to Hue and continued studying at French-Vietnamese schools.

The two lived in different provinces, but if you crossed two ferries (on the Lam River and its tributary, the La River), as the crow flies, from Kim Lien to Trung Le Do Road was not far. Le Thuoc's years as a civil servant were mainly spent in Vinh. After passing the Pho Bang exam but not yet becoming an official, Mr. Sac went to Duc Tho to teach. Cung also followed his father to visit the homeland of the Can Vuong leaders mentioned above. Then, the two sons Le and Nguyen studied at the same school, although each had their own circumstances and studied in different classes, they could not help but have a relationship with each other. When Nguyen Sinh Cung became the supreme leader of the nation, President Ho Chi Minh, with great influence on the international arena, Le Thuoc could not help but recall the days when the two lived and studied together in Hue. However, with his utmost modesty, the professor did not reveal anything early. Only later did we learn that the Hanoi Institute of History's Archives Room still preserves three memoirs, with handwritten pages written by him about that precious relationship...

Professor Le Thuoc passed away in October 1975 in Hanoi. With his passing, we lost a living archive of a laureate and a passionate, erudite professor of modern learning, always ready to contribute to life!

Chu Trong Huyen