The journey to make Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks a world documentary heritage
Nguyen Dynasty Woodblocks are a special type of document engraved in reverse on wood and used to print books. On July 30, 2009, Nguyen Dynasty Woodblocks were included in the “Memory of the World” program and recognized by UNESCO as a documentary heritage of humanity. After more than 300 years, the Nguyen Dynasty Woodblocks have been honored internationally.
(Baonghean)Nguyen Dynasty Woodblocks are a special type of document engraved in reverse on wood and used to print books. On July 30, 2009, Nguyen Dynasty Woodblocks were included in the “Memory of the World” program and recognized by UNESCO as a documentary heritage of humanity. After more than 300 years, the Nguyen Dynasty Woodblocks have been honored internationally.
Before the Nguyen Dynasty, a part of the woodblocks was preserved at the Temple of Literature and the Imperial Academy to serve as study and teaching materials for students of the Imperial Academy. After Minh Mang ascended the throne, with his passion for ancient books of the dynasties and learning about the culture of the previous dynasties, this king issued an edict to collect books. The book Dai Nam Hoi Dien Su Le reported that King Minh Mang issued an edict to collect books from various places: “In the 8th year of Minh Mang (1827), he issued an edict: The Temple of Literature in the Northern Citadel, originally kept the printed copies of the Five Classics and Four Books and the Complete Collection of the Martial Classics. Approved the force to compile enough copies. If any printed copy was old and damaged, another copy would be carved to supplement it. When there was a transport ship, it would be brought to the capital and handed over to the Imperial Academy for safekeeping, in case it was used to print it for distribution.” Also in the book Minh Mang Chinh Yeu, it is said: “The king ordered the mandarins in the North to review the original books stored in the Temple of Literature in the city, such as the Four Books and the Complete Five Classics. In addition, the king also issued an edict to search for old books, the edict said: I pay attention to the old classics, follow the previous will, think that thanks to the merits of the previous dynasties, we have today, and want to make the old traces clear, and assign the history office to compile… So I approved for the mandarins and people inside and outside, any family that can keep the old classics of the previous dynasty, regardless of whether they are detailed or abridged, must submit the original, or give them to the state for copying, and will be rewarded”.
Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks at National Archives Center IV (Da Lat - Lam Dong).
Photo: Internet
With Minh Mang having all the printing blocks transported from the Temple of Literature in Hanoi to Hue, most of the books of this period were strictly controlled by the state for printing. The printing blocks were preserved in a number of facilities in the Hue Citadel. After ascending the throne, Minh Mang built the National History Institute to compile national history books, and also set up a house to store the printing blocks. The National History Institute functioned as a specialized agency in compiling the country's major historical books, and also oversaw the country's printing and publishing.
After the Nguyen Dynasty ended, all the books, documents, and woodblocks were moved many times. Therefore, some of them were lost and damaged, and the harsh nature in Hue caused many of them to be lost. Realizing that the woodblocks and books were at risk of being destroyed, if they were not moved soon, they would be at risk of being completely lost. In 1959, a drafting committee decided to move the massive block of woodblocks out of Hue. The chosen location was Da Lat city - a place with ideal conditions in terms of climate and terrain.
In 1960, in the face of the tense war situation and to avoid possible conflicts near the 17th parallel, the historical documents of the Nguyen Dynasty were moved to Da Lat by the (old) Southern regime for preservation and the Da Lat Museum was considered a national treasury to carefully preserve the ancient books and valuable historical documents of the Nguyen Dynasty. After more than 15 years of preservation in the archives of the Archives branch, after 1975, the woodblocks were taken over by the National Archives Center II but were still stored in Da Lat.
In 2008, after the process of scientifically editing the woodblock documents along with the process of researching the documents, determining the scientific value of the documents to submit to UNESCO for recognition of the woodblock documents as a particularly rare type of document in Vietnam and rare in the world. It is because of the special scientific value and also the special type of information recording document that the Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks were finally honored in the international arena.
To achieve this honor, this collection of documents has gone through many storms left by history, but with its extremely valuable values, the Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks deserve to be known to the world. That is the proud history of our ancestors who have left behind for many years to have ancient books that will and will forever be famous, and is also the pride of the country of Vietnam with four thousand years of civilization.
Nguyen Huy Khuyen (Faculty of Oriental Studies - Dalat University)
