In Vietnam, book publishing has existed for a long time. During the feudal period, books were mainly published by the king, such as the golden books and silver books, which were engraved on gold or silver leaves, or written on silk to confer titles or record the royal family genealogy. In the common people, books were mainly handwritten. During the dynasties, according to history, some kings were interested in publishing and printing books, such as Le Thanh Tong and Minh Mang.
Book printing in our country must be dated back to the early Le Dynasty (1428-1527) when Luong Nhu Hoc opened the woodblock printing industry in the second half of the 15th century but it did not develop due to the scarcity of paper. It was not until the reign of Lord Trinh Can in the second half of the 17th century that he learned the papermaking craft of the North, from which the papermaking industry was established in Yen Thai ward, Thang Long, so that book printing and publishing flourished.Legend of Nho villageIt is said that during the reign of Lord Trinh Giang, the purchase of Chinese books was completely banned. The printing and publishing of the Four Books and Five Classics were actively done using our own paper.
When entering the French colonial period, the French issued laws and decrees such as the 1881 Freedom of the Press Law, the 1927 Decree, etc. regulating the printing and selling of books and newspapers, but the common point was strict censorship. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were many printing houses in Saigon such as Phat Toan printing house, Nguyen Van Cua printing house; in Hanoi such as Thuc Nghiep An Quan printing house, Thuy Ky printing house, etc., helping to make the publishing of books and newspapers more convenient and towards the industrial level with machinery imported from France.
Through the long resistance wars, our Party has attached great importance to the fields of journalism and publishing. The first milestone of revolutionary publishing was the compilation, printing and distribution of the bookRevolutionary Roadof leader Nguyen Ai Quoc. After the August Revolution in 1945, in response to the demands for books and newspapers from cadres and the masses, the publishing houses: Truth, Labor, National Defense were established; the printing establishments: Vietnam National Printing and Publishing House, Progress, Tran Phu, National Salvation, and Labor were established one after another. The publishing work was initially separate, but later was centralized into the General Publishing House for National Salvation.
In 1952, the resistance war against French colonialism entered a new phase, the demand for books and newspapers increased in both quantity and quality. In that context, there was a need for a unified agency to manage all three stages of publishing, printing and distribution to meet the requirements of the new task. At the request of the Department of Propaganda and Literature, on October 10, 1952, President Ho Chi Minh signed Decree 122/SL to establish the National Printing House.
The issuance of Decree 122/SL had an extremely great significance. For the first time since gaining power, the People's Democratic State established a state enterprise which was also the agency managing the three stages of publishing - printing and distribution. Since then, October 10 has become the Traditional Day of the Publishing, Printing and Distribution of Vietnamese books.
Nghe An is a province with a large population, rich in cultural traditions, people who love reading books, along with a very diverse cultural and historical life containing many attractive publishing topics, a rich potential source that has a very favorable impact on the development of the Publishing, Printing and Distribution industry.
As of June 2022, Nghe An province has 02 publishing houses; 16 establishments licensed to operate printing; 25 units granted registration certificates for printing activities; 04 units licensed to operate publishing.
It can be said that one of the most fundamental and greatest advantages of enterprises in the Publishing, Printing and Distribution industry in Nghe An province is the active participation of state management agencies. Nghe An Department of Information and Communications is one of the few provinces and cities in the country that advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue Decision No. 2971/QD-UBND dated July 13, 2010 approving the Development Plan for the Publishing, Printing and Distribution industry in Nghe An province for the period 2010 - 2020, including a list of key projects and plans to turn the Publishing, Printing and Distribution industry in general and the Printing industry in particular into the development center of the North Central region.
In particular, Nghe An Printing Association was established on September 5, 2019 under Decision No. 3498/QD-UBND of the Provincial People's Committee, an important milestone marking the development in the context of fierce competition of the market economy. The Association is a support for the business community, helping businesses and members operate more proactively, confidently and effectively in the process of improving competitiveness and pursuing the goals of each business in harmony with other interests.
The publication ordering activity is also very active and maintained. From 2013 to 2022, the Department of Information and Communications has advised on ordering nearly 100 books, more than 60,000 copies, many of which are of high value such as: History of Nghe An Party Committee, volume 1; Chronicle of historical events of Nghe An Party Committee (2005-2015); Nghe An - typical people; Nghe An - typical musicians and songs; 05 books of Teaching Materials for Thai Language of Lai - Pao System; Beating a Gong, The Legendary Road to Truong Bon; Discussing Fine Arts - Illustrations for Comic Literature; Traditional Culture of Tho Ethnic Group in Nghe An;...
Activities organized to respond to Vietnam Book Day on April 21st every year are carried out in Nghe An province with a series of rich and diverse activities. From 2014 to present, the Department of Information and Communications together with units such as Nghe An Publishing House, distribution units in the province have organized the donation of nearly 30,000 copies of books to libraries of schools with difficult conditions, border posts, prisons, etc.
Coordination in inspection and examination has been implemented closely and effectively. The Nghe An Province Anti-Illegal Printing Joint Team was established by the Provincial People's Committee in 2009 with the Department of Information and Communications as the standing agency, with the participation of the Public Security and Market Management sectors. Every year, the Team has focused on carrying out the tasks of propagating and disseminating legal regulations to printing, publishing and distribution establishments in many forms such as organizing conferences, printing documents, disseminating direct instructions... In particular, the Team has conducted more than 20 inspections and examinations with nearly 100 establishments to promptly detect and handle violations of the law. Over the past 10 years, many organizations and individuals have been administratively handled, collecting hundreds of millions of VND from the state budget; confiscating and destroying thousands of illegally printed, copied, stored and distributed publications. The activities of the Interdisciplinary Team in recent years have contributed to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of management of the publishing, printing and distribution industry in the province.
In the publishing field:
For nearly 42 years of operation, the staff and employees of Nghe An Publishing House have promoted the spirit of responsibility, innovation and creativity in their work, closely following the content of the work and the annual task orientation to successfully complete the targets of Publishing work. From 1980 to present, more than 70 thousand books have been published, with tens of thousands of copies distributed. Ensuring that the books are in line with the political orientation, constantly improving the quality of content and form. Timely eliminating or cutting out details and manuscripts with deviant or incorrect political ideology or ethical values, customs and traditions, etc. Over the years, some publishing houses have had many publications with violations in both political, ideological and academic content, but Nghe An Publishing House has always been highly appreciated by the Publishing Department for the quality of its publications.
As a unit that has performed well in the annual book ordering of the Provincial People's Committee, it has promptly disseminated the guidelines, policies, and Resolutions of the Party Committee and the Provincial Government to a wide range of people, bringing books to remote, mountainous, and especially disadvantaged areas, etc.
Vinh University Publishing House was established in 2011. It is a public service unit under Vinh University, with the function and task of organizing the publication of political and legal documents on education; textbooks, monographs, reference books and other learning materials serving the training and scientific research of the University; textbooks, teacher's books, reference books for teachers of all levels and other publications in accordance with the objectives, functions, tasks and service objects as prescribed in the Establishment License.
After more than 10 years of construction and development with many difficulties and challenges, Vinh University Publishing House has now affirmed its reputation for the quality of its published publications, which have spread and influenced not only in Nghe - Tinh but also throughout the country. Not only books and textbooks of Vinh University but also those of other universities, such as Vinh University of Technology and Education, Vinh University of Medicine, etc. have been published at Vinh University Publishing House. Each year, the Publishing House publishes about 80 publications (including 32-35 textbooks) with about 300,000 copies, contributing to the cause of educational innovation of Vinh University and Nghe An province.
In the printing field:
Printing units have made efforts to ensure stable revenue, create jobs and stable income for workers. The printing association has come into operation and created a healthy playground, with connections in terms of machinery, equipment and customers among printing units participating in the association. Printing units have made efforts to ensure stable revenue, create jobs and stable income for workers. Publications are increasingly improved in both quality and quantity, the annual revenue of printing units reaches and exceeds the set plan, typically Nghe An Newspaper Printing Company Limited, Postal Stamp Printing Company Limited - Nghe An Branch, ... annual revenue is over 30 billion VND. Many young printing units such as Au Viet Printing Company, Nghe An Book Printing and Distribution Company Limited ... with their management and passion for the profession have also contributed greatly to the overall development, with an average revenue of over 15 billion VND annually.
In the field of publishing:
Book publishing companies have made great efforts to complete the annual plan, implementing practical activities to contribute to serving the political and business tasks of the unit such as organizing many book releases to serve the Party's founding day (February 3), President Ho Chi Minh's birthday (May 19), International Children's Day (June 1), the opening day of the new school year (September 5),... The growth rate of publishing activities has also increased significantly with the innovation of business forms, diverse products, high quality has met the needs of people and readers in the province. Contributing to charity activities, participating in book donation programs with the Department of Information and Communications... Typically, Nghe An Book and School Equipment Joint Stock Company currently has an annual revenue of over 100 billion VND; Young publishing companies such as Alpha Book Joint Stock Company... have been making constant efforts to boost revenue and bring knowledge closer to readers through book exhibitions...
With the current trend, when the whole country is gradually moving towards digital transformation in all fields, digital transformation of the Publishing industry is also identified as a key task in the coming time, aiming to turn electronic publishing into a spearhead of development. Digital transformation can bring about increasingly clear changes in the stages of publishing, communication, and distribution to erase all limits and boundaries of space and time, opening a new turning point in the speed of sharing and dissemination. The stages of traditional publishing will be greatly reduced so that works can reach the most readers in the fastest time. The process chain, from creating works to being released to readers, can be adjusted to suit many different business models such as building a digital platform for publishing and distributing shared e-books; building a network connecting publishers; building a database and website about Vietnam's ISBN codes; building a system for receiving electronically deposited publications.
It can be said that the activities of the publishing, printing and distribution industry have contributed to the overall development of the economic sector and, more importantly, have contributed significantly to the preservation, conservation and promotion of the spiritual and traditional values of the Vietnamese people in general and the province in particular. In the vortex of the market mechanism, in the fierceness of calculations and competition, it is hoped that the Publishing, Printing and Distribution industry will "Steadfastly walk on the path it has chosen" as a determination for the overall development of the Publishing, Printing and Distribution industry in the period of innovation./.
