The writer of the Quang Trung Temple funeral oration
Late spring weather. Drizzle covered Vinh city. Visited the house of Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tinh - a retired military officer - at the foot of Quyet mountain. With the intention of learning more about the Dien Bien Phu campaign in which he directly participated, he was suddenly drawn into the fascinating stories surrounding the funeral orations at the temple of King Quang Trung, which he directly drafted.
I feel him more clearly when he makes fun of himself:"Intelligent genius" is flirtatious and has many flaws; "effective holy talisman" is useless in both skill and military- in the poem“Self-portrait”.Born into a Confucian family in Dong Son, he left early to join the two long resistance wars of the nation. After peace, he worked in different positions, and it seemed that the Chinese characters taught by his parents had been lost. However, when he retired, the strokes of the horizontal, vertical, hook, and horizontal lines reappeared, as if that was his destiny with each character.
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Mr. Tinh is reviewing the funeral orations. |
Joining the Han - Nom Club of Nghe An province since 2005, activities related to ancient scripts (Han - Nom) in the area have never been absent from him. The policy of building Quang Trung Temple (started from August 15, 2005 to May 7, 2008) has satisfied the wishes of local people who wanted a sacred place to commemorate the great contributions of the national hero, a place to review the feats of the army in the past, crossing mountains and forests, speeding to the North to defeat the invading Qing army.
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Proud that the couplets I wrote are hung in the main hall |
When the temple was completed, he was one of 10 local people whose parallel sentences were chosen to be placed on the temple (there were 22 pairs of parallel sentences in total, of which 12 were chosen from the locality, the rest were from the Han-Nom institute). His pair of parallel sentences was placed on the upper hall:The bravest general of the world, Long Nhuong General/ The outstanding King of Minh Vuong, Bac Binh King(tentative translation: Long Nhuong, a talented and brave general; Bac Binh, a distinguished and virtuous king). He was also chosen to compose four funeral orations: Khai quang giai uc moc duc te van (ritual during the groundbreaking ceremony); Tien nhat te van giai cao (ritual before the grand ceremony); Dai le te van (ritual when organizing the grand ceremony); Te ta van (after the grand ceremony ends).
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Quang Trung Temple has 22 pairs of parallel sentences in total. |
He said that writing a couplet or a funeral oration according to the correct principles is not difficult, but to have a pair of couplets and a majestic funeral oration praising great merits is not easy. That requires the writer to have a good grasp of history, to understand the great contributions of Quang Trung - Nguyen Hue to his homeland and country. Moreover, within the framework of a funeral oration, it is necessary to express the pride and respect of later generations for their ancestors. Through that, a couplet or an funeral oration with the most profound meaning, encapsulated within a predetermined principle, is obtained.
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Parallel sentences carved on a stone screen |
During the time of writing the parallel sentences and funeral orations, he looked up more documents about the turbulent historical period of the country, learned more about the achievements of the hero in cloth against the West and the North. When completed, it fully demonstrated the hero's bravery and merit, as well as the pride of today's generation in the achievements of Quang Trung - Nguyen Hue for the country.
Article and photos: Dang Cuong - Nguyen Tien
