Associate Professor Ninh Viet Giao at the age of 80

(Baonghean) - At the invitation of Associate Professor Ninh Viet Giao, I have packed my bags and gone to Vinh many times to attend meetings chaired by him, or attended by him, such as Phan Boi Chau, Nguyen Truong To, Nguyen Cong Tru, Ngo Duc Ke, Phan Thuc Truc, the Con Temple, and most recently the Snake God: Thanh Hoang of Hac Linh Son Temple...

I remember, I said in a meeting that whenever Nghe Tinh had a conference, and it was a conference organized or chaired by Ninh Viet Giao, please give me an invitation so that I could have the opportunity to attend, and... go back to my hometown. Because I believe those were quality conferences - thanks to the Introduction he wrote very carefully, and the reports he selected, most of which were from leading experts who were his trusted colleagues and friends in many places, first of all the Capital.

Associate Professor Ninh Viet Giao and the books of 55 years of hard work

Along with the conference are the book titles, constantly appearing, this book name calling the other book name. Because when there is a big orientation to form a system, everything operates according to its process, from small to large, from narrow to wide, it is difficult to say where to stop, as long as God gives people good health, and first of all, a clear mind.

Since 1995, he has been ill. The time in and out of the hospital and the trouble of treating it, he has had to accept for more than 15 years now. In the apartment filled with books, watching him move from the office to the outside room separated by a thick wall - to receive guests, chat, eat, relax...; that image, thirty years ago was like that and now is still like that; the only difference is that the space seems to be narrowing and becoming more cramped; the furniture is simple and old, in contrast to the convenient life that is creeping into every place, every home.

Declining health is an inevitable natural law. But mental clarity can be maintained and trained until the age of 70, 75 and 80, like him. A non-stop operation of intelligence.

And the product is the book titles. Let's review the most important titles in his more than 55 years of writing, up to today, of which he is the author, co-author or editor.

Starting from Vietnamese Riddles (1958), moving to Hat Phuong Vai (1961) - that was the start of a great work that he would pursue for the rest of his life: Nghe Tinh Folklore and Culture: Nghe Tinh Giam Singing, co-written with Nguyen Dong Chi (1962-1963); About Nghe Tinh Folklore (1982); Carrying Pomelos Across the River (Nghe Tinh Folk Jokes - 1992); Treasury of Nghe Tinh Folk Tales - 4 volumes (1993-1995); Treasury of Nghe Tinh Folk Songs - 2 volumes (1996); Treasury of Nghe Tinh Verses - 9 volumes (1999-2000);...

From folk culture to written literature: Soviet poetry and literature of Nghe Tinh (1971), Nghe Tinh - the face of modern writers (1990), Poetry and literature of Vo Liem Son (1993), Poetry and literature of Confucian scholars of Nghe An (1995), Nghe An stele (2004), Anthology of Vietnamese Literature, volumes 19 and 31 (2000), Anthology of patriotic and revolutionary poetry and literature of Nghe An (2 volumes about to be printed)...

From folk literature and written literature, he expanded the border to the cultural field. From culture to fields and types of social sciences such as sociology, customs, ethnology, history, local studies... With works: Nghe An village conventions (1998); Traditional occupations and craft villages in Nghe An (1998); Customs of worshiping gods and legends of Nghe An (2000); Folk culinary culture of Nghe An (2001); On Nghe culture - volume 1 (2003), volume 2 (2007) and volume 3 is about to be published (2012); Nghe Tinh in the Vietnamese Fatherland (1975); Nghe An: history and culture (2005); Nghe An: Land of Talents (2006), then a very valuable work: Dictionary of Nghe An characters (2008) and some completed compilation works: Culture of ethnic minorities in the mountainous region of Nghe An, Folk culture of Nghe An;...

On that journey of both in-depth and extensive, he has been continuing to publish geographical records for districts such as Tan Ky (1992), Dien Chau (1995), Quynh Luu (1998), Nam Dan (1998), Tuong Duong (2003), Quy Hop (2003), Hung Nguyen (2009), and Nghi Loc (waiting to be printed) and currently Nghe An Toan Chi - 22 volumes, (each volume from 500 - 1,000 pages) a macro project, a project on intangible culture initiated by the Provincial Party Committee and People's Committee of Nghe An Province, of which he is the project owner and editor-in-chief, including the Dictionary of Place Names of Nghe An.

His works, whether published in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Nghe An, were all compiled seriously and honestly. They have been and are a source of reference for researchers on folk culture and arts, and on social sciences nationwide. Many university graduation theses; many master's and doctoral theses of graduate students have relied on and taken material from his works.

Some people call him Nghe An Localist, some call him Nghe Tinh Scholar, the one who searches for pure gold in the poverty of Nghe An, the one who saves an intangible cultural heritage of Nghe An, the one who breathes life into the folk culture heritage of Nghe An. He has received many awards from the Folk Arts Association and the People's Committee of Nghe An province, but the highest award of Ninh Viet Giao is the State Award in 2001.

Nghe - Tinh people in the homeland, or far away from home like us, if we have a sense of origin and history, we are all very grateful to him for that reason.

Speaking of Ninh Viet Giao is also speaking of a teacher of many generations of students, although the number of years he stood on the podium was not much. Probably only about 10 years. And after that he was a civil servant of a Department, a Department. But he was a civil servant with the qualifications of a teacher and prestige in the profession. The most recent book I received from him was Huynh Thuc Khang High School (1955-1975), which includes the first part as an overview of the school's history in the two periods 1955 - 1965 and 1965 - 1975; and the latter part are some portraits of teachers and students, in my opinion, has a lot of historical value. Through memory, and through the author's presentation, reading it is like a miniature mirror that recognizes the educational landscape of the North during the years when the country was divided in two wars. Because Huynh Thuc Khang (Nghe An), as well as Phan Dinh Phung (Ha Tinh), Lam Son (Thanh Hoa), Le Hong Phong (Nam Dinh), Tran Phu (Hai Phong), Hung Vuong (Phu Tho) are all bright addresses in the educational picture of the time.

In this "memoir" area, he still has enough capital to write many memorable stories, after the story about "me", about "me and Nghe An", about me as a teacher, not to mention me in many other roles. He is a person who has two homelands to remember; has teachers to respect; has colleagues and friends to be loyal to... All aspects of life and career, if written down, I believe will be interesting and touching.

For me, just like thirty or forty years ago, he is a mirror for me to look up to and overcome hardships. Overcoming hardships, in my opinion, is not as difficult as overcoming difficulties. Through his example of overcoming hardships and overcoming difficulties, I understand what dialectics and the paradoxes of life are. There is no gain without hardships, and only the gain that overcomes hardships is valuable and cherished.

He was born in the year of Tan Mui (1931), but his birth certificate says May 15, 1933. To reconcile - I chose 2012 for his 80th birthday. And that is the reason why I wrote this article, after the last article when he was 75, with the name of Associate Professor Ninh Viet Giao and me.

The last thing I want to say is that social systems have passed and will pass away; individual academic and cultural ideas and thoughts can change, but the people are extremely great and immortal. What the people have created, passed down and developed throughout history and been tested over a long period of time and still exist is also immortal. The materials to create Ninh Viet Giao's cultural and folk art works all belong to the people, I believe that they will last forever!

Phong Le