A scientist's passion for the legacy of poetess Ho Xuan Huong
(Baonghean.vn) - On November 23, 2021, the UNESCO General Assembly officially passed a resolution to honor and participate in commemorating the birth and death anniversaries of world-class cultural figures, including "Queen of Nom poetry" Ho Xuan Huong. This is the result of the efforts and close coordination of the People's Committee of Nghe An province with relevant agencies, organizations, experts and scientists of Vietnam, including the mark of Associate Professor, Dr. Bien Minh Dien - senior lecturer of the Faculty of Literature, Vinh University, who drafted the scientific dossier submitted to UNESCO to honor Poet Ho Xuan Huong.
CHANCES
In a simple study room with many books, newspapers, and documents located on the second floor of house number 42 Bach Lieu street (Vinh city), Associate Professor, Dr. Bien Minh Dien happily talked with us about our ancestors and the values of the nation's past, including the Heritage of poetess Ho Xuan Huong.
Born in 1956, in Cam My commune, Cam Xuyen district, Ha Tinh province, a lecturer at Vinh University since 1979, with more than 40 years of teaching Vietnamese Literature to generations of students and many graduate and doctoral courses, Associate Professor, Dr. Bien Minh Dien has spent a period of studying and researching the past cultural heritage of the nation, including the Heritage of poetess Ho Xuan Huong.
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Associate Professor, Dr. Bien Minh Dien is a researcher on medieval Vietnamese literature at Vinh University. Photo: Minh Quan |
Talking about the opportunity to build a scientific profile of poetess Ho Xuan Huong, Associate Professor, Dr. Bien Minh Dien said: “Once, while participating in a talk show on television, Mr. Tran Dinh Tuan (a cultural researcher who participated in building a profile to propose UNESCO to honor Nguyen Du and Chu Van An) and I were both guests of the show, and met each other.
After the program, we exchanged many things about culture, literature, and art. He respectfully invited me to join the UNESCO Campaign Committee of the Ho family in Vietnam, and together build a dossier to submit to UNESCO to consider Ho Xuan Huong as a World Heritage Site.cultural celebrity. In addition to Mr. Tran Dinh Tuan and me, in the Campaign Committee there are also a number of other people, especially Colonel Nguyen Huy Toan - a researcher of ideology - culture - military and Ms. Nguyen Thi Song Huong - a cultural researcher, currently working at the Publishing House of the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences in Paris - France...
CHALLENGES AND SUCCESS
Regarding the difficulties in the process of building a scientific dossier on female poet Ho Xuan Huong, Associate Professor, Dr. Bien Minh Dien said: “First of all, even within the scientific community, there have been many skeptical opinions about a real Ho Xuan Huong, about a Ho Xuan Huong who is the female author of many famous works: “That is just a mask” “of an author or group of authors”, “a fake name”, “a man borrowing a female voice”…
Therefore, in the dossier submitted to UNESCO, it must first be proven that: There is a real Ho Xuan Huong, with birth year, death year, hometown, proper biography and left behind legacies"...
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| Associate Professor, Dr. Bien Minh Dien (second from left) and some members of the Ho Family UNESCO Campaign Committee of Vietnam at the memorial site of poetess Ho Xuan Huong in Quynh Doi commune (Quynh Luu). Photo: NVCC |
“To prove that there was a Ho Xuan Huong (1772 - 1822) - daughter of Ho Phi Dien (1704 - 1786) - a Confucian scholar in Quynh Doi village, Quynh Luu district, Nghe An province, we had to access many sources of documents... We especially value reliable sources of documents, especially from historical figures of the same period or close to Ho Xuan Huong such as Truong Dang Que (1793 - 1865), Tung Thien Vuong (1819 - 1870); respect and appreciate the research of the late Professor Hoang Xuan Han (1908 - 1996)...".
Recently, there have been some studies on Ho Xuan Huong using astrology and psychic methods... In my opinion, this approach, which is also a devotion to ancestors, is valuable, but hardly convincing.
Once the origin and hometown of Ho Xuan Huong have been verified, the next step is to prove that the value of the Ho Xuan Huong Cultural Heritage must have human significance and be widely recognized internationally. Associate Professor, Dr. Bien Minh Dien proposed that the Ho Family UNESCO Campaign Committee unanimously propose 7 key points for UNESCO to approve and confirm that Ho Xuan Huong is a character of the stature of a cultural celebrity and a poet:
The firstHo Xuan Huong has a humanistic and humanistic ideology with profound humanistic meaning, the core of which is for humans - humans as entities existing on earth with all needs and aspirations for earthly life.
MondayHo Xuan Huong is a special cultural and aesthetic phenomenon. She left behind a unique system of cultural and aesthetic concepts through her poetic works.
TuesdayHo Xuan Huong made a great contribution to feminism and women's equality - a very basic criterion that UNESCO is pursuing.
WednesdayHo Xuan Huong's legacy is not only poetry, but also a system of behavior - spirit - consciousness for a good progress.
ThursdayHo Xuan Huong not only fought and protected but also consciously warned, criticized, opposed, and denied what hindered human progress.
FridayHo Xuan Huong and her legacy have a strong vitality, the power to spread and inspire not only one people, one nation, but also many peoples, many nations, and perhaps every person on earth.
Saturday, the final important point is that Ho Xuan Huong's works must be recognized and verified by scientists and researchers in many countries.
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| Associate Professor, Dr. Bien Minh Dien (center) with cultural researcher Tran Dinh Tuan (second from right) and director, People's Artist Tran Luc (far left). Photo: NVCC. |
"Of course, the above seven basic points must be proven, analyzed, and interpreted in a specific, scientific, and systematic manner," Associate Professor, Dr. Bien Minh Dien emphasized.
TOWARDS INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE
Associate Professor, Dr. Bien Minh Dien also said that according to UNESCO regulations, after a person is recognized as a cultural celebrity, the country of origin of that person must organize two most basic activities: an international scientific conference and an honoring ceremony witnessed by UNESCO.
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| A poetry and music program commemorating the 250th anniversary of the birth and 200th anniversary of the death of the famous Ho Xuan Huong at the Ho family temple in Quynh Doi commune (Quynh Luu) was held in mid-September. Photo: Viet Hung |
In late June and early July this year, Ben Tre province organized an international scientific conference and a ceremony to honor teacher, physician, and poet Nguyen Dinh Chieu - who was recognized by UNESCO as a cultural celebrity at the same time as poetess Ho Xuan Huong. Nghe An province will organize the above activities this November, including an international scientific conference on Ho Xuan Huong with the name "Poetess Ho Xuan Huong (1772 - 1822) - Cultural celebrity, poet, and heritage value". Associate Professor, Dr. Bien Minh Dien is the person who drafted the invitation letter for scientists to participate in the conference, and is also responsible for selecting, editing, organizing the manuscripts of the papers and structuring the conference proceedings...
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| Associate Professor, Dr. Bien Minh Dien edited the papers participating in the International Scientific Conference on Ho Xuan Huong. Photo: Minh Quan |
Associate Professor Dr. Bien Minh Dien shared: “After the invitation was sent, I felt a lively atmosphere of learning and researching about Ho Xuan Huong, from the general public to scientists, from high schools to universities, research institutes, from within the country to abroad.
Up to now, the Organizing Committee has received 105 papers; in addition to papers from domestic scholars, there are many papers from foreign scholars such as John Balaban, Lady Borton (USA), Jean Ristat (France), Constantin Lupeanu, Adriana Furuna (Romania)... or Vietnamese scholars living and working abroad such as Prof. Dr. Ngo Thanh Nhan, researcher Pham Trong Dung, Dr. Pham Trong Chanh...
The presentations provided many new sources of information and new perspectives on Ho Xuan Huong; many new theories were applied to study and research Ho Xuan Huong; many new studies on Ho Xuan Huong's poetry with clear and reliable scientific perspectives. In addition, there were also connections and comparisons with many cultural phenomena in the world, not only in the region but also in Europe, America, etc., to affirm that Ho Xuan Huong is an outstanding cultural phenomenon of humanity.
Being honored by UNESCO and participating in the anniversary of birth and death is not an easy thing and is a great pride. But what is much more important is that from here, opportunities and new directions in approaching famous people and the value of the heritage they left behind (specifically the case of Ho Xuan Huong) will certainly be opened up, not only for the Vietnamese but for all people on earth.
