About the two steles at the Temple of King Quang Trung
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King Quang Trung's stele at the Temple on Quyet Mountain |
This is a very large project, both majestic and solemn, of national scale. Currently, it has been basically completed, so every day there are many tourists from inside and outside the province coming to burn incense and visit the scenery. Everyone who comes here feels happy and praises the beauty. However, it is very regrettable that the two large steles placed in the two stele houses look both beautiful and massive on the outside, but the content of the words is both messy, careless and inaccurate. We think it is necessary to discuss carefully and supplement.
- The first stele, titled "King Quang Trung's Merits", is not appropriate. Suppose the temple worshiping Uncle Ho also has a stele titled "President Ho Chi Minh's Merits", would that be acceptable? In our opinion, it should be written "Quang Trung - Nguyen Hue (1753-1792)" above. As for the content of the stele, especially the stele writing about the achievements of emperors, it is often written in parallel or quatrain form with alternating quatrains. If written in the usual style without rhyme, it must be an eloquent essay, with a tight structure and carefully selected words. Because this is a piece of literature that will be passed down forever. But the words on this stele are written in colloquial style and use bullet points to list the title of a resume or an outline. On the other hand, if we say "achievements", it is not true, but only "martial arts", never mentioned internal affairs and diplomacy when he was Emperor (1789-1792). I think, a stele inscription honoring the achievements of a national hero Emperor but showing it in such an immature way is hard to accept!?
- The second stele also has many issues that need to be discussed. This stele is even more careless and has more errors! I will copy the original text for the convenience of readers:
"Nguyen Hue was an extraordinary man / He fought against the Siamese and Chinese invaders several times / He had great ambition and high strategy / Our people knew how to unite as one / Therefore, even though the Chinese were cruel / Our people still kept our country as one family".
These are 6 quotes, so the beginning of the first sentence must have quotation marks and ellipses. The end of the 6th sentence must have quotation marks, but there are no ellipses on the stele. The first sentence has the word "ke", which makes many people wonder. Although the word "ke" in this article does not have a bad connotation. However, in today's language it is almost never used, especially for people who are honored by the whole country. Because this word is often used with bad meanings such as: thief, robber, enemy... Next, the second sentence (the eighth sentence) should have 8 words but only has 7 so it is very difficult to read. Carelessness, lack of caution, and invisibility have affected the reputation of more than one person.
We have read this poem in the collection of Ho Chi Minh's Poems (Ibid., pages 52 to 65):
"... Nguyen Hue was an extraordinary person / He defeated the Siamese and Chinese invaders several times / He was wise and had great plans / Our people knew how to unite as one / Therefore, even though the Chinese were cruel / Our people still protected our country...".
These six sentences compared to the six sentences written on the stele, have the following additional and different words: The first sentence has one side saying "those", the other saying "rank". The second sentence has the word "chase" added, the other saying "Siamese bandits", the other saying "Siamese army". The third sentence has one side saying "great ambition", the other saying "great intelligence", the sixth sentence has one side saying "one house", the other saying "home country"?!
We boldly propose to the provincial leaders and relevant agencies to re-examine and promptly correct any errors.
Nguyen Xuan Tinh -(K9 - Trung Do Ward - Vinh City)
