Vietnam Granted Two World Image Status

Vietnam Granted Two World Image Status

Vietnam has earned “World Image” status in not one, but two of its ancient documents by no lesser than UNESCO. The ancient documents that received such an important status are the wood block prints from the Nguyen Dynasty and the doctoral steles from the Le Ma Dynasty. The former was awarded the title on July 30, 2009 while the latter on March 9, 2009.

 

The wooden block prints from Nguyen Dynasty consist of 34,618 pieces which bear scripts from both Chinese characters and Confucian Vietnamese. The blocks were carved from tropical hard woods that were damage-resistant from insects, time and climate. The contents vary greatly in terms of what happened during that area, i.e., records of events, instuctions, decrees and orders from emperors; and books on history law politics, education, military language art and romance. 150 historically significant books were printed using these woodblocks such as the following: “The Law of the Vietnam Empire,” “The Greatness of Vietnamese Rule Unification” and Vietnam's great regulations on editions. The blocks were used from the early 19th century until the middle of the 20th century.

 

Many of the woodblock prints pertain to issues that are significant to Vietnam even today, such as the following: its sovereignty of Paracel and Spratley (Hoang Sa) Islands; “The Great History of Vietnam” printed during the Nguyen Hoang and Nguyen Phuc Than dynasties (1558-1777) which establishes Vietnam's right to rule these islands, the island residents' use of fresh water, and the harvesting of valuable sea creatures like turtles and snails in these regions; and proof that the Nguyen Dynasty sent off 70 soldiers to Spratley Islands who also fished and harvested medical plants to be used by the Imperial Court.

 

The original woodblocks and documents made with the same during the Nguyen Dynasty are preserved up to the present, with even copies made of it and can be found at Le Xuan Village in Dalat. Currently named IV National, the center was specifically established with the purpose of preserving Vietnam's ancient woodblock prints.

 

The doctoral steles in Hanoi consisted of 82 stone steles found in the grounds of the “Temple of Literature,” considered the nation's oldest university. They contained the 82 names of students who passed the civil service examinations of the Le Mac Dynasty between 1442 and 1779. The inscriptions on the steles outlined Vietnam's tradtional edcuational system which ran for 300 years, as well as the views and philosophy of the Le Mac Dynasty in terms of national construction and protection; cultural preservation; pedagogy; and nurturing using talendted people. On the other hand, the Chinese characters carved on the steles provide proof of the development of Chinese script in Vietnam.

 

Each stele was carved by the nation's highly educated as well as cultured people. This event was so important to the nation that King Le Thanh Tong in 1442 wrote: “talented people are a nation power,” emphasizing how education and talent in people can bring greatness to a nation.

 

UNESCO has been awarding the title of “World Image” status to historic documents that are deemed “invaluable to human heritage” since 1992. The program aims to find, preserve and catalog documents spread all throughout Vietnam in a conscious effort to save the history and culture of the nation for future generations to see and appreciate.