Information on PhD thesis of PhD student Mai Thu Quynh: Research on the steles of the Later Clans in the Northern region of Vietnam

PhD thesis information of PhD studentMai Thu Quynh

1. Full name of PhD student: Mai Thu Quynh                2. Gender: Female

3. Date of birth: August 5, 1981 4. Place of birth: Nam Dinh

5. Decision to recognize PhD students: No. 2775/2020/QD-XHNV dated December 31, 2020 and No. 6645/QD-XHNV dated December 5, 2024 of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities,Vietnam National University, Hanoi

6. Changes in the training process (if any): extension document No. 5109/QD-XHNV dated December 4, 2023, No. 6645/QD-XHNV dated December 5, 2024 of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

7. Thesis topic: Research on steles of the Northern Vietnam region

8. Major: Han Nom 9. Code:9220104.01

10. Scientific instructor: Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Kim Son

11. Summary of new results of the thesis:

Research on the steles of the descendants of the Northern Vietnam regionThis is a research topic aimed at studying the custom of electing descendants and the worship of descendants in the clans of the Vietnamese people in the Northern region; thereby contributing to the study of the cultural - social - economic - spiritual life of the Vietnamese clan. To achieve that goal, the topic chooses to research the collection of documents of the descendants' steles in the Northern region as the original documents reflecting the clan's life. At the same time, the topic also uses some documents of related clans. These are original documents that have never been systematized and surveyed separately. From the purpose and object of the research, the topic uses the main methods including Epigraphy, Textology, Philology, Social History and Interdisciplinary. More specifically, the topic is based on the Textology method to determine information related to the descendants' steles such as the year, author, etc., from which it is possible to verify information related to the era and the people who created that stele. After the text processing stage, the topic will use the methods of the fields of Literature and History to analyze the custom of electing the descendants and the contents of the family cultural life reflected in the descendants' steles. At the same time, the topic also uses the interdisciplinary research method to exploit the information provided by the descendants' steles, aiming to contribute to clarifying a number of issues about the cultural life, customs and practices in the subject family of the descendants' steles, of the localities and of the Vietnamese people in history.

The results that the topic has achieved can be listed as: researching, compiling and systematizing the block of documents on the ancestral steles in the Northern region of Vietnam; analyzing and presenting general comments on the characteristics of this block of documents; specifically analyzing, synthesizing and giving accurate comments on the custom of electing the ancestral steles and the ancestral worship beliefs of the Vietnamese people in the Northern region; researching a number of major issues of family culture that have been expressed in the ancestral steles such as the sacrificial life of the family, the history of construction and decoration of the family temple, the role of the Patriarch in the family life.

Thus, with this topic, for the first time, the system of ancestral steles in the Northern region of Vietnam has been systematized and thoroughly surveyed. At the same time, this is also the first time that the custom of electing ancestral ancestors and the belief in ancestral worship of the Vietnamese people have been clearly and thoroughly studied. In addition, some basic issues of the cultural life of the clans have also been clarified. The comments and conclusions of the topic were drawn after statistical operations and analysis of data in 173 original documents of the clans themselves, so their reliability is very high.

The results of the analysis and comments of the thesis have helped us understand that the custom of electing descendants and the belief in worshiping descendants appeared around the 16th century, developed brilliantly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and especially it still exists today. Therefore, planning policies related to traditional and contemporary culture needs to pay attention to these cultural factors of the family line.

12. Further research directions:

From this topic, further studies can be carried out including: studying the steles of the Vietnamese people in general to see the characteristics of the custom of electing the ancestors and the belief of worshiping the ancestors; studying the general custom of electing the ancestors and the belief of worshiping the ancestors in general, including the types of ancestors in villages and in clans to clearly see the culture of offering and repaying the ancestors of the Vietnamese people; studying specialized issues of the life of Vietnamese clans such as economic life, spiritual life, ritual culture, culture of gratitude, etc.

13. Publications related to the thesis:

1. Mai Thu Quynh (2019), “Ancestral worship activities in the clan: A survey through clan convention documents”,Han Nom Magazine(5), pp.47-62.

2. Mai Thu Quynh (2021), "Overview of documents on steles of descendants, sent to commemorate the death anniversary in Hanoi city",Han Nom Research in 2021, World Publishing House, Hanoi, pp.183-198.

3. Mai Thu Quynh (2022), “Overview of the documents on the stele of the descendants at the Institute of Han Nom Studies”,Han Nom Magazine(2), pp.54-65.

4. Mai Thu Quynh (2023), “Hue Nghia Dien/Ancestral Records/Southern Border Records:The earliest stele of the election of the Hau clan in Hai Duong in the 17th century",Han Nom Research in 2023, World Publishing House, ISBN 978-604-77-6513-3, pp.925 – 934.

5. Mai Thu Quynh (2023), “The customs of establishing Hau Toc in Vietnam: From the survey of Hau Toc epitaphs”,The First International Conference on the Issues of Social Sciences and Humanities), Vietnam National University Press, Hanoi, ISBN 978-604-9990-98-4, pp.851 – 870.

6. Mai Thu Quynh (2024), “The Hau clan election culture of the Vietnamese people: the Process and the titles”,Second International Conference on the Issues of Social Sciences and Humanities), Vietnam National University Press, Hanoi, ISBN 978-604-9990-98-4, pp.820 – 844.

7. マイ・トゥ・クイン (2024), “族のハウ碑文から見たベトナム家族”,東アジアの儒教資料とベトナム碑文: 学際的アプローチ, 東アジア・ジェンダー科研事務局, ISBN: 978-4-9913903-0-2, pp.111-121.

INFORMATION ON DOCTORAL THESIS

1. Full name: Mai Thu Quynh

2. Sex: female

3. Date of birth: August 5, 1981

4. Place of birth: Nam Dinh province

5. Amission decision number2775/2020/QD-XHNVdated31/12/2020byUniversity of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi

6. Changes in academic process: extension decision number5109/QD-XHNV dated December 4, 2023 and No. 6645/QD-XHNV dated December 5, 2024 by University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi

7. Official thesis title:Research on descendant epitaphs in the Northern region of Vietnam

8. Major: Sino-Nom studies

9. Code:9220104.01

10. Supervisors: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Kim Son

11. Summary of the new findings of the thesis:

“Research on post-clan epitaphs in the Northern region of Vietnam” is a research topic aimed to study the custom of post-electing and the belief of post-clan worshiping in the clans of Vietnamese people in the Northern region, thereby contributing to the study of the cultural - social - economic - spiritual life of Vietnamese families. To achieve that goal, the topic chooses to research the collection of descendant epitaphs in the Northern region as original documents reflect family life. At the same time, the topic also uses some additional documents of related families. These are original documents that have never been systematized and investigated separately. From the above purpose and research object, the topic uses the main methods including Epigraphy, Textology, Philology, Social History and Interdisciplinary. More specifically, the topic is based on the Textology method to determine information related to the descendant epitaphs such as chronology, author, etc., from which it is possible to determine information related to the era and the people who produced that epitaph. After processing the text, the topic will use methods from the fields of Literature and History to analyze the customs of descendants electing and the contents of family cultural life reflected in the descendants epitaphs. At the same time, the topic also uses interdisciplinary research methods to exploit the information provided by the post-clan epitaphs, aiming to contribute to clarifying some issues about cultural life, customs and common practices in the family who is subject of the post-clan epitaphs, in the localities and in the Vietnamese people in history.

The results achieved by the project include: researching, collecting statistics and systematizing the collection of documents onepitaphsof the Northern region of Vietnam; analyze and present general comments on the characteristics of these documents; specifically analyze, synthesize and give accurate comments on the custom of post-clan electing and the belief in post-clan worshiping of the Vietnamese people in the Northern region; research some major issues of family culture that have been expressed in theepitaphssuch as the family's sacrificial life, the history of construction and decoration of the family's ancestral temple, and the role of the Patriarch in family life.

Thus, with this topic, for the first time, the system ofepitaphsof the Northern Vietnam region has been systematized and thoroughly surveyed. At the same time, this was also the first time that the custom of descendants electing and the belief in descendants worshiping of the Vietnamese people had been clearly and thoroughly researched. In addition, some basic issues of family cultural life are also clarified. The comments and conclusions of the topic are drawn after statistical operations and analysis of data in 173 original documents of the families themselves, so their reliability is very high.

The analysis results and comments of the thesis have helped us understand that the custom of descendants electing and the belief in descendants worshiping appeared around the 16th century, developed brilliantly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and especially it still exists until now. Therefore, planning policies related to traditional and contemporary culture needs to pay attention to such family cultural factors.

1. Further research directions:

From this topic, further studies can be carried out including: studying the post-clan epitaphs of the Vietnamese people in general to see the characteristics of the custom of post-clan electing and the belief of post-clan worshiping; overall research of custom of Hau clan electing and the belief of Hau clan worshiping in general, including the types of Hau in villages and in families, to clearly know the culture of offering and repaying of Vietnamese people; studying specialized issues of Vietnamese family life such as economic life, spiritual life, ritual culture, culture of gratitude repayment, etc.

1. Thesis-related publications:

2. Mai Thu Quynh (2019), "Ancestral worship activities in the clan: A survey through clan convention documents",Han Nom Magazine(5), pp.47-62.

3. Mai Thu Quynh (2021), "Overview of documents on steles of descendants, sent to commemorate the death anniversary in Hanoi city",Han Nom Research in 2021, World Publishing House, Hanoi, pp.183-198.

4. Mai Thu Quynh (2022), "Overview of the documents of the ancestral stele at the Institute of Han Nom Studies",Han Nom Magazine(2), pp.54-65.

5. Mai Thu Quynh (2023), “Hue Nghia Dien/Ancestral Records/Southern Border Records:The earliest stele of the election of the Hau clan in Hai Duong in the 17th century",Han Nom Research in 2023, World Publishing House, ISBN 978-604-77-6513-3, pp.925 – 934.

6. Mai Thu Quynh (2023), “The customs of establishing Hau Toc in Vietnam: From the survey of Hau Toc epitaphs”,The First International Conference on the Issues of Social Sciences and Humanities), Vietnam National University Press, Hanoi, ISBN 978-604-9990-98-4, pp.851 – 870.

7. Mai Thu Quynh (2024), “The Hau clan election culture of the Vietnamese people: the Process and the titles”,Second International Conference on the Issues of Social Sciences and Humanities), Vietnam National University Press, Hanoi, ISBN 978-604-9990-98-4, pp.820 – 844.

8. マイ・トゥ・クイン (2024), “族のハウ碑文から見たベトナム家族”,東アジアの儒教資料とベトナム碑文: 学際的アプローチ, 東アジア・ジェンダー科研事務局, 東京, ISBN: 978-4-9913903-0-2, pp.111-121.