TTLA: Research on Han Nom customary texts of villages and communes in Tu Liem district before 1945

1. Full name of PhD student: Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen 2. Gender: Female

3. Date of birth: September 12, 1976 4. Place of birth: Hanoi

5. Decision on recognition of PhD students No. 3684/2015/QD-XHNV, dated December 31, 2015

6. Changes in the training process:

7. Thesis topic name:Research on Han Nom customary texts of villages and communes in Tu Liem district before 1945

8. Major: Han Nom 9. Code: 62 22 01 04

10. Scientific advisor: Associate Professor, Dr. Dinh Khac Thuan

11. Summary of new results of the thesis:

- The thesis systematizes the sources of customary documents and conducts a survey of the distribution of 85 Han Nom customary documents of Tu Liem district over time and space, including 82 documents written on paper and 3 layers of stele texts. The thesis studies the content of customary documents in each period, of each unit, showing the unique characteristics of each region.

- The thesis studies the formal and content characteristics of customary texts, the amendments and supplements to customs and the occupational characteristics reflected in customary texts. The most amended and supplemented issues are the rectification of customs in weddings, funerals, worshipping, aspirations and patrolling. These are urgent issues that are of most concern to local people.

- The thesis studies the content of customary texts such as customs reflecting village customs and practices in worshiping, wishing, weddings, and funerals. Tu Liem district is a locality with a tradition of studiousness, many people study and pass exams. This is clearly shown in the rules of encouraging learning, the rules of giving gifts to those who pass exams, become mandarins, and the activities of the Tu Van association.

- The thesis points out the value of "regulating customs" in the customary documents. Typically, buying offerings and organizing sacrifices costs a lot of money, the whole village organizes meals for many days, greatly affecting the lives of the people. Besides, the customs of aspirations, weddings, and funerals all stipulate that many offerings and money must be paid to the village, and feasts must be prepared to invite all kinds of people to eat and drink, making the lives of the people even more difficult. Therefore, these customs have been amended many times to reduce costs, and to eliminate the custom of inviting the whole village to eat and drink, which wastes money. The thesis studies customs in the life of the village in the past and present, aiming to inherit the good values ​​of ancient customs in building new cultural conventions on weddings, funerals, eliminating social evils, preserving good customs...

12. Practical applicability: contributing to building a new cultural life in the locality.

13. Further research directions: study customary texts in other localities and then compare them to find out the unique characteristics of each locality.

14. Published works related to the thesis:

1. Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen (2015), "Han Nom village conventions and the protection of people's rights (Through some village conventions in Hanoi)",Han Nom Magazine,No. 3, pp. 62-70.

2. Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen (2017), "Education promotion activities of people in ancient Tu Liem district (Through some customs and Han Nom genealogies),Han Nom Magazine,No. 3, pp. 20-27.

3. Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen (2018), "Laws and customs related to the elderly in Vietnam during the monarchy period,Han Nom Magazine, No. 3, pp.42-53.

4. Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen (2018), "Han Nom documents on Vietnamese funerals - case study of village funerals in Tu Liem district",Han Nom Research 2018,pp.840-852.

INFORMATION ON DOCTORAL THESIS

1. Full name: Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen 2. Sex: Female

3. Date of birth: September 12, 1976 4. Place of birth: Hanoi

5. Admission decision number: 3684/2015/QD-XHNV, Dated: 31 December 2015

6. Changes in academic process:

7. Official thesis title:An insight into the documents on customs of the district of Tu Liembefore 1945

8. Major: Sino Nom 9. Code: 62 22 01 04

10. Supervisors: Associate Professor, Dr. Dinh Khac Thuan

11. Summary of the new findings of the thesis:

- The thesis systematizes written sources on customs and conducts surveys on the distribution of 85 Sino-Nom texts on customs in the district of Tu Liem, exploring their spatial and temporal distribution. Among these, there are 82 documents written on paper and 3 stele inscriptions. The thesis explores the content of these texts in consideration of their corresponding historical stages and their respective cantons, each of which shows its own characteristics.

- The thesis explores the characteristics regarding the forms, styles and content of the texts on customs, the amendments and supplements to these customs, and occupational trademarks as reflected in these documents. The issues that were revised most often were adjusting the customs related to marriage, funeral, sacrifices, promotion feasts and local security. These were urgent issues to local communities.

- The thesis provides an in-depth study of the main content of texts on customs, as in, customs that reflect the villages' practices of sacrifices, promotion feasts, marriages and funerals. Tu Liem district has always been an area with an academic tradition with many examples of studious and successful academics. This is shown through the rules related to study promotion or gift-giving to the successful test-takers and officials, as well as the activities of the Literati Association.

- The thesis gives an insight into the value of these texts as a tool for "adjusting customs". Typically, the purchase of gifts and sacrifices cost a lot of money, the whole village organized meals for many days, greatly affects people's lives. In addition, the organizers of promotion feasts, marriages and funerals were all required to pay many gifts and money to the village, to serve food and drink to people of all classes, making life even more difficult for the people. Therefore, these rules were also modified many times to reduce costs (for example, the tradition of inviting the whole village to eat lavishly could be abandoned). The thesis explores the customs in the village life in the past and present, in order to promote the good values ​​of the old customs in the construction of new cultural conventions on marriage and funeral, the elimination of social evils, and the protection of the fine traditions ..etc.

12. Practical applicability, if any:

- Contribution to building a new cultural life in the localities.

13. Further search directions, if any:

I will continue to study texts on customs in other localities and then compare them to find out the specific characteristics of each locality.

14. Thesis-related applications:

1. Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen (2015), "Sino-Nom conventions and the protection of people's rights (Through some conventions in Hanoi)", The Journal of Sino-Nom Studies, No. 3, pp.62-70.

2. Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen (2017), "Study encouragement activities of people in the district of Tu Liem in the past (Through a number of Sino-Nom texts on customs and family records), The Journal of Sino-Nom Studies , No. 3, pp.20-27.

3. Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen (2018), "Laws and customs related to elderly people in Vietnam during the monarchy, The Journal of Sino-Nom Studies, No. 3, pp.42-53.

4. Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen (2018), "Han Nom materials on funerals of the Vietnamese people -A case study: funerals in the district of Tu Liem",Sino-Nom Research 2018, pp.840-852.