I am extremely honored to be allowed by Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Huong and trusted by Principal Professor Hoang Anh Tuan to read and introduce the book.
"Vision from history - Perfecting Vietnamese values in the new era"for school staff and students on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification and the 4th anniversary of Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day.
New work by Senior Lieutenant General Dr. Nguyen Van Huong
I remember a few weeks ago, Vietnam Airlines sent someone to ask me about the idea of using the Lac bird on the Dong Son bronze drum as the symbol of Vietnam Airlines. After knowing that I completely agreed, they asked what kind of bird the Lac bird was. I thought it was a divine bird taken from the prototype of the stork, a typical image of the wet rice agricultural civilization of the ancient Vietnamese people, and I did not forget to read the poem written by poet To Huu sixty years ago:
"The white stork's wings flapped endlessly
Oh Fatherland! Simple yet splendid!”
Dr. Nguyen Van Anh, Director of the Museum of History and Culture of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU, sent me the book to read in advance."Vision from history - Perfecting Vietnamese values in the new era"by Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Huong, whose book cover depicts a Lac bird flying in the vast “S” shaped space, I briefly thought of the historical roots to the core values of the nation and the universal pedestal for the country to take off, like the Lac bird on the fuselage of Vietnam Airlines. Reading a few lines printed on the back cover of the book, I believe this prediction is well-founded: “This book does not go into detail about solutions but wants to present a system of viewpoints for national development. In Asian philosophy, if you want to take long steps, your feet must be steady, if you want to climb a steep hill, your steps must be firm. This book was born with the hope that Vietnam will soon perfect its values to enter the new era. What has not been achieved must be achieved. What has been achieved but is not enough must also be deepened to be more perfect. Only then can Vietnam create a solid foundation and launch pad to fly high.
Dr. Nguyen Van Huong is very famous as a strategist on national security. Nearly a dozen books he has published in the past 15 years and 75 issues of Phuong Dong magazine of which he is the Editor-in-Chief, although they have expanded to many other fields, readers still realize that the main spirit of these works does not go beyond the issues of national and international security. Up to"Vision from history - Perfecting Vietnamese values in the new era"The book becomes a brilliant summary, an interdisciplinary historical work (that is, a natural, tight, harmonious combination of Geography, History, Cultural Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, Economics and International Studies). It has been a long time since I have read a historical work that has reached the height of intelligence, the depth of thinking, without being dry, rigid, even gentle, graceful like a true literary work published by the Writers' Association.
Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Huong shared with staff and students of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities about the work "Vision from History" which was newly published before April 30, 2025.
The author devoted an entire chapter mainly to discussing the philosophy of yin and yang and applied it to explain the diverse terrain of Vietnam and came to a very surprising but convincing conclusion:
“Vietnam's special harmony with the theory of two opposites creating the universe shows that the country already carries within itself a universal value, ready to become a new development center of the region and the world.”Affirming the extremely special role of Geography, the author does not fall into determinism. According to him:
“To form all the elements of such a perfect S-shape is an arduous historical process of nation building in which our ancestors sacrificed so much blood and bones.”That is the "introductory" story for the author to go into the main content of the book, which is the process of cultural history.
The interesting surprising story is that the comprehensive and holistic approach to Vietnamese history has just been established, while many professional historians are still struggling to explain specific historical issues, this book has been truly smooth and very successful. Just recently, someone used the name of "class position" to accuse the Vietnam Historical Science Association of being a group of history-changers, even reactionaries who deliberately obscured the 4000-year history of the nation or attributed the unification of the country to Nguyen Anh, the affirmation of Vietnam's sovereignty over Hoang Sa - Truong Sa to the Nguyen Dynasty kings and mandarins... We respect and highly appreciate the convincing scientific explanation and sense of responsibility of Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Huong about the first era of building and defending the country of Vietnam:
“Entering the Iron Age, three major cultural centers were formed in our country, leading to the birth of the first three states: Van Lang - Au Lac in the North; the ancient Sa Huynh - Lam Ap - Hoan Vuong - Champa states in the Central region and Phu Nam in the South. The birth of the Van Lang state was about 2700 years ago, several centuries earlier than Champa and Phu Nam. However, all three types of the first states above are classified together in the first era of nation building in Vietnam.”. For the first time, readers of Vietnamese History saw the image of the Pre-Sa Huynh site in Ben Ngu Tho Chau Phu Quoc or the Dong Son cultural site recently discovered in Cao Bang included in official history. Regarding national sovereignty, the author affirmed that “
Vietnam had its complete form as it is today under the last feudal dynasty of Nguyen dynasty"(p.45). And also under the Nguyen Dynasty "
National leaders have made many important efforts in affirming sovereignty over seas and islands"Such an assessment is truly objective and fair, from a scientist, a national strategist with a bright mind and true height.
The author has presented and explained very briefly and concisely the process of gathering and spreading, shaping the mainstream, the changes, the ups and downs, the strengths, the weaknesses, the favorable and unfavorable aspects, both the successes and the failures of the Era of building and defending the country, the Era of national independence, the Era of integration and national development to draw out Vietnamese values, as the foundation and launching pad for the country to rise high and fly far.
According to the author, Vietnam has a strong enough development foundation, has reasonable and ripe foundations and conditions to establish a new era, an era of rich people, strong country, standing shoulder to shoulder with the world powers. The analysis of the increasingly multipolar and extremely complex international context is naturally a great challenge for all countries, but is considered by the author as a great opportunity, a condition for Vietnam to enter the era of rising up. The process of economic development and integration, political stability, combined with an extremely favorable international context, along with the true values of the country and Vietnamese people that have been distilled and refined over thousands of years of history are the necessary and sufficient conditions, with a solid position and strength for Vietnam to enter the era of rising up.
More than 400 lecturers and students attended the book introduction seminar.
The purpose of this book is to find ways to supplement shortcomings, perfect values, build trust and strength for the whole nation to enter a new historical era from a historical perspective. First of all, it must be to perfect the entire economy in a systematic, synchronous and drastic manner. However, economic development will no longer have real meaning if areas close to the people such as health and education are not improved and many other social areas of the country are not perfected. Although the country's foreign affairs have achieved many achievements, the strength of foreign affairs in integration needs to be upgraded, cultural values need to be consolidated and perfected, and the trust and strategic belief of the people need to be nurtured to become the greatest and most important resource to turn the country into a powerful and prosperous nation.
Prof. Dr. People's Teacher Nguyen Quang Ngoc and Prof. Dr. Hoang Anh Tuan presented flowers to congratulate Senior Lieutenant General, Dr. Nguyen Van Huong
In the book, the author also devoted a few pages to writing about Hanoi, the heart of the country, where the national spirit converges, where the quintessence and spirit of the nation are transmitted and expressed. According to the author:
“Whether the country develops or not, politically, culturally and spiritually, must start from Hanoi. Restoring the values, heritages and landscapes of Hanoi is to create morale and vitality for the country at this time.” “Hanoi must not only be the political center but also truly the spiritual and cultural center of Vietnam in modern times.”. Hanoi must be the locomotive, the launching pad for the whole country to enter a new era. With less than 5 pages sharing thoughts about Hanoi, I feel like he has led the readers to the end of responsibility and love.
In September 1945, in a letter to students on the first school day of the new regime, President Ho Chi Minh expected:
"Whether Vietnam's mountains and rivers become beautiful or not, whether the Vietnamese people can step up to the stage of glory to stand shoulder to shoulder with the world's great powers or not, depends largely on your studies."Today, after 80 years, the leader of the Party and State has realized President Ho Chi Minh's aspiration with the determination to build Vietnam into a prosperous, sustainable, and high-ranking nation in the international arena; a new era - the era of the Vietnamese people's rise - is beginning. We would like to sincerely thank Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Huong, with his talent and passion as a national strategist, for giving us a historical vision to contribute to perfecting national values in the new era, so that the University of Social Sciences and Humanities - the heroic school founded by Uncle Ho 80 years ago - has more opportunities to grow, so that each of us can understand ourselves better and feel a higher sense of responsibility, contributing to building a beautiful country, a nation that steps up to the glorious stage alongside the great powers of the five continents.
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