40 years of Han Nom - Faculty of Literature

USSH – This year 2012, the Han Nom Department (Faculty of Literature - University of Social Sciences and Humanities) celebrates its 40th anniversary. On this special occasion, we would like to introduce an article by Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Van Khoi - Head of the Han Nom Department - to provide readers with information about a unique training program of the University. In 1972, when the resistance war against the US entered a fierce and historic turning point, the Han Nom training department opened its first class at the Faculty of Literature, Hanoi University of Science with the mission of training a team of people working in collecting, preserving, researching, translating, exploiting Han Nom heritage, preserving and promoting the cultural values ​​of the nation, serving the revolutionary cause at that time: liberating the South, building and protecting the socialist North, moving towards national reunification. Forty years have passed since that difficult beginning, looking back today, it was a long journey of struggle, full of hardships, many difficulties but full of pride because of the many achievements. “Reviewing the past to learn the present”, the more proud and honored Han Nom teachers and students are of what they have done, the more they feel the great responsibility for their political mission, the more they must strive to be worthy of the previous generations of teachers, those who founded the Department, laid the first bricks for the Han Nom training Department – ​​the Department of training in Vietnamese classical literature. In this article, we will review the main features of the Han Nom training and research career. The article consists of the following 2 parts: - 40 years of Han Nom training Department – ​​The first steps. - The current 10 years of the Department (2002-2012)1. Forty years of Han Nom training industry – The first stepsIn the early days, the Han Nom teaching team was organized into the Han Nom Group according to the method and name at that time. The Han Nom Group at that time had the main staff including Mr. Le Van Quan, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thang, Mr. Tran Thuyet, with Mr. Dinh Gia Khanh - Head of the Ancient and Modern Vietnamese Literature Group (Ancient, Modern and Folk Literature) concurrently as the group leader. Participating in the training team to teach and guide Han Nom graduation theses and dissertations were teachers in the Han Nom Group and teachers in the Faculty of Literature, Faculty of History of Hanoi National University at that time such as Prof. Hoang Xuan Nhi, Mr. Nguyen Tai Can, Bui Duy Tan, Tran Dinh Huou, Phan Huy Le, Ha Van Tan, Tran Quoc Vuong as well as many famous Confucian scholars at that time such as: Professor Cao Xuan Huy, Sinologist Do Ngoc Toai... That team of prestigious and respected teachers was one of the main guarantees for the quality of the output products. Up to now, most of the teachers have passed away. Remembering them, our hearts are filled with emotion, with a sincere heart, remembering and being grateful, remembering their great contributions to the Han Nom training career at the arduous establishment of the Department, which can never be forgotten. We also express our gratitude to the team of teachers of the Faculty of Philology in particular, and of Hanoi National University in general, who actively contributed to training the team of people working in Han Nom according to the Han Nom training program at the university level at that time. The Han Nom program at the university level at that time was designed in close connection with the two training majors of the Faculty of Philology: Literature and Language. In addition to the common subjects for the entire Vietnamese university system such as Philosophy, Political Economy, Party History, all three majors (Han Nom, Literature, Language) study in the same lecture hall, same duration, same textbook, same teacher in a series of subjects such as: Vietnamese Literature (folk, ancient, modern, modern); Literary Theory, Chinese Literature, Introduction to Language, Vietnamese Phonetics, Vietnamese Grammar, Vietnamese Vocabulary, Vietnamese Stylistics. Being trained on the common linguistic foundation is one of the bases that makes the difference of the "Han Nom finished product" of Hanoi National University compared to some other institutions. The synthesis of knowledge about society and humanities of the Han Nom finished product of Hanoi National University is one of the factors that has contributed significantly to the "Han Nom brand" of Hanoi National University for a long time. That brand has been recognized and affirmed by the agencies that receive Han Nom students for work as well as by society. At the same time, the synthesis of that knowledge is also an important basis to help Han Nom graduates adapt to the requirements of work assignment and find jobs in different areas of social life. They can work in areas that directly use Han Nom such as the Han Nom Research Institute, universities and colleges, archives and cultural agencies as well as in other cultural and social fields. The ability to exploit the values ​​of Han Nom heritage that a person working in Han Nom has, is partly based on the very basic knowledge of social sciences and humanities that they have acquired from the curriculum as well as from the teams of respected masters. Of course, even with a broad background in social sciences and humanities, it is impossible to create the characteristics, nature or difference of Han Nom University of Hanoi without specialized knowledge of Han Nom expressed through the ability to grasp words and translate and annotate Han Nom texts. Without being able to read and understand Han Nom texts, it is impossible to talk about any exploitation or explanation of the value of the text. To read and translate Han texts, it is not enough to just know the words, but also to understand the historical and cultural issues contained in those texts. It is these historical and cultural issues of content that guide the rules that create the text. The block of Han Nom knowledge according to the chronology is spread evenly and appropriately in 4 and a half years according to the requirements from easy to difficult, suitable for the level of the learner and also suitable for the requirements of education and training in general. The specialized Han Nom knowledge block is designed to follow the steps that the creators of Han Nom texts themselves learned. People who went to school in the past from the age of 6, first studied books in the Primary category to have a certain amount of knowledge and then went through the Four Books, Five Classics, Philosophers, Histories and writing. “As a scholar, one must have a beginning. After primary school, one must go to the Four Books…”. “If one is filial, one must be proficient in the Four Books. Like the Six Classics, one must read them first…”. “If one is knowledgeable in the Classics, one must be proficient in the Four Books. Reading the histories, one must know the beginning and end…” as summarized in the book Tam Tu Kinh. The first Chinese lesson of the “establishment of the branch” period echoed in the lecture of teacher Nguyen Dinh Thang when he recited a lesson reciting the words of Confucius at the old Confucian school: “Your Excellency, this Qiu here has taught three thousand seventy students. Those students can do humane things and know quite a lot about rituals.” The subjects of Elementary Education, the Four Books and a part of the Five Classics were taught by teachers from the Han Nom Ancestor. Teacher Le Van Quan taught the Analects, teacher Tran Thuyet taught the Mencius, the Book of Rites, teacher Nguyen Dinh Thang taught the Doctrine of the Mean, the Great Learning. As for the Book of Songs, it was taught by Professor Cao Xuan Huy – the representative teacher of Vietnamese Chinese studies, the teacher of the teachers. The professor was erudite, his voice resounded, resonantly reciting the sentences and words “cặt khuc ngao nha” (hard to understand) from the pages of the Book of Songs. Mr. Do Ngoc Toai, who used to participate in the "tent" of the imperial examinations in the past, taught about the Book of Poetry. He analyzed and searched for students for literary and poetic materials that contained allusions to the Book of Poetry. Mr. Truong Dinh Nguyen, humorous behind his thick glasses, explained in depth the vocabulary of the lessons of the Historical Essays subject from the Two Han to the Tang and Song dynasties. The Vietnamese Chinese section was taught by Mr. Tran Thuyet and Mr. Do Ngoc Toai. Mr. Tran Thuyet taught the Chinese literature of the Ly and Tran dynasties. Mr. Do Ngoc Toai taught the Chinese literature of the Le dynasty. The Nom script section was taught by Mr. Le Van Quan. The subject was placed in the first semester of the third year with many excerpts from folk songs, Nom stories to the Tale of Kieu, national poetry of Nguyen Trai, Nguyen Binh Khiem, etc. Students of the Han Nom major also listened to topics on grammar and phonetics such as: Chinese phonetics taught by Mr. Le Van Quan. The origin and formation process of Sino-Vietnamese reading was taught by Mr. Nguyen Tai Can; Textology taught by Mr. Ha Van Tan... Although the number of topics is not much, it has helped students a lot in terms of methods, ways to approach Han Nom texts as well as explaining some problems of Han Nom when writing theses or doing research. The Han Nom training program at the university level in the first session that we mentioned above has basically been oriented and managed throughout the 40-year training process of the Department. Of course, over time, the structure of the Han Nom training program at the university level and other levels of education has always been adjusted according to the training orientation of the School, of higher education management agencies such as Hanoi National University, the Ministry of Education and Training, as well as the requirements of life; however, we still recognize the inheritance of the training program at the beginning of the Department. The first Han Nom student class graduated in 1976, corresponding to the 17th class of the Faculty of Literature, Hanoi National University. Over the years, generations of students of the Department have graduated one after another. They are the main human resource for many research institutes, universities, colleges and high schools, archives centers, cultural management agencies, social organizations as well as other agencies to undertake work related to Han Nom and Vietnamese literature and culture. Among the research institutes, the Han Nom Department of the former Vietnam Social Sciences Committee - the current Han Nom Research Institute of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, is the place that receives the most Han Nom graduates. In their positions, they have demonstrated the capacity and qualities that Han Nom work requires such as: diligence and seriousness in work, respect for national cultural values, love for the profession, the ability to read and exploit the cultural values ​​contained in Han Nom texts. Over time, the Han Nom teaching staff of the Han Nom Department was supplemented by retained students as well as from other sources. Over time, a connection and coordination between training and research institutions, between training and recruitment, was also formed. Scientists from research institutes (first of all the Han Nom Research Institute) participated in training here both in teaching and guiding theses, dissertations, and dissertations... On this occasion, on behalf of the teachers in the Han Nom Department, Faculty of Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, I would like to express my gratitude to all the teachers who have helped our Han Nom training career. The steps of the Han Nom training industry every 5 years are fully reviewed in the reports of the anniversary celebrations of the industry as well as in the anniversary celebrations of the Faculty of Literature. Therefore, in this section of the report, I only emphasize the steps and actions of the difficult but memorable establishment period, which need to be mentioned in these anniversaries. In the second part below, we will review the main issues of the current 10 years (2002-2012).2. The current ten years of Han Nom training industryIt has been 10 years since the last Han Nom Training Department anniversary (2002 - 30th Anniversary). Those 10 years were marked by the following milestones in training under the direction of the School: Opening independent enrollment codes for undergraduates; converting programs and methods to credit-based training; undergraduate (Bachelor) and postgraduate (Master and Doctorate) training; improving training quality; expanding international relations. The Department's staff has made great efforts in carrying out its political tasks. These efforts are reflected in the following:2.1. Carry out training tasks:- Opened an independent enrollment code (code 610) for university level (in 2004), recruiting from groups C, D, annual enrollment quota: 30. This creates initiative for Han Nom enrollment at university level. Previously, the Han Nom enrollment code was the Literature code. Candidates who wanted to enter Han Nom must first take the entrance exam to the Faculty of Literature. After studying together for about a year and a half, then the majors were divided. Therefore, the division encountered many difficulties. There were years when only 4-5 students were recruited. Since independent enrollment, Han Nom training has been proactive to a certain extent in selecting input. Course 49 was the first course to separate enrollment like that. Up to now, this proactive enrollment has been implemented for 8 years. - Converting the training program from the year-based system to credit-based training is a step to create more initiative for learners. The Department completed the program conversion step from 2006 to 2007 (Course 52) to officially apply this program. The application of the credit program was carried out together with the compilation of lectures and textbooks according to the subject outline. -Developed a training program for PhD in Han Nom and was assigned the training task by the Director of Hanoi National University since 2010. The training programs (University, Master, Doctorate) according to output standards were developed in 2012. This is a task related to each staff member in the Department in terms of expertise as well as work, so it was discussed thoroughly in the Department. The programs were completed and were evaluated well upon acceptance.2.2. Personnel work and team development:The past ten years have also been a period of many changes in the Department's staff structure. Four staff members in the Department have retired under the State's labor policy (Mr. Nguyen Quy Huu, Mr. Nguyen Van Thinh, Mr. Ta Doan Quyet, Mr. Le Anh Tuan). Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Kim Son assumed the position of Vice Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (2009) and then assumed the position of Vice President of the Vietnam National University, Hanoi (2011); therefore, supplementing human resources for the Han Nom Department is an urgent requirement. Currently, the Department has only 7 staff members, but the task of training Bachelors, Masters, and PhDs is too much. Most of the Han Nom staff are under 40 years old, so they are still in the stage of completing the training process such as postgraduate students, writing theses, as well as participating in assistant work, assisting in leadership and management work... at the same time, they have to perform many tasks, and are at an age busy with family work. It can be said that to complete the current huge workload, the 6 Han Nom staff in the Han Nom Department have had to work hard. The young staff of the Han Nom Department are currently mainly in the stage of completing their doctoral program. In June 2012, Nguyen Tuan Cuong successfully defended his PhD thesis; Nguyen Phuc Anh is doing research in Japan; Dinh Thanh Hieu and Pham Van Dung are doing research in Vietnam. In the work of improving staff capacity, our Department pays special attention to improving the ability to use foreign languages, information technology, scientific exchange and international cooperation, collaborating and receiving international support. Most of the young Han Nom staff have these abilities and those are great efforts. Hopefully, they will go further and have more achievements.2.3. Scientific research work and research directions:Scientific research is one of the highlights of the Department's achievements. The Department's members have performed well the scientific tasks according to the standards and targets of the School. The research topics are all related to the training tasks, and their results are used in lectures, textbooks, theses, dissertations, and theses. Even the basic-level topics with limited funding have articles published in specialized journals. Over the past 10 years, the Department's staff have completed many scientific research topics at all levels, such as: - Preserving and promoting the Han Nom heritage of Hue, a State-level Science and Technology topic chaired by Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Thinh. - Vietnamese Han Nom in the late 19th century - early 20th century in the transition of Vietnamese culture from traditional to modern, a key topic at the Hanoi National University level chaired by Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Van Khoi. Young cadres of the Han Nom Department such as Dinh Thanh Hieu, Pham Van Dung, Phan Thu Hien, Nguyen Phuc Anh all have scientific research topics at all levels that have been accepted. Most of the topics when accepted also have articles published in scientific journals. Most of the young Han Nom cadres participate in the work of compiling lectures or textbooks. The scientific research of the Department's cadres is oriented as follows: - Issues of Han studies, Han literature, Vietnamese Han literature, Sino-Vietnamese contact, East Asian literature through Han characters and the use of Han characters. - Issues of Nom characters, Nom texts, Nom national literature, Vietnamese history through Nom characters, Han Nom bilingualism. - Issues of Han Nom heritage in relation to the structure of traditional Vietnamese culture, ways to ensure cultural continuity between tradition and modernity seen from the Han Nom heritage. - Issues of Confucianism, classics, reception of Confucianism through Han Nom heritage. - Issues on Buddhism, reception of Buddhism through Han Nom heritage. - Issues on methodology of approaching Han Nom, techniques and operations of Han Nom research, decoding and analyzing Han Nom texts, exploiting the textual and cultural values ​​of Han Nom heritage. - Issues on authors, works, and types of Han Nom texts. - Issues on Han Nom textual studies. These orientations are both narrowly specialized and broad in nature, corresponding to the research object which is the Vietnamese Han Nom Heritage - a heritage bearing the characteristics of medieval culture.2.4. Domestic and international cooperation:Domestic and international cooperation aims to determine the position of the Han Nom Training Department, University of Social Sciences and Humanities with centers and units undertaking Han Nom work. Domestic cooperation has been well implemented between the Han Nom Department of the Faculty of Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities with Han Nom research and training facilities such as: Han Nom Research Institute; Han Nom Department of the Faculty of Literature, Hanoi National University of Education; Han Nom Department of the Faculty of Literature - Hue University of Sciences... Many staff of the Department have participated and actively contributed to major tasks of the state such as: The 1000th anniversary of Thang Long, participating in compiling and publishing many publications in this Great Festival. The past ten years have also been marked by international cooperation. The Department has organized dozens of presentations by international scientists on specific issues related to Han Nom. In the past 5 years alone (2008-2012), the Department has invited Professors from Tokyo University, Nishogakusha University, Waseda University, Osaka University to present a series of topics on: Kanbun Kundoku; History of Chinese education, Japanese Confucianism; Dictionary of ancient Japanese books; Chinese literature from the perspective of the study of scholasticism; People and society from the perspective of writing; Chinese education and Japanese Chinese; Research on Annamese translation; Re-establishing Vietnamese phonetics in the 15th century through Nom data of the Buddhist text "Great report to parents and the great grace of the sutra"; How to read Sino-Vietnamese and the problem of duplicate women in Thiet van... (Note: You can find out the specific content of those presentations in the form of a summary in the Proceedings of the 40-year training and research conference on Han Nom at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities - the conference was held on the morning of November 16, 2012). The Department has also had a cooperative relationship with the American Nom Preservation Association; some of the Department's staff have gone to Japan to study, research and exchange science. It can be said that the field of international relations of the Han Nom Department is one of the fields with many results in recent times. However, the past ten years have also been a period in which Han Nom work still has many shortcomings, especially in terms of staff, organization, etc. It is necessary to face that truth in order to take necessary steps to suit the situation. First of all, it is necessary to improve the capacity of the Han Nom staff in both quantity and quality. The addition of human resources to the Han Nom Department needs to be considered from a different perspective - it must be considered a training field with 3 levels of study, not just one of many subjects of the Faculty of Literature as it is now. The perception of Han Nom from a professional perspective also needs to have necessary steps to suit the target audience. The Han Nom heritage is the heritage of medieval culture, using an interdisciplinary approach is necessary but we cannot neglect the specialized approach. There are aspects that are internal to the Han Nom discipline and there are issues that are external to Han Nom, as well as the relationship between the two aspects that need to be further considered. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Han Nom training at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, looking back 40 years, those of us who work in Han Nom are very proud of our mission and duties. We believe that all achievements in Han Nom work cannot be separated from the direction of the school's leaders and the Faculty of Literature. The two Han Nom characters have clearly shown us the nature of the work we must do. The two characters HAN NOM clearly evoke the entity of the nation's written heritage but make it like a heritage with the nature of a museum or library. It is necessary to retain that name, but we should also broaden our view of it by considering it as an important part of the Vietnamese classical literature sector, in which the two words “civilization” must carry within themselves the spirit and content like the words used in the Analects or in the Proclamation of Victory over the Wu. Vietnam is a civilized country, and the Han Nom heritage is one of the most concrete “symbols” of Vietnamese classical literature. The interdisciplinary levels in Han Nom must be built and expressed in that spirit. At the same time, Han Nom must also step up and take on the task of building the Vietnamese classical literature sector on the foundation of what has been achieved from Han Nom training. First of all, in the training programs of the industry, it is necessary to build a course (subject) on Vietnamese classical literature, establish contents related to the work of archiving, editing, announcing, publishing and socializing national cultural heritages, clarify its tasks in modern cultural life so that the dissemination of Han Nom to society is wider and further. Taking Han Nom as the foundation, striving for a training course on Vietnamese classical literature is the task of the industry, the goal of Han Nom training. Moreover, a country known as a civilized country, having been established for thousands of years, Vietnam needs to have a training course on classical literature of its own country, and that training course has the experience and achievements of 40 years of training and researching Han Nom at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. Forty years, at the age of “forty and not confused – Forty then no longer make mistakes”, looking back, we see that although our career of training and researching Han Nom still has many struggles, it has also achieved some success. The success is shown in the achievements of generations of former students, the success is shown in the evaluation of society. I have a couplet for the 40th anniversary of Han Nom training in the following way:Forty years later, Taoism is now practiced without confusion. Surplus of Heavenly Masters, the teacher and student have passed on the teachings successfully.(Forty years, the path has been evident, so there is no mistake. More than a thousand scholars, teachers and students have passed it on, to achieve success.) Let me explain a little. The words “forty, not confused” are taken from the Analects. The words “dao, giao, hien” are taken from the Doctrine of the Mean, but here it is meant to be under the light of the Party, specifically under the direction of the Party Committee and the School Board, so our Department has no mistakes. The lower part is taken from the words often recited during the opening of the Confucian school in the past: “Thượng đại nhân, Thánh ất đi hóa tam thiên thất thập sĩ nhi. Tiểu sinh giai tạo nhân kha tri Lễ đa”. Those long explanations are also the conclusion to my article.