Professor Dao Duy Anh - A great historian and cultural figure.

The article by Professor Phan Huy Le (published in "100 Portraits of a Century of National Universities" - 2006) introduces the portrait of Professor Dao Duy Anh - one of the people who contributed to building the modern social sciences and humanities of Vietnam.

A brief biography of Professor Dao Duy Anh

Professor Dao Duy Anh was born on April 25, 1904, in Thanh Hoa and passed away on April 1, 1988, in Hanoi. His ancestral home was Khuc Thuy village, Ta Thanh Oai commune, Thanh Oai district, Ha Dong province (now Thanh Oai district, Hanoi). He made numerous research contributions in the fields of social sciences and humanities, from linguistics, dictionaries, culture, and literature to history, ethnology, sociology, historical geography, and textual studies. He trained many generations of students at the Faculty of Literature. From 1945 to 1946, he taught at the Faculty of Literature in Hanoi. From 1954 to 1956, he was a professor at the Hanoi University of Education and the Faculty of Literature. From 1956 to 1958, he was a professor at Hanoi University and Head of the Department of Ancient and Medieval Vietnamese History. In 1958, Professor Dao Duy Anh transferred to the Ministry of Education, and then in 1960 to the Institute of History. In 2000, Professor Dao Duy Anh was posthumously awarded the Ho Chi Minh Prize by the Party and the State.

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I first came to know Professor Dao Duy Anh in 1952, after graduating from Phan Dinh Phung High School (Ha Tinh) and going to Thanh Hoa to study at the University Preparatory School. Before that, I only knew the name of the scholar Dao through his "French-Vietnamese Dictionary" and "Sino-Vietnamese Dictionary". I will never forget Professor Dao's lectures on Vietnamese history at night in the courtyard of the communal house or the courtyard of a private house in the Cau Ke and Cho Du areas (Tho Xuan, Thanh Hoa). To avoid enemy planes, we studied at night, each with a small folding table and a homemade kerosene lamp made from an ink bottle and a cardboard cover, just enough light for taking notes. Professor Dao sat on a high chair, without a lamp, slowly lecturing from memory. The students looked up but couldn't see his face, only hearing his voice through his steady but concise and profound lectures. In 1954, I went to Hanoi to continue my second year of History and Geography at the Hanoi University of Education. In 1956, after graduating, I was retained as an assistant at the Department of Ancient Vietnamese History, headed by Professor Dao Duy Anh (at that time commonly known as...).Ancient History DepartmentI held the position of Head of Department. I had the honor of studying with him and working under his guidance until he transferred to the Ministry of Education (1958) and then to the Institute of History (1960). That was the beginning of my career teaching and writing history, where the role of the teacher was extremely important in guiding my scientific direction and shaping my style throughout my scientific life.

Dao Duy Anh was born on April 25, 1904, in Thanh Hoa and died on April 1, 1988, in Hanoi. The Dao family originally came from Khuc Thuy village, Ta Thanh Oai commune, Thanh Oai district, Ha Dong province (now Thanh Oai district, Ha Tay province). His grandfather's generation migrated to Thanh Hoa (Trung Chinh commune, Nong Cong district). After graduating from Hue National School (1923), he did not want to work as a civil servant under the colonial government and chose the noble profession of teaching, teaching at Dong Hoi Primary School (Quang Binh). At that time, the patriotic movement was surging with the bombing of Sa Dien (Guangzhou, China) by Pham Hong Thai in 1924, the movement demanding "amnesty" for Phan Boi Chau in 1925, the funeral of Phan Chu Trinh in 1926, and progressive journalistic and publishing activities in major cities, all of which captivated the mind of the young intellectual Dao Duy Anh. In late 1925, he attended the Quang Tri Association of Dong Hoi to welcome Phan Boi Chau on his way from Hanoi to Hue. In 1926, he resigned from his teaching position, went to Da Nang, and intended to go to Saigon to live in the cultural and political centers to "escape the confines of the pond," "find a place of vast skies and seas" where he could "expand his knowledge" and engage in patriotic activities. From then on, he dedicated himself to political and cultural activities. On his way to Da Nang, he stopped in Hue to visit Phan Boi Chau, who was under house arrest at Pho Quang Pagoda (later moved to a house on Ben Ngu slope), and in Quang Nam to meet Huynh Thuc Khang, who was the President of the Central Vietnam People's Representative Assembly. He helped Huynh establish a newspaper.People's VoiceHe held the position of Editorial Secretary. In late summer 1926, he joined the Vietnam Revolutionary Party, later renamed the Tan Viet Revolutionary Party (July 1928), and he became its General Secretary. Also in 1928, he founded Quan Hai Tung Thu, collaborating with progressive intellectuals such as Vo Liem Son, Tran Dinh Nam, Phan Dang Luu, etc., to publish popular books to familiarize readers with scientific thought and historical materialism. During its short existence until July 1927, this publishing house produced 13 publications, in which Dao Duy Anh compiled or translated books such as "History of economic theories", "Women exercise", "History of humankind", "What is religion?", "What is society?", "What is a nation?"These were the early works of scholar Dao, aimed at disseminating Marxism and progressive scientific thought, contributing to the political and cultural struggle movement of the time. He used the pseudonym..."Ve ThachHe likened himself to a mythical bird, vowing to spend his life carrying stones to fill the vast ocean of knowledge. In July 1929, Dao Duy Anh was arrested by the colonial authorities and was only released from prison in early 1930. From then on, he realized..."They lacked the talent and courage to shoulder the difficult and arduous task assigned to them by the revolution" and "chose the path of cultural activities that would contribute to restoring the national spirit that was fading under colonial rule."Ideologically, he also provided a clear direction:I set for myself the goal of striving to use the light of Marxism to explore the cultural heritage of our nation and select the good aspects to contribute to the cultural transformation of our country."The first field of cultural and scientific studies that Dao Duy Anh was interested in wasLexicographyHe completed and published two dictionaries:Sino-Vietnamese Dictionary" (1932) "French-Vietnamese dictionary" (1936). These were not only essential reference books, meeting the demands of cultural and scientific development at the time, but through the words and political concepts, the author intentionally included progressive and scientific explanations from a Marxist perspective and modern intellectual trends. Dao Duy Anh was a lexicographer who laid the foundation for modern Vietnamese lexicography. From 1938, he shifted to the field of culture and literature. His published research works include "Outline of Vietnamese Cultural History" (1938) "Confucian criticism of minor laws" (1938), "Outline of Chinese History" (1942) "A discussion on Kim Van Kieu" (1943). The work ""Outline of Vietnamese Cultural History"by Dao Duy Anh and his work "Annamese Civilization" (La Civilization Annamite, 1944) by Nguyen Van Huyen is a scientific work that laid the foundation for the formation of modern Vietnamese cultural studies in a scientific and nationalistic spirit. The scientific field to which Dao Duy Anh devoted the most effort wasHistoryHe had determined this scientific aspiration immediately after his release from prison in 1930 and had prepared meticulously for it. He thought to himself, "We must diligently study history because only with a thorough understanding of our nation's history can we discern which elements are traditional and which are foreign." and "After being released from prison, I decided to dedicate myself to studying history.He also recognized that the necessary preparation for entering this scientific field was a broad knowledge base of world history, Eastern and Western history, and many related social sciences such as philosophy, economics, ethnology, sociology, etc., especially regarding historical methodology and historical documents. From the Bảo Đại Library, the Library of the Society of Ancient Hue (Société des Amis du Vieux Hue) in Hue, the Long Cương Library of the Cao family in Thịnh Mĩ (Diễn Châu, Nghệ An), and many private libraries, he commissioned copies and acquired many valuable books, building for himself a fairly rich collection of Sino-Vietnamese texts including many Vietnamese and Chinese manuscripts. He spent a lot of time visiting prominent families and clans from Thanh Hoá, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh to Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, and Bình Định to collect historical documents. In 1938, he went to Hanoi to meet Nguyễn Văn Tố and the Tri Tân group to prepare for the publication of the book ""History book series"and the setLiterary CollectionHowever, the work had to stop due to World War II. Regarding historical methodology, he studied the book "An Introduction to HistoriographyCharles Seignobos's *Introduction aux Études Historiques* belongs to the positivist school and draws on research experience demonstrated through valuable scientific works of French, Chinese, and Japanese scholars, especially the Marxist works of Chinese scholars such as Guo Moruo and Lü Zhenwu. He placed particular emphasis on the verification of historical sources and, in this respect, he attempted to apply the achievements of the scholarly methods of the Han dynasty, the research methods of the Ming and Qing dynasties, combined with modern Western textual analysis methods. On this basis, he began his historical career with the work of translation and commentary.Phu Bien Tap LucProfessor Dao Duy Anh's works include those of Le Quy Don and his research on ancient Vietnamese history from prehistoric times, the origins of the nation, to the Dong Son culture, the resistance against the Qin dynasty, and the Au Lac kingdom. After the August Revolution of 1945, Professor Dao Duy Anh was invited to teach History at the Hanoi University of Literature, along with other universities and colleges that opened on November 15, 1945. He was a member of the Organizing Committee for the National Cultural Congress (1946). During the resistance against the French, he was active in the Literature and Arts Branch of Zone IV. In 1950, he was invited to Viet Bac to be the Head of the History and Geography Department under the Department of Literature and Arts, Ministry of Education. In 1952, he returned to Thanh Hoa to teach at the University Preparatory School. In 1954, after peace was restored, he returned to Hanoi to teach at the Hanoi University of Education and the University of Literature. In 1956, when Hanoi University was established, he was appointed Head of the Department of Ancient Vietnamese History, overseeing training and scientific research. His time working at the History Faculty of Hanoi University until 1958 was only a little over two years. However, this was the period when Professor Dao Duy Anh focused all his efforts on the field of history and achieved the highest results. With materials accumulated over many years, along with reflections and some drafts prepared during the resistance war, and now having the opportunity to supplement, update information, and consult relevant foreign scientific works, he conducted many fundamental research topics on Vietnamese history, especially ancient and medieval history, such as the periodization of history, the origin of the nation, the slave-owning system, the feudal system, and the formation of the Vietnamese nation... Professor Dao Duy Anh completed the old draft and published two sets of textbooks:History of Vietnam" (1956) and "Ancient history of Vietnam" (1956). Shortly afterwards, he added and rewrote it as "Ancient history of Vietnam"(1957) consists of 4 volumes: "The origins of the Vietnamese people", "The issue of An Dương Vương and the Âu Lạc state.", "Lac Viet Bronze Age Culture and Bronze Drums","The transitional period to feudalism"During the years 1957-1958, he continued to publish..."The issue of the formation of the Vietnamese nation"(1957) and rewritten"History of Vietnam from its origins to the 19th century" (2 volumes, 1958). It is rare to see an expert complete and publish so many scientific works in such a short period of two years. During these two years, Professor Dao Duy Anh also worked hard to build a long-term documentation base for the Department of History and Hanoi University. He sought out and purchased valuable Chinese texts, hired people to copy Vietnamese historical works and Sino-Vietnamese documents, collected foreign sources about Vietnam, and planned to translate necessary materials for students' reference. Alongside the Department of Ancient and Medieval Vietnamese History, there was a translation team consisting of senior Sinologists and a cartography team. Also during these two years, Professor... Professor Dao Duy Anh participated in training three cohorts of students from the History Department of Hanoi Pedagogical University and Hanoi University (1954-1958), the first generation of historians of independent Vietnamese universities, many of whom became professors and associate professors and played important roles in the development of modern historiography in the country. In 1958, Professor Dao Duy Anh transferred to the Ministry of Education, and then in 1960 to the Institute of History. From there, he ceased university teaching and focused on a field suitable to his new work conditions while continuously contributing to the country's academic development. As assigned by the Institute of History, he edited and annotated many valuable books that were translated into Vietnamese, such as...Historical Records of Dynastic Constitutions","Dai Nam Thuc Luc","Phu Bien Tap Luc", "Complete History of Dai Viet", "Dai Nam Nhat Thong Chi","Military Treatise and Tiger Tent Strategy", "Gia Dinh City Chronicle", "Complete Works of Nguyen Trai"During this time and after his retirement (1965), he compiled several works such as "Vietnam through the ages" (1964) "Dictionary of the Tale of Kieu" (completed in 1965, published in 1974)"Nom script: its origin, structure, and evolution."(1975), translation and commentary"Key of the Void" (1974) "Department of Literature" (1974) "The Fairy Tale" (1978) "Nguyen Du's poems in Chinese characters" (1988) "Book of Poetry" (unpublished)The Tao Te Ching and the teachings of Lao Tzu" (unpublished). Towards the end of his life, he wrote a memoir.Remember to think about it in the afternoon." (Completed in 1974, published in 1989). Throughout his life, from 1928 until his passing, Professor Dao Duy Anh left behind a vast legacy with numerous works in various fields, from dictionaries, linguistics, culture, and literature to history, archaeology, textual studies, ethnology, and historical geography. He was a brilliant scholar with encyclopedic knowledge of social sciences and humanities, demonstrating an unyielding scientific spirit, a great passion, a great ambition, and extraordinary willpower. Above all, he was a great historian and a great cultural figure whose groundbreaking research laid the foundation for the formation of modern Vietnamese historiography and cultural studies. In 2000, Professor Dao Duy Anh was posthumously awarded the Ho Chi Minh Prize for two works.Ancient History of Vietnamand ""The history of Vietnam from its origins to the 19th century"Professor Dao Duy Anh was present at the Faculty of Literature from its founding (1945), then at the University Preparatory School in Thanh Hoa (from 1952), and at the Faculty of Literature, Hanoi Pedagogical University, and Hanoi University (from 1954 to 1958). He was one of the professors who contributed to building the foundation of the Faculty of Literature, that is, the modern social sciences and humanities, of the University and the country. As I write this concluding line, the image of my beloved teacher in his final years reappears before me: his white hair, white beard, high forehead, and wise, benevolent face, etched with a life of diligent scientific work and countless hardships. The mark and example of Professor Dao Duy Anh... Dao Duy Anh will forever remain in the minds of generations of students and historians the spirit of self-study and research, the enthusiasm for accumulating knowledge and constantly supplementing and updating it, and the consciousness of academic exploration and discovery. Speaking of his career, one cannot fail to mention Mrs. Tran Thi Nhu Man, his life partner and devoted secretary, who collaborated and assisted him greatly in completing his scientific works.