An excellent work by a leading historian

Professor Dinh Xuan Lam was born on February 4, 1925 in Son Tan commune, Huong Son district, Ha Tinh province, into a family of patriotic officials. His hometown is a land of "spiritual land and talented people", where the divine physician Hai Thuong Lan Ong cured people, where the former doctor Phan Dinh Phung and the farmer leader Cao Thang established a Can Vuong base to fight against the French colonialists for ten years.

In 1945, he graduated with a full Baccalaureate degree in Philosophy and Literature from the Hue National School, right at the time when the people of the whole country rose up in the earth-shaking August Revolution to regain power from the French colonialists and Japanese fascists. The success of the August Revolution changed his perception and life. Having witnessed the overwhelming strength of the masses during the days of the General Uprising, especially the attitude of loyalty and kindness of the Viet Minh leaders who commanded the uprising to seize power in Thanh Hoa, he was moved and enthusiastically participated in national salvation activities. During the years of resistance against the French colonialists, he taught high school and participated in mass organization work in Thanh Hoa province.

After the North was liberated, he was sent to study at Hanoi Pedagogical University, in the same History - Geography class as Phan Huy Le and Tran Quoc Vuong. In 1956, the quartet Dinh Xuan Lam, Phan Huy Le, Ha Van Tan, and Tran Quoc Vuong graduated from university with honors and were all retained as teaching staff at the school.

Prof. Dr. Dinh Xuan Lam

During half a century of standing on the podium, Professor Dinh Xuan Lam has trained thousands of students, successfully guided dozens of PhDs, is loved and respected by generations of students, and is honored as the "four pillars of the court" of the History Department, Hanoi University of Science (now the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi). Professor Dinh Xuan Lam belongs to the generation of those who built the foundation and is a leading expert in the country's Marxist history. Anyone who has studied, met, or worked with Professor Dinh Xuan Lam feels that he is an intelligent, erudite person but very close and simple. He lives calmly, modestly, tolerantly, openly, and sincerely with everyone, both with colleagues and students. In his temperament and behavior, there is the directness and sincerity of a Nghe An native, the sophistication and etiquette of Hue culture, and especially the rich humanity and romance of French culture. His talent, erudition, simplicity and sincerity created the portrait of a teacher who was both noble and simple, very close and kind.

With his abundant writing power, in more than half a century of continuous research, Professor Dinh Xuan Lam left behind a huge scientific legacy, with about 400 scientific works (including books, textbooks, articles, scientific reports, ...). His scientific talent was born early, right after graduating from university. Since 1959, that is, after teaching at the Faculty of History for less than 3 years, he and a number of young colleagues, under the direction of the eminent historian - Professor Tran Van Giau, compiled and published the book seriesModern History of Vietnam(4 volumes). This is the first modern history textbook series highly appreciated by historians for its scientific quality. In 1998, despite being 73 years old, Professor Dinh Xuan Lam still wrote articles for newspapers and participated in scientific conferences, and especially he was the editor-in-chief of the book.Overview of Vietnamese history (volume 2)in a 4-volume book series of the same name published by the Education Publishing House. This book series has been reprinted 14 times so far, and is used as a textbook in universities and colleges. Not stopping there, by 2012, the book seriesHistory of Vietnam (volume 3)edited by Professor Dinh Xuan Lam, is now available to readers. This is a book series that is considered to be the most complete, up-to-date and highest quality among university textbooks on Vietnamese history during the colonial period.

The field of historical research of Professor Dinh Xuan Lam is very rich and diverse. In every field, he left a deep impression. However, the most successful research direction, shaping the position of a leading expert in modern Vietnamese history of Professor Dinh Xuan Lam is the research works on colonialism and the movement against French colonialism of the Vietnamese people that lasted nearly a century, from the second half of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century. The most outstanding research of Professor Dinh Xuan Lam on this topic has been collected in the bookAnti-colonialism movement in Vietnam.

Late Professor Tran Quoc Vuong, Professor Dinh Xuan Lam, Professor Ha Van Tan, Professor Phan Huy Le - the legendary "four pillars" of the Faculty of History, Hanoi University of Science (now the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU) with their teacher - Professor, People's Teacher Tran Van Giau and his wife

The book is divided into five parts. Part one is titledFrom Can Vuong to Duy TanSelected excellent studies by Professor Dinh Xuan Lam on the French colonial invasion plot as well as the resistance movement against French colonialism by generations of patriotic Vietnamese. There are articles clarifying the specific contents and characteristics of the Can Vuong movement in a locality (Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, ...) or French investment activities in a city (Hai Phong), but there are other articles that go into depth and summarize the major features of Vietnamese history during this period such as: assessing the responsibility of the Nguyen Dynasty in letting our country fall into the hands of French colonialism, analyzing the characteristics of French imperialism in Vietnam. What is special is that Professor Dinh Xuan Lam, with his in-depth knowledge accumulated over decades and a solid scientific methodology, has provided profound, clear and convincing explanations about the causes and the process of economic and social transformation in Vietnam under the impact of the invasion and colonial exploitation of French colonialism in the modern period.

The history of Vietnam in the 20th century is closely linked to the name of leader Nguyen Ai Quoc – Ho Chi Minh. Part two of the book –Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnamese Revolution– helps readers clearly recognize the major milestones that are decisive, with historical turning points on the path of President Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary patriotic activities, as well as some outstanding features in his ideology. Not only that, Professor Dinh Xuan Lam also tries to find and decode the deep origin as well as the attributes that govern the entire life and ideology of Ho Chi Minh through articles such as:Western culture – one of the sources that formed Ho Chi Minh's thoughts about the world,Ho Chi Minh's patriotism - the dialectical combination of tradition and modernity,… It can be said that in the study of Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, Professor Dinh Xuan Lam is one of the pioneers and has achieved the most outstanding successes.

Part three of the book –International aspects of the Vietnamese revolution– is another perspective on the anti-colonialism movement in Vietnam when placed in international relations. Professor Dinh Xuan Lam is not only interested in the fighting alliances of the Vietnamese people with oppressed peoples in the world in the struggle against colonialism and for independence (in Laos, Cambodia, Madagascar, etc.), but also analyzes in depth the influences and impacts of international factors on the Vietnamese revolution (first of all, the Chinese revolution, the Russian revolution and the Communist International, etc.).

Research on historical figures - one of the "specialties" of Professor Dinh Xuan Lam, is collected in part four of the book with the titleNotable historical figures. Thanks to his tireless fieldwork and research of documents from many sources, both domestic and foreign, the author has discovered and provided new insights, not only about his homeland and family, but also about the position and role of the characters in Vietnamese history. Through his sweet and concise, coherent and gentle writing style, a series of historical figures from the Can Vuong leaders, typical reformers of the late 19th century to famous revolutionaries and cultural figures of the early 20th century such as Phan Chau Trinh, Dao Duy Anh, Vo Nguyen Giap have become closer to us.

Cover of the book "Anti-colonialism Movement in Vietnam" by Professor Dinh Xuan Lam, just published by Vietnam Education Publishing House in January 2015

The endSome issues of documentation, historical materials and principles of evaluating historical figuresis also another profound contribution of Professor Dinh Xuan Lam to the history of our country. As a researcher who can use English and has a profound knowledge of French, Professor Dinh Xuan Lam has collected and gathered many valuable documents at home and abroad. Some of these documents may be too familiar to researchers now, but more than 20 years ago, those documents were still very new, contributing to illuminating a hidden corner of the history of the Vietnamese revolution. Moreover, from his rich research experience, Professor Dinh Xuan Lam has had many very accurate conclusions on the methodological aspect in the issue of studying historical figures, especially those figures that have not had a unified perception in the academic world. He was very serious even with himself when changing his perspective on some historical figures such as Phan Thanh Gian, Nguyen Truong To, Luu Vinh Phuc, etc. His research works exuded the sense of responsibility, courage and compassion of a talented scientist with a heart for the people and the country.

With the above content and contributions, the bookAnti-colonialism movement in VietnamThis is truly a scientific publication that not only has the meaning of crystallizing the excellent research of Professor Dinh Xuan Lam but also has the nature of suggesting and orienting future generations of researchers, especially the young generation today, about a complex, tumultuous, but pivotal and especially important period of Vietnamese history.

On behalf of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, where he loved, was attached to and devoted his entire scientific life, and as a student and colleague of the Teacher for the past 40 years, I am very happy and honored to respectfully introduce the book to readers near and far. This is also the gratitude and respect of the School, the Faculty of History and the Department of Modern and Contemporary Vietnamese History, which we would like to send to the outstanding leading teacher and historian - Professor, People's Teacher Dinh Xuan Lam on the occasion of his NINE YEARS GREAT BIRTHDAY (90th birthday) in the Spring of At Mui 2015.