Nguyen Thua Hy and the work "Thang Long - Hanoi in the 17th, 18th, 19th centuries"

Associate Professor, Doctor, Meritorious Teacher Nguyen Thua Hy is Deputy Head of the Department of Ancient and Medieval Vietnamese History, Faculty of History (1995-2000)/Photo: Thanh Long

Among the 12 Ho Chi Minh Awards and 20 State Awards for Science and Technology in 2011, the Faculty of History, University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi has two: one Ho Chi Minh Award for a cluster of works on Vietnamese culture by the late Professor, Associate Professor, Tran Quoc Vuong, and one State Award for the workThang Long - Hanoi in the 17th - 18th - 19th centuriesby Associate Professor, Dr., Meritorious Student Nguyen Thua Hy. This is the fifth Ho Chi Minh Prize and the fourth State Prize that the History Faculty staff has been honored to receive from the State.

Associate Professor, Doctor, Meritorious Teacher Nguyen Thua Hy was born in 1937, in the "core space" of "Hanoi of a thousand years ago" (Hang Cot Street, Ba Dinh District), his hometown is Ha Dinh village (now Thanh Xuan District), his mother is from La Phu village (old Ha Tay). Graduated from high school at one of the three most prestigious high schools in Hanoi at that time (Nguyen Trai School, along with Chu Van An and Truong Vuong Schools), he became a student of the first course of the History Department, Hanoi University of Science, in the same class with famous names in the history industry later, such as Professor, People's Teacher Phan Dai Doan, Professor, People's Teacher Vu Duong Ninh, Associate Professor, People's Teacher Le Mau Han, Associate Professor, Meritorious Teacher Pham Thi Tam... It is said that in this first course of the History Department, he was one of the best students. But unlike many of his friends, after graduating, he was assigned to teach high school history. After thirty years of teaching and working at the Departments of Education in Ha Nam and then Hanoi, it was not until 1990, when he was 53 years old, that he returned to work as a lecturer at the Department of Ancient and Medieval Vietnamese History, Faculty of History, at the invitation of Professor Phan Huy Le, then Head of the Department.

It seemed that being a high school teacher meant teaching and not doing research. But he was not “satisfied”. With his passion for science, the knowledge he had accumulated – especially from books written in English and French – and his natural ability to absorb, he quietly wrote, not too much, but deeply.

Then, in the early 80s of the last century, he decided to do a PhD (in the country). At that time, PhD students, in general and in history in particular, were rare. He chose Hanoi - the land where he was born and raised, witnessing many changes - as the subject of his research. It was probably not by chance. In early 1984, his thesisThang Long - Hanoi in the 17th - 18th - 19th centuries (economy - society of a medieval Vietnamese city)His thesis was defended, among the first doctoral dissertations (then called Associate Doctoral dissertations) of the History Department. The day he defended it (at 19 Le Thanh Tong) was attended by a large crowd, including many prominent figures in the history industry. Later, in 1993, this work was published as a book and immediately attracted the attention of researchers at home and abroad. Up to now, more than two decades have passed, it has become a book that cannot be ignored, mentioned, or cited in studies on Thang Long - Hanoi, especially in the 17th, 17th, and 19th centuries.

He was awarded the State Prize for Science and Technology in 2010 for his work "Thang Long - Hanoi in the 17th - 18th - 19th centuries".

By exploiting a variety of sources, especially those written in Western languages ​​(English, French), which are carefully processed, methodically and effectively, this work has outlined the appearance of Thang Long - Hanoi through different periods, especially the 17th - 18th - 19th centuries, highlighting the socio-economic structure, economic activities of Thang Long - Hanoi through the 17th - 18th - 19th centuries, and the policies of Vietnamese feudal states on this issue through the case of Thang Long - Hanoi. Sharp analysis of economic structure, social structure, class mechanism and class exchange; The generalizations about the factors of urban development and rise, about the urban-rural relationship, about the dualism of state and people in the city, about the development and transformation of the city have become important theses, having a wide influence on domestic and foreign researchers, students, graduate students and postgraduates when approaching the history of Vietnamese society in the medieval period. The work has become a typical study on Thang Long - Hanoi, which is often cited by domestic and foreign researchers when studying Vietnamese history in general and Thang Long - Hanoi history in particular. This work is also a valuable monograph, effectively serving the training work of the Faculty of History, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (bachelor, master, doctorate in Ancient and Medieval Vietnamese History, Vietnamese Cultural History and other related majors).

The work has been translated into English (published by The Gioi Publishing House in 2002), known to many scholars and readers from many countries, contributing to promoting Vietnamese history and culture in general, and Thang Long - Hanoi history and culture in particular to international friends. Recently, the work was supplemented and published in the "Thang Long Thousand Years of Culture Bookcase" on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi, continuing to be highly appreciated by researchers and readers.

In another sense, this work has made an important contribution to promoting the development of Hanoi studies. As an excellent study of Thang Long - Hanoi, the work can be considered an exemplary monograph on the history of Thang Long - Hanoi as a city playing the role of a political - administrative center of the country. Although the work focuses mainly on the period from the 17th to the 19th century, most issues related to the economic - social life of Thang Long - Hanoi are generalized in the entire historical process, creating a relatively comprehensive picture of the economic - social structure of this city. Among hundreds of monographs on Thang Long - Hanoi to date, this work can be considered one of the most excellent studies, marking a step forward in Hanoi research.

Reading Nguyen Thua Hy, one can clearly see the erudition of knowledge and the elegance in literature, especially the works on the history and culture of Thang Long - Hanoi. Perhaps it is the combination and absorption of a thousand-year-old Thang Long culture with a mature Hanoi urban culture in modern times. At the age of nearly 80, his hands and feet are weak, but he is still unusually clear-headed. Just sitting at home, he surfs the web regularly, using both landline and mobile phones, he knows everything about the world, about the country, about the School, about the Faculty, about big and small personnel... he knows everything (and sometimes even knows in advance). And especially, he still writes, from research articles to books. During the thousand years of Thang Long - Hanoi, he was the editor-in-chief of the bookThang Long - Hanoi Cultural Documents: Collection of Western Documentsthousands of pages thick, highly appreciated, then in 2011, he printedTraditional Vietnamese culture - a perspective, more than half a thousand pages. He translated and edited famous works of foreign scholars about Vietnam.

Everyone who meets him feels happy and loves life. He works with all his heart, seriously, responsibly, and effectively. He almost doesn't care about the gains and losses of life. That's why he is very "leisurely". And perhaps because he is "leisurely", he is very "deep".