Professor, People's Teacher Dinh Xuan Lam - a giant of Vietnamese revolutionary history

Professor Dinh Xuan Lam was born on February 4, 1925 in Son Tan commune, Huong Son district, Ha Tinh province, in a family of patriotic officials. His hometown is a land of "spiritual land and talented people", where the divine physician Hai Thuong Lan Ong prescribed medicine to save people, where the former doctor Phan Dinh Phung and the farmer leader Cao Thang established the Can Vuong base to fight the French persistently for ten years. He was born in the midst of a nationwide movement of struggle demanding freedom and democracy, demanding that the French colonialists pardon the patriot Phan Boi Chau.

Professor, People's Teacher Dinh Xuan Lam - leading expert on modern history/Photo: Thanh Long

His father was appointed by the Nguyen Dynasty as the District Governor of Thanh Hoa Province, so when he was only 9 months old, he and his family moved to Thanh Hoa and remained attached to this land throughout his childhood and adolescence until he went to study in the Imperial City of Hue. Later, his wife, Mrs. Hoang Thi Qui, was also from Thanh Hoa, so it was no coincidence that he considered Thanh Hoa his second homeland.

In 1945, he graduated with a full Baccalaureate degree in Philosophy and Literature from Hue National School, which was also the time when the August Revolution broke out and achieved victory. The success of the August Revolution changed both his perception and his life. Having witnessed the overwhelming power of the masses during the days of the General Uprising, especially the attitude of the Viet Minh leaders who commanded the uprising to seize power in Thanh Hoa, he was strongly influenced and began to enthusiastically participate in national salvation activities. During the years of resistance against the French, he taught secondary and high school and participated in mass organization work at many schools in Thanh Hoa province. The lectures, dignified demeanor, and elegant gestures of the young teacher captivated many students during the years he taught general education here.

The Dien Bien Phu victory and the Geneva Accords in 1954 ended the nine-year resistance war against French colonialism, restoring peace to half of the country. After the North was liberated, he was sent to study at the University of Pedagogy, Faculty of Literature, in the same History and Geography class as Phan Huy Le and Tran Quoc Vuong. In 1956, four students, Dinh Xuan Lam, Phan Huy Le, Ha Van Tan, and Tran Quoc Vuong, graduated with honors and were all retained as teaching staff at the School.

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 Faculty of History, Hanoi University of Science (now the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi). He 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 and tolerantly, openly and sincerely with everyone, both with colleagues and students. In his temperament and behavior, there is the frankness and sincerity of a Nghe An native, the sophistication and etiquette of Hue culture that he was attached to for many years when studying at Quoc Hoc School, and especially in his soul, there is a rich romanticism, humanity and gallantry of French culture. His talent, erudition and simplicity have created the portrait of a teacher who is both noble and elegant, simple and very close and humble.

With abundant writing power, in more than half a century of non-stop 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. In 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 master 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, and was used to teach History students at many universities for decades after that. In 1998, despite being 73 years old, Professor Dinh Xuan Lam still wrote articles 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, in 2012, the book seriesHistory of Vietnam(Volume 3) edited by Professor Dinh Xuan Lam is reintroduced to readers. This is a book series that is still considered to be the most complete, up-to-date and highest quality among university textbooks on Vietnamese History during the colonial period.

It can be said that the research topics of History Professor Dinh Xuan Lam are very rich and diverse. In every topic, he is successful and leaves a deep impression. However, the longest-lasting and most successful research direction, contributing to shaping the position of a leading expert on modern Vietnamese history of Professor Dinh Xuan Lam, is the research works on colonialism and the movement against French colonialism of our people lasting from the second half of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century.

In particular, he is very interested and enthusiastic in researching and learning about the biography and career of President Ho Chi Minh. Based on many sources of documents and sharp, tight analysis, he not only helps readers understand some outstanding features in Nguyen Ai Quoc's ideology, but 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 asWestern 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 modernityi vv… It can be said that in researching Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, Professor Dinh Xuan Lam is one of the pioneers and has achieved many remarkable successes.

Learning about historical figures is also one of the “specialties” of Professor Dinh Xuan Lam. Thanks to his tireless fieldwork and research of many sources of information both domestically and internationally, he has discovered and provided new insights, not only about his homeland and family origins, but also given objective and comprehensive assessments of the contributions and roles of figures in Vietnamese history. At the same time, with his rich research experience, Professor Dinh Xuan Lam also has many very accurate opinions on the methodological aspect in the issue of researching and evaluating historical figures, especially those figures that have not yet 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, altruism, and humanity of a talented scientist with a heart for the people and the country.

Prof. Dr. People's Teacher Nguyen Van Khanh

http://news.zing.vn/tu-tru-su-viet-gs-dinh-xuan-lam-qua-doi-o-tuoi-92-post716480.html

http://vietnamnet.vn/vn/giao-duc/khoa-hoc/giao-su-dinh-xuan-lam-ban-linh-mot-su-gia-353864.html

http://tuoitre.vn/tin/giao-duc/20170126/giao-su-su-hoc-dinh-xuan-lam-qua-doi-o-tuoi-92/1257568.html

http://dantri.com.vn/su-kien/giao-su-su-hoc-dinh-xuan-lam-qua-doi-20170125225340645.htm

http://vov.vn/xa-hoi/giao-su-dinh-xuan-lam-qua-doi-o-tuoi-92-589149.vov