Meeting with the Director of the Center for Handwritten Document Research, University of Hamburg (Germany)

At the meeting, Prof. Michael Friedrich said that the Center for Manuscript Studies (CSMC) at the University of Hamburg is implementing the project cluster “Understanding Written Artifacts”, under the Excellence Initiative program of the German Research Foundation for universities in this country. The project cluster aims to survey the process of creation, storage, circulation and analysis of texts and inscriptions in Africa and Asia. Thereby, it will explore the impact and significance of handwritten documents on societies and cultures.

In Vietnam, Prof. Michael Friedrich visited the National Archives Center I, visited the Nguyen Dynasty Royal Archives - a World Documentary Heritage to discuss cooperation in preserving handwritten archives. In order to expand the research network on handwritten documents in Vietnam, CSMC wishes to cooperate with higher education institutions in Vietnam such as the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in joint research projects.

On behalf of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Associate Professor Dr. Hoang Anh Tuan thanked Professor Michael Friedrich for placing his trust in the University. The Vice President suggested that Professor Friedrich discuss specific plans with the relevant departments of the University such as the Department of Archival Studies and Office Management, the Department of History, and the Department of Information and Library Science. In the immediate future, following the idea of ​​Associate Professor Dr. Dao Duc Thuan (Head of the Department of Archival Studies and Office Management), the Department and CSMC will implement a pilot research project on archival documents at the local level such as villages, communes, and households in Vietnam. In the future, the parties can expand to areas such as digital documents, digitization of handwritten documents, etc.

Prof. Michael Friedrich is also a Sinologist at the Institute of Asian and African Studies at the University of Hamburg, and a visiting professor at Fudan University, Shanghai. At CSMC, he is currently guiding graduate students on the Qin-Han Dynasty Bamboo Stencils, the Dunhuang Texts of China, and the Imperial Records of the Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam.