(VHQN) - With more than 550 years of being called Quang Nam, this land still preserves many valuable Han-Nom heritages in terms of history and culture. Han-Nom heritages in Quang Nam are diverse in types (steles; inscriptions engraved on bronze, wood, stone, pottery; royal decrees, edicts, orders... of the monarchies to the local authorities at all levels and figures; reports, petitions... of local officials to the central court; genealogies of clans; books, works... of Confucian scholars and scholars; village land registers; scriptures of religions; medical books, prayers/prayer texts... circulated among the people); rich in content (reflecting the formation and development process of Quang Nam; historical - social, security - defense, economic, cultural, educational - examination, cultural - artistic issues; stories of historical figures, information about predecessors who contributed to the reclamation of Quang Nam - Dang Trong and our country in general over the past 5 centuries...).
Preserve for posterity
These Han-Nom heritages exist in many different forms and genres. They are relics and artifacts at historical-cultural sites and scenic spots in many localities in the province; they are written documents kept in communal houses, temples, family churches, libraries, family bookcases, etc.
These heritages are owned and managed in many different ways: by state organizations and institutions (provincial and municipal museums; historical and cultural relic management boards at all levels; provincial, municipal, municipal and district libraries, etc.); assets owned by clans and families; and even heritages without managers (relics and artifacts scattered in temples, pagodas that have not been classified, written documents existing in the community).
Over the past years, organizations and individuals in Quang Nam have conducted many field research campaigns, collected Han-Nom heritages in the area, conducted statistics, counted, and catalogued local Han-Nom heritages as a database for management; copied and restored a number of important documents of historical and cultural value, and brought them to the Quang Nam Provincial Museum and Library for preservation.
In addition, there are individuals and organizations conducting provincial and national research projects on collecting, preserving and promoting the value of Han-Nom heritages related to Quang Nam (currently being preserved in national libraries and archives in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hue, in libraries of universities and research institutes at home and abroad), seeking to copy, restore, digitize and bring them back to Quang Nam for preservation.
However, the efforts of local authorities and individuals in collecting, protecting, preserving and promoting the value of Han-Nom heritage in Quang Nam are still only small, fragmented activities, not comprehensive and comprehensive in order to preserve and effectively exploit the treasure of Han-Nom heritage which is facing the risk of fading away, being encroached upon and gradually lost due to many objective and subjective reasons.
Even though many Han-Nom heritages have been collected, brought back to the relevant agencies for management and preservation, due to the lack of human resources with expertise in Han-Nom to research, translate, and use them, these sources of documents remain "warehoused artifacts" waiting to be exploited.
Many documents and artifacts with Han-Nom inscriptions have been compiled/translated inaccurately; preserved and restored improperly, causing the Han-Nom artifacts/relics/texts to be distorted and damaged. Many Han-Nom documents owned by families and clans are facing damage due to weather and climate factors, loss and damage due to natural disasters (fire, flood) and man-made disasters (theft, counterfeiting, illegal trading of Han-Nom heritage)...
Suggested solutions to preserve and promote heritage values
From the experience of a person who has spent many years working on the conservation and promotion of cultural heritage values in general and documentary heritage in particular; having visited and learned from foreign experiences in the field of management and conservation of various types of documentary heritage, including Han-Nom documents (relics/artifacts and written documents), I would like to propose some solutions to contribute to the conservation and promotion of Han-Nom heritage values in Quang Nam in the context that these heritages are facing challenges from the development of contemporary life in this locality. These are:
- Quickly establish and put into operation a center for storing relics, artifacts and Han-Nom documents collected in Quang Nam and Han-Nom documents related to Quang Nam that are being preserved in other places, in order to protect this valuable heritage source, serve historical research, preserve and promote the value of Han-Nom heritage in the locality.
This center can be placed under the management of Quang Nam Provincial Library or Quang Nam Museum. These heritages need to be digitized and connected to data search systems on the internet to serve the needs of organizations and individuals in need.
- There should be a program to attract/train human resources who are knowledgeable and proficient in Han-Nom to work for the center for storing relics, artifacts and Han-Nom documents (planned to be established) and the management boards of relics, museums... with Han-Nom relics (on a full-time or part-time basis, with appropriate incentives). Because this is the most important factor in researching, learning and exploiting the value of Han-Nom heritage in the locality.
- We should organize a general survey and inventory of Han-Nom heritage currently preserved in the community, in private libraries and family bookcases in Quang Nam, to build a database on this type of heritage.
This database will be very useful in providing basic information about rare Han-Nom documents, basic content of the documents, current storage locations... From there, coordinate with the owners of these Han-Nom heritages in researching, exploiting, using and protecting this source of documentary heritage.
- The provincial government should have a policy allowing private individuals and communities to deposit rare Han-Nom documents in public libraries with better facilities and preservation conditions, to prevent cases of natural disasters, accidents, impacts from weather, climate, insect attacks, etc.
In particular, in emergency situations (such as floods, storms, fires, etc.), there should be human resource support to save these documents from damage and create conditions for private individuals and communities to temporarily send these documents to places with better preservation and restoration conditions.
- The provincial government should have a support policy to implement the project of digitizing the existing Han - Nom heritage in Quang Nam province, starting with especially rare documents and when conditions are met, digitizing all the Han - Nom heritage that has been identified and managed, in order to store and facilitate the dissemination and exploitation of this documentary heritage.
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