Sow the seeds
In 1981, Professor Tran Van Khe was invited to attend the introduction of Hue Royal Court Music to the UNESCO delegation. At that time, UNESCO had just launched a movement to help Vietnam restore Hue Palace, and Hue Royal Court Music was only in the "introductory" stage.
Sitting next to UNESCO Director General M'Bow, Professor Tran Van Khe further explained about the performance "Lân mẫu xuat lan nhi" that was being performed. After the performance, seeing Mr. M'Bow looking emotional, Professor Tran Van Khe said:
- We are very grateful to you for calling on the world to help Vietnam protect and restore historical and cultural relics in Hue. But the palaces and mausoleums are just the body, while the soul of Hue is poetry, music, dance, and drama. Does UNESCO think about preserving those intangible cultural heritages?
Mr. M'Bow pondered:
- Not yet, but will have to think about it.
Professor Tran Van Khe recorded this dialogue in his memoir. Also in his memoir, “linking” the two events of the ancient capital of Hue becoming a World Cultural Heritage (in 1993) and the Hue Royal Court Music being awarded a certificate of recognition as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (in 2004, in France), he excitedly commented: “That means the ancient capital of Hue has been recognized as a world cultural heritage in both body and soul.”
He was also surprised, because he thought that the idea of “preserving the soul” that he had privately proposed to the Director-General of UNESCO in 1981 would quickly fall into oblivion. “But I did not expect that it would be sown,” he wrote.
The “soul” of our ancestors’ heritage seems to continue to be sown. In early May this year, the 10th General Conference of the UNESCO Memory of the World Committee for the Asia-Pacific region held in Mongolia officially recognized the reliefs on the Nine Tripod Cauldrons as a World Documentary Heritage.
With this latest event, I suddenly thought that if Professor Tran Van Khe were still alive, he might talk about the "body and soul" of the heritage of the ancient capital of Hue once more.
Heritage "gathering"
UNESCO's Memory of the World Program was established 30 years ago, in 1994, to record cultural heritage in the form of documentary heritage.
The ancient capital of Hue contributed the first world documentary heritage in Vietnam, in 2009, with the Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks. After that, many more heritages in Hue and Hanoi, Bac Giang, Ha Tinh, Da Nang... were recognized as world documentary heritage or Asia-Pacific region.
Our ancestors also passed on cultural heritage to posterity with many different messages. And on that journey of creation - transmission - preservation, the "move" of sowing seeds is worth noting and honoring.
There are 153 pictures with many themes embossed on the Nine Urns in the years 1835 - 1837 under the order of King Minh Mang. Each urn has 17 embossed pictures with valuable content about history, culture, education, geography, feng shui, medicine, art... The "object" element is quite clearly displayed on the 9 bronze urns placed in front of The Mieu.
But the “intangible” value is more comprehensive, representing the sophisticated bronze casting skills of Vietnamese craftsmen in the early 19th century, becoming a unique and rare source of information, worthy of world recognition. For a long time, researchers have viewed the embossed motifs on the Nine Tripod Cauldrons as an “encyclopedia” and “geography” of Vietnam in the early 19th century.
On this side of Hai Van Pass, some familiar places or products are also present in the heritage that has just been recognized by the world. In a writing about the memory of "Nam Tran", about the tree canopy covering the shadow of time in Quang Nam Newspaper in the spring of Nham Dan 2022, I mentioned the story of the dossier of the Nine Tripod Cauldrons that has been submitted (since mid-late 2021), waiting for the day to be recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage. I also imagine that, when recognized, the "world memory" will help preserve the image and information of a familiar product of Quang Nam...
“Nam Tran” - the beautiful name for the longan tree, is among the products related to the difficult times of the Nguyen Dynasty chosen to be engraved on the Nine Tripod Cauldrons.
The Southern region of Quang is engraved on the Nhan Dinh, as well as the image of the Southern crocodile engraved on the Chuong Dinh. In particular, Quang region also has the “Vinh Dien Ha”, meaning Vinh Dien River, engraved on the Du Dinh.
This canal flows north, merging with the Cam Le River to the Han Gate, the present-day Da Nang seaport. Coincidentally, the Da Nang seaport was also chosen to be engraved on the Du Dinh, with the Chinese name “Da Nang seaport”. The Du Dinh also has a carving of “Hai Van Quan”…
Just like that, the places and typical products of Quang Nam or across Vietnam gather together in one heritage, so that the body and soul of the heritage continue to blend together, passing on its value to future generations.
Source
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