Do Minh Dien: Following the time traces of Hue Ancient Capital

Do Minh Dien presented at an archaeological conference held in Hue City.

The publication is a collection of articles on various topics, written by Do Minh Dien since 2018 and published in a number of seminars and magazines. There are some articles that he had to painstakingly collect, research, and compare documents from many different sources, so it took him nearly 3 years to complete. The book is 296 pages thick with 16 articles, divided by the author into 3 parts: Rediscovering ancient Hue, Hue and the Nguyen Dynasty through press materials and Publishing books in Hue before 1945.

According to Do Minh Dien, who was born and raised in Hue City and is currently working in the field of relic conservation, throughout this book, his love for Hue culture and heritage is the driving force that drives him to passionately research. Unlike many research projects of previous generations, he tries to choose a direction that suits his own abilities and passion.

“When compiling this book, the only thing I wanted to convey was the love and pride of the younger generation for the cultural heritage system in Hue, which many generations of predecessors have worked hard to cultivate and build,” said Do Minh Dien.

Do Minh Dien said that the most outstanding point and what he liked most in the book were the articles about the printing house system and book publishing activities in Hue before 1945. For example, with the article about Mr. Bui Huy Tin, the founder of Dac Lap Printing House, he took the trouble to collect about 300 books and newspapers, thereby proving that this was the first printing house to appear in Hue.

“That is quite an interesting discovery, because before that, in the Hue research community in particular, determining the exact time when the printing house appeared in the capital Hue was still almost unknown,” Do Minh Dien expressed.

Sharing about the difficulties in carrying out the monographs in this book, Do Minh Dien said that it was the source of documents. Many documents were scattered everywhere, and many of them are currently stored in private homes, requiring the author to do a lot of fieldwork. However, with his love for history as well as for Hue, Do Minh Dien did not stop. He is currently trying to complete the manuscript of the book The system of publishing houses in Hue, 1919 - 1945 and then the book Hue, early 20th century, through press materials.

QUYNH YEN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/do-minh-dien-theo-dau-thoi-gian-ve-co-do-hue-post788321.html