I borrowed a line from Associate Professor Dr. Bui Manh Hung - a "fellow countryman" of the author of the book - in an article about a previous work by Mr. Truong Quang De as the title because it matches the two "qualities" of the book Mr. De just sent to readers before the New Year. Moreover, it is difficult to find a suitable "title" for a book that contains so much knowledge and life experience - not only of Vietnam but of humanity, expressed in a free style, not bound by any genre.
In the “Foreword”, the author wrote: “Three years ago, the Ho Chi Minh City Culture and Arts Publishing House published the book “Wonderful Feelings about the Times” (Volume I)... which attracted the attention of many readers [...] many readers wanted to read new articles...”. Thanks to that, we get to read Volume II, with the same title, which is thicker and richer than the previous one. The book is over 300 pages thick, including 64 topics, extremely rich in topics - from philosophy, mathematics, literature, music, movies... to spirituality and the structure of the universe - it is difficult to mention all in one newspaper page, so I chose articles that only a child of “Plum Village” can express so specifically and emotionally.
Portrait of teacher Truong Quang De - Photo: ST
First of all, these are two articles mentioning the author's father - Mr. Truong Quang Phien, who was the Chairman of Quang Tri Province since 1948; the articles are not only valuable personal memories but also help the later generations understand more about the years when Quang Tri began its first resistance war more than 70 years ago.
The article “Telling stories of the past” tells us about an event in Quang Tri in early 1947, when the front broke, the French advanced from Hue to Dong Ha, and warships prepared to land troops in Cua Viet. The author heard the story told by poet Luong An. (In the early days of the resistance against the French, poet Luong An was the Head of the Office of the Administrative Resistance Committee of Quang Tri Province). There was an urgent matter to be resolved: the fate of nearly 300 prisoners being held in prison.
While many people were worried that if these prisoners fell into the enemy's hands, it would be very dangerous, so "We need to do it right!", Mr. Phien (at that time the Vice Chairman of the province) "dared" to suggest releasing them, "If any of them did anything against the people or the country, you should bring me to justice" . He dared to say that because he had asked the officer in charge of the prison carefully and knew that the prisoners had no obvious crimes - for example, they were just drivers, cooks... in families with relations with the French, when they occupied Quang Tri. Fortunately, the Chairman of the province at that time agreed with Mr. Phien's opinion, so many lives were saved. Indeed, after being released, some people "volunteered to stay and take on the task of helping the provincial agency move furniture. Mr. Phien chose 10 people who were former gold diggers to carry furniture and chose 3 people who were agarwood diggers to look for convenient forest paths".
This event, which at first sounds like a "lack of vigilance", reminds us of the policy of great national unity, demonstrating the noble humanity of Uncle Ho's Government in the early period after the August Revolution through inviting former Emperor Bao Dai to be a "Government Advisor" and providing subsidies to the royal family during their stay in Hue.
The second story happened in 1948, when Mr. Phien had just taken office as the provincial chairman for a few months. At that time, the author was still living with him in the Ba Long resistance zone, so he knew the story clearly. One day, the guards brought “six old men, tall and elegant, dressed in ancient style” to meet the chairman. They were six high-ranking officials of the Nguyen Dynasty, the Ministers, the Inspectors, the Inspectors, and the Judges who refused to follow the enemy and could not live in peace in their hometowns. Hearing that the chairman was a tolerant and generous person, they sought refuge in the resistance zone and were ready to accept the assigned work. In the very difficult conditions of the early days of the resistance in the resistance zone, Mr. Phien arranged for “the old men to temporarily stay in the provincial guest house, which was also a thatched hut hidden in a dense grove of trees...
In the following days, Mr. Phien and the entire staff of the Provincial Committee tried their best to find ways to ensure that these special guests would have a life that was not too difficult...". The elders were very excited to be assigned a suitable job of classifying and evaluating the Chinese and French documents that the province was keeping.
But “Life went smoothly for about two weeks, then the elders were all struck down by malaria.” When the experienced doctor and the few rare medicines could not save the situation, after a sleepless night of pondering and thinking, Mr. Phien had to write a letter to “Mr. Nguyen Hoai” - the former Director of Education of Quang Tri, now the Governor of Quang Tri Province (reoccupied by the French) whom he knew to be a good man, asking him to help so that the Resistance Committee could transfer the elders to the provincial hospital in the temporarily occupied area for treatment.
Three days later, according to the agreement between the two sides , "two boats carried the old high-ranking officials down the river from Ba Long to the town. Following them were four bodyguards and one nurse [...] The people around the wharf were curious to know who the old men were that they were being escorted by such a big crowd..." It can be said that this was a rare scene and not many people knew about it. The people were even more surprised when "at lunch, the old men refused the sumptuous meal prepared by Mr. Hoai's army. They calmly sat around a small table, took rice balls with sesame salt and brought back from the war zone and leisurely ate deliciously...".
The articles in the book related to Quang Tri also include the story of “The poem of mourning for a child” also by Mr. Truong Quang Phien – at that time, in 1947, Mr. Phien was in the war zone, not knowing that his daughter was sick and passed away at the age of 16; but at noon, after the day she died, suddenly a butterfly hovered around him... Therefore, the poem engraved on the stele erected in front of her grave has the line: “The sacred spirit of a butterfly hovers around you”... The author recalls the poem of his father, “a staunch disciple of materialism” to discuss the issue of spiritual science that is of interest to modern physics researchers: the relationship between matter and consciousness...
The book also has two articles about two sons of Quang Tri who have made many contributions to literature and education but many people do not know: They are writer Nguyen Khac Thu and teacher Tran Van Hoi - who was the Head of the Literature Department at Hue University of Education for 15 years - at the same time Mr. Truong Quang De was the Head of the Foreign Language Department at this same school.
On the occasion of Spring, I would like to dedicate the last part of this article to “Spring Poetry of the Past”. That is the story the author recalls from “years 41-42 of the last century, four Quang Tri scholars gathered to celebrate Spring and compose poems in response...”. Mr. Bich Ho – Hoang Huu Duc, father of writer Hoang Phu Ngoc Tuong, composed the following “poem”:
“Spring has passed and spring has come, looking so bright / Forty-one years now, I have counted my age / Friends with the village should practice writing / Playing with guests, trying to tilt the wine jar / Although the body is crowded on the horse-drawn carriage road / The heart is not concerned with fame and fortune / Debts of food and clothing have not yet been paid / Must use the red inch to promise youth.”
It is impossible to quote all 3 "comments", the elders also do not need any "fame and profit" anymore, but please allow me to mention the names of the authors who wrote the poems in the old way (pen name and common name): That is Mr. Ham Quang - Hoang Huu Canh (father of martyr Hoang Huu Que); Mr. Ho Ngoc Tham (father of professor Ho Ngoc Dai) and the third person is Mr. Tien Viet Gia Nhan - Truong Quang Phien.
In the large section of the book – which can be called “Leisurely talk” about literature and art, with his profound knowledge of East-West-Ancient-Modern, the author not only helps readers understand more about many classic works, but also “entices” us to relive the romantic days of our youth. I was very surprised when reading a series of articles about “old” songs that I also loved, to the point that I hummed a song while following each line. “The person who promised to come with me to the stream / The misty afternoon forest, the moonlight shines faintly…”
But that's it, let you guys find books to read; to prove that I'm not "pretentious" like Vinh Hoang when saying that a son of "Plum Village" is still wise and full of youthful vitality at the age of 90...
Nguyen Khac Phe
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