VietNamNet Bridge – A two-volume book on the South of Viet Nam won the prestigious annual history prize named after the revolutionary and philosopher Prof Tran Van Giau.

Prof Phan Huy Le (second from left) receives the Tran Van Giau Prize for the two-volume book titled Vung Dat Nam Bo - Qua Trinh Hinh Thanh va Phat Trien in HCM City yesterday. — VNS Photo

Vung Dat Nam Bo - Qua Trinh Hinh Thanh va Phat Trien (The Establishment and Development of the South Viet Nam) includes 11 social science research works on the south, written by more than 100 historians, cultural researchers, authors and scientists between 2008 and 2010.

Prof Phan Huy Le, the head of the editorial board for the book is an internationally-acclaimed historian who in 2016 received the Ho Chi Minh Award, the highest State award, for his research.

“My colleague and I are honoured to receive the prize named after Prof Tran Van Giau,” Le, 83, said at the awards ceremony in HCM City yesterday.

Vung Dat Nam Bo - Qua Trinh Hinh Thanh va Phat Trien has deep significant meaning to us because it is based Giau’s ideas on work about the south from prehistory to the present,” Le said.

He also added that more than 10 books on the south would be published later this year.

Since 2011, Le has been a member of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres – a French academic association devoted to the humanities.

In March, he was granted a medal by the Académie des Inscription et des Belles Lettres (Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres) for his significant contributions to the preservation of Viet Nam’s historical and cultural heritage and for his devoted social science research.

The 1,500-page book Vung Dat Nam Bo - Qua Trinh Hinh Thanh va Phat Trien was published last year by the National Politics – Truth Publishing House.

Giau, born in 1911 in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Long An, was former secretary of the Viet Nam Communist Party in the south of Viet Nam and chairman of the South Viet Nam’s Resistance Committee.

He is the author of many scholarly and philosophical works about Viet Nam, especially about the south, as well as the teacher of many leading researchers and historians across the country.

In 2002, Giau and his family set up the prize to encourage and honour research on Vietnamese history and culture. 

VNS