VietNamNet Bridge – Many roads in HCM City are named after well-known men to commemorate these people, but the names are written wrongly.
In District 5, there is a road named Lương Nhữ Học, but historian said that the accurate name must be Lương Như Hộc.

This man is a mandarin in the later Le Dynasty. He was Vietnam’s envoy to China twice. He was the one who taught Lieu Trang village in Hai Duong province the wood block carving trade. He was called the ancestor of wood block carving trade.

A road in Phu Nhuan district is named Trương Quốc Dung. Historians said that there is no famous man in Vietnam’s history with that name. It must be Trương Quốc Dụng, a famous writer, historian and astronomer in the Nguyen dynasty.

In July 2009, the tomb and temple of academician Trương Quốc Dụng in Thach Khe commune, Ha Tinh province was recognized as a national historical relic.

A big road in Thu Duc district is named Kha Vạn Cân, while the correct name must be Kha Vạng Cân, who was the first Minister of Light Industry of the Vietnam People’s Republic and a famous intellectual in southern Vietnam.

“Engineer Kha Vạng Cân’s tomb is still in a local cemetery but we write his name wrongly. It is disrespectful to him!” said Mr. Chien in Thu Duc district.

Another road in District 1 is named Nguyễn Thiệp, but in Vietnam’s history there is only one man named Nguyễn Thiếp, from Ha Tinh province, who is famous as La Sơn Phu Tử, a famous scholar in the later Le Dynasty.

The book “Roads and streets in inner HCM City” clearly notes that there is a road named Nguyễn Thiếp, which runs between Dong Khoi and Nguyen Hue roads. But the nameplate is Nguyễn Thiệp.

Dr. Vo Van Sen, Rector of the HCM City University for Social Sciences and Humanity, a People’s Council deputy, said that many roads in the city have wrong names or have same names. He asked the city to immediately fix the errors, otherwise it is nonsense to name roads after famous men.

Lawyer Le Hieu Dang, former Vice chair of HCM City Fatherland Front, who was a member of the city’s road naming council, said that such mistakes is disrespectful for ancestors. He suggested to invite historians to join the road naming council.

Vu Kim Anh, deputy director of the HCM City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that the road naming council knows the mistakes. However, the city is about to implement a survey of all roads in the city to fix errors once. She said that changing names of road is not simple. It is a complicated procedure.

HCM City has around 1,500 roads, with up to 280 roads have the same names with each others. This fact raises difficulties for people and state agency’s management activities. For example, there are five roads named Le Loi, three roads named Le Lai, four roads named Quang Trung and three roads named Nguyen Cong Tru.

PV