Nguyen Dinh Chieu's tomb and memorial complex in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre is recognized as a special national relic site. – Photo: VOV5

A proposal for UNESCO to join Vietnam’s marking of the blind poet’s 200th birth anniversary was approved in April, said Ben, who drafted the document. Similar proposals have been made by the Republic of Korea, Japan, Thailand and India.

An official celebrating ceremony will take place in Vietnam on July 1, 2022, he said, adding that another event will be organised to honour Nguyen Dinh Chieu as a physician on Vietnamese Doctors’ Day on February 27 next year.

So far, UNESCO has commemorated birth anniversaries of five Vietnamese celebrities, namely President Ho Chi Minh, educator Chu Van An, and poets Nguyen Du, Nguyen Trai and Nguyen Dinh Chieu.

Nguyen Dinh Chieu, also known as teacher Chieu, Trong Phu and Hoi Trai, (1822 – 1888) was born in Binh Duong district, Gia Dinh province (now District 1, Ho Chi Minh City).

He was a patriotic teacher, physician and poet of the south of Vietnam in the second half of the 19th century.

He is best known for his most prominent epic “Luc Van Tien” (The Tale of Luc Van Tien), written in “nom” (the old Chinese-based Vietnamese script) in 1850s. The work has been translated into multiple languages, including French, English and Japanese.

VNA

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