VietNamNet Bridge – Every Friday morning, about 20 elderly people in the northern province of Vinh Phuc gather at the communal house in Thuong Trung Commune, Vinh Tuong District for a class in ancient scripts, widely used in Vietnam until the 19th century—and still the scripts in which millennia of Vietnamese history and literature is recorded.

New tricks: Elderly people are studying at the Hán Nôm class in Vinh Tuong District, Vinh Phuc Province.

Many students in the special class are over age 60. The class has run since mid-2016 with the aim of helping local people enrich their knowledge of the Hán-Nôm (Chinese Han and Vietnamese Nôm ideographic) scripts and improve their skills of reading and writing in the characters. It also aims to promote people’s awareness about the preservation of the Hán-Nôm culture.

Pham Van Thuc, 78, the teacher and founder of the class, said he got the idea of teaching Hán-Nôm scripts to local elderly people when he learned that his homeland in Thuong Trung Commune was rich in traditional culture, including various ancient horizontal lacquered boards and woodblocks engraved with Hán-Nôm characters.

“Such precious heritage, particularly those items relating to Hán-Nôm scripts, is proof that Thuong Trung Commune is a region with a tradition of studiousness,” said Thuc.

The teacher revealed that the commune had an abundance of ancient documents and evidence of achievement in education including writings and books about Hán-Nôm, though few local people could read them because they did not know the ideographic characters.

“The initiative to open such a class is first aimed to help people understand more about their ancestors’ education and study traditions, and then they can teach younger generations how to follow the traditions,” said the teacher.

Thuc said the class had been opened for two years with about 20 students regularly attending lessons.

He also invited other Hán-Nôm teachers from across the province to help the class work through the difficult aspects of the lessons.

Le Xuan Khoan, the oldest student at age 85, said he rode a bicycle more than 10km to reach the class.

“I learn Hán-Nôm as a way to enrich my knowledge about the ancient Vietnamese language, show my children that study is never too late for anybody and prove that Hán-Nôm is always an important part of our life,” said Khoan.

Khoan, who is living in neighbouring Tuan Chinh Commune, said his father who used to be a scholar teaching Chinese Han script taught him some words but he could not remember them when he grew up.

“Now, I study first then I will teach my children as a way to make them understand more about our ancestors as well as to preserve our tradition,” said Khoan.

“Studying Hán-Nôm is extremely hard for all people, especially the elderly due to our health conditions and limited memory but we will try our best,” said student Bui Van Tho, 75.

Ancient writing: Students, many of them are over 60, can write many Hán Nôm characters after studying at a special Hán Nôm class at the communal hall in Thuong Trung Commune, Vinh Phuc Province. — VNA/VNS Photos Nguyen Thao History: A woodblock of ancient Hán-Nôm scripts. — Photo dantri.com.vn

Tho said the teachers had collected many documents for students to read and practise spelling including those written by Nguyen Du, the well-known writer of Truyen Kieu (Kieu’s Tale), and by President Ho Chi Minh, who was an expert at the Hán-Nôm language.

Thúc said that to make students more interested in the lessons, the class held many field trips to historical relics across the country where the Hán-Nôm literature was preserved.

At present, Thuc said he and some other teachers were also running another class for young students in Vinh Son Commune also in Vinh Tuong District.

The class has not only become a good socio-cultural activity but also helped promote youth awareness on the preservation of local ancient traditions, said Thuc.

For thousands of years, Hán-Nôm characters were used to record Vietnam’s culture and history, yet fewer and fewer young people know how to read and write the scripts.

Associate professor Dr Trinh Khac Manh, former director of the Hán-Nôm Institute, said Vietnam had invaluable literary works written in the old logograms on historical and medicinal topics that had saved lives in the past.

"These collections were left to us by our ancestors," said the expert.

"Despite its importance to Vietnamese people, it has not been given proper attention by cultural authorities," Manh said.

"Fewer and fewer young people know how to write a traditional document in Han Chinese. This has caused a widening cultural gap between generations," said the expert.

"We should educate Vietnamese young people in the heritage of Hán-Nôm by teaching the scripts in schools," said Manh, adding that the process would be difficult because Hán-Nôm lecturers are very rare now.

by Nguyen Thi Thao

Source: VNS