As long as there is writing, there is culture.

"Teacher" Minh corrects each stroke of the student's handwriting.

Preserving the soul of the Dao people

From the commune center, it took us 2 hours to reach Ban Cuon II village, the old Ngoc Phai commune, now Cho Don commune. Ban Cuon II is home to 176 households with 790 people. There are 4 ethnic groups living here: Kinh, Tay, Nung, Dao, of which the Dao ethnic group accounts for 99.2%.

Having made an appointment, Mr. Trieu Xuan Minh picked us up at his daughter’s house. As we walked along the main road to the classroom, Mr. Minh told us stories about the Dao culture and his journey to preserve Nom script. He said that the Dao people in the whole country in general and Thai Nguyen province in particular use Nom script as their writing and it is called Nom Dao script. Currently, the ancient documents of the Dao people that have been collected are all written in Nom script.

The Nom books of the Dao people have highly educational content, from lifestyle, human behavior to human, human to nature. In labor, the books record experiences in seasonal production in spring, summer, autumn, winter; environmental protection, all expressed in the form of traditional songs and poems.

Mr. Minh comes from a family with a tradition of learning Nom script. At the age of 16, he started learning Nom Dao script. After 6 years of studying, he was able to master the writing. In addition, he also learned and interacted with people from other provinces.

“Because of the need to earn a living to support my family, for a long time, I did not have the mind to remember the cultural treasure and writing of my people. But facing the risk of the Dao people's writing being lost, I used my knowledge of language and writing to open a class to teach people how to read and write ancient Nom script and the customs and practices of the Red Dao people,” Mr. Minh confided.

While listening to Mr. Minh’s story, we arrived at his classroom without realizing it. The classroom was a red-tiled house, with its back against the mountain and a large, airy yard in front. Sitting in the classroom, we could look out into the distance and see the lush green cinnamon hills.

Mr. Minh’s Nom Dao class has all kinds of people, from old to young, here they learn a writing style that is more difficult than the national language but is the soul of the Dao people. In each class, Mr. Minh brings along old books that are yellowed, but the words inside are still clear. These “lesson plans” talk about the origin of the Dao people, the Dao people’s culture and lifestyle... Not only does he teach writing, he also teaches traditional rituals, such as: the Cap sac ceremony, the Cau Hau ceremony...

At first, Mr. Minh mainly taught his children and grandchildren in the family. After a while, many people knew that he opened a class to teach Dao Nom script, so they came to his house to ask to study. The farthest students in this class came from Tuyen Quang province. Currently, the class has about 10 students, sometimes up to 15 students. There are students who are old and have gray hair, but still come to class regularly.

The Dao Nom class of “teacher” Trieu Xuan Minh is very simple with a blackboard, white chalk and a few wooden tables he made himself for students to sit and study. When coming to class, students only need to prepare a set of learning tools including a brush pen, notebook and inkstone, and the teacher will print a copy of the textbook for each person.

Coming to the Nom Dao class, the students are all diligent, their hands patiently shaping each stroke with respect for the culture of their people. In the small classroom, the sound of reading and the teacher's voice resounded. The ancient, curvaceous letters, which used to be the bridge between the generations of fathers and children, now appear on each page of the students' class.

A lesson of "teacher" Trieu Xuan Minh.

Learn to understand humanity

Nom Dao script is a type of writing based on Chinese characters. The Dao people adopted some words from Nom Tay and Nom Viet but they were Daoized (transformed). Nom Dao script is closely associated with the cultural and religious activities of the Dao people. However, nowadays, there are not many people who can read and write Nom Dao script.

To teach students, Mr. Minh collected and studied the content and meaning of ancient books of the Dao people, synthesizing the main issues into a lesson plan, with content about the origin of the Dao people; educating people about ethics and humanity; ancient stories, philosophy of life; behavior between family members; Dao people unite, bond, learn, and help each other in work and life...

Mr. Trieu Xuan Minh shared that learning Nom Dao script is to understand humanity so that internally we do not harm human dignity, externally we do not harm things, above we do not offend heaven, on earth we do not offend people. Brothers and sisters know how to maintain moderation, harmony, understand the philosophy of life, then people will consciously not commit social evils. Those who learn Dao script well will recognize the meaning of life, be filial to their parents and be humane to everyone.

Mr. Trieu Quy Tho, from Tuyen Quang province, is a student of the class, sharing: I am a Red Dao ethnic group but I do not know how to write or read Dao. I study with the hope of understanding more about the origin of my ethnic group, learning how to perform rituals so that I can take care of my family in the future, and at the same time contribute to preserving Dao ethnic culture. During the learning process, there were many strokes that were very difficult to write, but the teacher always taught me wholeheartedly. Now I basically know how to read and write.

Previously, according to the Dao ethnic group's concept, only men were allowed to learn to read and write, but now, regardless of gender, old or young, everyone can register and attend Mr. Minh's Dao Nom writing class.

In addition to teaching, “teacher” Trieu Xuan Minh is still diligently copying, supplementing, and compiling new books. Mr. Minh confided that he only hopes to have the health to continue maintaining classes teaching ancient Dao writing in the locality and researching and compiling documents on Dao ethnic cultural values.

He also hopes that the State will have a policy to preserve and conserve Nom Dao script. Only then will the cultural identity of the Dao people be preserved forever.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/van-hoa/202507/con-chu-viet-la-con-van-hoa-969193b/