Journalist Duong Phuoc Thu

1. Participating in the project History of the Thua Thien Hue Party Newspaper (1930 - 2010), journalist, writer and researcher Duong Phuoc Thu had the opportunity to access the newspaper Quyet Chien, the daily newspaper of the Viet Minh Thuan Hoa Party and of Nguyen Tri Phuong province (alias of Thua Thien Hue province) which published its first issue on August 27, 1945, just 4 days after the successful August Revolution in Hue. The newspaper contained many valuable documents about President Ho Chi Minh , many of which were published for the first time.

As a researcher who owns many historical works, Mr. Thu saw this as an opportunity to make a dedicated book, widely introduce information and promote the cultural and ideological values ​​of the President through the newspaper Quyet Chien. Thinking and doing right away, he quickly took the trouble to go to Hanoi , to the National Archives Center 1 and the History Museum to read and photocopy, then organized exchanges and connected with many friends in Hue to collect documents.

Book cover of Hue Press History Chronicle

As a result, in a short time, he collected 324 out of 385 issues of Quyet Chien newspaper, 95 letters, telegrams, articles and short news about President Ho and by President Ho, from August 1945 to September 1946, along with 3 appendices, including To Huu's poem Ho Chi Minh published in the Quyet Chien newspaper issue on October 1, 1945. Then, together with Song Huong Magazine, Duong Phuoc Thu promptly launched the book Some documents about President Ho Chi Minh in Quyet Chien newspaper published in Hue in January 2015, spreading his ideological and cultural values.

2. Perhaps, that was also the encouragement and motivation, creating excitement for Duong Phuoc Thu, with the support of the Thua Thien Hue Journalists Association (now Hue City), to boldly publish 3 more books collecting, editing and introducing 3 famous newspapers of the Central Region Party Committee and Thua Thien Provincial Party Committee in the period 1936 - 1939, including Dan Newspaper in 2018 and the duo Nhanh Lua - Kinh Te Tan Van in 2022. This is a combo of all 3 newspapers Dan (17 issues), Nhanh Lua (9 issues) and Kinh Te Tan Van (4 issues). All issues have photos on page 1. The events that took place in French were transcribed and translated into Vietnamese.

Not just “reprinting everything into books”, many people admit that Duong Phuoc Thu’s books are truly valuable research works. The prefaces of his books are like a general analysis of the three newspapers, guiding information for readers. With the discovery ability of an experienced journalist, he has found many problems that readers cannot recognize in specific issues. For example, in addition to the clearly listed names, such as Political Director Nguyen Trac, Executive Director Nguyen Dan Que or Secretary Nguyen Xuan Cat, he discovered that the leadership of Dan Newspaper are outstanding Communists such as Phan Dang Luu, Nguyen Chi Dieu, Hai Trieu…

While the books were being made, he traveled back and forth, advising the Provincial Party Committee (now the Hue City Party Committee) and the Provincial Journalists Association to hold seminars on the occasion of the anniversary of the first issues, 80 years with Dan newspaper (2018), 85 years with Nhanh Lua and Kinh te Tan Van newspapers. These were considered rare seminars and created a buzz about journalism organized since the liberation day in 1975 in Hue. After the seminar on Dan newspaper, the Nguyen Dan Que scholarship fund was established. His grandson in Hanoi personally went to Hue, visited and awarded scholarships to students of Da Le Primary School (formerly the French-Vietnamese Huong Thuy School), where Mr. Que used to teach and be the principal; and students of Phu Loc district, where Mr. Que used to be an education manager.

It was also Mr. Thu who directly "took the lead" so that in the past 10 years, Hue had 3 important press exhibitions. The first time was in 2015 with the exhibition of 90 years of Thua Thien Hue Press in the revolutionary flow. The second time was the exhibition of Uncle Ho's image in the Southern Revolutionary Press (2020). And, in June 2025, there will be an exhibition on 100 years of Hue Revolutionary Press. At the age of nearly "ancient and modern", he is still enthusiastic, responsible, not hesitant, devoting his efforts and enthusiasm to the success of the exhibitions, leaving an impression on viewers and readers.

3. I think and imagine that Duong Phuoc Thu is like a diligent and dedicated worker bee, flipping through and taking care of each issue, reading diligently and full of discovery, and then arranging them into books like the book about Dan newspaper, which is 635 pages thick and 16x24cm in size. Just reading is not easy and he has overcome it. It is a struggle with each article, each word. His books are organized according to a general principle, including news and articles (preserved in their original form) arranged in chronological order, article title, issue number, publication date, printed page, article content and author name (if any). Abbreviations are restored to their original state, "difficult to understand" words are annotated and spelling errors are corrected. Those who are interested in researching and wanting to learn about Uncle Ho, about journalism and about Hue can rest assured with these original documents.

Duong Phuoc Thu said that in the early 2000s, he began to learn about Hue journalism. Along with Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Hue was once one of the three leading journalism centers of the country. And, while he could not yet do an encyclopedic work on Hue journalism, he wanted to preserve the documents for himself, his colleagues, and Hue journalism in this special way. In a moment of openness and honesty, he shared that he had all the issues of the newspapers Song Huong tuc ban, Dan muon, and Dan tien. As long as he had money, he could publish a book and thus, he would have a complete set of Hue's revolutionary newspapers during the flourishing period of 1936-1939, while he was retired and very poor.

That said, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Vietnamese Revolutionary Press (June 21, 1925 - June 21, 2025), together with the Huong River Magazine, Duong Phuoc Thu has also promptly introduced to readers the work of Hue Press History Chronicle (1913 - 2020). 315 newspapers out of a total of 350 newspapers of all kinds in Hue through historical periods over 100 years that Duong Phuoc Thu collected and researched are basically introduced in terms of content, photos of page 1 or newspaper cover. Still Duong Phuoc Thu, always loyal to the principle established from the beginning when embarking on this special book series is not to miss any newspaper, clear and scientific layout, preserving and spreading documents about Hue press.

Research must start with materials, “you can’t make glue without flour”. So, with the topic of research and study of Hue press, researchers can rest assured, Duong Phuoc Thu will “take care of the flour”!

Dan Duy

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/chinh-tri-xa-hoi/duong-phuoc-thu-nguoi-giu-hon-bao-chi-hue-154748.html