Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan was born in 1937. His hometown is Thach Thuong commune, Thach Ha district, now Thach Ha commune, Ha Tinh province. In 1953, when he was only 17 years old, he joined the youth volunteer force. In 1955, the Ministry of Public Security worked with the Central Youth Union for National Salvation to select 300 youth volunteers to supplement the police force. Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan was selected among them and became a police officer and then an officer.
Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan also had other honors. In 1955, he was assigned to be a member of the honor guard welcoming the Party and Government from Viet Bac to take over the capital. In 1957, he was a police officer in Hong Quang area in the honor guard at Hon Gai stadium to protect Uncle Ho when he visited the mining area. From here, Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan devoted his whole life to the beloved Mining Area.
In 1975, Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan, along with Colonel Le Mai, then Chief of the Quang Ninh Provincial Police Department, had the special honor of being assigned to enter the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum to experiment on how the vibrations and sounds of human footsteps affected Uncle Ho's body. Those special honors reminded police officer Nguyen Canh Loan to fight and sacrifice all his life, serving the people.
During his 40 years in the force, from soldier to district police chief, head of the provincial police department, he has always followed Uncle Ho's teachings. In 1990, Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan retired with the rank of Colonel, the position of Head of the General Department of Quang Ninh Provincial Police, and was awarded the 50-year Party membership badge in 2021.
During his long time working in the General Department, from specialist to Head of Department, Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan was very conscious of collecting and preserving documents on culture and history of Quang Ninh. He could travel to Hiep Hoa commune, Yen Hung district (old) just to collect folk literature. The special verses he collected here and named after the reader are the collection "Ve Ly Bam".
In the last 35 years of his life, since retiring and returning to his hometown, Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan had a lot of time to focus on collecting documents. He participated as the Chief of the Office of the Historical Science Association of Quang Ninh Province (this organization has now ceased operations), Vice Chairman of the Hong Ha Ward Education Promotion Association (now Ha Long Ward), and was a member of the Quang Ninh Folk Arts Association, always diligently collecting and preserving historical documents and local folk culture.
Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan worked diligently like a busy bee. He had a habit of reading and then holding a pen. He believed that learning was not only in school, in books and newspapers, but also among the people. He went on field trips to collect folk literature in Ngoc Vung, Quang Yen, Binh Lieu, Hoanh Bo (old). Wherever he went, Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan diligently took notes, turning over blades of grass, rocks, tree branches, photographing each stone tablet, recording each word of the senior artisans.
Learning never stopped for him. He studied anytime, anywhere, with everyone, without distinction. His house was on a high hill, so he ordered many newspapers and magazines every day, which were brought up by postal workers. Recently, when the newspaper stand could no longer sell, he took the bus to ask for books and newspapers from his brothers and friends to read. When his health was poor, his back was no longer straight, his legs were slow, but he still used a cane to go down the street, took the bus to find books and newspapers to read. Whatever he read and found, he wrote down, cut and pasted, classified files and documents, and carefully arranged them in folders like a long-time librarian.
He has an office filled with books up to the roof. He only works in that personal library during the cold winter, with over 4,000 precious books and early newspapers such as the Vung Mo, Hai Ninh, and Quang Ninh newspapers. However, if someone asks about any event, happening on any day in the Vung Mo from 1945 to the present, within just a few minutes, Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan will give an answer and retrieve it immediately.
To be able to remember like that, he not only read, only listened but also always took notes, especially the outstanding events by day, arranging them meticulously and scientifically by topic. All data about Quang Ninh was carefully recorded by hand by him every year, not missing any event. After finishing recording, Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan stored them in each pair of box files, carefully named for easy reference.
His personal library has air conditioning, but he doesn't stay there in the hot summer. He only turns it on to dry his books and then goes to another room to sit. Mr. Loan doesn't like working in an air-conditioned room, but prefers to sit on the porch, which is airy and has sunlight. His desk is the top of the porch railing, airy and full of wind. His working tools are a pad of paper with one side written on, a pen, and an old radio.
With just that much, day after day, he did a special job like a careful, meticulous historian, and the scientific arrangement became routine. He worked hard with words. He read and took notes. When he had the materials, he wrote them into articles. Because of his old age and poor eyesight, he could not access the computer, so he went to the shop and sat next to the typist to read them back for them to type. Diligently for decades, he had a deep love for the precious folk treasure, explaining the origin of many place names in the province. Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan's materials helped readers to explore the source of the deep sediments hidden in it, suggesting ways to demarcate boundaries, how to name cultural places...
In addition to collecting old photos and books, Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan also collects stamps, starting in 1956. The stamps are arranged very scientifically in order and by each field. It is impossible to count the number of stamps he has collected, perhaps up to several thousand stamps. Many valuable stamp sets have been published such as: The first stamp set since the birth of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the stamp set against illiteracy in 1958, the stamp set on cultural enrichment in 1960, the stamp set of national flags of countries, the stamp set celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the province, the 12 zodiac animals, the Vietnamese traditional dress, to stamps about President Ho Chi Minh, the National Party Congresses, stamps about endemic plants in Ha Long Bay. Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan is the Secretary of the Quang Ninh Stamp Association and is considered to be the owner of the largest postage stamp collection in Quang Ninh province.
Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan's collections are valuable sources of materials for local research. With the resources accumulated over nearly 7 decades in the Mining Region, he has many conditions to process, assemble and publish books. He is the main participant (along with Mr. Tong Khac Hai, Mr. Nguyen Quang Vinh and Mr. Nguyen Van Ai) in the scientific work "Toponyms of Quang Ninh Province from the Hung King period to the present", with over 16,000 place names, over 1,000 pages thick, 30x20 cm in size. This work has been completed and published in book form. Another notable work of his that was also printed in book form is "Yen Quang, Quang Yen under the Nguyen Dynasty" published in 2014.
As a former police officer, the documents that Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan collected and published were highly reliable. Therefore, he was invited to directly participate in giving comments on the draft of the history of the Quang Ninh Provincial Party Committee, the history of the Party Committees of localities such as Ha Long City and the districts of Hai Ha, Van Don, Hoanh Bo (old), and to participate in reviewing the work of the Co To Geographical History. Some of these works have been published in books.
Recently, when I met him, I learned that he had cherished and completed a number of works such as: "Chronicle of events in Quang Ninh province from the time of Hung Kings to the present", "Emulation movement of the ethnic people of Quang Ninh from the time of Hai Ba Trung, year 40", "Land and people of Quang Ninh", "Ho Chi Minh trail at sea in Quang Ninh"... but had not had the opportunity to be printed into books.
On October 13, 2025, Mr. Nguyen Canh Loan passed away at the age of 89, leaving behind many unfinished manuscripts - along with a valuable heritage of Quang Ninh culture and history that he had worked hard to cultivate throughout his life.
Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/nguoi-dao-lo-gang-ba-che-don-xuan-3282942.html
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