My delegation from Ha Tinh province and I arrived in Dinan City (France) on a late autumn day. After days of rain, many leaves had fallen, but on the ancient bridge (Le Vieux Pont), clusters of trees still glowed yellow. The air was chilly, the port in the early morning was completely quiet...
The Rance River is lined with ancient half-timbered houses that stand close to the banks, reflecting on the water, evoking a small Venice, the Venice of Dinan. Mainly located on a hill, this artistic and historical city still retains the belt of ramparts and castles built by the Dukes of Brittany, 14th century, cobblestone streets, somewhere you can still hear the clatter of medieval carriages.
Ha Tinh leaders work with Dinan city leaders
Together with Mai Gautier, a Vietnamese bride in Brittany, we successfully connected and organized the official meeting of the Ha Tinh provincial delegation with the Dinan City Hall, the Dinan Library and the Vietnam Côtes d'Armor Association. The meeting of the leaders of Ha Tinh (led by Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Tran Bau Ha) and the city of Dinan took place on the morning of November 17, 2023. The delegation met with Mr. Didier Lechien - Mayor of Dinan, worked with Ms. Joelle Le Guifant - Deputy Mayor, Ms. Stéphanie Meneux - Director of the city's cultural units, along with the directors of museums, the founding President and the current President of the Vietnam Côtes d'Armor Association.
Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Tran Bao Ha and Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Mass Mobilization Commission Truong Thanh Huyen, along with leaders of departments, agencies and sectors in the delegation, visited the Auguste Pavie Archives. Many contents were discussed between the two sides, including plans for cooperation and exchange of experiences in building and organizing museums and archival work. The relationship between Ha Tinh province and Côtes d'Armor province has been over 30 years, but this is the first time there has been an official visit and working session between a delegation of senior officials of Ha Tinh province and Dinan city alone.
Mr. Loïc-René Vilbert - Founding President of the Vietnam Côtes d'Armor Association talked with Vice Chairman of Ha Tinh Provincial People's Committee Tran Bao Ha
If we talk about the relationship between Brittany and Vietnam, this relationship is not just yesterday. Brittany is often considered the land of explorers. Brittany naval officers were present in Indochina before the colonial period and participated in the construction of some Vauban-style citadels. The Ha Tinh citadel built under the reign of King Minh Mang was also partly based on this French architectural style.
In 1825, Philippe Vannier, a Breton naval officer, and his wife Nguyen Thi Sen (Madeleine Sen), a woman from Cochinchina, returned to France and settled in Lorient. In 1863, when Chief Envoy Phan Thanh Gian, Deputy Envoy Pham Phu Thu and Assistant Envoy Ngu Khac Dan (from Nghi Xuan, Ha Tinh) and the embassy were sent by King Tu Duc to France, Nguyen Thi Sen and her mother went to Paris to meet her fellow countrymen. Photos of the embassy included pictures of her and her mother, causing many people to mistakenly think that they were in the same group.
Around the same time, Auguste Pavie, an explorer and diplomat born in Dinan, undertook several exploratory missions in Indochina. Thanks to Pavie and his associates, over a period of 25 years, 600,000 km2 were surveyed and partly mapped. According to archival documents, Pavie passed through Ha Tinh in August 1890, from Laos through Ban Giang, Quy Hop, then up to Huong Khe, across the Ngan Sau River, Ha Linh, Cho Truc, to the Ha Tinh Canal (ie Hao Thanh and Cut River) before reaching Ben Thuy, Vinh. During this second mission (1889-1891), Pavie and his associates collected a large part of the geographical and topographical surveys found in the “large map of Indochina”. A map is kept at the Dinan library and the Ha Tinh delegation was able to visit and introduce it at the Auguste Pavie Archives gallery in the presence of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Dinan.
Ha Tinh delegation visited Auguste Pavie Archives.
The region of Brittany was interested in Ha Tinh province at the beginning of the reform period in Vietnam. With the support of Charles Josselin, President of the General Council of the Côtes d'Armor Province and later Minister of the French Language, "the relationship between Côtes d'Armor and the two provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh" was considered by the General Council of the Côtes d'Armor Province. In 1993, a decentralized cooperation was signed between Mr. Charles Josselin and the Chairman of the People's Committee of Nghe An Province and the Chairman of the People's Committee of Ha Tinh Province.
The Côtes d'Armor Association of Vietnam has been responsible for implementing this decentralized cooperation project with funding from the Côtes d'Armor Provincial Council for nearly 10 years. In 2015, with a new term, the new President of the Côtes d'Armor Provincial Council decided to stop cooperation with foreign countries, including this decentralized cooperation. However, the Côtes d'Armor Association of Vietnam continues to support the two Vietnamese provinces in 3 areas: support for teaching French, development aid and medical cooperation.
Ha Tinh delegation and Mayor and Deputy Mayor Dinan in front of the city library.
The Ha Tinh delegation went to France this time to attend the 42nd UNESCO General Assembly, which included the approval of the dossier commemorating the 300th anniversary of the birth of the famous physician Hai Thuong Lan Ong Le Huu Trac. A French female writer once published the novel The Lazy Old Man (Monsieur Le Paresseux) to commemorate the founder of Vietnamese traditional medicine.
The author of this historical novel is also from Brittany (Saint Malo): Yveline Féray. On this visit, the Ha Tinh delegation presented the Auguste Pavie Library and Archives with the book series “Hai Thuong y tong tam linh” by Le Huu Trac, the French translation of “Thuong kinh ky su”, the French translation of the Tale of Kieu and several other books.
During this time, “Vietnam Days” continuously took place in many places in France, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations and 10 years of strategic partnership between Vietnam and France. The visit to Dinan by the Ha Tinh delegation left a good image of Vietnam in the Brittany region, a meeting that left many emotions and opened up new directions for cooperation in the future.
Nguyen Thi Song Huong
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