Bamboo boats, banana silk and the wonderful creations of ancient Vietnamese people

Book launch seminar on inventions and creations of ancient Vietnamese people

The book introduces 30 typical inventions, from imported techniques to purely Vietnamese creations.

Notably, the Giao Chi people knew how to use banana tree trunks to weave silk-like threads, or the appearance of fire trucks during the reign of King Minh Mang with outstanding efficiency...

A typical example of Vietnamese intelligence is the woven-bottom boat - a unique type of boat that does not exist in China or Southeast Asian countries. In the mid-20th century, the US Navy recorded this type of boat, 12-15m long, with a bottom made of woven bamboo, which is light, durable, anti-fouling, and easy to replace at a much lower cost than wooden-bottom boats.

Ảnh 5.JPG — Bamboo boats are one of the maritime techniques that surprised the West .

Author Dong Nguyen - who researched and compiled the book said: "Many people still think that Vietnam has no maritime tradition and is weak in maritime technology, but the reality is completely different. We have found a lot of evidence showing that Vietnamese maritime technology makes even large maritime powers like China or the United States admire."

He cited that in the 1960s and 1970s, US naval officers expressed admiration for Vietnamese bamboo-bottomed boats.

“At first glance, they look like giant baskets, but in reality they can carry up to 50 tons of cargo, overcoming storms all the way to Taiwan (China). They are cheap, durable and easy to repair - a rare combination of folk wisdom and high applicability,” said author Dong Nguyen.

The book aims to inspire innovation in the young generation.

At the book launch, Kaovjets Ngujens, a Latvian artist of Vietnamese origin, specializing in historical illustrations in different periods - author and main artist in many historical book and documentary projects - expressed surprise at the fact that Vietnamese people knew how to make mechanical clocks very early.

He shared: “Honestly, before studying the documents, I never thought that Vietnamese people could absorb watchmaking techniques from Europe so early. There were even people who went to the Netherlands to study and bring the techniques back to apply in the country.”

Kaovjets Ngujens also emphasized the Vietnamese people's ability to make weapons throughout history: "We are not a powerful country, but we have faced many empires in the region. What surprised us was that those empires did not hesitate to praise the sophistication of weapons made by the Vietnamese, from functionality to aesthetics...".