Although very old, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dau is still passionate about serious research and writing - Photo: TTD
Too much legacy left behind for a person with a slim figure and soft voice from youth to old age like researcher Nguyen Dinh Dau.
But it is still not enough to mention him, one of the characters who is a legacy of Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City, where he lived two-thirds of his life.
Because of patriotism - Because of patriotism
Every time they pass by the familiar house at the corner of Nguyen Du - Thu Khoa Huan, those who love Uncle Dau remember the joke when he was alive: "The house has four best things: District 1 - Thu Khoa Huan - house number 1 - Nguyen Dinh Dau".
He lived in this house from 1959 until his death in 2024. 65 years witnessed many changes, ups and downs, and ups and downs of the city.
Today, that house is still filled with his image and legacy. As if it were still there, the old man was wearing pajamas, dark blue leather shoes, and with each step, the sound of the metal cane frame, his "inseparable" object, echoed.
Without wearing glasses, he could still read each word clearly. Underneath his silver hair was a high forehead and a perpetually optimistic expression. His eyes were bright, and his smile was often innocent, especially when there was a funny detail in the conversation.
The first floor has glass doors overlooking one of the greenest streets in Saigon, Huyen Tran Cong Chua Street, and also has a view of both sides of Nguyen Du Street.
It was a workplace, containing many valuable books, used for research, including documents he wrote, bound into volumes, some of which were unpublished.
The second floor is where he displays thousands of valuable maps and Chu Dau ceramics from a lifetime of collecting.
As a student at the Hanoi Polytechnic School in his 20s, Nguyen Dinh Dau came to history and devoted himself to history with patriotism, and only patriotism.
Since the 1940s, at the age of 20, Nguyen Dinh Dau was known as one of the first founders of the Thanh - Lao - Cong (Catholic Labor Youth) movement, which was very famous at that time.
He was directly assigned by President Ho Chi Minh to buy rice to help the starving people in the North in 1945. After that, the young man Nguyen Dinh Dau enthusiastically rushed into teaching literacy classes, infusing the joyful spirit of independence into the letters i to.
During his time studying at the Catholic University of Paris (195-1953, majoring in theology), he and a number of patriotic intellectuals such as Nguyen Manh Ha, Nguyen Ngoc Bich, Hoang Xuan Han... mobilized overseas Vietnamese to petition against the division of the country, the petition was published in the daily newspaper Le Monde . Upon returning home, they founded the weekly newspaper Thong Nhat with the motto "Serving the ideal of national unity and territorial unification".
In 1954, Nguyen Dinh Dau and the above-mentioned intellectuals went to Switzerland to organize activities to support the delegation led by Prime Minister Pham Van Dong to sign the Geneva Agreement.
In early 1955, he became a history and geography professor at Nguyen Ba Tong High School (now Bui Thi Xuan School).
Since the 1960s, he began publishing his historical and geographical research works in Southern newspapers and was recognized by the research community as a prestigious scholar.
In 1975, he was sent by the Vice President of the Republic of Vietnam in charge of peace negotiations, Nguyen Van Huyen, to Davis camp to negotiate a ceasefire.
From 1975 to present, he has continued to research and publish works on history and geography, especially works on Vietnam's sovereignty over the East Sea.
Thousands of articles have been published, covering topics ranging from history, geography to culture and society.
The enormous amount of knowledge he presented in concise, easy-to-read, easy-to-understand language was compiled and printed into the book Miscellaneous Vietnamese History and Geography (3 volumes), full of knowledge and bearing a bit of the memoirs of a person who had gone through the ups and downs of the country.
Other major works: Vietnam's national title and territory, Hoang Sa - Truong Sa; Vietnam's land register during the Nguyen Dynasty ... are all monumental historical research works, unique.
Researcher Nguyen Dinh Dau introduces the map at the exhibition and book introduction of Vietnam's sovereignty over the East Sea and Hoang Sa - Truong Sa in Ho Chi Minh City, June 2014 - Photo: TTD
After the research works on Hoang Sa - Truong Sa were published, his wish was to clarify and re-identify "The Vietnamese ceramic and silk road through the four centuries 13, 14, 15, 16", as a way to emphasize that the ancient Vietnamese people's maritime trade existed very early.
And Vietnamese ceramics and silk in the past were products that had a place in the international market. The Vietnamese Ceramic and Silk Road on the East Sea is the work he is completing the last pages before passing away at the age of 104. Historians and readers are hopeful that the work will be published soon.
"Every time we see Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dau, Nguyen Dinh Tu, as well as Mr. Tran Van Giau before, we see examples to learn from. Examples of a bright and selfless life, examples of working patiently until the last minute of life, examples of devotion to our country, passion for the history of our homeland...
For those people, "longevity" is not just a hundred years old, but their lives are even longer than that long period of time," history professor Ha Minh Hong pondered when hearing the name Nguyen Dinh Dau mentioned.
He added: "Not a history student, not chasing after academic titles, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dau is only passionate about research and has proven his intense love of history through his works.
He did not choose the method of historical argumentation or historical judgment, but instead took the more thorny path of historical materials. All of his works are historical materials, used to serve the research of later generations of historians, and the number of people who have done that in my life, I cannot count on one hand.
During his lifetime, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dau once told about his first scientific steps: living in France for nearly 5 years, from 1951 to 1955, studying for 3 years at the Catholic University of Paris, then returning to France many times.
"I was just a novice researcher at that time, just like millions of other novice researchers." Unexpectedly, from an amateur, maintaining his passion and constantly learning, that young man began to have his own works.
When he became famous, he was invited to collaborate with some famous universities in the US, Australia, and Japan. He recalled that at that time, the Japanese side sponsored him with $5,000 per year for research. Every time he went to the bank to get the money, he could exchange almost a bag of money. Thanks to that, he was motivated because research work was quite expensive.
He often went around Saigon to buy Chu Dau ceramics for research purposes, which were still cheap at that time. He also loved to buy maps, from everywhere, both domestically and internationally. Whenever he heard of a place with a map, he would go there immediately. Sometimes, he was even given a map by his international friends. It was no coincidence that he came to maps and now owns thousands of valuable ones.
He often started with a passion for small things, then used that passion to research, and gradually, the things collected for research became collections. He did not have the pleasure of examining and enjoying beauty like collectors, but used objects as objects to prove his theories and hypotheses.
He recalled that when he was in school he only played minor sports. He was good at kicking a shuttlecock and could keep the ball from falling to the ground for 15 minutes or during recess. "I was bad at advanced sports, but I could practice to be good at local sports."
Perhaps that is also a personality that affects career and life. Concentration is the strength of the boy Dinh Dau. One is a graphic designer, one is proficient in mechanical engineering, teaches Vietnamese, then writes for newspapers, translates books, studies maps and writes research works that are useful to life.
When asked about advice for young people in studying and choosing a career, he shared: "Studying is important. But how to study is even more important. Study the basics to have a foundation and then gradually understand bigger things scientifically. That is the core to build good people, contributing to the development of the country."
Until the last minute
Who would have thought that the man over a hundred years old was still quietly preparing for a major exhibition: an exhibition of maps about Saigon, Gia Dinh, Cho Lon and the South in general - something he had cherished for a long time.
He wants to give young people access to valuable resources, so that they will love history and geography more, and love this land with a very impressive history.
Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dau (died in 2024) - Historical and geographer
He had selected the maps, annotated them, and meticulously taped them to cardboard. He had also bought the stands, waiting to frame them. The final pages of the work Vietnamese Ceramic Road on the East Sea had also been completed, waiting for a publication date.
Working until the last minute of his 104-year life is true, always willing to pass on and always expecting from those younger than him is true. His plans were not completed when he passed away.
The next generation still remembers the concerns he left behind: how to have more people research local history, how to have people continue to use the documents, maps, and books that he collected over these two centuries?
The study was still crowded, filled with past items that spilled out onto the stairs and into the adjacent rooms… waiting for a successor.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ton-vinh-guong-mat-tieu-bieu-cua-tp-hcm-50-nam-qua-nguyen-dinh-dau-va-cuoc-doi-lon-hon-tram-nam-20250423120339371.htm
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