Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks

Under the Nguyen Dynasty, due to the need to widely disseminate social norms, the laws that required people to follow, to circulate the reputation of the kings, historical events ., The court has carved many history books and literary works to grant to places. In the course of that activity produced a special kind of document, that is woodblocks. These are original documents.

Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks - world documentary heritage

Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks in heritage records are evaluated as follows:

34,555 inscriptions of woodblocks have saved the main works of writing and political history compiled by the Nguyen Dynasty, classics and history books. In addition to the value in terms of data, it is also valuable in art and manipulation techniques. It marks the development of printing carving in Vietnam. It is because of the important properties and high values ​​that during the feudal period and the historical states of Vietnam were very attentive to preserving these documents.

Woodblocks are wooden plates engraved in reverse Nom characters used to print books that were popularly used under the Nguyen Dynasty. At present, 34,555 copies of woodblocks are preserved at the National Archives Center 4 - directly under the Department of Letters .935, are very rich and divided into nine topics: history, geography, military, and law. institutions, poetry, religion - ideology - philosophy, language - writing, politics - society, culture - education.

The woodblocks of the Nguyen Dynasty were formed mainly during the operation of the National Assembly of the Nguyen Dynasty (founded in 1820 under King Minh Mang) in Hue. In addition, this document also includes printing etchings assembled from Van Mieu - Quoc Tu Giam (Hanoi) and brought into Hue and stored in Quoc Tu Giam (Hue) under King Minh Mang and Thieu Tri. . From 1960, Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks were transferred to Da Lat.
This is a particularly rare block of documents, due to the value of the content, the characteristics of the method of processing and the very strict regulations of the feudal court about publishing and carving. These documents are considered national security, only those who have responsibility and authority to work in the National History can contact and work with them.

In order to manipulate this document, it must go through a rigorous process that takes a lot of time and effort: First, the king gave an example to allow the compilation of books. After that, the compilation agency offered to study the European version to compile the completed manuscript for the king to show. The manuscript is handed back to the editorial agency for additional amendments at the discretion of the king. The manuscript is copied 'descriptive' (obviously). The compilation agency scheduled to give books to the king of the throne. The book after being turned down was handed over to the bureau under the control of the mandarins according to the king's example. After being carved out of woods, the consecration officials asked for printing into books.Each book is engraved only when there is a king's order.

In order to manipulate woodblocks, Quoc Suu had to recruit many skilled carvers. Woodcutter selected from localities throughout the country has a famous wood carving profession, and the carving technique used is entirely manual. The words carved on woodblocks contain all the enthusiasm of every worker. Each Chinese character - Nom on woodblocks is carved very sophisticated and sharp. Each plate is not only a valuable piece of material but also a unique piece of art.

According to some documents, woodblocks are mainly used for wood and wood for carving, by 2 types of wood with white, smooth and light wood grain, often used to engrave marks without cracks, no warping. So, through the hundreds of years, woodblocks still have good physical condition. In addition, pear wood and apple wood are also used to engrave woodblocks.

Documents of woodblocks have many rare and precious works such as Dai Nam, Dai Nam, Thong Nhat, Kham Dinh Viet history, who are informed of the section, Kham Dinh Dai Nam, the canonical event ., in addition to other works. Ngu Van and Ngu Che products are composed by famous emperors like Minh Mang, Thieu Tri and Tu Duc.

Nowadays, there are very rare woods in the world that have printed the major official works of the court like this one. It was formed during the operation of the state administrative apparatus and the activities of many typical historical figures. These are valuable documents for the study of modern Vietnamese history and culture.

On July 30 , 2009 , Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks were the first document of Vietnam to be recognized as a " World Documentary Heritage" passed at the meeting from July 29 to July 31, 2009 at Bridgetown (Barbados) of the International Advisory Committee (IAC) of UNESCO. The Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks were officially included in the " Memory of the World" program of UNESCO . Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks are a rare and special type of Vietnamese material and rare in the world.