Đà Nẵng’s Hoàng Sa Museum collects artefacts,
memorabilia
The central
city of Đà Nẵng’s Historical Association has called on the public to donate
memorabilia and documents for the Hoàng Sa (Paracel) Museum from July until
January 19, 2017.
January 19, 2017, will
recognise the 43-year anniversary of the date when China occupied and took
Hoàng Sa (Paracel) islands from the hands of Vietnamese soldiers, who served
the Republic of Việt Nam’s navy, as prisoners.
The Hoàng Sa (Paracel)
Museum, which has been built on an area of 1,300sq.m along Hoàng Sa Street,
will accommodate artefacts, memorabilia, documents, ancient maps on
Việt Nam’s sovereignty over the Hoàng Sa (Paracel) and Trường Sa (Spratly)
archipelagoes.
The city has planned on
128,543ha for development of Hoàng Sa district, including the Hoàng Sa
(Paracel) islands, following the Prime Minister’s decision on the city’s
adjusted master urban plan for 2030 and 2050.
The Hoàng Sa District’s
people’s committee proposes to include two fishing precincts Thọ Quang and
Mân Thái in the administration of Hoàng Sa Island District.
The museum building was
inspired by the design of a royal seal from the Nguyễn dynasty’s King Minh
Mạng in 1835 for establishing the Hoàng Sa Flotilla to administer the islands.
The seal justifies Việt Nam’s
sovereignty over the Hoàng Sa and Trường Sa archipelagos as per ancient
documents from previous centuries.
During the process of
gathering evidences for the Hoàng Sa Museum, Chairman of Đà Nẵng
Historical Association Bùi Văn Tiếng said all documents, photos, maps and
antiquities related to Việt Nam’s sovereignty over Hoàng Sa (Paracel) and
Trường Sa (Spratly) archipelagos will be displayed at the museum when it
completes construction later this year.
“We have collected over 150
maps, books and document published by domestic and foreign publishers between
1618-1859, and 1626-1908 indicating Hoàng Sa (Paracels) and Trường Sa
(Spratlys) as part of Việt Nam,” Tiếng said.
From maps
“The collection, which has
been donated by local and overseas Vietnamese, includes two books
of Postal Atlas Maps of China which were published by the
Directorate General of Posts of the Ministry of Transportation of the
Republic of China in 1919 (consisting of 49 maps) and in 1933 (29 maps), as
well as one Atlas of the Chinese Empire, published by the China Inland
Mission in 1909 (23 maps). None of the three books list Paracels and Spratlys
index pages,” he said.
Tiếng also said all documents
and maps only clearly indicated that the southernmost point of China is the
Hainan Island and that Paracels and the Spratlys belong to Việt Nam.
Đà Nẵng City’s Communication
and Education Board also donated a map printed in 1969 stating that the Hoàng
Sa Island Commune (or former Định Hải Commune) was merged into Hòa Long
Commune of Hòa Vang District in Đà Nẵng.
Trần Đức Anh Sơn, vice
director of Đà Nẵng City’s Institute for Socio-Economic Development, also
suggested to the collecting team that an atlas (Atlas von China), published
by German publisher Verlag von Dietrich Reimer, in 1885, confirming that the
Paracels, and the Spratlys belong to Việt Nam’s sovereignty.
The atlas is stored at Havard
University, in the US.
Sơn said he spent 10 months
researching and collecting document related to Việt Nam’s sovereignty over
Hoàng Sa and Trường Sa Islands at Havard University in the US.
"As a scholar, I made
suggestions to the museum board about the atlas," Trần Đức Anh Sơn
told Việt Nam News Sunday. "If the Hòang Sa Museum decides to
display the maps as part of the exhibition, they need to contact Harvard
University Library for public use of copyrighted material."
In May, a collection of 40
ancient maps, indicating the Paracels belongs to Việt Nam, and two atlases
were displayed for the first time at a conference: Conflict in the South
China Sea (called East Sea by Việt Nam) at Yale University in Connecticut,
the US.
The maps were collected by
Trần Thắng, an American of Vietnamese origin, and is president of the
Institute for Vietnamese Culture and Education, in New York.
Thắng said that it was the
first time that the ancient maps, which were published in 1618-1859 by the
UK, the US, France, Germany and Scotland (1826 and 1980), and China, were
exhibited in the US.
He donated a 150-map
collection to Đà Nẵng City’s Institute for Socio-Economic Development in 2012.
Thắng said 20 maps published
by Việt Nam and western countries (1618-1859) showed that the Paracels
belongs to Việt Nam.
Twenty maps published by
western countries (1826 and 1980) indicated that the southern frontier of
China is Hainan island.
To memories
Việt Nam News
Sunday interviews Bùi Kiến Thành, who was born and lived in the south
till the 1960s. A graduate in economics from Columbia University in New York
City in 1954, Thành was invited by the government of unified Việt Nam in the
1990s to return and live in his homeland, while providing consultancy
to the top leadership.
“In 1960, I went to Pattle
(Hoàng Sa) Island with Mai Văn Hàm, a prominent businessman in Sài Gòn, to
check out the guano potential for commercial use,” Thành, now 85,
told Việt Nam News Sunday on the phone, while on a work trip in
Đồng Tháp Province in Việt Nam’s deep south.
“We left Đà Nẵng on a navy
ship during the day and arrived also during the day. We were not seasick,
though some others were. The sea was calm, no large waves.”
Thành said from the boat, he
saw the island as a white rim made of coral reefs and green foliage on top of
it. On the island were a military outpost of the South Vietnamese navy and a
meteorological bureau, built by the French government, from where weather
information was sent inland daily.
Thành was neither an official
of the met office nor a navy officer, but a board member of the then Việt Nam
Fertiliser Company. They went to explore if their company could exploit guano
for commercial use.
“We visited the site where
guano was already been exploited by another company. The thickness ranged from
50cm up to more than 1m in depth. From the area we examined, thousands of
tonnes could be collected for agricultural use,” he said.
Guano, or seabirds’ excrement
that has piled up over many thousand years, is exceptionally rich in
nitrogen, phosphate and potassium, which are key nutrients for plant growth
and the rice production.
According to Wikipedia, “The 19th century guano trade
played a pivotal role in the development of modern input-intensive farming
practices and inspired the formal human colonisation of remote bird islands
in many parts of the world.
“During the twentieth century,
guano-producing birds became an important target of conservation programmes
and influenced the development of environmental consciousness. Today, guano
is increasingly sought by organic farmers.”
Many years have passed and
Thành said he did not remember the statistics. But he still recalls the
crystal clear water on Pattle (Hoàng Sa) coral reef sea shore.
“I could see fish swimming
and giant seashells, measuring 30cm by 40cm, like the holy water bowls in
churches. At night, I looked up at the starry sky when a nice breeze embraced
me. I was 29.”
While many historical
documents have been collected so that future generations could know and
treasure their predecessors’ work to maintain and protect Việt Nam’s
sovereignty over the Paracels and Spratlys, personal memories like that of
Thành and probably soldiers who served in the South Việt Nam navy can be
convincing testimony of Việt Nam’s actual ownership and control up to January
19, 1974.
“We have received many
documents,” Võ Ngọc Đồng, head of Đà Nẵng’s Department of External Affairs,
said in an e-mail. His department is overseeing the building of the future
museum.
“We know there are more
documents being preserved in the wider population. We encourage their owners
to send and share those documents as well as memories with the people.”
The men who died
defending the islands
The donation programme also
received documents and letters related to Hoàng Sa Islands of Việt Nam before
1974 from Nguyễn Thị Lụa from southern Cần Thơ Province.
Lụa’s husband, who died for
the protection of Hoàng Sa Island when China took the islands by force on
January 19th, 1974, had sent letters and personal memorabilia in connection
with life on the islands.
Lụa also named his son, who
was born one month after his father died in 1974, under the name of Hoàng Sa
Island.
The People’s Artist Chí Trung
also donated a film titled – Nhớ Đảo (Hoàng Sa Island’s Nostalgia)
– exploring the lives of residents who had lived before 1974.
The film was awarded a Gold
Medal at the Việt Nam Film Festival, and the National Press Award in 2005.
The city’s historical association
also called for more donations of ancient documents, books, maps and objects
related to Hoàng Sa and Trường Sa among Vietnamese at home and abroad as well
as international collectors.
Viet Nam News
By Bùi Hòai Nam in Đà Nẵng, with additional reporting
by Mỹ Hà in Hà Nội
|
Thứ Hai, 18 tháng 7, 2016
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