Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks demonstrating Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa on display

The exhibition is being held by the National Archives Centre IV in coordination with the State Records Management and Archives Department under the Ministry of Home Affairs, to help domestic and international visitors to have better insight into Vietnam’s sovereignty over the two archipelagos.

The woodblocks and official documents on display included documents and maps published in Vietnam and western countries from the 16th to 19th centuries proving Vietnam’s sovereignty over these archipelagos; and documents and objects relating to the exercise of Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos.

Some valuable documents include “The eastern part of Quang Ngai province has Hoanh Sa (Truong Sa)” and “Hoang Sa is in the east of Re island”, which are extracted from the book “Dai Nam nhat thong chi” (Record of the Unity of Dai Nam), and “King Minh Mang requests Pham Huu Nhat marine corps to measure, draw map of Hoang Sa in 1836,” extracted from the book “Dai Nam thuc luc chinh bien” (Veritable Records of Dai Nam).

According to Nguyen Xuan Hung, Director of the National Archives Centre IV in Da Lat city, this is the first time the nine woodblocks under the Nguyen Dynasty proving Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos have been displayed to the public.

The National Archives Centre IV is preserving 34,619 woodblocks./.