It has been nearly 5 years since Da Nang-located Hoang Sa Exhibition House was identified on the map as the place to keep ‘living evidence’ about the history of exploiting, establishing and defending Viet Nam’s legitimate sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes. That was also a period during which Ph.D Le Tien Cong, the House’s Director, actively served the role of managing, researching and telling stories of the national sea and islands.

Mr Cong at the exhibition space of images and documents proving Viet Nam's legal sovereignty over the Hoang Sa Archipelago. Photo: XUAN SON

“The topic on sea and islands followed me throughout my studies, master's and doctoral dissertations, and later research and teaching at schools. I kept pursuing this until I realized I had a special interest in this field”, he recounted.

In 2017, the book entitled ‘the organisation of defense and activities to protect the waters off the Central Viet Nam coast under the Nguyen Dynasty in the 1802 - 1885 period” by Cong was published by Social Science Publishing House. This is also the doctoral thesis that he conducted while working at Phan Chau Trinh University, Hoi An, Quang Nam Province in the 2008 - 2017 period.

With the publication of a lot of valuable information and documents on the history and sovereignty of the country's sea and islands in a new approach, the above-mentioned research work won the ‘Outstanding East Sea Research Project 2015’ award from the East Sea Research Support Fund and the first prize of Pham Than Duat History Prize which was named after a patriotic intellectual and a cultural celebrity in VietNam in the late 19^th century.

The study of sea and islands is the premise for Cong to become highly-attached to Hoang Sa Exhibition House in the future. “When work commenced on the Hoang Sa Exhibition House until it was completed, the Da Nang government was looking for human resources who wanted to work here. It was an opportunity for me to be a part of the house to this day. It was always the right decision,” said Cong.

Keeping proof of sovereignty

“Hello, I am Noel Rousset, a French person who loves Viet Nam. I have applied for a visa in Viet Nam for 3 months and I will return to France. Before returning home, I want to visit this unique exhibition house about the Hoang Sa Archipelago. I am very honoured to visit the country and people of Viet Nam, especially learn about the Hoang Sa Archipelago. I know that the Hoang Sa belongs to Viet Nam and the whole world has to admit it. Not only me personally but many French people also know that, in the history of Viet Nam, Gia Long was the first Vietnamese king to set foot on the Hoang Sa Archipelago”.

Those words were written by Ph.D Noel Rousset, who used to work in the French navy, during his visit to this Exhibition House in early 2019. Returning home, Noel searched for documents relating to Viet Nam’s islands in order to donate all of them to the Hoang Sa District People's Committee. Last summer, at the age of 80, he returned to Da Nang and donated many valuable documents to the Exhibition House.

Some pictures at the exhibition space of documents and artifacts at the Hoang Sa Exhibition House. Photo: XUAN SON

For nearly 5 years with Hoang Sa Exhibition House, Cong met and worked with many people who are in support for proving Viet Nam’s legitimate sovereignty over its sea and islands like Noel Rousset. They together made a great contribution to the current rich collection of at least 5,583 valuable documents and artifacts managed by the Hoang Sa District People's Committee.

Notable among them are many remarkable documents such as 600 files reflecting the period from 1938 to the early 50s of the 20^th century painstakingly copied by Ph.D. Le Nam Trung Hieu from the French Overseas National Archives Centre; the press collection entitled ‘Hoang Sa and Truong Sa belong to Viet Nam” with 1,000 pages sized 60cm x 40cm donated by married couple Mr. Tran Thanh Phuong and Mrs. Phan Thu Huong; maps from Vietnamese-born American Tran Thang.

“We always appreciate and are touched by the community's efforts for the Vietnamese sovereignty over Hoang Sa, and the sea and islands of Viet Nam as a whole, including foreign friends. Documents on Hoang Sa are generally rare, and the original documents are even less so. The witnesses and those who have diligently collected materials for their later donations to the Hoang Sa Exhibition House are the motivation for us to well perform our duties here”, said Cong.

More than anyone else, he understands the difficulty in finding and collecting documents over the years. It was a journey of painstaking research, collection, contact and sharing with localities, archives and research institutes. “Documents about the sea and islands are managed especially strictly. In many cases, we had to go to the place not only once but many times to complete the collection and get consent to share documents from our partners”.

Preserving value of sea and islands for next generations

From the connection between the Hoang Sa District People's Committee with the Hoang Sa Exhibition House had the opportunity to meet many witnesses. They came here, stood in the midst of more than 400 valuable documents and artifacts on display, told the story they had experienced with emotion and pride when talking about the archipelagos of Hoang Sa - Truong Sa under Viet Nam’s sovereignty. “In our hearts, the presence of every witness or visitor is more than just a visit. “It's like going home, back to the historical roots”, said Cong.

According to Cong, foreign visitors often like to ask many questions when visiting, such as: “What is the value of this artifact?”, “How did this event happen?”, “Why is the ship DNA 90152 damage and displayed here?. “That was the time when we had the opportunity to tell the most authentic story about Hoang Sa and Truong Sa with international friends”, said Cong.

In the future, Cong hopes that the Hoang Sa Exhibition House will be upgraded into a museum with many items revolving around the stories on sovereignty, natural resources, marine and island culture, and he stressed a need to form a research centre on Hoang Sa and Truong Sa in order to develop this place into an international exchange point about the two archipelagos under Viet Nam's sovereignty.

“I and my colleagues at the Hoang Sa Exhibition House keep in our minds that we are spreading the stories about our country’s sovereignty over its sea and islands to the domestic and foreign communities. Those are the values that must be preserved not only for present but also for future generations”, emphasised Cong.

Reporting by XUAN SON - Translating by A.THU