20 years of nurturing a massive project for Ho Chi Minh City
At the 7th National Book Awards ceremony in 2024, researcher Nguyen Dinh Tu won the A prize with the 2-volume book series "Gia Dinh - Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City: Long Mile of History (1698 - 2020)".
Author Nguyen Dinh Tu took the train from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi to attend the National Book Award ceremony. He wore the red ao dai that he often wears at formal ceremonies. When he was awarded the A prize, the researcher confided that he felt honored, delighted, and happy that his work was recognized by the professional council.
Sharing about the massive book series about Ho Chi Minh City, the 104-year-old researcher said that he wrote the manuscript in two periods. In 1998, he began to have the idea of writing a book series on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) because the anniversary was approaching but no one had made a book series about the city. Therefore, he made an outline for the book.
“The documents I collected were very precious and rare. I kept them for 20 years, continued to complete the manuscript, corrected any mistakes, and added any missing ones. If they were not recorded, people would not know what their hometown was called in the past.
Previously, many authors have written books about Ho Chi Minh City, but the content was mainly individual. I want to write a comprehensive book about the formation process and life of the city over the past 300 years. The book helps the people of Ho Chi Minh City in particular and the whole country in general understand more about the city named after Uncle Ho. On a personal level, the book is my way of expressing gratitude to the people of Ho Chi Minh City who have always protected and helped me from my youth until now" - Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tu confided.
For over 20 years, he has devoted his efforts to going to libraries and the National Archives Center 2 in Ho Chi Minh City to collect documents and write books alone. The author takes advantage of every bit of time, every day, to meticulously record invaluable documents for posterity in areas such as place names - geography, history - culture of the South.
Endless passion for reading and writing
Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tu was born in 1920 in Thanh Chuong (Nghe An). A hard life from a young age trained him to be strong, patient, and never give up in the face of difficulties.
The author was passionate and loved history since childhood, wishing to have his own books on history. Later, he went to the South Central region to start a career, compiled and published many books on history and geography of Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen and Ninh Thuan provinces.
Even though he is 104 years old, author Nguyen Dinh Tu still reads documents every day, uses computers proficiently to research and draft documents. He shared that if he were still healthy, he would like to write 10 more books, including books about the history of the formation of the Central and Northern regions to pass on to future generations.
Having published his first book in 1943, researcher Nguyen Dinh Tu has continued to read and write books for over 80 years, considering books an indispensable part of life. He confided: “I am passionate about reading and writing. Thanks to reading, I can write books. I pay attention to maintaining my health, living a moderate life, and exercising every day. I understand that with good health, we will have everything. In addition, I keep my spirit light and relaxed, do not stay angry with anyone for long, and let things go.
I used to live in difficult circumstances, there was a flood in Nghe An, I ate congee for 3 months. I carried soil, built dikes, worked hard to get congee to eat, very hungry and miserable. Or after the country was liberated, I repaired bicycles on the roadside, saved every penny to make ends meet. At that time, I was still optimistic and loved life, still took the time to write books."
Experts evaluate the book series about Ho Chi Minh City by researcher Nguyen Dinh Tu as a very large work, demonstrating perseverance in research and great contribution to historical science. He was chosen as the ambassador of reading culture of Ho Chi Minh City, an example of hard work, tirelessly working with documents, exploring new research topics.
