Translated royal diplomas on display

The central city's museum is displaying a translation of 12 royal diplomas that Emperor Tu Duc conferred on Pham Phu Thu, a high-ranking mandarin of the dynasty.

The translation was completed in three months by Deputy Director of the museum Huynh Dinh Quoc Thien. The translated versions of the old royal documents will help reveal information, and the contribution to the country and the Nguyen dynasty by the mandarin.


One of the royal decrees was written by Emperor Tu Duc, the fourth emperor of the Nguyen dynasty who reigned from 1847-83, in honouring the service, talent and virtue of Thu after he passed away.

The translation also includes two poems that the Emperor presented to Thu when he was made the chief of Hai An (formerly Hai Phong city) in 1876.

Thu (1821 to 1882), who was born in Dien Phuoc district in Quang Nam province, was one of the mandarins who promoted the reforms of the country in the late 19th century.

The museum also introduced royal diplomas from kings of Canh Hung, Thieu Tri and Khai Dinh which were presented to communes in Ha Nam and Ninh Binh provinces.

All ancient documents were translated from the Han (Chinese script) into Vietnamese by the city's Han Nom (Chinese script and Chinese-transcribed Vietnamese) centre.