Ancient envoyship maps accredited as UNESCO’s Memory of World
Maps and itinerary of Vietnamese envoys’ journey to China dating from the 18th century were officially announced as a heritage Memory of the World at the 2018 General Meeting of UNESCO’s MOWCAP.
The Vietnamese delegates were proud when the documents were recognised as a Memory of the World. (Photo courtesy of Chu Thu Phuong)
Hanoi (VNA) — Maps and itinerary of Vietnameseenvoys’ journey to China dating from the 18th century were officially announcedas a heritage Memory of the World at the 2018 General Meeting of UNESCO’sMemory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific (MOWCAP).
The eighth meeting of MOWCAP took place on May 29-31 inGwangju, the Republic of Korea, attracting 125 representatives from 28countries.
The panel considered 12 dossiers from eight countriesincluding Tuvalu, Myanmar, China, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Australia, theSolomon Islands and Vietnam.
Hoang Hoa Su Trinh Do (The Envoyship Journeys to China –literally translated as maps and itinerary of the envoy’s journey to China)belonged to the Nguyen Huy family in the central province of Ha Tinh.
Old texts from the book. (Photo courtesy of Chu Thu Phuong)
With writings, drawings and maps, the book recorded thediplomatic relationship between Vietnam and China in the 18th century throughjourneys of Vietnamese envoys. It was compiled and edited by Nguyen Huy Oanh(1713-1789) based on documents of previous envoys and historical records aswell as notes from his own journey in 1766-1767, during which he worked as themain envoy of the Vietnamese delegates.
Chu Thu Phuong, a member of the Vietnamese delegation at themeeting, said the panel appreciated that the book is a rare and preciousdocument relating to the diplomatic relationship between Vietnam and Chinasince the feudal era. The friendship between the two countries played animportant role in maintaining peace in the region and the world.
The dossier of the book received 17 votes from 17 members ofthe panel. It meets all the criteria to be recognised as a documentary heritageof the Memory of the World programme.
The Memory of the World Programme is an internationalprogramme aimed at safeguarding, preserving and facilitating access to and theuse of documentary heritage. UNESCO launched the programme in 1992. It includesthe inscription of significant documentary heritage on national, regional andinternational registers.
MOWCAP was set up in 1998 and is the regional forum forUNESCO’s global Memory of the World (MOW) Programme. MOWCAP aims to assist withthe preservation of and universal access to documentary heritage of the AsiaPacific region, and also to increase awareness of the existence andsignificance of the heritage.-VNA
VNA
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The Vietnamese delegates were proud when the documents were recognised as a Memory of the World. (Photo courtesy of Chu Thu Phuong) 
Old texts from the book. (Photo courtesy of Chu Thu Phuong)