Hue Monuments Conservation Centre has said it will donate almost 300 royal documents

Thua Thien- Hue (VNA) -- The Hue Monuments Conservation Centre has said it
will donate almost 300 royal documents issued by the Le, Tay Son, and Nguyen
Dynasties between the 15th and 20th centuries to the US Library of Congress in
digitised version.

The documents, including decrees and conferments of honours, are being
categorised, translated, and digitised by the centre after the province Department
of Culture, Sports and Tourism confirmed their authenticity on Tuesday.

The gift is part of an exchange programme between Hue 's cultural institutions
and the world's biggest library which was recently approved by the province
People's Committee.

Many of the documents pertain to conferment of the title of "village guardian
genie," appointment of local mandarins, and commendation for having great merit or
making contributions, according to Phan Thanh Hai, deputy director of the centre.


"They shed lights on the materials, language, decoration patterns, standards, and
procedures of royal documents," he said, explaining there were clear differences
between documents issued by different dynasties.

"The conferments were often not recorded in royal official history, and they throw
light on the development and culture of villages," he said, adding that the
conferees helped explore new lands and establish new villages.

The original documents will be kept at the Hue Royal Library, an institution for
conserving all of Hue 's documents written in the Han (Chinese) and Nom
domestic scripts.

The US Library of Congress' Department of Southeast Asia suggested setting up the
exchange programme to Hue authorities in August 2008.-Enditem