[MSN] Ancient royal edicts face risk of loss

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

Ancient royal edicts face risk of loss

(01-10-2006)

by Hong Minh

On his daily inspection of Yen Phu Temple in the northern Bac Ninh Province’s Yen Phong District, Tran Van Them would always check a corner of the highest sanctuary, where some 18 documents with ancient characters were being kept.

For the half of his life that he’d spent as temple keeper, 70-year-old Them had never realised the value of those documents. That was until just over a year ago, when the original versions were stolen at night.

"Those documents are sac phong, or the royal honour-conferring edicts," Them says. "They were issued by the kings of different dynasties of Viet Nam to introduce the people and deities who were to be worshipped inside the temple, and to certify their contributions to the country."

Fortunately, Bac Ninh Provincial Museum had made copies of the sac phong before the robbery, so locals can still learn about the spirits that they worship. Nguyen Duy, the museum’s deputy director, said that the people should have been aware of the edicts’ value before they were stolen.

Duy says that worshippers at Yen Phu Temple venerate many genies and famous Vietnamese people who have contributed to the country. Among them are Cao Son Genie (Mountain Genie), who is thought to have supernatural powers over the locals’ spiritual lives, and General Ly Thuong Kiet, who carried out a glorious feat of arms against invaders to defend the country’s sovereignty during the Ly Dynasty, back in the 11th century.

"Thus, the edicts kept at the temple were very old and valuable," says Duy. "They were certified by many kings from the Le to Nguyen dynasties in the 14th to 19th centuries."

Police have joined the search for the stolen edicts. However, Duy says it will be very difficult, as many antiquarians would jump at the chance to acquire such artefacts.

Royal decrees

Ancient sac phong are now still being kept under one of two conditions, according to their content. Sac phong chuc tuoc, the "human" edicts, which bestow titles upon noblemen and officials, or praise people who deserve well of the country, are normally the property of a family. The other kind, sac phong than, which certify and rank genies or patron saints worshipped in temples and communal houses, are considered the common property of a village community, so they are kept in temples.

The oldest sac phong date back to the 15th century, and are still preserved in the communal house in Diem Dien Township, in the northern province of Thai Binh’s Thai Thuî District.

Sac phong were made from a special type of paper, called giay sac, which was used only for the kings to write their edicts. The method for making the paper was passed down through the generations of a family in the ancient Nghia Do Village, which is now Ha NoiTu Liem District. The paper was made from valuable material, with the imperial symbols of the dragon and phoenix drawn in gold, silver and metal grain.

Culture expert Huu Ngoc says that sac phong reflect the supreme role of the kings, whose function was not only to administer the people of the earthly world but also the spiritual world. They would link beliefs and spiritual life to traditional festivals and cultural activities in village communities.

"Sac phong are valuable documents for researching traditional beliefs," Ngoc says, going on to explain that sac phong also contain information about the administrative systems of the dynasties, with place names and dates.

"There is evidence of characteristics of calligraphy in the Chinese-transcribed Vietnamese language, and this varies at different times."

But the downside to these valuable attributes is that the edicts have been hunted by burglars, who don’t even understand their true value, to sell to antiquarians.

Falling into neglect

Besides the risk of being stolen, sac phong have also been damaged or lost due to the effects of time and poor preservation methods. Many ancient sac phong have been found in a severely damaged state, some even stored among rats.

Many families, who cannot understand the ancient characters, have translated the ancient sac phong into Vietnamese, then ignored the original versions.

Recently, a group of historians and experts including those from the Viet Nam History Association, the Viet Nam Museum of Ethnology, and the National Library have rallied to protect the ancient sac phong, under the initiative and funding of the Sweden-Viet Nam Cultural Fund.

Huu Ngoc, who is also president of the fund, says the project can be implemented in one of two ways.

"First, we can hire experts to physically strengthen the documents and find ways to preserve them." But Ngoc explains that each document would take about 10 days to complete and cost VND100,000 ($US6.25) to preserve, making this option virtually impossible given the large number of sac phong that exist in Viet Nam.

The other option is to protect the words and decorations of sac phong by taking photographs with digital cameras. All of the images would be saved on disc with archival information detailing the names of the sac phong and where they are kept. All the discs would be listed as administrative units and kept at the National Library.

"As the capital from the fund for this project is limited, we have just implemented it in certain provinces," Ngoc says. "We are trying to expand the project to other provinces."

Ngoc says that he hopes all sectors and people will support the project to save the valuable sac phong in Viet Nam.

Edicts go digital

In answer to historical researchers’ calls to preserve royal edicts as cultural heritage, a service to copy the ancient versions has been set up.

The Bac Ninh Museum, one of the two best-known providers of this service, uses a simple yet effective method.

The museum’s deputy director, Nguyen Duy, explains that once the museum has been notified about an historical site, experts from the museum visit to take a photo of the edicts. The photos are printed so that the size of the edict image is the same as that of the original document. The reproduction is then framed in glass.

"This helps to make the version look similar to the original one." Duy says. "We can also use software to correct some parts damaged by time and poor preservation."

When finished, the copy can be hung in public to inform people about the historical site, while the original can be kept in a safe place. That is why the sac phong at Yen Phu Temple had been copied by the museum. However, the originals were not secured, and were stolen only shortly after the copies were made.

In the last three years, the museum has made copies for about 100 historical sites inside and outside the province.

Meanwhile, the Viet Nam Centre for Family Annals offers another way to preserve the edicts. Mai Hong frp, tje centre explains that copies made at her centre are of high quality as they are printed on the same kind of giay sac paper as the originals.

"However, we cannot ensure that the size of the copy will be the same as the original version," she says. — VNS

(For Huu Ngoc’s opinion on sac phong, see Valuable ancient documents cry for help)

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