A
lecturer in the central city of Hue city has announced his discovery of a map with
Hoang Sa Archipelago (Paracel
Islands) in a primary
textbook under King Tu Duc dynasty.

The Paracel Islands in the red square

According to lecturer Tran Van Quyen of the Phu Xuan
Hue University’s
Social Sciences Faculty, the textbook is named “Khai Dong Thuyet Uoc” and it is
written in Chinese scripts. The textbook was printed the first time in 1853 and
it was used in all schools under Tu Duc dynasty.

The textbook includes knowledge of Vietnamese history,
society, nature and morality. It includes maps of Vietnam, pictures of the sun, the
moon and human body. This textbook was re-printed many times.

There is a map in this textbook with the Paracel Islands.
The map is called “National Map”, in the 15-16 pages.

Dr. Tran Duc Anh Son, vice head of the Da Nang Institute for
Social-economic Research and Development said that this is a valuable document
about Vietnam’s sovereignty
over the Paracel Islands.

Son said that the textbook with Vietnam
map, including the Paracel
Islands, proved the
awareness of sovereignty of the Nguyen Dynasty.

“Thanks to this discovery, for the first time we know about
a textbook of the feudal regime that records Vietnam’s
sovereignty over the Paracel
Islands. This is a
helpful discovery, especially for educating the awareness of sea and island
sovereignty for the young generation,” Dr. Son added.

PV