LookAtVietnam – Dr Chu Hao dreams of enriching society by publishing 1,000 academic books via their project Bookshelf of World Knowledge. He talked with Vietnam News about the project.

In today’s Viet Nam it’s much easier to sell lighthearted literature than factual books. Why did you and your colleagues choose to publish high brow non-fiction?

When we set up Tri Thuc Publishing House, we targeted readers who wanted to learn more about academic books from across the world.

Many books by sages such as Plato, Aristote, Darwin, Newton, Kant, Hegel and Einstein are considered the foundation of Western thinking but haven’t been translated into Vietnamese, except for a few extracts.

Wars and difficult living conditions are partly to blame for this, but the biggest reason is that intellectual circles in Viet Nam don’t do enough to spread their knowledge and try to inform the public.

The lack of a comprehensive knowledge has influenced the entire academic background and quality of education in our country. It is the reason why Vietnamese intellectual circles lag behind others in the world.

As far as I know, classic books of the world were translated into Japanese 120 years ago. The Chinese did it 100 years ago.

In the 1900s, an average of 50 books were translated and published in Japan. At the same time, Manifesto of the Communist Party by Karl Marx and Friedrich Von Engels were printed in China. This approach to knowledge is the reason why the Chinese and the Japanese have been so successful in renovating their countries and reaching their current positions in the world.

We are more backward than Japan and China, but better late than never, we have to try to catch up with the developed world.

Every nation wants to publicise knowledge that helps enrich the national culture and the people’s intelligence. Translating foreign works also builds a country’s language.

The Viet Nam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) trusted the publishing house to launch the project.

I hope we can help improve the country’s reading culture. We select good books and print them in high quality to meet the demand of readers who are eager to enrich their knowledge. When the number of these reader increases, the reading culture in Viet Nam will be better.

The project will be useful for society, but the goal of publishing 1,000 books at a cost VND35 billion (nearly US$2 million) over 10 years seems like a lofty goal for a newly established publishing house like Tri Thuc (2005). How are you going to achieve your goal?

We have specific plans and steps for project. Phan Chu Trinh Translation Fund was founded in 2006 to raise money for the project. Recently, the fund was upgraded to become the Phan Chu Trinh Culture Fund with larger-scale activities.

Then, on the basis of the success and prestige of published books, the fund will receive other capital sources from overseas Vietnamese, domestic intellectuals, sponsorship of organisations and individuals and income from the published books.

In other countries, when a project is approved by the government, it gets funded by the state, but we won’t stand still and wait for the money.

How many translators will join the project?

We finished the list of translators for philosophy books thanks to the support of translator Bui Van Nam Son. Dr Tran Dinh Thien will be responsible for economic books. Professor Dang Mong Lan will undertake the scientific genre. Many writers also will join us such as Nguyen Ngoc and Nguyen Xuan Khanh. We are looking for translators for books on sociology, social sciences and humanities.

Beside the official staff of 20, we are helped by 100 collaborators at home and abroad.

Only two days after we announced the project, I received hundreds of e-mails, faxes and phone calls from intellectuals in scientific circles who wanted to sponsor the project. They also volunteered to search for books, translate and revise them. That’s a good sign.

Can you tell our readers something about the books that will be published in the project?

‘The bookshelf’ of World Knowledge Quintessence includes four genres: classic books such as those by Hegel and Kant intended for researchers with specialist knowledge; guides, which introduces and instructs readers on how to approach books in the classic genre; the third is reserved for the majority of readers who have a general education level such as books by Gustave Le Bon, Tocquevile and J S Mill; and finally New Knowledge, with books by Jared Diamond and others.

We also translate Vietnamese books into English such as Dang Phong’s books and Renovation in Viet Nam by Dao Xuan Lam and Vu Quoc Tuan.

We have published more than 100 books.

What kind of difficulties do you think you will come up against when publishing books for such a selective audience?

My colleagues and I have anticipated hard times, but no matter how difficult it is, we won’t lose heart. Carrying on with the work, I know that I’m doing the right thing. The Tri Thuc Publishing House has many valuable books complying with criteria of the publishing house. We play a part in bringing the world’s knowledge to Vietnamese readers.

Our biggest difficulty is money. Until now, we ran the project mostly based on the money we raised. Although every year we received State sponsorship, it’s a small sum.

Another difficulty comes from readers. Many prefer reading books purely for entertainment. I believe that out of every ten people, only two choose to read a book to relax, but that’s good enough! Our task is to encourage people to start reading more.

The fact is ‘the bookshelf’ has built a reputation among readers especially scholars, teachers and students at home and abroad. We have received a lot of good feedback from them.

What would you say to younger people to encourage them to read more?

Nowadays, most young people read what they need to for exams or to apply for a job, but they are not aware of the need to cultivate the mind. Books will go with you throughout your life.

The young should read different kinds of books, firstly to improve the mind, and to become a good person. Reading also helps to understand the culture of the nation and other countries in the world. You know, Viet Nam isn’t just integrating into the world economy, it’s integrating into a global culture so we have to learn about things from other countries, not just our own.

VietNamNet/VNS