 Professor
Phan Huy Le is one of Vietnam's leading historians. He is well known for
his outstanding roles and noteworthy contributions to various scientific
activities, including lecturing at the National University of Hanoi, participating
in international conferences and meetings, and taking part in international
exchange programs. He is respected particularly for his efforts in initiating
Doi Moi--or innovation--in the field of humane sciences, examining
the situation of Vietnam from the viewpoint of socioeconomic history,
and establishing his own theories. He is subsequently known to have opened
up a new field of study to the point of redrawing the history of Vietnam.
Professor Le was born
in Hatinh, a province in Central Vietnam, in 1934. His clan is distinguished
for having produced a number of Van Than--Confucian scholars. He
graduated from the University of Pedagogy of Hanoi in 1956, and was appointed
Assistant at the Faculty of History, Hanoi University, same year. From
then through until 1975, Vietnam's academics went through extreme difficulties.
Despite the hardship, however, Professor Le continued to devote himself
for as long as 32 years to scrutinizing an enormous amount of documents
on Vietnam's socioeconomic history up until 1988, in that process steadily
producing good results. In addition, he has offered guidance and training
to young scholars who have now become distinguished scholars of Vietnamese
history. He has also been in charge of supervising overseas graduate students
since 1975. So far, over ten Japanese scholars have received firsthand
advise from Professor Le.
His gentle personality,
along with a steadfast refusal to allow ideology to sway his research
is highly evaluated in many countries including those throughout Southeast
Asia, Japan, and France. He has been invited to give lectures at Paris
VII University and Amsterdam University. Professor Le is also well known
for having shed light upon the socioeconomic history of Vietnam, a field
which had been long neglected in studies of Vietnamese history. After
many years of extensive labor, he published a book entitled, "History
of the Feudal System in Vietnam", which has provided the impetus
for other scholars to re-examine Vietnamese history with a new outlook.
He has exerted every effort in discovering important historical records,
including land registers, genealogies, and so-called red books, materials
corrected in red ink by emperors--of Nguyen Dynasty, thus bringing a log
of new knowledge to light. These pioneering works are widely known and
respected throughout the world. Most of these works are put together in
his 14 books and over 200 research papers on the feudal system, the socioeconomic
structure of rural villages, and the traditional culture of Vietnam. Moreover,
Professor Le spends his time writing textbooks, which is work that requires
steady and painstaking effort.
In March 1990, he chaired
an international scientific symposium entitled The Seventeenth Century's
Japan Town--Hoi An, in Da Nang, Central Vietnam. The symposium was
held in cooperation mainly between Japan and Vietnam, and Professor Le
became well-known as the first Vietnamese professor who propelled his
country towards opening to the rest of the world. Ever since, he has been
one of the Vietnamese responsible for initiating studies of the Hoi An
Japan Town, and street preservation projects. These programs were made
possible due to bilateral scientific cooperation between Japan and Vietnam.
He has also filled various important posts, including the presidency at
the Association of Vietnamese Historians, which he assumed in 1988. Today's
internationalization of Vietnamese studies can not be discussed without
referring to the name of Professor Le, and the role he plays in this sphere
seems to be becoming increasingly important.
Professor Phan Huy
Le's achievements have not only contributed to the development of the
studies of socioeconomic history of Vietnam, but also played an essential
role in exhibiting the significance of studying traditional rural villages
in Asia to the world. These accomplishments make Professor Phan Huy Le
particularly worthy of receiving the International Academic Prize of the
Fukuoka Asian Cultural Prizes. |
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