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can be counted as one of the most well-
studied and well-edited cultural and his-
torical documents in Vietnam and even
the world.”
Professor Liam Kelley of the Univer-
sity of Hawaii at Manoa commented:
“Tran Quang Duc makes extensive use
of sources written in Hán by both Viet-
namese and Chinese authors over many
centuries. Therefore, while this topic
may have been discussed before, this
book is unprecedented in the scope of
the sources it is based on, and in the ex-
pertise of the author’s reading of those
sources... This book therefore marks an
incredible scholarly accomplishment.”
The volume is the result of three
years researching thousands of docu-
ments, paintings and statues in hun-
dreds of places throughout Vietnam
and abroad.
Duc revealed that to avoid subjec-
tive feelings and guess work, he tried
to read as many documents as he could
and travel to any place where there
were worthwhile relics.
At just 27, Tran Quang Duc has
travelled far and wide, visiting temples,
pagodas, museums and libraries in Vi-
etnam, China, Korea and Japan to pick
up every little trace of costume history.
Duc encountered many dead ends
and a lot of relics which were in poor
condition or had been destroyed. The
lost relics include costumes, images,
and much more.
Trinh Bach has faced the same situ-
ation when restoring royal costumes
and ancient embroidered patterns since
he came back to Vietnam in 1994. “It
took a long time to find the craftsmen
and to find the original patterns. We
spent six months finding 21 needles to
string the glass beads, and it took a year
and a half to order the glass beads from
a village in India to attach to the robes’
sleeves,” says Bach.
Besides the difficulties in digging up
the history, Duc also has to cope with
the financial burden of his study. “Who
would believe in and donate to a project
of an unknown 25 year old man study-
ing costume history?” he asks. “It seemed
to be the biggest challenge for a young
researcher like me at the time, but luck-
ily, I got support from many friends.”
CULTURAL WINDOW
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