(VOVworld) – Vu Tuan San, a veteran researcher of Hanoi and Han-Nom studies, has won the Grand Prize in the 2014 Bui Xuan Phai – For Love of Hanoi Awards.  At the age of 100 San, who was born and raised in Hanoi, is still absorbed in his research every day.

The 100-year-old researcher on Hanoi, Vu Tuan San won the Grand Prize in the 2014 Bui Xuan Phai – For Love of Hanoi Awards

We visited researcher Vu Tuan San at his house in Hoang Mai district on an October autumn morning. San still lives in the same place, an area with a common gate for six households clustered around a charming garden and a fish pond. In a small but tidy room full of books, San loses himself in reading, studying, and writing. The autumn weather recalls a time when Hanoi’s intellectuals faced a decisive choice 60 years ago. San recalls:

“Hanoi was liberated in 1954, an important milestone for intellectuals who had to decide whether they would leave or stay and form a strong attachment to the newly-established democratic republic. I decided to switch from being a judicial official to a culture researcher. My mission was to study Hanoi and preserve the capital city’s quintessence. I think my decision was absolutely right.”

Being a master of Han-Nom, old Chinese and Chinese-transcribed Vietnamese, French, and English, San is acknowledged as a path-finder of the research on Thang Long-Hanoi. He was among the first Hanoiologists to participate in a project to clarify certain issues of Hanoi’s geography and culture. He quit his job as a lawyer to become a civil servant in a totally new field – museum conservation in the Hanoi Department of Culture and Information. He touches up on the reasons for the decision:

“When I studied at the university, I taught myself the old Chinese and Chinese-transcribed Vietnamese language because I like ancient culture. When Hanoi was liberated, I worked as a cultural official in the museum section of Hanoi’s department of culture and information. There I could fully tap my knowledge of Han-Nom and my love for Vietnamese culture.”

San’s colleagues have reported that he eagerly rode his bike to the ancient works around Thang Long citadel to make notes and carry out cultural research. But according to San, he was on a journey to learn about Hanoi.

Anyone keen on Hanoi’s culture and history surely knows San’s recent book entitled ‘Hanoi Now and Then’. The 980-page book, which took decades to write is divided into five parts – history and geography, relic sites, famous figures, literature, and traditional culture and handicraft. San explains about the book:

“After moving from Co Loa to Thang Long, the capital city has witnessed several historical milestone events. Hanoi’s culture, legends, festivals, literature, and glorious tradition in the struggle against foreign invaders have made it unlike any other place.”

Poet Bang Viet, Chairman of the Jury Board of this year’s Bui Xuan Phai awards, says what researcher San has done for Hanoi shows how much he loves the city. Viet has this to say: “during his 100 years, he has had plenty of time to accumulate and discover interesting and beautiful things about Hanoi. He has put all his thoughts about and love for Hanoi into his work. San, a veteran Hanoiologist who has devoted his entire life to Hanoi, deserves the Grand Prize of the Bui Xuan Phai – For Love of Hanoi Awards.”