Nguyễn Quảng Tuân

In France, Tuân asked for a copy of Kim Vân Kiều tân truyện inscribed in 1871 at Liễu Vân Đường's request.

That was the only Nôm copy left, now stored in the Inter-university Library of Oriental Languages in France.

In the US, he obtained from Professor Đàm Quang Hưng a copy of Đoạn trường tân thanh, revised, then copied by Hoàng Giáp Tiểu Tô Lâm – Nọa Phu – Nguyễn Hữu Lập at Tây hiên Ministry of Construction, Huế.

This original copy of Truyện Kiều has now been sent to the Kiều expert, Nguyễn Quảng Tuân, by Professor Đàm Quang Hưng, so he can show it to those who need more information about it or who would like to see things with their own eyes.

In England, he was able to hold a very beautiful handwritten copy of Kim Vân Kiều tân truyện with illustrations on every page and notes in Chinese.

At the British Library, he was not allowed to copy the whole book but only a few pages for his personal library.

In China, he traveled from Beijing to Hàng Châu, visiting the Tien Duong river to get to know more about the locations of Thúy Kiều's eventful life, and "to live the soul of each word of the book", as stated by Professor Dr. Mai Quốc Liên.

In Vietnam, Tuân visited Nguyễn Du's paternal hometown in Tiên Điền, Nghi Xuân of Hà Tĩnh province.

On the occasion, he wrote the following eulogy in honour of Nguyễn Du:

Hồng Sơn family history

Widely reputed was Nguyễn of Tiên Điền

Not as minister or top exam candidate

But for his Tale of Kiều, a rare event.

Living with great talents, without shame

Bequeathing a glorious career of a hundred years

On duty in Beijing

On a chance encounter with Thanh Tâm Tài Tử At a hearsay about a devoted daughter

With sympathy for the emotional Thúy Kiều

He turned the story into a wonderful Nôm masterpiece

As in Phan Thạch Sơ's comparison:

In the Minh dynasty there lived a well-known woman

In Đại Việt there was a book with eternally beautiful words.

Such is Tố Như's reputation.

Nguyễn Quảng Tuân (Chữ Hán: 阮廣詢) (June 11, 1925 – May 20, 2019) was a writer, poet and researcher in South Vietnam.

He was born in the village of Yên Mẫn, the district Võ Giàng (now district of Quế Võ), the province of Bắc Ninh, northern Vietnam.

Nguyễn Quảng Tuân, who was born on June 11, 1925, during his studying at Bưởi School in Hanoi, already had poems published in Tia Sang and Thoi su Chu Nhat.

He also wrote a play in verse, The Sound of Flute on the O River, which was performed twice: the first time on 4&5 May 1946 in the Grand Theater in Ha Noi and the second time on 23 & 24 of May, 1946 in Hà Tĩnh's local theater.

He became a teacher at Ngô Quyền High School, Hải Phòng, in 1949, and by 1953 he had his Collection of Poems by Chu Mạnh Trinh and Thanh Tâm Tài Nhân published.

He then had his mind set on studying The Tale of Kiều by Nguyễn Du.

After he was promoted headmaster of Duy Tân high school in Phan Rang, he had his series of Vietnamese Literature textbooks successively published – grade 6 to 12 – as well as A Concise Comparative Spelling Dictionary.

After 1975, Nguyễn Quảng Tuân started his studies in Hán Nôm characters, especially The Tale of Kiều, of which he had collected many ancient Nôm scripts.

The favourite genre of Nguyễn is hát nói and he is famous for his works of ca trù.

Following are comments from Professor Trần Văn Khê, a well-known specialist in Vietnamese traditional music: "Reading Vịnh Kiều was such a surprise and delight. I know very well that Nguyễn Quảng Tuân is an expert in Kiều, but all his Kiều odes in hát nói genre are beyond my expectations. Writing 20 odes for the 20 episodes in the Tale of Kiều plus 6 odes for its 6 characters is no simple work. Such literary achievement must come from a poet who has not only deep understanding of Kiều but also comfortable use of the hát nói genre."

Professor Trần Văn Khê is very accurate in his description of Nguyễn Quảng Tuân, both as a scholar and a poet.

Following is a Đường luật poem in which Tuân goes over his life story in eight simple lines:

"Years of happiness in school environments Months and days of passion for literary arts. Ngô Quyền used to fill my soul with romance Võ Tánh saw my hair turn grey. Headmaster was I once in the land of sand and dust Teacher was I twice in the hometown of weeping willows. Inspector am I now at the ministry Pleased to be among loving fellows."

A devoted educator, a reputed textbook author and an experienced researcher in Truyện Kiều, knowledgeable in both Oriental and Western studies, Tuân was invited to sit as head judge in the Judge Committee of the Gold Book Contest held every two years.

To research Nguyễn Du's career, the great author of world culture, Tuân spent many years travelling to France, England, US, Japan and China in search of documents and Nôm scripts of The tale of Kiều.

And on November 15, 2004, on a trip to his own hometown – Yên Mẫn, Võ Giàng of Bắc Ninh province – Tuân also headed for Nguyễn Du's maternal hometown – Kim Thiều (previously known as Hoa Thiều), Từ Sơn (previously called Đông Ngàn) of the same town, in search of more documents.

Following is an extract from Quê Mẹ (Maternal hometown), which he wrote during the trip: