The history sector "chose" him
Phan Huy Le was born into a family with a traditional fondness for learning. Le's father was a Confucian scholar and a descendant of the Phan Huy family famous for two great historians, Phan Huy Ich and Phan Huy Chu.
When he was 18 years old, Phan Huy Le initially chose to study Mathematics - Physics, but leading professors such as Tran Van Giau and Dao Duy Anh directed him to study history. Since then, the name Phan Huy Le has been associated with the history sector and the Vietnamese history sector is proud of him.
Just two years after graduating from the History-Geography Faculty at the Hanoi Pedagogy College, in 1958 he was appointed as head of the Ancient and Medieval Vietnamese History department at the Hanoi General University (today’s Social Sciences and Humanity University of the Hanoi National University).
In 1959, he published his first research works including “Land Ownership and Agriculture during the Early Le Dynasty”, “Tay Son Farmers’ Revolutionary Movement”, and “Labour in Vietnamese Feudalism”.
When the country went to war, Prof. Phan Huy Le carried out profound studies on resistance wars against foreign invaders and decisive victories in the history of Vietnam and produced many outstanding works such as "Lam Son Uprising" in 1965, "The tradition of Vietnam national construction and protection" in 1973, "Several strategic battles in the nation’s history" in 1976, and "Bach Dang victory in 938 and 1288" in 1988, among others.
When the country had established peace, the fields of research by Prof. Phan Huy Le were expanded to connect history with culture including typical works: "Tradition and Revolution" (1982), "Democracy in the Vietnamese tradition" (1988), "The traditional values and present Vietnamese people "(with three volumes in 1994, 1996, and 1997), and "Vietnamese patriotism, traditional and contemporary "(2002), among others.
In particular, his work “History of Vietnamese Culture” was awarded the Ho Chi Minh Prize in 2016.
Historian Phan Huy Le worked tirelessly with craft and industry, creating uninterrupted research works like his untired footsteps on the path of scientific research. Prof. Phan Huy Le was regarded as one of the four highest-ranking historians of modern Vietnamese history along with Dinh Xuan Lam, Ha Van Tan and Tran Quoc Vuong.
Until the last moment of his life, he still showed his concern over an incomplete work on a new national history of Vietnam that he was the chief editor of and which was expected to be completed in 2019.
"History is broad and there remains much to do"
It was Le's favourite saying to his students and colleagues. Prof. Phan Huy Le was one of the pioneers in the protection and preservation of Vietnamese historical values to pass on to future generations. Many heritage and relic sites are being protected following the orientations and opinions of Prof. Phan Huy Le including the UNESCO-recognised World Cultural Heritage - Thang Long Imperial Citadel.
"History is broad and there remains much to do" is Le's favourite saying to his students and colleagues.
In the process of renovating research activities and compiling histories, Prof. Phan Huy Le emphasised factors that the historian circle needs to unify and implement to put forth a modern and systematic view of history.
His viewpoints represented that all activities taking place within Vietnam's national border today is an integral part of Vietnamese history and history not only features struggles but encompasses all aspects of social life such as economics, culture, art, ethnic history, and others. The history also has lots of "vacancies” that need to be filled up with diverse, modern, and systematic research including research into the history of 53 ethnic groups alongside the Kinh people in Vietnam, the history of Vietnamese clans and localities, the history of Southern Vietnam during the period of separation, and others.
As President of the Vietnam Association of Historical Sciences for many years (1988 - 2016), Prof. Le brought about unity, motivation and new developments in the historian circle.
He was honoured with many orders and awards for his body of research in Vietnam and was highly regarded by world scholars abroad. He also had close relationships with many prestigious researchers from France, Russia, Japan, the US, Australia, the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, China and Denmark. They have written about him with much respect.
With industrious and serious scientific work alongside his devotion to students and colleagues, the talent and dignity of Prof. Phan Huy Le has made him a role model for many generations of students and colleagues both at home and abroad. He is a great historian who deserves to be honoured and respected.
