Lê Văn Hưu and Ngô Sĩ Liên: A Comparison of Their Perception of Vietnamese History" by Professor Yu Insun

Abstract

In the past decades there has been a good number of articles and books written by both Vietnamese and foreign scholars focusing on the two pioneering Vietnamese historians: Lê Văn Hưu (1230-1322) and Ngô Sĩ Liên (fifteenth century). There was so far, nevertheless, virtually no comparative research on their perception of some aspects of Vietnamese history. Professor Yu Insun's article of "Lê Văn Hưu and Ngô Sĩ Liên: A Comparison of Their Perception of Vietnamese History" (in: Nhung Tuyet Tran and Anthony Reid (eds.), Vietnam: Borderless Histories, The University of Wisconsin Press, 2006, pp. 45-71) promises to set a new light into this scientific domain. Beginning with a highlight of the major points of view of the two historians, the article then moves towards a systematic comparison of the two historians' similar and different perceptions of Vietnamese history. The fact that the historical perspectives of Lê Văn Hưu and Ngô Sĩ Liên were products of their times led to the major different judgments of the two historians on a series of historical events and figures. Professor Yu Insun concludes: "For Lê Văn Hưu the most pressing concern was how to preserve the independence of the Trần dynasty amid the threat of constant Mongol invasion. For Ngô Sĩ Liên, who lived during the Lê dynasty, when Confucianism was the ruling ideology, promoting the Confucian ethnics and morality was of utmost concern".