Library

"General History of Vietnam" has nearly 600 pages, starting from the Hung Pang clan in Vietnam's ancient legendary period (2879 BC - 258 BC) to the end of the French period in the early 20th century (1902). The content of the book is concise and systematic, with appropriate details, and no major historical details are omitted. At the end of the third revised edition in 1949, the author added a brief "temporary statement" of just over one page, briefly mentioning the Vietnamese anti-French movement during the period when Bao Dai abdicated and handed over power to the Viet Minh government in 1945. The "newness" of "General History of Vietnam" is not due to the fact that it is the first general history written in Mandarin characters. More importantly, the author is the first scholar to refer to the scientific and advanced nature of Western historiography, overcoming the shortcomings of traditional Chinese chronicle history books with messy narratives and loose structures.