(

chữ Hán ( , ) are the Chinese characters that were used to write Literary Chinese in Vietnam, Literary Chinese (; ) and Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary in Vietnamese language, Vietnamese. They were officially used in Vietnam after the Red River Delta region ...

: (; 2 August 1726 – 11 June 1784), , on his pen name is Doãn Hậu , and Quế Đường was an 18th-century

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

poet, encyclopedist, and government official. His pseudonym was Quế - Đường. He was a native of Duyen Ha village in present-day

Thái Bình Province Thái Bình was a former coastal eastern Provinces of Vietnam, province in the Red River Delta region of northern Vietnam. Its name is chữ Hán (太平) for "great peace." It is about 18 km from Nam Định, 70 km from Haiphong, and 110 km from ...

. He is considered one of the most outstanding and prolific Vietnamese

polymath A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...

s of the

early modern period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

Life

Lê was born in the province of Thái Bình, and lived in the reign of Emperor Lê Hiển Tông. The period of his life was marked by a split between the

Trịnh lords Trịnh is a Vietnamese family name In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full na ...

of the north and the

Nguyễn lords The Nguyễn lords (, 主阮; 1558–1777, 1780–1802), also known as the Nguyễn clan (; ), were Nguyễn dynasty's forerunner and a feudal noble clan ruling southern Đại Việt in the Revival Lê dynasty. The Nguyễn lords were membe ...

, in the aftermath of an examination system scandal involving his son Lê Quý Kiêt (who was sent to prison for changing examination books), had been ordered south of the Linh Giang River to serve as an official ...As a member of the Trịnh lords' bureaucracy, Lê Quý Đôn was supposed to help restore civil government in a region of Viet Nam that had been separate from the Trịnh lords' control for over two centuries, and facilitate the reincorporation of" In 1760, Lê Quý Đôn went to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

as an ambassador. He later served as a government official in the ministries of war, finance and public works. He also served as the rector of the National University situated in the

Văn Miếu Văn Miếu (, chữ Hán: 文廟), literally translated as Temple of Literature (although a more accurate name should be Temple of Confucius, as ''Văn'' refers to Confucius), is a Temple of Confucius, temple dedicated to Confucius in Hanoi, north ...

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

and as Director of the Bureau of Annals. It is said that Lê was traveling with some Qing officials, and along the way they saw a Chinese poem inscribed on a stone palette. Later, one of the Qing officials, to test his merit, asked him if he could remember what was on the stone palette. Lê recited the entire poem, word for word, in Chinese. That earned him a great deal of respect from the Chinese.

Writings

Lê Quý Đôn was responsible for a large number of encyclopedic, historical, bibliographical, and philosophical works. It is estimated that he has the largest volume of works among

Vietnamese literature Vietnamese literature () is the literature, both oral and written, created largely by the Vietnamese. Early Vietnamese literature has been greatly influenced by Chinese literature. As Literary Chinese was the formal written language for governmen ...

using Chinese characters (about 40 series with hundreds of volumes). * The '' Vân đài loại ngữ'' (Classified Sayings, 9 volumes) is Vietnam's largest encyclopedia, a landmark in Vietnamese science in the Confucian era. * The history '' Đại Việt thông sử'' (30 volumes) contains many documents about the

Lê dynasty The Lê dynasty, also known in historiography as the Later Lê dynasty (, chữ Hán: 朝後黎, chữ Nôm: 茹後黎), officially Đại Việt (; Chữ Hán: 大越), was the longest-ruling List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, h ...

. * The ''

Phủ biên tạp lục Fu () is a traditional administrative division of Chinese origin used in the East Asian cultural sphere, translated variously as commandery, prefecture, urban prefecture, or city. They were first instituted as a regular form of administrative di ...

'' (Frontier Chronicles) (6 volumes) was a detailed description of Nguyễn territories in Thuận Hóa and Quảng Nam Provinces.

Legacy

Today, one of largest technical universities in Hanoi,

Le Quy Don Technical University Le Quy Don Technical University (), was founded in 1966 and is one of the national key universities in Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, wit ...

(LeTech), and many schools in Vietnam are named after him. Most cities in Vietnam have named major streets after him. Le Quy Don High School in District 3 is the first high school to be established in Saigon, Vietnam. The school was built in 1874 and it has been fostering generation of students up until this day. Despite being over a century old, Le Quy Don High School is still able to maintain most its original architectures. The school's location in central Saigon makes it one of the most popular spots for filming. Finally, "Lê Quý Đôn″ is also the name of a new Vietnamese sail training ship, built in 2015 by the Polish ship yard Marine Projects Ltd. on behalf of Polish Defence Holding in

Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...

. Some of its data: overall length: 65.0 m, breadth: 10.0 m,

air draft Air draft (or air draught) is the vertical distance from the surface of the water to the highest point on a vessel. This is similar to the '' deep draft'' of a vessel which is measured from the surface of the water to the deepest part of the h ...

: 42.0 m, sails area: 1395 m², propulsion: 880 kW, crew and cadets: 30 + 80 persons.

References

Works cited

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Le, Quy Don Encyclopedists Vietnamese Confucianists Vietnamese male poets 18th-century Vietnamese philosophers People from Thái Bình province Lê dynasty officials Mandarins of the Trịnh lords 1726 births 1784 deaths 18th-century Vietnamese poets Lê dynasty poets Lê dynasty writers