Lê Quý Đôn (; 1726–1784) was an 18th-century Vietnamese poet, encyclopedist, and government official. His pseudonym was Quế - Đường. He was a native of Duyen Ha village in present-day

Thái Bình Province Cài () is a Chinese-language surname that derives from the name of the ancient Cai state. In 2019 it was the 38th most common surname in China, but the 9th most common in Taiwan (as of 2018), where it is usually romanized as "Tsai" (based on ...

. He is considered one of the most outstanding and prolific Vietnamese savantist of the early modern period.

Life

Lê was born in the province of Thái Bình, and lived in the reign of Emperor

Lê Hiển Tông Lê Hiển Tông (黎顯宗 20 May 1717 – 10 August 1786), born Lê Duy Diêu, was the penultimate emperor of Vietnamese Lê Dynasty. He reigned from 1740 to 1786 and was succeeded by his grandson Lê Duy Kỳ.Nguyên Thi Minh Hà, Nguyên Th ...

. The period of his life was marked by a split between the

Trịnh lords The Trịnh lords ( vi, Chúa Trịnh; Chữ Nôm: 主鄭; 1545–1787), formal title Trịnh Viceroy (; ), also known as Trịnh clan (鄭氏, ''Trịnh thị'') or the House of Trịnh, were a noble feudal clan who de facto ruled Northern Viet ...

of the north and the

Nguyễn lords Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元）is a different word and surname. By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this ...

, 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 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 in

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi i ...

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 ( vi, Văn học Việt Nam; chữ Nôm: 文學越南) is the literature, both oral and written, created largely by the Vietnamese. Early Vietnamese literature has been greatly influenced by Chinese literature. As Literary Chi ...

using Chinese characters (about 40 series with hundreds of volumes). * The ''

Vân đài loại ngữ The ''Vân đài loại ngữ'' () is a 1773 Chinese-language encyclopedia compiled by the Vietnamese scholar Lê Quý Đôn. Its title is variously translated into English as ''Categorized Sayings from the Van Terrace'' or ''Classified discourse ...

'' (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 as Later Lê dynasty ( vi, Hậu Lê triều, chữ Hán: 後黎朝 or vi, nhà Hậu Lê, link=no, chữ Nôm: 茹後黎), was the longest-ruling Vietnamese dynasty, ruling Đại Việt from 1428 to 1789. The Lê ...

. * The ''

Phủ biên tạp lục The Phủ biên tạp lục (chữ Hán: 撫邊雜錄 ''Miscellaneous Chronicles of the Pacified Frontier'' 1776) is a 6 volume Chữ Nho geography by the Vietnamese Confucian scholar and encyclopaedist Lê Quý Đôn. It is a detailed descripti ...

'' (Frontier Chronicles) (6 volumes) was a detailed description of Nguyễn territories in

Thuận Hóa Thuận Hóa (, ) was a historic territory in central Vietnam. It consisted of the modern provinces of Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, and Thừa Thiên–Huế (historically, Thừa Thiên–Thuận Hóa). In 1306, the king of Champa, Che Man, of ...

and Quảng Nam Provinces.

Legacy

Today, one of largest technical universities in Hanoi,

Le Quy Don Technical University Le Quy Don Technical University ( vi, Đại học Kỹ thuật Lê Quý Đôn, links=no), also known as ''Military Technical Academy'', was founded in 1966 and is one of the national key universities in Vietnam. Le Quy Don Technical University ha ...

(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 ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in th ...

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

air draft Air draft (or air draught) is the 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 hull below th ...

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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Le, Quy Don 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