HÀ NỘI — A photo exhibition and a conference has been held at the School for Social Science and Humanities in Hà Nội to commemorate the 100th anniversary of People's Teacher, Professor Đinh Xuân Lâm. 

The event was a series of activities to recognise the life and work of one of the most pivotal pillars of historians in contemporary Việt Nam, who also passed on his love of learning to thousands of students. 

"The photo exhibition gave in-depth impressions on us and help us visualise the Teacher of many generations of students here at the school," Associate Professor, Dr. Đặng Hồng Sơn said at the show, which opened ahead of a conference on Lâm's work.

On February 25 a display of photos that showed Professor making speeches in many conferences in the country and around the world was unveiled. Alongside the images, some of his work, from the early hand-written pieces to the printed books, conference speeches and text books, he has published more than 500 entries in his field of study. 

Born in 1925 in Sơn Tân commune, Hương Sơn District of Hà Tĩnh Province, Lâm was from a patriotic mandarin family. He lived in Thanh Hóa as a child and then graduated from Huế National College in 1941. After the August Revolution in 1945, he started his life long career as a teacher at Đào Duy Từ High School in Thanh Hóa Province.

In 1954, when peace was restored in the north of Việt Nam, he moved to Hà Nội to college. Afer graduation, he became one of the first teachers at the then Hà Nội University, teaching Việt Nam's history in the Early-Modern Section of History Department under Professor Trần Văn Giàu.

From a high school teacher in Thanh Hóa Province to the college lecturer at Hà nội University, he went a long way in his own path to pursue his lifelong passion - that of capturing history of Việt Nam in the 20th century.

The Master Teacher

Across all of research papers and published books, Professor Đinh Xuân Lâm maintained three touchstones, how to serve his Motherland, how to maintain integrity and what could he purpose in terms of teaching. 

Over the years, he continued to research and put his early works under new scrutiny, acknowledging new discoveries and acknowledgements of otherwise controversial historical figures. For example he worked hard to put a more favourable light on the Nguyễn Dynasty, its sophisticated circumstances and its people. 

Known and respected by fellow historians and researchers as one of the four cornerstone pillars of historians in Việt Nam, Professor Đinh Xuân Lâm did his enormous part to capture the history of the country and continued teaching well into his later years.

The limited 40 photos in the exhibition could only summarise the huge contribution of Đinh Xuân Lâm the historian. During the span of half a century, he had worked carefully, enthusiastically, yet tirelessly, to put historical facts and figures in textbooks. 

The historian

During his 60 years as an author until 2015, when his last book was published, Professor Đinh Xuân Lâm penned more than 500 papers on the history of Việt Nam, from the year France attacked until the August Revolution succeeded.

From his first book 'History of Việt Nam from 1897-1914', until 'The anti-Collonialism Campaign in Việt Nam' which was awarded State prize for Science and Technology.  

Attendees at the conference agreed that his lasting legacy would forever be remembered by the successors, who not only respected him as a lecturer, but continued his work as historian. 

The Đinh Xuân Lâm History Foundation, a non-profit organisation has given away awards, scholarships and fellowships to more than 150 students, masters and PhD students and young historians. 

The conference got together many of his former students, researchers and colleagues to continue further study into his works, honouring him not only as a teacher, but also as a historian that needs to keep integrity in their work for generations to come. 

During his teaching career, Professor Đinh Xuân Lâm taught thousands of students in the country. Many of them today hold important positions in society and the government. Not only teaching in the country, he was among the first Vietnamese experts to teach modern history of Việt Nam in Madagascar in Africa, the Netherlands and France.

Dr Nguyễn văn Khánh listed the most notable work done by Professor Đinh Xuân Lâm was research on the anti-French movements in Việt nam from second half of 19th century until early 20th century, his papers on the life of President Hồ Chí Minh, discovery and announcements of new historian records and taking part in international conferences."

Associate Professor Nguyễn Văn Nhật, former Rector of History Academy, Việt Nam Social Sciences Academy told the conference, that Professor Đinh Xuân Lâm made many discoveries, he respected fact-based materials, respected historic truth and always updated his working methods and skills. 

Having inherited the scholar's soul and spirit from his family, his early education was trained at the National College in Huế, thus his style was modest but intellectual, and he maintained total sharpness in the points he was trying to make. 

During his life, he used to say: "If there were another life, I would again choose to be a teacher." VNS