VietNamNet Bridge – Rare maps and documents proving Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes have come closer to the public in an artistic way as dozens of their ceramic copies are on show in the southern province of Dong Nai.

Opening the exhibition on November 19, Mai Song Be, Director of the Dong Nai Radio and Television Station – the event’s organiser, said the 31 ceramic copies were created by Dinh Cong Lai, head of the Ceramics Faculty at the province’s Fine Arts College, and his associates.

The event at the station’s precinct aims to provide knowledge on the country’s sea and island sovereignty for the public, especially the young generation, he added.

The exhibits include a replica of “Hoang trieu truc tinh dia du toan do” (a Chinese administrative map of provincial boundaries) published in 1904 under China’s Qing Dynasty, which shows that the southernmost point of China at that time ended at Hainan island only, without mentioning Vietnam’s Hoang Sa and Truong Sa.

Meanwhile, “An Nam dai quoc hoa do” (the Map of the Great Country of An Nam) drawn by Jean Louis Taberd of France in 1838 depicts the archipelago of “Paracel seu Cat Vang” - Hoang Sa island as within Vietnam’s waters.

Another highlight is the duplicate of a map of the Quang Ngai area in “Tuyen tap Thien Nam Tu Chi Lo Do Thu” (A Route Map from the Capital in the Four Directions) drawn by Do Ba in the 17th century. It gave a very accurate description of the two archipelagoes and confirmed that the Nguyen Lords established the Hoang Sa Flotilla to exploit Hoang Sa islands in the 17th century.

VNA/VNN