For one family, a history of learning

      Four times a year, the two-storey house at 8 O Cach Street in Ha Noi’s Long Bien District gets crowded with up to 200 descendants of the Nguyen Tat Thanh family line gathering in honour of their ancestor’s death anniversaries.
O Cach Street alone houses 60 households of this family line, while another 20 households live in HCM City.
The owner of this house is Nguyen Xuan Dinh, the patriarch of the family and head of the Study and Talent Encouragement Board this family created for itself in 2003 to encourage the family’s pursuit of higher education. The small but airy family living room impressed me when I visited him; panels on the wall were engraved with three words in Chinese script Tam (Good heart), Duc (Virtue), Phuc (Happiness), along with some certificates of merit and large framed photos of Dinh with his students and members of his family line.
Achievements
The old man was agile and spoke with a strong and clear voice. Pride made his face brighten, when he started talking about the career achievements of the family line’s members.
"Of the 60 households in the family line living in O Cach Street, six people have become professors and deputy professors. Forty members have masters and PhD degrees, 30 are teachers employed by well-known universities here and abroad, and 50 members have bachelor degrees. They work in almost every field," said Dinh, while he was showing me a document that highlighted the family line’s traditions and its outstanding members.
One of the most successful family members is Nguyen Thi Mai (born 1955), who worked throughout her studies and was still able to complete two bachelor degrees. In 2002, she was part of Viet Nam’s economic delegation to the US led by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to negotiate economic accords.
Another remarkable family member is 55 year -old Nguyen Huu Viet Hung, who was studying to get a bachelor degree in mathematics in 1977. Even though he was not allowed to continue his studies after his father was denounced for aiding American troops, he was determined to teach himself. In 1984, he successfully defended a mathematics PhD thesis in Viet Nam and become an internationally-renowned mathematician and has taught in universities in the US, Japan, France and Germany.
Following in the footsteps of their elders, the younger generations of the family have also sought out higher education: Nguyen Thanh Huy, 29, for example, just completed a physics PhD in Amsterdam, Holland.
Despite many upheavals in his life, Dinh, who is now 76-years old, feels he has succeeded in life. His bachelor degrees in Marxist-Leninist philosophy and mathematics helped him win a teaching position at the capital’s Teachers Training University; he also was a mathematics expert at the Marien N’Gouabi in Africa’s Congo-Brazzaville. He has always loved his students like his children. He says the best rewards for him now are the visits of many of his students pay to him. Many now hold important positions.
Intelligence gene
Dinh believes that besides the role of will and determination to study, an intelligence gene plays a vital role in the success of the family line’s members
The ancestor of the family line is a prince – the son of the 7th king of the Ly Dynasty, named Ly Cao Tong. Due to the country’s upheaval in the years 1223-1224, this prince was chased down and killed. His children and grandchildren had to change the family name from Ly to Nguyen and hide out in the Hiep Hoa region (today’s Bac Giang Province). At the end of the 14th century, early 15th century, Ly Cao Tong’s descendants migrated to live near the Thang Long Citadel and moved to O Cach Street, Co Linh Village, Gia Lam District in Bac Ninh Province. In 1730, Nguyen Tat Thanh was born; he was known for his excellence in both literature and martial arts and was a master in training elephants for the battlefields.
In 1789, even though Thanh was 59-years old, he was still able to help King Quang Trung-Nguyen Hue fight against the Chinese enemy and became an elephant keeper and mandarin. Three years later, Thanh’s eldest son also became a mandarin under the Quang Trung King reign.
In 1879, Thanh’s grandchild became a mandarin, the most important government official in Van Giang District, under the Tu Duc Dynasty and Thieu Tri kings. In 1881, it was decided that the mandarin Nguyen Tat Thanh, born in 1730, would be recognised as the official head of the family line, as he was the oldest, most famous ancestor that the family could directly link themselves to.
The death anniversary of Nguyen Tat Thanh and other famous members were celebrated for many years, but then the tradition was eventually lost only to be resurrected finally in 1991. Since then, the members of the family line have gathered four times yearly on O Cach Street for Ly Cong Uan’s death anniversary on lunar March 3, Ly Cao Tong’s death anniversary on lunar October 28th, Nguyen Tat Thanh’s death anniversary on lunar March 1, the day of the coronation of Ly Cong Uan – Do Temple Festival on lunar March 15.
The family members also flock to the Do Temple Festival, in Tu Son district, Bac Ninh Province, many in traditional costumes, to pay homage to Ly Cong Uan.
"Though O Cach is a little street, it was known as the place where poor students used to live, as well as the mandarins who wanted to preserve their virtues," said Dinh.
" O Cach means ‘the black crow’, but in the figurative meaning, it means ‘a yellow sun at the sunset’. The sun shines even at sunset. It means that when the mandarins are old, they can still preserve their qualities."
Secret to success
"We encourage the members of the family line to be proud of their origins and their traditional fondness of learning. Therefore, they will be eager to follow and develop this tradition of the family line", said Dinh.
During our ancestors’ death anniversaries, we often praise the members who have made outstanding achievements.
‘We have managed to compile a document that talks about the history and the tradition of the family line, as well as the good examples of people who have been successful thanks to their studies. Once they are proud of their ancestors, they will be therefore be eager to learn to show gratitude to them", said Nguyen Van Khai, head of the representative board of the family line.
This family’s Study Encouragement Board is responsible for collecting achievement updates of the children and grandchildren of the family line’s members from primary school to post university. To help achieve their goals, members in school are given stipends from the study encouragement fund, which comes from the voluntary contribution of the family line’s members on occasions of the ancestors’ death anniversaries and from the help of businessmen or generous donors.
"Our family line also built two honourable titles for which families can be recognised: the "intelligent" family (the criterion: the family, in which at least 3/4 of its members have obtained bachelors, masters and doctors degrees) and the family "fond of learning" (one of two family members was/is a university student or an outstanding student). We are responsible for presenting the honourable titles to suitable families," said Khai.
From 2003-2008, the family line honoured 31 "intelligent" families and eight families as "fond of learning".
The rewards for the study achievements from the family line are valued. Nguyen Thi Hoa, whose grandson received the merit certificates from the family line said: "I was more happy when he showed me the merit certificate; it is more important than any monetary reward."
The family line was honoured for their study encouragement efforts by the National Study Encouragement Association presented in November 2008.