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Particularly, many landmarks of rivers, mountains, islands are clearly and exactly featured in the Nine Tripod Cauldrons. This shows that our fathers and grandfathers were well aware of national sovereignty, including the country’s sovereignty over the seas and islands.
In feudal time, tripod copper cauldrons were always considered valuable treasures in the Asian countries like Vietnam, symbolizing the dominant power of the king. Recently, we still can see the Nine Tripod Cauldrons (nine copper tripod cauldrons) in Hue, Vietnam’s old citadel dated from the Nguyen Dynasty. In 2012, the Nine Tripod Cauldrons has also been recognized as national treasures by the Prime Minister.
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| The Nine Tripod Cauldrons staying in line in Hiem Lam Cac Yard. |
Each cauldron represents a king of the Nguyen Dynasty and was named after the king’s posthumous. They then were arranged in line in Hiem Lam Cac Yard.
On each copper cauldron, on the order of King Minh Mang, the artisans carved 17 paintings and 1 calligraphic painting, depicting the universe, mountains and rivers, birds and animals and weapons from different parts of Vietnam. Therefore, on top of the Nine Tripod Cauldrons now exist 162 patterns, which join together into a unified panorama of the country of Vietnam in the early 19th century.
Researchers now believe that the Nine Tripod Cauldrons functioned as the National Geography book, the most unique encyclopedia about Vietnam at that time.
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| On each copper cauldron, on the order of King Minh Mang, the artisans carved 17 paintings and 1 calligraphic painting, depicting the universe, mountains and rivers, birds and animals and weapons from different parts of Vietnam. |
According to the researchers, Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa Archipelagos in the Nguyen dynasty was clearly reflected on the top surface of the Cao (High) Cauldron with 3 images of the East Sea (South China Sea), the boat (maritime patrol vessel of king Gia Long's marine force) and the turtle.
In addition, the top of the Nhan (Human) Cauldron was covered with the images of the South Sea, whales and hawksbills. Meanwhile, we can find images of the West Sea with dragon boat and turtle on top of the Chuong Cauldron and images of the estuaries on the top of the remaining cauldrons.
So, images of all Vietnamese maritime sovereignty in the 19th century such as the East Sea, South Sea and the West Sea were carved very clearly with the symbols of undulating waves with a lot of small islands in the Nine Tripod Cauldrons.
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| Images of the boat in Du cauldron. |
According to researchers, the administrative boundaries of Vietnam’s localities and waters were defined clearly in King Minh Mang time. Accordingly, the East Sea stretches from the North to Binh Thuan, including the yellow sands of Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, that were also known as the Van Ly Ba Binh; the South Sea runs from Binh Thuan to Ha Tien with many islands such as Dai Kim, Manh Hao, Con Dao, Phu Quoc, andTho Chau; and the West Sea was defined as the water area bordering on the Gulf of Thailand.
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| Image of the South Sea with with the symbols of undulating waves with a lot of small islands in the Nine Tripod Cauldrons. |
Thus, along with a number of official documents signed by Nguyen Kings (1802 -1945) that have been recognized as UNESCO world documentary heritages in the Asia-Pacific region, the images featuring national sovereignty, including the maritime sovereignty that were carved in the Nine Tripod Cauldrons serve as clear evidence of Vietnam's sovereignty over Truong Sa and Hoang Sa archipelagoes.
Several other images in the Nine Tripod Cauldrons:
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| On each copper cauldron, on the order of King Minh Mang, the artisans carved 17 paintings and 1 calligraphic painting, depicting the universe, mountains and rivers, birds and animals and weapons from different parts of Vietnam. |
