Announcement: 12.12.2025 – Online Lecture: "The Tây Sơn Dynasty and Vietnam-Qing Relations in the Late 18th Century"

12. Dezember 2025, 13:00 Uhr, von AAI Webmaster

Foto: collage of 3 photos by Dr. Nguyễn Duy Chính

We kindly invite you to this online lecture in English language on Friday, December 12th, 2025, at 13:00 – 16:00 h (German time/CET/MEZ) / 19:00 – 22:00 h (Vietnamese time/GMT+7).

Lecture Series: Vietnamese Culture Forum

A collaboration between the Vietnam Studies Center, Fulbright University Vietnam,
and the Department of Vietnamese Studies, University of Hamburg

Online lecture by
Dr. Nguyễn Duy Chính, USA:

"The Tây Sơn Dynasty and Vietnam-Qing Relations in the Late 18^th Century"

Speaker:
        Dr. Nguyễn Duy Chính, USA

Discussant:
        Dr. Trần Đức Anh Sơn, Ho Chi Minh City

Host:
        Prof. Dr. Thomas Engelbert, University of Hamburg

Friday, 12.12.2025
        13:00 – 16:00 h (German time/CEST/MESZ)
        19:00 – 22:00 h (Vietnamese time/GMT+7)
 
Online lecture:

• livestream via ZOOM
  Zoom link: https://uni-hamburg.zoom.us/j/69229228813?pwd=pFZvOHglCcjyLrlbni6ETqZ_2_r-ckUe.KTZh21hlSYxqE7v5
  Webinar-ID: 692 2922 8813
  Passcode: 07445463

This lecture will be held in English!

Open to public! – Admission free!

About the lecture:

The talk will focus first on Vietnam's position in the context of 18^th century's history, the different spheres of influence, the elastic borders, and the heterogenous peoples. It will stress the horizontal alliances and rapid transformations from friend to foe and vice versa, pointing out to some rules of the so-called mandala alliance.

The second focus of the talk will be on mutual assistance and expansion, for instance the model of power struggle according to the paradigm "the cuckoo laying eggs". The talk will also stress the influence of different Chinese migrant groups in Southeast Asia. The focus is further on the interactions of Vietnamese rulers with the Qing dynasty, especially the "noble interactions" of the Tay Son, Gia Long and Tự Đức courts with the "superior state". The talk will stress the ways to intervene and shake off the responsibility of the "superior state" under the special conditions of the rise and fall of Vietnamese dynasties, and the obligations of a vassal state.

The third part of the talk will be on the origin of the Tây Sơn house, especially why details about the Tây Sơn brothers appeared only few and slowly in history. The speaker will point to the different sources of information we got from, for instance, Đàng Trong (the house of Nguyễn), from Đàng Ngoài (the Trịnh court, the Tây Sơn brothers and the people) and from China (hierarchy, surnames).

Finally, the author will give an assessment of the Tây Sơn according to the Southeast Asian model, the Chinese model and will venture some hypotheses about their future projects, like, e.g., expansion in Southeast Asia or increasing interactions with the Europeans.

About the speaker:

Nguyễn Duy Chính was born in 1948 in Sơn Tây (Vietnam), attended Chu Văn An school and the Institute of National Administration (Viện Quốc Gia Hành Chánh) in Saigon. He holds a Bachelor of Science in the subject of Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration from the USA as well as a Master of Information Systems Management. He also holds a Doctoral degree of Business Administration and Computer Science Management and Applications from the USA.

Nguyễn Duy Chính is the author of many research articles on Vietnamese history such as: "The Qing-Vietnamese peace agreement: The process of recognizing the Quang Trung dynasty", "The Qing-Vietnam war", "Revisiting a historical suspicion: 'A Fake king entering the vicinity'. Was the person who went to China really a fake of King Quang Trung? The Dai Viet delegation and the 80th birthday ceremony of Qian Long emperor", "Searching for the portrait of King Quang Trung", "Vietnam-Qing relations in the 19th century", "The green mountains are still there: Horse hooves and bows", "Lê mạt sử ký: The decline of the Lê dynasty in the late 18th century", "The Origin of the Tây Sơn dynasty".

He has also translated ancient Vietnamese historical documents as well as historical research such as: "Đại Việt Quốc Thư", "Nguyễn Thị Tây Sơn Ký", "Bắc Hành Lược Ký", "Khâm Định An Nam Ký Lược", "Vietnam and the Sino-French War" (by Long Chuong, Taiwan), "Vietnam -China Relations under the Qing Dynasty" (by Lai Tong Thanh, Taiwan) which all have been published in Vietnam in recent years.

About the discussant:

Trần Đức Anh Sơn received his PhD in History from Hanoi National University in 2002. He was born in 1967 in Huế and graduated with a major in History from Huế University in 1989.

Trần Đức Anh Sơn worked as a researcher at the Huế Monuments Conservation Center, served as Deputy Director and Director of the Huế Royal Fine Arts Museum, as Head of the Department of Vietnamese Studies at Phan Chau Trinh University, and as Deputy Director of the Đà Nẵng Institute for Socio-Economic Development Studies. He is currently Head of the Department of Science Management, Đông Á University, Đà Nẵng.

He is the author of many research books on history, culture, Vietnamese antiquities and Vietnam's sovereignty over the sea and island territories.

About the host:

Thomas Engelbert is professor of Vietnamese Studies at the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, Asia-Africa-Institute, University of Hamburg.

His research focus is on Vietnamese and Southeast Asian history, especially Việt folklore, literature and relations between majority and minority groups.

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