“Continuation of the complete annals of Đai Viet” and its difficult fate

The text of the fundamental source on the history of ancient and medieval Vietnam that we have – “The Complete Annals of Dai Viet” – covers the events in this country from ancient times to 1675. Meanwhile, the canonical text of this chronicle, distributed in the form of woodcuts at the end of the 18th century, brought this description up to 1740. However, as a result of significant editing of its final part, carried out for political reasons under the first emperors of the Nguyen dynasty (1802–1945), it was radically shortened, and the description of the last 65 years (1676–1740) was completely excluded from it. At the same time, not a single complete xylograph of the original text of the chronicle, as it was formed in the 18th century, has survived to this day. The questions of how and why this happened, and how the original version of the source can be at least partially restored, are the subject of this article.