An International Symposium entitled “Preservation of woodblocks in Asia : Sharing experiences” was held by the State Records and Archives Department – Vietnam, Ministry of Home Affairs on November 11 – 12, 2017 in Da Lat City, Lam Dong Province, Vietnam.
Woodblocks are special type of record found in a number of countries in East Asia, including Korea, Japan, China and Vietnam, and reflect the historical and cultural identity of each country. The wooden collections are particularly susceptible to climate and require active preservation and management strategies. In this regard, the objective of the Symposium was to promote exchange of knowledge cooperation amongst countries with woodblock collections.
The Symposium brought together experts from Vietnam, South Korea, China and Japan and a number of papers were presented on preservation techniques, practical solution for storage and management issues and sharing information about different collections in the region.
MOWCAP Vice-Chair, Dr. Minh Huong VU THI and Dr. KIM Kwibea were the speakers at the Symposium.
Within framework of the Symposium, the International Woodblock Printing Association conducted its General Meeting in the National Archives Centre.
Vietnam, three collections of woodblock records have been inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Registers, the most recent of which was the “Woodblocks of Phuc Giang School” in custodian of Nguyen Huy Family in Ha Tinh Privince (inscribed in Asia-Pacific Register in 2016).
Printing woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana and miscellaneous Buddhist scriptures (Republic of Korea, 2007) and the Tibetan Dictionary of Definitions and Terms entitled as The Space for Attaining Wisdom (Mongolia, 2016) are other examples of wood blocks inscribed from the region.
