Preserving the past: Professor Mai Quoc Lien (right) receives the Balaban Award on Thursday from the founder of the Vietnamese Nom Preservation Foundation (VNPF), John Balaban. – Photo mydoba.com

HCM CITY (VNS)– Professor Mai Quoc Lien, director of the Research Centre for National Culture, has been given an award for his helping preserve the Han-Nom (calligraphic script).

The script, based on Chinese calligraphy, in use in Viet Nam for thousands of years, was largely used to address the populace as it allowed for the expression of purely Vietnamese words, while the original Han Chinese form was more for official documents.

The award was given to the professor yesterday by chairman and founder of the Vietnamese Nom Preservation Foundation (VNPF), John Balaban.

Last year, Lien, who is editor-in-chief of the Hon Viet (Vietnamese Soul) magazine of the Vietnamese Writers' Association, received a national science and technology award for research into scholar and writer Ngo Thi Nham of the late Le dynasty (1427-1789).

The annual Balaban Award was founded in 1999 to honour individuals who have made significant contributions to preserving Nom heritage and Nom documents. – VNS