Description:
This 1750 text, written by a Catholic missionary in Tonkin, is the earliest known systematic first-hand account of Vietnamese religious practice.
Brief description:
Keith W. Taylor is Professor of Vietnamese Studies at Cornell University. He is the author of A History of the Vietnamese.
Review Quotes:
Challenging the contemporary understanding of Vietnamese history and culture... this work makes it clearer than ever that there was no definite boundary between court culture and rural culture, and between 'Chinese' and 'Vietnamese.' It is even more admirable that such significant findings are carefully annotated and cross-referenced with an enormous body of sources. This is a first-class piece which marks a new stage in Vietnamese studies.
-- "Journal of Southeast Asian Studies"