Associate Professor, Dr. Meritorious Teacher Hoang Luong with "The Tay - Ancient Thai People in Vietnam"

Thai Hoc research was shaped in him very early. With the passion and affection of a child nurtured by "Muong Hoa rice, Tac stream fish", the traditional weaving profession with brocade products andferry(Nà pha Tay) of Thai women, directly the products of her grandmother, of her mother that Hoang Luong admired and protected, and later of his beloved wife, who gave him strength, urged him to passionately research, explore and create about Thai patterns in particular and Thai culture in general on the journey into Ethnology. That is why in the 80s of the last century, Hoang Luong chose this research direction as the topic of his PhD thesis, which according to Professor Ha Van Tan's comment, "The thesis has a unique ideology. Despite many shortcomings, this thesis is still distinguishable from other bland theses."

I remember that during the thesis defense ceremony of Associate Professor Dr. Hoang Luong, a scientist asked about the exploitation of documents, Hoang Luong did not hesitate to answer that: I exploited the source of documents mainly from my homeland, directly from my wife - the person who not only contributed to the success of the teacher and scientist Hoang Luong but also the person who for nearly half a century has shared, shouldered, and quietly overcome the hardships with him on the bumpy road of science and life. Continuing the tradition of Thai women, Associate Professor Dr. Hoang Luong's life partner has contributed to cultivating the treasure of Thai culture, creating decorative panelsferry"personal style in common fund", contributing to creating the Hoang Luong markuniquein the community of Vietnamese Thai scholars.

With those initial successes, since the 80s of the 20th century, the idea of ​​researching the ancient Tay-Thai people, including the Thai Trang group of Muong Tac, Phu Yen, Son La, has been tirelessly implemented by Associate Professor, Dr. Hoang Luong with an interdisciplinary approach of history, archaeology, ethnology, art, cultural studies, linguistics... He not only intensively cultivated the fields of Muong Tac (first Thanh, second Lo Tam Tac, fourth Than according to the folk name), on his research journey, Associate Professor, Dr. Hoang Luong has expanded his vision to other TAY regions in Vietnam and the world, from Tay Tac, Tay Xang, Tay Thanh in Son La, Dien Bien to Tay Khong, Tay Deng, Tay Muong in the west of Thanh-Nghe, from Tay Xip Xong Pan Na (Yunnan-China) to Tay Lan Na (Chieng Mai-Thailand), from Tay Khum (Asam-India) to Tay Nhay (Minanma) ... to identify Thai culture in a comparative view of Thai culture in the cultural space from Southern China to Southeast Asia and South Asia. On that basis, step by step identify the historical and cultural process of the ancient Tay-Thai community in Vietnam in relation to the Viet-Muong, Mon-Khmer communities from the time of nation building, contributing to decoding the contribution of the ancient Tay-Thai people in the creation of national culture from dawn until today.

As a co-founder of the Thai Studies Program at Vietnam National University, Hanoi and for many years as Head of the Department of Ethnology/Anthropology, Associate Professor, Dr. Hoang Luong has made many contributions to promoting the study of ethnic groups belonging to the Tai-Kadai language family in Vietnam, while also bridging the gap between Vietnamese Thai Studies and the international Thai Studies research community with the active support of many colleagues and generations of students.

This book selects over 40 works over the past 40 years out of nearly 130 works published by Associate Professor, Dr. Hoang Luong, focusing on one of the most passionate topics that the author has worked hard to explore and create. Readers can find here studies on place names related to the formation and interaction of the ancient Vietnamese and ancient Tay communities; the colorful patches of Thai culture in the colorful picture of the ethnic communities in our country; The ethnic processes in the northern region of Vietnam are quite diverse and have many difficulties in decoding, and many scientific issues are still open... However, due to the framework of the book, some studies on Thai culture in the process of development and transformation have not been able to be fully introduced, but what is collected here is a valuable contribution of Associate Professor, Doctor, Distinguished Teacher Hoang Luong to the field of Ethnology/Anthropology in general and the training work at Hanoi University of Science (now the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi) in particular.

The Department of Anthropology has requested the author to select and publish this book as a reference material in research and training of social sciences in general and Anthropology in particular. On behalf of the Department of Anthropology, I would like to express my appreciation for the important contributions and valuable dedication of Associate Professor, Doctor, Associate Professor, Senior Lecturer Hoang Luong to the development of the Department of Ethnology, the former Department of History and the current Department of Anthropology.