Vietnam verifies auction of royal ordination documents in China

According to news surfacing on social media, some objects selected for the auction include those described as royal ordination documents released by the Kings under the Nguyen Dynasty in Vietnam.

The auction is scheduled to take place on April 22, according to the website of China’s Shanghai Yangming Auction Co., Ltd.

The Department of Cultural Heritage has therefore requested that localities seek to collect and provide legal information regarding stolen royal ordination documents for submission to their local administrations and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in an effort to get them back in line with the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Dao Cuong said on April 12 that his ministry has learned about the news and requested that localities provide additional information.

Earlier, the administration of Di Nau commune in Phu Tho province reported that some of royal ordination documents which were stolen in 2021 are up for sale in China.

In their report, Di Nau commune cited information published by Tran Ngoc Dong, an active member of the Vietnamese heritage protection community, saying that Shanghai Yangming Auction Co., Ltd has been granted approval by relevant Shanghai authorities to hold an auction of objects, including Vietnamese royal ordination documents, on April 22.