The book was first published in 2007 by Thế giới Publishers. After the reprint in 2008, this is the 3rd edition, together with some corrections and amendments in the content and form, the outstanding characteristic of this edition is that, in addition to the Vietnamese version, there are more ancient Cham, Latin Cham, English and French translations. “Cham Cultural Heritage” has been established the record by “Vietnam Records Book Center” as the book made in the most languages.
At present, the Cham people live mainly in two different areas: The Cham Ba Ni people, Cham Ba La Mon people in the South Central part, mainly in the two provinces of Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan, some in Binh Dinh, Phu Yen (Cham Hroi people); The Cham Islam people live in Hau river basin of An Giang Province; Also in Tay Ninh, Dong Nai, Binh Phuoc, Ho Chi Minh City. The voice of the Cham people belongs to the Malayo- Polynesia language family. The economic activities of the Cham people are mainly agriculture and some traditional handicrafts such as weaving fabric, making pottery, fishing...
Professor, Academician Pham Huy Thong in the introduction of the book Cham Sculpture (author: Cao Xuan Pho, Nguyen Van Ku, Pham Ngoc Long, Social Sciences Publishing House, Hanoi, 1988) wrote: “Together with Viet ethnic group and Khmer ethnic group, Cham ethnic group was once at the source of the Vietnamese national history today, has built up a specific culture that is very high, not inferior to any noble culture in the ancient and medieval times in the Southeast Asia. That culture is an intimate part of the Vietnamese culture at present. In the long struggle conducted by the Vietnamese nation in the present-day era in pursuit of a beautiful life, the Cham compatriots have contributions to creating the past history and are side by side with the compatriots of the whole country for the creative labor promotion today. Another reason for us to make every effort to improve and broaden the knowledge about the Cham people is that the Cham people speak a Malayo- Polynesia language. So along with a few number of other groups of peoples is a line connecting our country and island Southeast Asia, that the multi-faceted relationship between the two sides becomes more and more close”.
“Cham Cultural Heritage” introduced generally the remaining Cham temples and towers scattering throughout the strip of land in the Central part from Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam to Binh Thuan and Central Highland, dating from the 7th - 16th century, including: My Khanh Tower (Thua Thien Hue province); My Son Temple - Tower area (recognized as the World Cultural Heritage by the World Heritage Council in 1999), Dong Duong Buddhism temple and tower area and many other Cham towers such as: Bang An Tower, Chien Dan Tower, Khuong My Tower (Quang Nam province); Phu Loc Tower, Canh Tien Tower, Thu Thien Tower, Banh It Tower, Binh Lam Tower, Hung Thanh Tower, Duong Long Tower (Binh Dinh province); Nhan Tower (Phu Yen province); Ba Nha Trang Tower (Po Nagar, Khanh Hoa province), Hoa Lai Tower, Po Klong Garai Tower, Po Rome Tower (Ninh Thuan province); Phu Hai Tower, Po Dam Tower (Binh Thuan province); Yang Prong Tower (Dak Lak province), Do Ban Citadel (Binh Dinh province). The next is the wonderful Cham sculpture works dating from the 2nd century to the 16th century, expressed lively with the themes of belief, religion, people, animals, flowers and leaves... Dong Duong Buddha Statue, My Son E1 Worshiping Shrine, Goddess Devi (Huong Que), Bodhisattva Tara, Tra Kieu Worshiping Shrine (five objects on display of 2012 were recognized as National previous object by the State Vietnam), Vo Canh Tombstone, God Siva, God Ganesam, Tra Kieu dancer, the legendary animals such as lion, god bird Garuda, King and Queen crown... with the styles from the first period of My Son E1, Hoa Lai, Dong Duong, Khuong My, Tra Kieu, Thap Mam, Yang Mun and Po Rome.
The epilogue of the book is: The Cham people in Vietnam - Introduce the life, economic activities, cultural, religious activities, entertainment, current life... of the Cham people in the whole country are joining forces with the brother ethnic group in the great family of Vietnamese ethnic groups to build a beautiful, prosperous Vietnam.
Mr. Ranjit Rae, Ambassador of India in Vietnam commented on this book: “Cham Cultural Heritage with the longstanding connections between the Indian civilization and Champa civilization, I believe that it is very necessary to collect, research and disseminate the information about these connections not only for the Vietnamese and people and India but also in Asia and even worldwide”...
Mr. Jaya Amil Apuei (Su Van Ngoc) - Cham researcher and translator of the book Cham Cultural Heritage into Cham language, wrote: “Through the photo books of photographer Nguyen Van Ku and judgments of the researchers, we are the descendants of the Cham group of people feel proud of the creative labor of the ancestor one-time reached a peak of sculpture, architecture art, contributed to diversifying the Vietnamese culture. I translated the book “Cham Cultural Heritage” in the Cham handwriting language to contribute to: “Preserving and promoting the cultural heritage of the Vietnamese ethnic groups in general and Cham groups of people in particular...”.
Nguyen Thu Ha
