A unique version of Kieu
Ladies and gentlemen!
Many people have expressed their love for the Tale of Kieu in different ways. Some people recite the story by heart from beginning to end and backwards from end to beginning, some take the time to list all the flowers and plants mentioned in the work, but there are also people who express their love for the Tale of Kieu in a more special way, such as the calligrapher Nguyet Dinh from Hue. With the help of his friends, he spent 6 months completing a huge version of the Tale of Kieu in calligraphy, in time for the 2002 Hue Festival. This version weighs 75 kilograms and is 1.6-meters long and 1.2-meters wide, and has been certified in the Vietnam Guinness Book of Records as the biggest version of Kieu in existence.
During its exhibition at the Calligraphy Garden, this unique book was eagerly sought after by collectors; someone even offered up to 30,000 USD to buy it but was flatly refused by the author, simply because, as he confided: "We created this book to fulfill our wishes and also to honor the talent of our ancestors, not to seek profit". In 2003, Nguyet Dinh decided to donate this unique calligraphy book to the Nguyen Du Memorial Site, to further aid the preservation and promotion of the cultural heritage values of Nguyen Du and The Tale of Kieu to a large number of domestic and international tourists.