The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha Central Committee on August 28 announced an atlas under the Guangxu reign of the Chinese Qing dynasty, proving Hainan Island to be the last Chinese strip of land in the region.

The book was kept in the Phuoc Trang bookcase at the house of Tran Dinh Ba (1867-1933), who copied it when he worked as the Minister of Justice under the Khai Dinh reign (1916-1925).

The book is now preserved by Ba’s descendant, researcher Tran Dinh Son, who is currently living in Ho Chi Minh City .

The “Dia du do khao” (geographical and administrative atlas) has a hardback covered with red silk. It includes 65 pages with Chinese characters on both sides and is divided into 20 sections with 20 detailed maps attached.

Prof. Cao Huy Thuan, lecturer of Law and Politics at the French Picardi University , described researcher Son’s contributions as providing new evidence to affirm Vietnam ’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes and that China itself recognised Hainan Island as the last strip of its border.

According to Son, there are still big rocks in Yu Lin, the southern most point of Hainan Island, carved with the words “ends of the world” and “boundless sea and sky” proving that the Chinese government, since the Qing dynasty, did not recognised Hoang Sa (called Xisha by China) as its territory.