Doan Thi Diem (1705-1748)

Doan Thi Diem, whose pen name is Hong Ha Poetess, was a native of Giai Pham village, Van Giang district (Currently belonging to Giai Pham commune, Yen My district). She was born in 1705 and died in 1748.

She was Doan Doan Nghi’s daughter and Doan Doan Luan’s sister. When she was 16 years old, she was adopted by Minister Le Anh Tuan. Therefore, she also had the Le family’s name like her adoptive father. Finding that she was talented, her adoptive father intended to send her to Trinh Lord’s palace but she disagreed and returned to stay with her natural father. Since then, her study talent was more and more well-known.

When she was 25 years old, her father died and she lived with her mother and her elder brother and practiced the teaching career in My Hao. Shortly after that, her brother died, leaving his children for her to take care of. In a funeral oration in Chinese language, she told the heart-rending story of her family. After burying her brother, she was often disturbed by the powerful men who wanted to marry her, so she left for Chuong Duong village (Now belonging to Thuong Tin district of Ha Tay province) and earned the living as a teacher and a physician. She had many disciples and one of them was Dao Duy Doan, who was very talented and won a doctor’s degree.

When she was 33 years old, honorary minister Nguyen Kieu, a native of Phu Xa village (Currently belonging to Phu Thuong commune, Tu Liem district, Hanoi) proposed marriage to her and their marriage brought her lots of happiness. This inspired a lot to her writing works, especially her famous translation of Chinh Phu Ngam (The lament of a warrior’s wife).

One month after the marriage, in 1743, her husband went on a diplomatic trip to China and they reunited after three years. During this time, she made the translation of Chinh Phu Ngam (The lament of a warrior’s wife) by Dang Tran Con, which expressed the feeling of a wife whose husband was far away from home.

When Nguyen Kieu was sent to be in charge of Nghe An, she followed him and died there.

She bequeathed two works: Truyen ky tan pha in Chinese language and the national language translation of Chinh Phu Ngam by Dang Tran Con (Currently it is said that the translation of Chinh Phu Ngam was made by Phan Huy Ich).