In Điện Biên, the scholar’s name is carried forward under the roof of Lê Quý Đôn Gifted High School, which has just marked the outstanding achievement of Đặng Quỳnh Trang, a student of class 12C3, who became a national co-valedictorian of the 2026 high school graduation exam.

An illustrious pathway of a great intellectual

Born on August 2, 1726, in Diên Hà village, ancient Sơn Nam town, which is now part of Lê Quý Đôn commune, Hưng Yên province, Lê Quý Đôn was named Lê Danh Phương in his childhood, with the courtesy name Đoan Hậu and the pseudonym Quế Đường. From an early age, he was renowned for his intelligence, passion for learning, and strong will to forge ahead. At the age of 18, he ranked first in the regional exam; at 24, he topped the metropolitan exam; and at 26, he placed first in the court exam. This illustrious academic pathway marked the beginning of a dedicated life for a great intellectual.

Lê Quý Đôn went on to hold many important positions in the Lê dynasty. In every role, he consistently paid close attention to public livelihoods, the economy, education, social management, and the protection of national sovereignty. He believed that mandarins must understand the lives of the people, adopting the nation’s interests and the peaceful life of the citizenry as their striving goals.

Amidst the highly volatile society of 18th-century Đại Việt, Lê Quý Đôn dedicated immense effort to research and practical surveys to propose solutions for national revitalization. His philosophy of respecting the people, valuing talents, elevating the responsibilities of officials, and demanding the establishment of social discipline was clearly reflected in both his writings and practical activities. This spirit continues to offer many lessons on official duties, building a contingent of cadres, and promoting human resources in the current era.

An enduring encyclopedic heritage

Posterity honors Lê Quý Đôn as a great polymath due to his massive volume of writings, broad scope of research, and rigorous investigative methods. He left behind numerous valuable works spanning history, geography, literature, philosophy, education, economics, agriculture, astronomy, calendar science, and medicine.

Signature works such as Đại Việt thông sử (History of Đại Việt), Phủ biên tạp lục (Miscellany on the Pacification of the Frontier), Kiến văn tiểu lục (Small Chronicle of Things Seen and Heard), Quần thư khảo biện (Critical Examination of Books), Toàn Việt thi lục (Compendium of Vietnamese Poetry), and Vân đài loại ngữ (Classified Discourse from the Cloud Library) have contributed to preserving a precious treasury of data regarding the country, people, and culture of Vietnam. Among them, Vân đài loại ngữ is evaluated as a quintessential encyclopedia of feudal Vietnam. Through this work, Lê Quý Đôn demonstrated an outstanding ability to synthesize, classify, compare, and explain knowledge across multiple fields. His research method was grounded in field surveys, data collection, and information verification before making assessments, presenting a profound scientific value that reflects an independent mindset and respect for the truth.

What truly elevates the stature of Lê Quý Đôn is his profound philosophy on education. He championed lifelong learning, emphasizing that learning must go hand in hand with practice, while linking knowledge with morality and social responsibility. To him, learning was aimed first at self-perfection and subsequently at contributing to the construction of a prosperous nation. His ideology of employing talents, along with discovering and nurturing gifted individuals, remains a valuable lesson for today’s educational reform and high-quality human resource training.

He was also a great cultural figure who expended massive efforts collecting, recording, and systematizing the national cultural heritage. Through his works, he preserved an abundance of materials on the history, geography, customs, habits, poetry, regional products, and social life of Đại Việt, deepening the awareness of civilized traditions, fostering national pride, and nurturing a consciousness of preserving Vietnamese cultural identity.

On October 31, 2025, at the 43rd session of the UNESCO General Conference held in Samarkand, Republic of Uzbekistan, UNESCO adopted a resolution honoring and co-participating in the 300th birth anniversary commemoration of the cultural celebrity Lê Quý Đôn. The event affirms the timeless value of his legacy, recognizing his contributions to science, culture, and education.

Carrying the torch of learning in the borderlands

In Điện Biên, the scholar’s name is given to Lê Quý Đôn Gifted High School, the province’s spearhead educational institution. Through years of construction and development, the school has become a cradle for training and fostering excellent students, contributing to creating a high-quality human resource source for the locality and the country. On the foundation of comprehensive educational quality, Lê Quý Đôn Gifted High School continuously achieves multiple outstanding results in provincial and national excellent student competitions, scientific and technical research, university admissions, and other educational activities. Many of the school’s students have achieved high accomplishments, becoming students at prestigious domestic universities, continuing their studies abroad, or making contributions across various fields.

These results are forged from the care of the Department of Education and Training, investments from the province, the dedication of the management team and teachers, alongside the upward striving spirit of generations of students. The school’s learning environment aims to evoke self-study capacities, creative thinking, research skills, and the learners’ sense of responsibility, serving as a vivid application of the genuine study, practice, and talent utilization spirit that Lê Quý Đôn once championed.

The school’s latest hallmark is the achievement of Đặng Quỳnh Trang, a student of class 12C3. In the 2026 high school graduation exam, she scored 38.5 points in the combination of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Literature, achieving absolute scores of 10 in both Mathematics and Chemistry, 9.75 points in Physics, and 8.75 points in Literature. This result propelled Đặng Quỳnh Trang to become a national co-valedictorian of the examination.

Đặng Quỳnh Trang’s achievement stands as the joy and pride of her family, the school, and Điện Biên’s Education and Training sector. During her three years of study at Lê Quý Đôn Gifted High School, she consistently maintained excellent learning results, earning the title of a comprehensively excellent student. In the provincial excellent student competitions for Chemistry, she won First Prize in grade 10, Second Prize in grade 11, and proceeded to secure First Prize in grade 12.

From the exemplary model of the cultural celebrity Lê Quý Đôn to the achievement of the female student Đặng Quỳnh Trang runs a continuous thread of the fondness-for-learning tradition. On one side stands the stature of a polymath with the aspiration to broaden public knowledge and revitalize the nation; on the other side is the upward striving effort of a Điện Biên student in the new era. Both demonstrate the power of knowledge, self-study willpower, and responsibility toward the homeland and country.

The 300th birth anniversary commemoration of the cultural celebrity Lê Quý Đôn is an occasion for every cadre, teacher, student, and citizen to further treasure the intellectual heritage of our ancestors. The achievements in teaching and learning, along with the hallmark of Đặng Quỳnh Trang, serve as vivid evidence for carrying forward the tradition of fondness for learning, nurturing the aspiration to rise through knowledge on this historic land at the westernmost tip of the Fatherland.