During the Qing Dynasty, in his book “Hai ngoai ky su” (Haiwai jishi), Shi Da Shan, a Chinese monk, noted down what he saw on his trip from Guangdong in China to Thuan Hoa in Vietnam in 1695.

He mentioned Lord Nguyen Phuc Chu of Vietnam and the activities of Vietnamese naval soldiers in the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes.

The book is among the ancient bibliographies by Chinese that note in an honest way Vietnam’s activities to realise its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos at that time./.

VNA