2012年日本关西大学《周边文化交涉丛书》第7卷《顺化地区的历史与文化——周边村庄与外部视角》中影印收录了陈贞詥（Trần Trinh Cáp）所著《明乡事迹述言》（以下简称《述言》）一书，原文用汉语文言文书写，日本学者井上充幸将其翻译为日语，越南学者陈文眷（Trần Văn Quyến）将其翻译为越南语，一并收录出版。《述言》为写本，全文均用古汉语书写，由“正文”和“便览各条”两大部分组成。正文14页，每页6列。“便览各条”共计9条，每条起始部分为大字书写，解释部分为小字书写，一般大字一列可写两列小字。最后一页落款日期为保大十三年三月二十三日，落款人为御前撰译侍郎致事陈贞詥敬述，最后落印“陈贞詥明洲”。这是目前发现的唯一一部明乡人自撰史书，它的发现在一定程度上弥补了明乡自述视角下的文献缺失。其核心内容叙述了明末至民国年间顺化地区明乡人的历史，可补相关记载之缺。加上陈贞詥为官员出身，地位重要，对越南华侨华人研究有着重要意义。目前学术界较为重视明乡社、明乡文书、家谱、碑刻等方面的研究。越南著名学者陶维英（Đào Duy Anh）的《崩铺——华人在承天的首个定居点》、我国著名学者陈荆和在《承天明乡社与清河庯——顺化华侨史之一页》等文章中数次征引《述言》。还有一些越南学者对此有所涉猎。但并未见学者们就该文献自身价值展开研究。鉴于此，笔者拟就《述言》文献价值及其相关问题进行初步考察。
Minh Hương Sự Tích Thuật Ngôn written by Trần Trinh Cáp，is the only history book that has been self-written by Minh Hương at present and an important document for the study of issues like the history of overseas Chinese in Vietnam，the Vietnamese government’s policy of Minh Hương. It can be seen that the historical materials are pretty credible by proving and expounding things like the author’s life，sources of historical materials and text features，providing a new angle of view for studying issues like the meaning of Minh Hương，the evolution course of Xã Minh Hương，Huế，the policy throughout the ages and the belief in Tianhou. On the one hand，the book makes up for the current academic vacancy about Người Minh Hương’s personally writing history，vividly showing the evolution of Người Minh Hương in the Huế area. On the other hand，it also provides the original manuscript for the study of the characteristics and concrete forms of the development of Người Minh Hương in Vietnam，contributing to clearing up the characteristics and the development of the formation of Người Minh Hương on the whole. In conclusion，it has important historical value and academic significance.
