The exhibition is the first of its kind in Ho Chi Minh City since liberation on April 30, 1975, according to the organisers.

It introduces for the first time to the public such documents as the map of “yellow sand beach”, drawn by Do Ba and printed in the “Toan Tap Thien Nam chi lo do thu”; the map of “Dai Nam thong nhat toan do” by Phan Huy Chu (1834); a map of the Hoang Sa-Truong Sa meteorological observance station, and a map featuring place-names of the Truong Sa archipelago (1973).

Also on the first-time display are a list of people working at the hydro-meteorological station on the Hoang Sa Island in 1952, a decision dated June 27, 1961 regarding the employment of Mr. Hoang Yen to work as an administrative envoy on the Hoang Sa island, and a sovereign stele installed on Patte iIsland of the Hoang Sa archipelago (1937).

Apart from rare documents, the exhibition also reserves parts of its space for photos portraying Vietnamese military activities to defend the archipelagos as well as researches on the archipelagos.