Phan Bội Châu
Vietnamese nationalist who fought French colonial rule from Japan, China and Huế.
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via Wikipedia: Phan Bội Châu · see source
Phan Bội Châu (26 December 1867 – 29 October 1940) was a Vietnamese nationalist and revolutionary who spent his life working to free Vietnam from French colonial control. In 1904 he created the Duy Tân Hội, or Modernization Association, and launched the Đông Du movement.
Living in Japan from 1905 to 1908, he wrote political tracts demanding independence. Later, in China, contact with Sun Yat-sen moved him from monarchism toward democracy, and in 1912 he replaced his first group with the Việt Nam Quang Phục Hội, or Vietnamese Restoration League. French agents captured him in Shanghai in 1925.
Lore & Background
Born Phan Văn San in the village of Sa Nam, in Nam Đàn District of Nghệ An province, he came from a poor family of scholars. His mother taught him verses from the Classic of Poetry, and his father later schooled him in Confucian texts such as the Analects.
He grew up as France seized southern Vietnam through the Treaties of Saigon, and as a child he played anti-French war games with bamboo guns. In 1885, during the Cần Vương uprising, he tried to raise a unit of about 60 fellow exam candidates, but a French patrol broke it up. After years of failed attempts, he passed the regional mandarin exams with top honors in 1900.
Did You Know?
- He memorized the Three Character Classic in just three days.
- At six he wrote a parody of the Analects mocking classmates and was caned for it.
- His second political group, founded in 1912, was modeled on Sun Yat-sen's republican party.
- He married Nguyễn Thị Huy at the age of 22 in an arranged union.
Frequently Asked Questions
What organizations did Phan Bội Châu found?
The Duy Tân Hội (Modernization Association) in 1904 and the Việt Nam Quang Phục Hội (Vietnamese Restoration League) in 1912.
What was the Đông Du movement?
A movement he launched in 1904, around the time he went to live in Japan from 1905 to 1908 to agitate for Vietnamese independence.
How did his activism end?
French agents seized him in Shanghai in 1925; he was convicted of treason and lived under house arrest in Huế for the rest of his life.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Phan Bội Châu (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Word definitions: the Codexery glossary, each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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