뉴스레터

Phan BÐội Châu before his death in 1940

Phan BÐội Châu (潘佩珠) was born in Nam Đàn Prefecture, Nghệ An Province in Central Vietnam in late 1867, when the colonization of his country was underway in the south. At age five, Phan began receiving traditional Confucian education from his father. In 1885, shortly after his country was completely colonized, Phan organized a resistance force against France and participated in the movement to restore the Vietnamese Emperor's authority. When this movement ended in failure, he began preparing to take the exam to become a government official. Once he passed the exam, he decided to continue with his studies and went to Hanoi in 1897. Phan made friends with such government officials as Đặng Nguyên Cẩn and Nguyễn Thượng Hiền, who introduced him to the works of reformer Nguyễn Lộ Trạch, particularly the article "Thiên hạ đại thế luận (天下大勢論)," which got him interested in reformation thought. The books of Chinese reformers that Phan borrowed from Nguyễn Thượng Hiền and read included: "瀛環志略" by Xu Jiyu, "普法戰記" by Wang Tao (王韜), and "中東戰紀本末" by the American missionary Young J. Allen and Cai Erkang (蔡爾康). With such intellectual exchange and reading of 'new books,' the year 1897 marked a turning point in his life, as he would recall later. It was also from that point on that he involved himself in independence movement in earnest, in the belief that the suffering of colonies was due to the colonial rulers manipulating the hostile global relations.

In early 1905, Phan left for Japan to secure funds for anti-colonization campaigns, and buy weapons. In his eye, To him, Japan looked like a successful Asian country that had effectively fended off the West's challenge with a new policy after the Meiji Restoration and even defeated won the wars against China and Russia. Seeking the independence of Vietnam was a great cause and serving it would take more than the unity of its people and require cooperation with the Chinese or other peoples. This was the thought Phan had in his mind when he embarked on his first trip abroad with no prior exposure to foreigners. Upon arrival in Japan in April 1905, Phan headed to Yokohama to meet Liang Qi-chao (梁啓超), a Chinese reform activist he had already acquainted with through books or journals (e.g. "戊戌政變記", "中國魂, "新民叢報"). When asked to give him advice on the matter of Vietnam's independence, Liang warned him about Japan, saying that once Japan made military intervention, they would never withdraw from Vietnam, and stressed the importance of Vietnam's efforts to strengthen itself. Another important piece of advice given to Phan was that "he should do a lot of writing to tell the world about Vietnam's suffering under the harsh French colonial rule. Phan would take the advice and write The History of the Downfall of Vietnam (越南亡國史: Việt Nam Vong Quốc Sử), which would be published by Kwong Chi Book Co. (廣智書局) in Shanghai in September 1905. Liang also suggested to Phan that in order to enlighten the Vietnamese people and increase their overall education level, youths in Vietnam should be sent to study abroad. And Liang introduced Phan to people in Japan who could help him with this initiative, such as politicians Inukai Tsuyoshi (犬養毅) and Okuma Shigenobu (大隈重信), and Kashiwabara Buntaro (柏栢文太郞), who worked at the East Asian Common Cultural Society (東亞同文會). In turn, Inukai arranged him to meet with the Army Chief of Staff Hukushima Yasumasa (福島安正) and the leader of the East Asian Common Cultural Society Nezu Hazime. All of these people agreed to the utmost importance of fostering talents, and offered to accept students sent to study in Japan.

A residence in Huế where Phan BÐội Châu
was put under house arrest after his arrest by
the French secret police

As it turned out, Phan's encounter with the East Asian Common Culture Society, an organization seeking 'Asian solidarity,' was a big turning point for Vietnamese intellectuals to go abroad. The East Asian Common Culture Society was a sponsor of students from China, Korea, Thailand, and India, and its decision to admit Vietnamese students to the East Asian Common Culture Academy (同文書院) started a rush of Vietnamese youths coming to Japan. This 'Go East' trend formed in Vietnam with the help of the East Asian Common Culture Society was pivotal in creating opportunities for Vietnamese intellectuals to meet with the intellectuals of the neighboring East Asian countries. Vietnamese reform activists expanded their network to include reformation groups in China and Japan. As a result, the East Asian League (東亞同盟會) was formed between Vietnamese independence activists, including Phan BÐội Châu, and reformation party members in East Asian countries. Such solidarity between Phan and East Asian intellectuals, however, reached a dead end when the France-Japan Treaty was signed in June 1907. This Treaty included a clause providing that either country should respect the other's position and territorial rights in the Asian continent. To respect the intentions of the French authorities, Japan began disbanding Vietnamese organizations within the country. By 1909, a majority of Vietnamese figures had either returned to their country or defected to Hong Kong, a country convenient to travel by sea and relatively safe from the watchful eyes of France. Phan was also deported from Japan that year, and defected to Thailand by way of Hong Kong. In 1911, when he heard about the outbreak of the Chinese Revolution, Phan assembled about 100 comrades in Guangzhou (廣州). And in early 1912. he established the Vietnamese Association for Independence aimed at founding a democratic republic. While trying to get the Association in order, he started activities in association with the Chinese reformation groups. As he believed that the unity of intellectuals from all colonies in Asia would be essential to expanding the anti-colonization campaigns, Phan stepped up his efforts to build a solidarity organization, until he was arrested in 1914 by a warlord in southern China. While in prison, Phan campaigned against France with the secret support from Germany to which he had access through his comrades. Once released from prison in 1917, Phan embarked on independence movements while traveling across China and Japan, but without much success. Perhaps this is why Phan started to develop interest in socialism from 1921 and establish contacts with figures of the Soviet Union. However, during his visit to Shanghai in 1925, Phan was arrested by the French secret police, and repatriated to Hanoi. Although sentenced to death, Phan was spared his life thanks to strong protest from the Vietnamese people. Instead, he was kept under house arrest in Huế until he died in 1940.

Phan BÐội Châu is considered the key leader of the first generation of 'modern' Vietnam's independence movement. He made incessant efforts for the liberation of his country while using reformative or radical methods across Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia in the early 20th century. But he may be criticized for failing to 'popularize the movement' because he failed to maintain consistency in the line for struggle. Nevertheless, his passionate life seems to have left a great impression on the Koreans of the time, just as the news of Ahn Jung-geun's assassination of Ito Hirobumi had led Phan to adopt "violent riot" as tactics.

Phan BÐội Châu was first known to Korean society in 1905 through The History of the Downfall of Vietnam, and his reputation was maintained well into the 1930s through the Korean press like The Dong-A Ilbo or The Chosun Ilbo. The Korean Spirit, published in 1939 by Min Pil-ho after the death of Shin Kyu-shik, had a preface by the "Vietnamese revolutionary" Phan BÐội Châu celebrating the publication of this book. Phan, who had gotten to know Min in Hangzhou (杭州), wrote in Banseo (潘書) dated June 5, 1923: "Korea and our Vietnam are brother countries in Asia that share the same ethnicity and academic traditions, and now they even share the same suffering" and added: "The Korean Spirit by Mr. Shin Kyu-shik is a big picture of the Korean heart."