User:Donald Trung/Society of the Nguyễn dynasty

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Overview[edit]

Independent Nguyễn dynasty[edit]

French protectorates of Annam and Tonkin[edit]

During the late 19th century and early 20th century the mandarins of the Nguyễn dynasty and other educated elite of French Indochina were introduced to works from Europe and the Americas through Chinese revolutionaries and are known in Vietnam as Tân thư (新書),[a] Through the Tân thư, Vietnamese intellectuals come into contact with and received new knowledge from the outside world.[1] This contact was both due to traditional exchanges and due to being closely related to the situation and plight of Japan and China – peoples who share a similar cultural background and were all facing a new form of colonialism that plots to annex not only the territory, but also westernise their culture.[1] In this context, the development of Japan, the movement of thoughts according to the progressive trends in China could not fail to affect the thought and sentiment of progressive intellectuals in Vietnam at that time.[1] They hoped to find a new direction for the nation from the Duy Tân (維新, "Renovation") movements in these two countries and with the Tân thư (see: Meiji Restoration), the spirit of enlightenment and many works of historical, political and philosophical studies.[1] The West's presence in Vietnam, leading to the birth of movements based on news school of thought (Phong trào Tân học) that showed a new aspiration, a new awakening in social awareness that dominated Vietnam's educated minds at the time.[1]

Empire of Vietnam[edit]

Names of the Nguyễn dynasty state[edit]

Contemporary[edit]

Triều đình Huế

https://leminhkhai.blog/how-viet-nam-became-viet-nam/

Historiographical[edit]

Nguyễn dynasty

vương quốc Đại Nam ("Kingdom of Đại Nam" / "Kingdom of the Great South")[2]

Vương triều Nguyễn

Architecture[edit]

Ceremonies and rituals[edit]

Clothing[edit]

Hanoian women smoking during the 1910's, notice the fact that they wear the traditional "yếm".

Communication and language[edit]

The book General Reader (普通讀本) written by Phạm Quang Sán (范光璨) in the year Duy Tân 4 (維新四年) that discusses modern European concepts of understanding the globe, notice that on the cover it states that its contents is both in Latin script (國語) and in Classical Chinese (漢字).

During the late 19th and early 20th century periods both modernisation and Westernisation a lot of social and scientific vocabulary started to enter the Vietnamese language both from French and from reformist movements in Japan and China, such as máy bay (Aeroplane), tàu hỏa (Train), ô-tô (Automobile), xe máy - mô-tô (Motocyclette), áo vét (Veston), dầu tây (Petroleum),… đến tự do (Freedom), bình đẳng (Equality), bác ái (Charity), dân quyền (Civil rights), độc lập (Independence), yêu nước (Patriotism), dân tộc (Ethnicity, ethnic group), Etc.[1]

Communication technology[edit]

A postage stamp issued by the French protectorate of Annam.

Language[edit]

Many words commonly used in the Vietnamese language today were considered to be "new" and "unfamiliar" words during the 1910's. A large number of these words were created by Japanese and Chinese reformers translating Post-French Revolution European concepts into Classical Chinese.

BBC journalist Nguyễn Giang noted that while the early Christian missionaries are credited with creating the Vietnamese alphabet, what they did wasn't unique or difficult and would have been done later without them had they not created it.[3] Giang further stated that the main reason for the popularisation of the Latin alphabet in the Nguyễn dynasty (the French protectorates of Annam and Tonkin) was because of the pioneering efforts by intellectuals from French Cochinchina combined with the progressive and scientific policies of the French government in French Indochina, that created the momentum for the usage of chữ Quốc ngữ to spread.[3] Giang stated that the Tonkin Free School only removed the stigma against using chữ Quốc ngữ for the Nguyễn dynasty elites, but didn't actually popularise it.[3]

An important reason why Latin script became the standard writing system of Vietnam but did not do so in Cambodia and Laos that were both dominated by the French for a similar amount of time and existed within the same colonial framework has to do with the fact that the Emperors of the Nguyễn dynasty heavily promoted its usage.[3] According to the historian Liam Kelley in his 2016 work "Emperor Thành Thái’s Educational Revolution" neither the French nor the revolutionaries had enough power to spread the usage of chữ Quốc ngữ down to the village level.[3] It was by imperial decree in 1906 by the Thành Thái Emperor that enabled parents to decide whether their children will follow a curriculum in Hán văn (漢文) or Nam âm (南音, "Southern sound", the contemporary Nguyễn dynasty name for chữ Quốc ngữ).[3] This decree was issued at the same time when other social changes, such as the cutting of long male hair, were occurring.[3]

NOTE TO SELF - USE MORE OF THIS SOURCE.

Cultural identity[edit]

19th century[edit]

A Đồng Khánh period text regarding the demographics of the Hưng Hóa Province referring to the ethic groups as "Hán(-Vietnamese)" (漢), "Thanh" (清), and "Thổ" (土). This indicates that during the beginning of the period of French domination the Vietnamese still maintained the "Hoa-Di distinction" while the indigenous peoples and the subjects of the Manchu Qing (Thanh) dynasty were viewed as "less civilised".

20th century[edit]

Economy[edit]

Sovereign period[edit]

Economies of the French protectorates of Annam and Tonkin[edit]

Currencies[edit]

An example of the blank reverse side of a Minh Mạng Thông Bảo (明命通寶) copper-alloy cash coin.

Throughout the Nguyễn dynasty period Vietnamese people continued using the millennia old Chinese tradition of using cash coins (round coins with a square hole),[4] these were commonly made of zinc or copper-alloys and were typically carried in strings of usually 100 or 600, which were sub-divided into smaller strings of 10 cash coins called a tiền (錢).[5] These low denomination zinc and copper-alloy cash coins circulated alongside silver cash coins and silver sycees as well as gold ingots.[5] The government of the Nguyễn dynasty never issued its own paper money, but it did issue large copper-alloy cash coins with the inscription Tự Đức Bảo Sao (嗣德寶鈔), which literally translates to "Banknotes of (the) Tự Đức (era)", that functioned similar to paper money.[6][7]

Almost all transactions in rural areas were exclusively conducted in cash coins, while in cities other currencies mingled together with them.[8] Copper-alloy cash coins (錢銅, tiền đồng) were typically worth around 6 zinc cash coins (錢鐱, tiền kẽm), but the exchange rates varied throughout the period.[6] As late as the 1890s zinc cash coins predominantly circulated in Tonkin while copper-alloy cash coins predominantly circulated in Annam.[5]

When the French first arrived they generally didn't like the inconvenience of using cash coins of their very low value, the brittle nature of zinc cash coins, and how heavy they were to transport in strings.[9] A Frenchman noted that if a string of zinc cash coins broke then the time spent to pick the coins back up would be less valuable than ignoring it and continuing to walk or how the weight of a chicken sold on the market was less than the zinc cash coins used to pay for it.[6] As the French didn't like using the indigenous coinage systems they initially brought the French franc to their new colonies to circulate among themselves.[9]

During the French domination period the French Indochinese piastre was introduced in 1885 to replace the Mexican peso, which was the dominant silver trade currency before its introduction.[9][6] The Government-General of French Indochina issued the piastre while the government of the Nguyễn dynasty continued casting cash coins until the fall of the Empire.[10] The French continuously tried to fix the exchange rate between cash coins and the piastre to stop rampant speculation and in Tonkin the Resident-Superior there did this on a monthly basis.[11] Around the turn of the century, typically a string of 100 copper-alloy cash coins in Annam or a string of 600 zinc cash coins in Tonkin were worth 1 piastre.[12]

Multiple attempts were made to introduce machine-struck cash coins by the French between 1875 and 1906 that failed, but this was later successfully done by the Nguyễn government with the introduction of the Khải Định Thông Bảo (啓定通寶) series of cash coins in 1921.[10]

Cash coins were typically subject to hoarding as Vietnamese people distrusted many new currencies, in some cases Vietnamese people preferred to use centuries and even millennia old cash coins over the newer currencies because they were "from the good old days" and they wanted to keep to tradition.[8] This hoarding caused severe deflation which was why the government of the Nguyễn dynasty had to keep producing many strings of cash coins annually to fight its negative effects.[13][8]

Education[edit]

Confucian education[edit]

Introduction of French education and reforms[edit]

Young Annamite girls learning mathematics in class in Hanoi, Tonkin during the 1920's, during this period the French introduced the knowledge they've acquired to new French-style schools.

Gender roles and the responsibilities of men and women[edit]

A Bảo Đại period cartoon talking about gender equality showing a man putting on make-up by powdering his face breaking male gender roles in proclamation of the equality of men and women.

Three Obediences and Four Virtues (三從四德, Tam tòng, tứ đức)

Hương ước[edit]

Throughout Vietnam thousands of villages had their own independent legal codes known as the Hương ước (鄉約) that governed the social relations within the village community, thousands of written regulations existed and the central administration often recognised them.[14][15] The origins of these village conventions is unknown, according to jurist Lê Đức Tiết they may date back as far as the Trưng sisters period but were unwritten until the Trần dynasty period. The Hương ước contained rules about various legal practices like land management, marriage, labour relations, arbitration of disputes, as well as local customs such as family relations, village relations, ghosts, ancestor worship, sacrifice, mourning, and longing.[15]

During the colonial period both the government-general of French Indochina and the government of the Nguyễn dynasty attempted reform these rules and regulations in their favour.[14] To expand their power into Vietnamese hamlets and villages the French administration issued models for the villages to follow, but many Vietnamese villages still functioned independent of the French and Nguyễn administrations.[14] The French reformed Vietnamese marriage and funeral laws in order to weaken the influence of the Hương ước.[15]

After the abolition of the Nguyễn dynasty the Hương ước system persisted for some years, it was abolished in North Vietnam in 1954 as a part of its land reforms.[15] The system was seen as "a remnant of a backward feudal system" by the North Vietnamese government and was replaced with a Socialist cooperative production model and a new social structure based on the system of the Soviet Union.[15]

Literature[edit]

Marriage and family life[edit]

Divorce[edit]

Martial arts[edit]

.

Medicine and healthcare[edit]

A 1923 painting of an Annamese (Tonkinese) woman receiving a vaccination from a French doctor by Victor Tardieu.

Mental illness management[edit]

Music[edit]

News media[edit]

An article in the autonomist newspaper L'Effort Indochinois discussing Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent protest movement against British colonialism in India being censored by French colonial authorities.

Politics[edit]

A political cartoon published in Ngày Nay during the 1930's that compared a Japanese administrator with a Nguyễn dynasty mandarin to showcase that Japan has "modernised" while the Nguyễn Empire was "stuck in the past".

Public holidays and other important days[edit]

Lễ ban sóc[edit]

Fête du Travail et de la Concorde Sociale[edit]

Religion[edit]

Buddhism[edit]

Christianity[edit]

Local spirits[edit]

Sports[edit]

Theatre and cinema[edit]

Theatre[edit]

Cinema[edit]

A film theatre in Hanoi, Tonkin during the early 20th century.

List of films produced during the Nguyễn dynasty period[edit]

  • Kim Vân Kiều, 1923.
  • Một đồng kẽm tậu được ngựa (A Penny for a Horse),[b] 1924.
  • Cả Lố, 1924.
  • Ninh Lăng, 1925.
  • Tấn tôn đức Bảo Đại, 1925.
  • Huyền thoại bà Đế (The Legend of Lady Đế), 1927.
  • Đám tang tướng Đường Kế Nghiêu (The Funeral of General Tang Jiyao), 1929.
  • Trọn với tình (True to Love), 1937.
  • Khúc khải hoàn (The Song of Triumph), Late 1930s.
  • Toét sợ ma (Toét's Scared of Ghosts), Late 1930s.

Transport and infrastructure[edit]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Tân thư is the common name of books and documents introducing new European-American ideas that appeared in Japan, China, Vietnam from the late 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. Tân thư is a concept that used to distinguish these from the Cổ thư (古書), the traditional cultural and ideological content, such as Confucian books.
  2. ^ Can more accurately be translated as "A zinc cash coin for a Horse".

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Nguyễn Hòa (18 February 2014). "Nghiên cứu phi lịch sử, hay thực hành "chủ nghĩa thực dân tinh thần"? (Kỳ 1)" (in Vietnamese). Nhân Dân (Communist Party of Vietnam). Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  2. ^ Nguyễn Quang Diệu (5 April 2022). "Quan chức cấp cao đầu thời Pháp thuộc: Liên bang Đông Dương và chức danh Toàn quyền. - Liên bang Đông Dương (Union indochinoise), còn có tên gọi khác là Đông Dương thuộc Pháp (Indochine française) hoặc ngắn gọn hơn là Đông Pháp, được thành lập thông qua Sắc lệnh ngày 17.10.1887, trực thuộc Bộ Thuộc địa" (in Vietnamese). Thanh Niên. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Nguyễn Quang Duy (12 September 2018). "Quốc ngữ và nỗ lực 'thoát Hán' của các vua nhà Nguyễn" (in Vietnamese). Người Việt Daily News. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
  4. ^ ED. TODA. (Shanghai, Qing dynasty 1882) ANNAM and its minor currency. Retrieved: 15 April 2018.
  5. ^ a b c Ministry of the Colonies (1894). "Note sur la circulation monétaire et les moyens d'échange dans les colonies françaises et pays de protectorat, d'après les documents officiels recueillis par l'administration des colonies" (in French). The government of France. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d Art-Hanoi - CURRENCY TYPES AND THEIR FACE VALUES DURING THE TỰ ĐỨC ERA. This is a translation of the article “Monnaies et circulation monetairé au Vietnam dans l’ère Tự Đức (1848-1883) by Francois Thierry Published in Revue Numismatique 1999 (volume # 154). Pgs 267-313. This translation is from pages 274-297. Translator: Craig Greenbaum. Retrieved: 15 April 2018.
  7. ^ "Vietnamese Coin - Tu Duc Bao Sao 9 Mach". Vladimir Belyaev (Charm.ru - Chinese Coinage Website). 30 November 2001. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  8. ^ a b c Xuân TIÊU (29 September 1939). "Contre la thésaurisation des pièces divisionnaires" (in French). l'Effort Indochinois (Journal Autonomiste Paraissant la Vendredi) - Hanoï, Tonkin, Nguyễn dynasty, French Indochina. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  9. ^ a b c Tim Doling (29 December 2015). "Saigon-Cholon in 1868, by Charles Lemire". First published in the 1869 journal Annales des voyages, de la géographie, de l’histoire et de l’archéologie, edited by Victor-Adolphe Malte-Brun, Charles Lemire’s article “Coup d’oeil sur la Cochinchine Française et le Cambodge” gives us a fascinating portrait of Saigon-Chợ Lớn less than 10 years after the arrival of the French. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  10. ^ a b "Sapeque and Sapeque-Like Coins in Cochinchina and Indochina (交趾支那和印度支那穿孔錢幣)". Howard A. Daniel III (The Journal of East Asian Numismatics – Second issue). 20 April 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  11. ^ Docteur Hocquard, Une Campagne au Tonkin (Paris, Arléa, 1999), p.177. (in French).
  12. ^ Cucherousset, Henri (1879-1936). Directeur de publication (9 September 1928). "L'Éveil économique de l'Indochine : bulletin hebdomadaire / directeur : H. Cucherousset, rédacteur en chef" (in French). Gallica (Bibliothèque nationale de France). Retrieved 19 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ The government of the French protectorate of Annam (1 December 1921). "Bulletin administratif de l'Annam - N⁰ 23" (in French). The government-general of French Indochina. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  14. ^ a b c Pham Diem (State and Law Research Institute) (24 February 2011). "Legislation in French-ruled Vietnam". Vietnam Law and Legal Forum magazine, Vietnam News Agency - Your gateway to the law of Vietnam. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  15. ^ a b c d e Thông tín viên RFA (23 March 2018). "Hương ước - xưa và nay. Hương ước - hay còn gọi là lệ làng, là một giá trị văn hóa, truyền thống, gắn liền với lịch sử dân tộc Việt Nam. Trải qua bao biến cố, Hương ước đến nay vẫn còn được lưu giữ và đóng vai trò trong nền văn hóa và phong tục, tập quán của người Việt" (in Vietnamese). Đài Á Châu Tự Do. Retrieved 22 January 2022.

Sources to use[edit]

Encyclopædia Britannica

Images to use[edit]