Phan Đăng Lưu (May 5, 1902 – August 28, 1941) was a prominent 20th century Vietnamese revolutionary, politician, intellectual and journalist.
Phan Đăng Lưu was born on May 5, 1902, in the Tràng Thành commune (now Hoa Thành commune), Yên Thành District, Nghệ An Province, Vietnam. His father Phan Đăng Dư (1874–1955) and his mother Trần Thị Liễu had four sons. Three of them, Phan Đăng Lưu (Phán Tằm), Phan Đăng Triều (Phán Triều), Phan Đăng Tài (Phán Tài) would later join the revolutionary struggle against the French colonial occupation.
During the decline of the Mạc dynasty at the end of the 16th century, Mạc Mậu Giang as the son of king Mạc Phúc Nguyên, went to Nghệ An seeking refuge. To avoid political persecution, Mạc Huyền Nhai as the son of Mạc Mậu Giang marked the beginning of Phan (Đăng) as the adjusted surname of this lineage in Yên Thành District, Nghệ An province; "Đăng" being a connotation to the founder of the Mạc dynasty, Mạc Đăng Dung. Phan Đăng Dư is a descendant of Mạc Mậu Giang in the 14th generation. Furthermore, this lineage may be traced back as far as to the renowned 13th century Confucian scholar Mạc Đĩnh Chi under the Trần dynasty, who himself was a descendant of another renowned 11th century Vietnamese scholar under the Lý dynasty.
Phan Đăng Dư worked as a pharmacist and geography teacher. In 1908, he joined Chu Trạc in the resistance against local French oppression. Classified as a landowner during the land reform of the 1950s in Vietnam, his family was stripped off its property and house. Phan Đăng Dư was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and died in 1955 on the way to prison. The house, in which Phan Đăng Lưu grew up, is nowadays a national historical site to commemorate and honor Phan Đăng Lưu and his family's contribution to Vietnam's national struggle for self-determination and independence.
In his early years, Phan Đăng Lưu studied Chinese characters. Later, he went to Vinh for his primary education in the French-Vietnamese primary school. Afterwards, he continued his secondary education in the Quốc Học Huế High School. Other sources cite the Quốc Tử Giám - Huế secondary school. He also studied the romanized Vietnamese language and French. Phan Đăng Lưu then enrolled at the College of Agricultural Administration in Tuyên Quang, where he graduated as an agricultural engineer.