Phan Châu Trinh
| Phan Châu Trinh 潘周楨 |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
9 September 1872 Tam Kỳ, Quảng Nam, Annam, French Indochina |
| Died | 24 March 1926 (aged 53) Saigon, French Cochinchina |
Phan Châu Trinh (Chinese: 潘周楨, 1872 - 1926), courtesy name Tử Cán (梓幹), pen name Tây Hồ (西湖) or Hi Mã (希馬), was an early 20th-century Vietnamese nationalist. He sought to end France's colonial occupation of Vietnam. He opposed both violence and turning to other countries for support, and instead believed in attaining Vietnamese liberation by educating the population and by appealing to French democratic principles.
Phan Châu Trinh was born in Tây Lộc, Quảng Nam Province in Annam, French Indochina on 9 September 1872. He was the son of a rich land owner and scholar. His father was a fighter in the Scholars' Revolt, but in 1885 he was killed by the other leaders in the revolt who suspected him of being a traitor. This left Trinh an orphan at the age of 13. His older brother educated him in classics. In 1901 he got the highest Mandarin degree.
In 1905 Trinh resigned from his post in the mandarin bureaucracy. He had become strongly opposed to the monarchy, traditional Vietnamese court and mandarin system. He called for an end to the monarchy and its replacement with a democratic republic. Having earlier met Phan Bội Châu in 1903, in March/April 1906 he went to Hong Kong and then to Kwangtung to meet with him again. He made his way there disguised as a disheveled common laborer. He then went to Japan with Châu as part of the Đông-Du movement. They stayed in Yokohama, where they had set up a two-story Japanese house to teach students, which they called Binh Ngo Hien. In June they went to Tokyo to inspect the Japanese education and political system.
Trinh disagreed with Châu's early ideas of asking for military assistance from Japan, as he didn't trust Japan's militarism. He also had other disagreements with Châu's philosophy. Therefore, they had a friendly argument for a few weeks before he returned to Vietnam. Back in Vietnam he continued to receive letters from Châu arguing about his opposition to the monarchy and his belief that the French could be used. Trinh continued to campaign with slogans like "Up with Democracy, Out with Monarchy", and "Making Use of the French in the Quest for Progress". This made Châu quite upset and worried that the movement was fragmenting and that fundraising efforts would fail.
...
Wikipedia