Chủ Nhật, 10 tháng 7, 2016

Impact of French colonialism on Vietnam culture, education and architecture

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh - Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities gave an interview to Dr.Farish Noor  - historian and political analyst of Singapore's NTU on the impact  of French colonial on the development of Vietnam. The interview was a part of the Channel News Asia's documentary "Inventing SE.Asia with Dr.Farish Noor" which was assisted to shoot in Vietnam and Cambodia by Fixer in Vietnam company. This is a group of experienced and reliable local film fixer in Vietnam

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh - Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities
Q. What was reaction of Nguyen Dynasty against the French presence in Vietnam?

AWhen the French came into Vietnam, the attitude of the Nguyen Dynasty kings was very different. If you look at history, since the Nguyen Dynasty was established in 1802, King Gia Long - the first king of the Nguyen Dynasty, expressed a relatively compromise attitude with the French, because the French had aided to put Gia Long to the throne. But from the reign of King Minh Mang and especially from King Tu Duc, when the French used gun power to invade Vietnam, the attitude of the Nguyen gradually changed. Some courtiers, including King Tu Duc stayed moderate at first. Some people want to fight against the French to protect the interests of the Nguyen and also the independency. However,  the trend of the Kings Nguyen to France gradually became compromised and more collaborative with the French. This trend became clear at the end of the colonial period, especially when King Khai Dinh then Bao Dai came to throne.

Q. How did Vietnamese people react towards French impact at that time in terms of culture, education...?

A. It can be said that when the French came in Vietnam, they brought along the investment as well as the culture of the West, Vietnamese people's reaction at first was not welcome, it could be said they were against it. There are several reasons: The first is the French came to Vietnam as an aggressor. The second is the French culture and civilization brought into Vietnam is different from Vietnam’s tradition. Culture, civilization Vietnam traditionally based on the ideology and Confucianism. So at first reaction of most of Vietnamese people was not accepting and against the influence of culture of the French and the West. We can say the cultural changes of Vietnam in the colonial period was very complicated, at first stage is the opposition of the Vietnamese to culture of the French and the West. But in the second stage it was more compromised and the third stage is receptive. Vietnamese people is very smart, they see the positive factors that they can learn from then they accept it, made it the property of the nation and its culture. During the colonial period, with a combination of Vietnamese culture, French culture and Western culture, it had formed the elements of a new culture. In the field of literature, arts, painting we can say it brought about a new color under the influence of French culture and Western culture.

Q. What do think about the acculturation in the French colonial?

A. Speaking of nationalism, or ideological ties between Vietnam’s traditional culture with France’s and the West’s, I see the colonial period as a process of friction or researchers calls it the process of acculturation. The foreign cultural elements were brought into Vietnam by the French has gradually been localized. Vietnamese people took the most appropriate and elite things and turned into their own cultural values. ​​That was one reason why the people of Vietnam underwent 1,000 years of Chinese rules and nearly 100 years under French rule still retain their ethnic identity. Because the people of Vietnam know to promote their strength, maintain the identity element of their nation and is receptive of new and positive elements to turn into their own cultures and grow to new heights. It is the acculturation of cultural characteristics of Vietnam in the colonial period.

Q. Can you talk more about the positive impact as well as negative impact of French colonial on Vietnam society?

A. I want to say more about the influence and impact of the capitalization of the French colonialists in Vietnam in the colonial period. Until recently, many researchers in history, sociology, politics primarily evaluate the negative impact of the colonization process, but I think it's incomplete and objective. It must be admitted that the domination of nearly 100 years of France in Vietnam and some other countries on the Indochinese peninsula had led to very serious consequences because France brought the domination with their police, army , prisons to suppress the revolt, the struggle of the people of Vietnam to defend national independence. Then various traditional cultural values ​​were demolished. But on the other hand during the rule of French colonial in Vietnam, they unconsciously brought in economic factors, new culture from France and the West to Vietnam and contributed to the positive changes in the society of Vietnam in the fields of culture, economy, education and many other aspects as well. Talking about the economy, the French had invested in Vietnam tens of billions of francs during the colonial period, in the fields of industry, finance, trade and banking. And therefore contributing to the transformation of the Vietnam economy from feudal economy to colonial economy with nature of capitalism and led to strong movement to capitalism. Transportation systems, modern bridges and roads were also built during this period. Besides economy, the culture field, just to mention architecture alone, the system of architecture, such as administrative buildings, from Indochina Governor Palace to Tonkin Governor Palace, in the field of education, such as the building of the University of Indochina, the Louis Finot museum of the Bac Co Orient Institute (E’cole Francaise d’Extrême – Orient), in the field of arts there are unique structure- it is the Hanoi Opera House, Saigon Opera House and Hai Phong Opera House. So in Vietnam, France built 3 French style theatres, in which the Opera House in Hanoi is one of the most typical culture of France in Southeast Asia during the colonial period. In the field of education, the French developed the France - Vietnam education system, in the schools, students not only learn the knowledge of the political, social, humanistic fields that are basic subjects of old school system, but also learning Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, as the result the students or the younger generation in Vietnam had included natural sciences and social sciences and humanities in their study. From the early 20th century, the French focused on the development of higher education system, the French developed the largest university and the only one in Vietnam and in the Indochina peninsula - the Indochinese University which was established in 1906. On that ground, since the '20s and ‘30s to the end of the colonial period, many universities and colleges had been established in Vietnam, helping to train new intellectual elite, Western-style, whose ideology would be more "rationality" than  "emotionality" of traditional Vietnamese way of thinking. It can be said, in terms of culture and education in colonial times it had changed to the new way in the direction of modern, the Indochinese University is the first university following the modern direction in Vietnam and Indochina peninsula. These were imnportant platform for the Government of Democratic Republic of Vietnam following the August Revolution in 1945 to inherit the positive factors from economics to culture, education and continuing developing to obtain greater achievements in the future.


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