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
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| 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?
A. When 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.
