Colonial Vietnam
The Internet, Wokeism, and Vietnamese Confucian Scholars in the 1920s
For the past two decades, I have been working in higher education and observing how the Internet, and the digital revolution more generally, has transformed
Honoring the Emperor in the (Original) Gia Định Báo
“Gia Định báo” is the name of what many people consider to be the first Vietnamese newspaper. It was first published in 1865 in Vietnamese
Nhị Độ Mai, or why we know so little about Late Imperial Vietnamese Popular Culture
Over the past couple of months, I have spent some time exploring Vietnamese materials that the National Library of France has digitized. As I have
Art Deco Vietnam
The other day, Saigoneer posted some beautiful pictures of a movie theater in Vietnam that was recently built in the Art Deco style. I saw
The COVID-19 Pandemic and Vietnamese Chicken Manuals from French Indochina
A few years ago I visited a farm in the countryside of Vietnam. The farmer had two types of pigs: he had several Vietnamese pigs,
The Great Vietnamese Wang Yangming Scholar You’ve Never Heard Of
In the summer of 1972, the Philosophy Department at the University of Hawaii at Manoa held a conference on the Chinese Neo-Confucian scholar, Wang Yangming
Chang’an News from Vietnam
I came across a Vietnamese newspaper from the late 1930s-early 1940s called the “Tràng An Báo.” This name is interesting. “Tràng An” is usually written
A World War II Annam Anthem (Đăng Đàn)
One period of Vietnamese history that I find fascinating is World War II. During the War, Vietnam was occupied by the Japanese, but for most
Đào Duy Anh and ROC Intellectual Influence in Colonial Vietnam
One of the (many) problems with the way that modern Vietnamese history has been written about (both by historians inside and outside of Vietnam) is
The Premodern Past that Haunts Modern Vietnamese
There at it again. For the past few days Vietnamese cyberspace has been filled with articles and discussions about whether Chinese characters (chữ Hán) should
What’s so “Colonial” about Colonial-Era Scholarship?
I came across an article that Đào Duy Anh published in 1954 in the journal Văn Sử Địa. In this article, Đào Duy Anh argues
A Cantonese Prostitute, an American Marine Engineer, and an Annamite Policeman in 1919 Shanghai
Today I gained access to a database that contains historical English-language newspapers from China. These papers of course contain information about China, but they also
Equal Rights to Makeup in 1930s Vietnam
I came across this nice image in an early issue of the journal Phong Hóa. A wife is surprised to see her husbands powdering his
Duplicate Translations and the Work of Colonized Scholars
In the early 1950s, some members (or employees) of the École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO) microfilmed some of the materials which they possessed in their library
Việt Nam Hồn
I haven’t had much time recently to post anything new here. I’m still busy, but I thought I would post a document which some people
Announcements in the Indigenous Language in Colonial Vietnam
I recently came across a journal that was published in colonial Vietnam called the Official Bulletin in the Indigenous Language. It was an official publication
Cruisin’ in a Chevy Six in Colonial Vietnam
A six-cylinder car which is sumptuous and affordable for everyone. Everyone’s been waiting a six-cylinder car which is really powerful, pleasant to look at and
Women Reading in Colonial Vietnam
This is one of my favorite images. It is from the cover of a journal which was published in Saigon in the late 1920s and
An Earlier Đổi Mới
“Đổi mới,” or “renovation,” is a term which is now associated with the economic reforms which the Vietnamese government began in 1986 in an effort
