I find the early-twentieth century to be one of the most fascinating periods for the study of Vietnamese intellectual history. In the first two decades of the twentieth century, some Vietnamese scholars who had been exposed to Western ideas began to experiment with new ways of presenting Vietnamese history.
One such work which did this was a text called the Southern Kingdom’s Great Events (南國佳事, Nam Quốc giai sự). The author of this text is unknown, however from some of the modern terms which it uses (such as “doctrine,” 主義, chủ nghĩa), and the fact that it contains the logo of the Đông Kinh Nghĩa Thục, I think it is safe to assume that this is a text which was produced by some of the modernizing scholars associated with that school.
The preface of this work makes it clear that its goal was to instill in its readers a sense of pride in the nation. What is interesting from today’s perspective, however, are some of the issues which the author felt were appropriate for doing so.
For instance, one of the entries in this work is entitled “Exterminating Champa” (滅占城, Diệt Chiêm Thành). This passage consists of a short text followed by a poem which had been composed earlier by Emperor Tự Đức. I have translated the text below, and at some point in the future I’ll translate the poem.
“Champa did not regularly present tribute, insulted emissaries from our court, and made incursions which bothered our border people. They deceived the Ming and sought their assistance in order to raid [our territory]. Lê Thánh Tông campaigned against them and surrounded Đồ Bàn Citadel. When the citadel fell, he gave the following order to his troops: “All of the valuables in the government storehouses must be guarded. They must not be set on fire. The Cham king, Trà Toàn, should be delivered alive to the gate [of my compound]. He must not be killed.” The various troops then captured Trà Toàn alive and brought him. The emperor ordered his troops to make their victorious return, and presented the captured prisoners of war at the Imperial Ancestral Temple [i.e., Thái Miếu].”
This is not a topic which I profess to know much about, so please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but my sense is that today the “extermination of Champa” does not garner much attention in Vietnamese history texts, and when it is mentioned, it is not referred to as an “extermination.” Hence, this effort to instill pride in the Vietnamese nation by getting Vietnamese to recognize the “great event” of the extermination of their southern neighbor apparently failed. This is all interesting though, as it tells us quite a bit about Vietnam, be it the Vietnam of Lê Thánh Tông’s time, the Vietnam of the early-twentieth century, or the Vietnam of today.
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Hello, see my translation of this entry. It surely interesting of study Vietnamese intellectual history in early XX century. I do think some of Vietnamese scholars have studied them without little looking into Han texts or reading Vietnamese translations of Han texts. Anyways, I still don’t figure what is modern in this story. The author write same way about issue “diet Chiem Thanh” in this text as he praised Le Thanh Tong and give reason of Le Thanh Tong campaigned Chiem Thanh as Chiem Thanh “did not regularly present tribute,” “insulted emissaries from our court,” “made incursions which bothered our border people”, “deceived the Ming”… All views were from side of Le Thanh Tong and imperial courts of the Dai Viet kingdom. Is it right?
Furthermore, I discover that one of good way to transfer Han text into Vietnamese readers by this time is keep phiên âm Hán Việt. It is hard for a common readers to read Han texts, however, phiên âm Hán Việt can more accurate than translation for transferring of sense of text. For instance, the Han text did not have that “Le Thanh Tong invades the Champa kingdom,” instead of the word “征”. The Champa people were not able to invade the borders of the Dai Viet but they “侵擾邊民.”
Right, there is nothing in this actual passage which is “modern.” What is modern is the text itself. To make that clear I should post the introduction, because that is where you can see that this is a new type of text.
Basically, however, this is supposed to be a summary of some of the “best events” in Vietnamese history. Traditional Vietnamese literati felt that times were the best when the country was peaceful and scholarship was flourishing. What this text says is that one of the greatest events in Vietnamese history was when the Vietnamese “exterminated Champa.” That is not a traditional “nho” [i.e., “scholar’s”] view. That is a reaction from people who themselves have just been conquered by the French, and have learned about Social Darwinism and are looking into their past to see if there is any sign that the Vietnamese were once “powerful.” And this author found such an example.
And yes, you are right, the language is very important. The language here does not describe equal states. Instead, the Vietnamese are clearly depicted as superior and the overlord.