The Nationalist Movement in Indo-China
Social Science Ten
Introduction
Indo-China is the eastern part of Indochinese Peninsula and comprises of modern countries of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
The continental portion of Southeast Asia lying east of India and roughly south of china is known as Indochinease Peninsula or Mainland Southeast Asia.
This got its name as Indo-China as referring to the location of the territory between 'India' and 'China' by French as French established its colony in this region in Nam Ky which they called Cochin-China which was the southernmost portion of Vietnam.
The Indo China Peninsula comprises of modern countries of Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia only), Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
Vietnam is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam since 1975 after the reunification of North and South Vietnam.
Emerging from the Shadow of China
Indo–China was a part of Imperial China for almost thousand years, i.e. from 111 BC to 939 AD. In 939 AD after victory in the Battle of Bach Dang River an independent Vietnamese state formed. From then several successive Vietnamese royal dynasties ruled there.
Vietnam was a part of maritime silk route. Since Vietnam was part of Imperial China for a long time so, even after independence of Vietnam, its rulers continued to maintain the Chinese system of governance as well as Chinese culture and practices.
Colonial Domination and Resistance
In 1858 French troops landed in Vietnam and established its grip over northern region by mid 1980. French occupied Tonkin (southern part of Vietnam) and Anaam (Central part of Vietnam) after French Chinese war. In 1987 French Indo China was formed.
After colonization, in order to consolidate their power and position; French started to influence and reshape the culture and way of thinking of Vietnamese. This brought to discontent among Vietnamese as they sought loss and disturbance in all areas of their life. This led to emergence of strong Nationalism among Vietnamese and they started confrontation at all front with French.
Why the French Thought Colonies Necessary
At that time most of Western nations thought that colonies were essential to supply natural and other essential goods. Along with this they thought, people of other nations were backward and it was their duty to civilize them.
In order to enhance the supply of essential goods, French started to build canals and drainage systems in the Mekong delta to increase agriculture produce. This resulted as Vietnam became the largest exporter of rice in the world by 1931.
These developments were followed by many infrastructure projects, such as construction of rail network that would link the northern and southern parts of Vietnam and China. This final rail link with Yunan in China was completed by 1910.
To ensure higher levels of profit to their businessman French started pressurizing the government of Vietnam to develop the infrastructure further.
Should Colonies be Developed?
Everyone knew and agreed that colonies only fed the interest of mother country. Paul Bernard, one of the influential writers of that time, believed that purpose of the colony was to make profit. And to ensure more profit, economy of the colonies needed to be developed. For that the standard of living of the people should be improved so that people could buy more goods to increase profits of French businessman.
High population level, low agriculture produce and indebtedness among the peasants are main barriers to the economic development in Vietnam. So, land reforms were necessary as had done in Japan in 1890s. But, lands reforms could not ensure sufficient employment and Japanese showed that industrialization would be essential to create more jobs to ensure development of people.
But, the economy of colony in Vietnam was primarily based on rice production and rubber plantation. Fields to produce rice and plantation of rubber were owned by French and a few Vietnamese elite. This spread landlordism especially in rural areas and standard of living of people declined. In rubber plantation indentured Vietnamese labours were widely used.
The French contrary to what Bernard would have liked did little to industrialise the economy.
The Dilemma of Colonial Education
Similar to British in India, French colonization was not based only on economic exploitation rather also driven by the idea of 'civilising mission'. They believed that they are only civilized people and it was their duty to civilized Vietnamese even at the cost of destroying local cultures, religions and traditions; as French sought these cultures, religions and traditions are outdated.
Education was seen as one way to civilize the native, but the French had many dilemma and doubts regarding educating the Vietnamese. After getting education Vietnamese might begin to question colonial domination, French may loses jobs, such as teachers, shopkeepers, policemen, etc. Some of the French started opposing policies that would give full access to French education to Vietnamese.
Talking Modern
Vietnamese were greatly influenced by Chinese culture, so to consolidate the power; French had to counter the Chinese influence. So, they decided to educate people in Vietnamese language at lower class and French in higher class so that by learning French language and culture Vietnamese would respect French sentiments and ideals and understood the superiority of French culture. For this French systematically dismantled the traditional educational system and established French schools for Vietnamese. The few who learnt French and acquired French culture were to be rewarded with French citizenship.
School textbooks were designed to glorify the French and justified the colonial rule, while Vietnamese were represented as primitive and backward. Vietnamese were represented only capable of manual labour, skilled copyist but not intelligent and creative. School children were told that only French rule could ensure peace in Vietnam.
However, only small fraction of elite Vietnamese could enroll in the schools and out of them only few were declared passed the school leaving examination. In 1925 in a population of 17 million, there were less than 400 who passed the examination.
Looking Modern
French who lived in Vietnam were called 'Colon'. Colon believed that only education was not enough to learn Western ideas rather to look modern was also necessary. The school encouraged adoption of Western styles, such as having a short haircut and Western outfits.
For this Tonkin Free School was started 1907 to provide a Western education including classes in science, hygiene and French.
Vietnamese this meant major break with their own identity as they traditionally kept long hair and their dress was also different.
Resistance in Schools
Teachers along with students did not blindly follow the curriculum as that was. While teaching; Vietnamese teachers quietly modified the text and used to criticize what was written in books. There was open opposition sometimes while sometimes silent resistances on many issues as most of the teachers were Vietnamese in lower classes. So, it became difficult for French to control what was actually being taught.
In 1926, in Saigon Native Girls School, a Vietnamese girl refused to vacate the front seat for a French student, resulting in expulsion from school by Colon Principal. This led to protest by many students. Students who protested also expelled from school which resulted in further open protests. Seeing the situation out of control students were took back to the school with warning.
Students were inspired by patriotic feelings and the conviction that it was the duty of the educated to fight for the benefit of society. So, they started raising their voice and fighting against Government efforts to prevent Vietnamese from white collar jobs.
By 1920, many political parties were formed by students, such as Party of Yong Annan. They started publishing nationalist journals, such as Annanese Student.
French were trying to consolidate and strengthen their power through education by changing the value and perceptions of the people to make them believe in the superiority of French civilization. On the other hand, Vietnamese intellectuals were in feared in losing not just control over its territories but their very identity, culture and customs which were being devalued and the people were developing a master slave mentality.
Thus, schools became one of the important places for political and cultural confrontation. The confrontation against French colonial education became part of larger battle against colonialism and for independence.