Hung Dao
The large boulevard connecting Saigon and Cholon bears this famous general's name. In the 13th century his tiny army defeated half a million Mongol invaders, who had already conquered most of Europe and Asia. He subsequently defeated them on two more invasions.
Tran Hung Dao was an uncle of the Emperor Tran Nhan Ton. His nephew made him a hero, and on his death, par-sonally supervised a ten day national funeral for him. His death is a national holiday in South Vietnam today.
Le-Loi
One of the biggest and busiest downtown streets in Saigon is named for a famous leader who for about ten years conducted guerrilla warfare against the Chinese who were ruling the country.
A man of intelligence, Le-Loi had been repeatedly offered Mandarinates by the Chinese but had always refused them. When his forces triumphed against the Chinese, Le-Loi acceded to power as king of Vietnam. He died six years later in 1433 in Hanoi, of beri-beri. While king, he ruled under the name Le-Thai-To.
Vo Tanh
Vo Tanh was a national hero of the 18th century who raised an army with his mother's money, and fought on the side of Nguyen Anh when war was raging between the Nguyen dynasty and the Tay Son. He was extremely successful until 1799 when he was attacked at Qui-Nhon.
He held out against a superior force for two years while hoping for reinforcements from the south. None came and Vo Tanh decided to write to the Tay Son general asking him to spare his troops.
After that, he put on his state dress uniform and assembled his troops around a stake which he had erected in the center of the fort. He told the troops that he had failed in his mission of defending the town, and wished to die at the stake rather than let the enemy see his face. He personally ignited the gunpowder beneath the stake. After his death, Vo Tanh was made a duke by the Emperor Minh Mang and a tomb was built for him in Gia-Dinh province.
Le Van Duyet
An interesting fact about this leader is that he was an eunuch. As in China, the eunuch system was an important institution in Vietnam. When a child was born with a congenital birth defect which would qualify him to become an eunuch, the family had to notify the Court and offer the services of the child. He might be used to guard and supervise the royal harem, or serve as liaison officer between the emperors and the mandarins when he was older. Usually, such a child began his work in the palace at the age of ten or eleven. The family of the child and the entire village from whence he came received tax concessions in compensation. Some eunuchs won places in the Mandarinate. Besides children born in this condition, others suffering physical injury were also selected, and castration was sometimes used as a recruitment technique.
Le Van Duyet was well liked by the Emperor Gia-Long who unified Vietnam. He was later appointed Governor-General of Saigon by the emperor. Duyet opposed Minh Mang's coming to the throne, but Gia-Long asked him to guide his inexperienced son during the first years of his rule.
Minh Mang, however, detested Le Van Duyet and resented his advice. In 1836, Emperor Minh Mang issued a decree with the purpose of diminishing the power of the eunuchs in government, notably Le Van Duyet. The new regulation forbade eunuchs to interfere in any way with administration and limited them to transmission of orders. He prohibited any more eunuchs from being appointed to the mandarinal corps. This marked the beginning of the end of the eunuch system in Vietnam.
Le Van Duyet was born in 1762 in My Tho near Saigon. After his death, General Le Van Duyet was brought to disgrace when Emperor Minh Mang relieved him posthumously of his rank, and cancelled all nominations and titles conferred on him during his lifetime. He ordered Duyet's tomb to be flattened and surrounded by chains. He also had the tomb symbolically lashed 100 times.
The General's status was restored under later emperors, and a shrine has been erected for him in Gia-Dinh province. (See Chapter 11, places of interest.)
Petrus Ky
Unlucky in politics and diplomacy, Petrus Ky (Truong Vinh Ky) turned his knowledge of both the East and West to more scholarly applications. He spoke ten languages, was the author of scores of textbooks, and was one of the first newspaper men in Vietnam. Many books from outside Vietnam were translated by Petrus Ky adding immensely to the culture of Vietnam. He died in 1898 at the age of 61 after spending his last years in poverty. Today, he is highly revered and a statue of him is in Saigon. The largest boy's high school and one of the longest avenues in Saigon bear his name.
Phan Thanh Gian
A self-made Mandarin, who passed the doctorate exam at the age of 29, Phan Thanh Gian is remembered in Vietnam not only as a good administrator, but also a man of letters. He became the country's first Ambassador to a European nation when he went to France in 1858 to negotiate a cease-fire with the French, who had bombarded Da-Nang and taken three of the eastern provinces.
He was considered successful, and the French agreed to move out of the provinces with the exception of a few military bases. The French stipulated that the Vietnamese must pay the costs of supporting the expeditionary forces. A Vietnamese underground did not accept this and rallied support against the invaders. The French marched southward in 1867 to take the southern provinces.
Phan Thanh Gian wanted the Emperor Tu Due to rally the whole nation against the invaders, but he was not successful in getting the emperor to act. Because he was unable to get a peace treaty with the French, or an agreement to fight them from Emperor Tu Doc, he planned to destroy himself. He went on a hunger strike and as he had not died after two weeks, he took poison on August 4, 1867.
Besides being Vietnam's first Ambassador to France, Phan Thanh Gian was known for his poems and his historical writings, and once served as Governor of the southern provinces and devoted himself to developing the area.
When the Vietnamese regained their independence from the French in 1955, a long, narrow, tree-lined street, (where I happened to live in Saigon), was named for Phau Thanh Glan, who told his sons before his death, "Do not collaborate with the French."
CHAPTER 3
THE PEOPLE
General Impressions
The first things that newcomers usually notice in Vietnam are the smiling faces of countless children, and the lovely fragile-looking women in their flowing dresses reminiscent of butterflies. The people are a gentle type who are shy, yet can be outgoing with foreigners, especially Americans.
Children love to follow the American men chanting a few words in English, such as, "Hello, GI, you give me candy?" and "You number one." If you don't give the professional child beggars a coin, they will shout, "You number ten." All the while, the children may touch you with their hands and run away, only to creep back again, still smiling. They are intrigued by the hair on American soldiers' arms and often tug at it and giggle.
Families are large in this part of the world, and it is not uncommon to see tiny children lugging around their little brother or sister on their hip. Sometimes the little one may weigh just a few pounds less than his porter; children naturally take care of each other.
Food has been fairly abundant in Vietnam, and
