The Birth of Indochina Magazine

Nguyen Van Vinh proposed the theory of direct rule: calling for the French to directly rule Annam. In 1918, based on the theory of "national self-determination" proposed by US President Wilson at the League of Nations (later the United Nations), Nguyen Van Vinh wrote an article advocating for the autonomy of Indochina. In 1931, in the newspaper L'Annam, he proposed the theory of direct rule to oppose the constitutional theory of Pham Quynh. Realizing the corruption of the Nguyen Dynasty and its bureaucracy, Nguyen Van Vinh advocated relying on the protectionist power of France to eliminate the Southern Dynasty and its bureaucracy.

Some Western-educated intellectuals also agreed and supported him. But the court and mandarins were angry and reacted. The protectorate itself used this theory as a pressure on the Nguyen court and mandarins, not wanting to apply it in practice. Because the existence of the semi-feudal colonial regime was the link between colonialism and the native feudal class. Patriots could not accept such a direct, open colonial rule. Nguyen Van Vinh's theory of direct rule clearly had no social basis and soon became outdated.

Pham Quynh was wiser, choosing a safe, compromising and moderate path, which was the constitutional monarchy. He called for the implementation of the 1884 protectorate treaty, preserving the monarchy and building a constitution with reference to the Western democratic model. This theory satisfied all three forces: the French colonialists wanted to maintain their rule without disturbance; the Southern Dynasty and mandarins did not lose their positions and benefits; some intellectuals had their national pride stroked. But for politically sensitive scholars, it was not difficult for them to recognize Pham Quynh's motives and goals. That is why Ngo Duc Ke, Huynh Thuc Khang, Phan Khoi ... sought to criticize and attack Pham Quynh's arguments, sometimes too much, because they did not want that theory to lull the masses and increase the prestige of the semi-feudal colonial regime. When Pham Quynh was invited to Hue to take up the position of Royal Secretary of Bao Dai's office in 1932, everything became more clearly exposed.

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Nguyen Van Vinh also had his own reasons when he opposed Pham Quynh's constitutionalism and proposed the theory of direct rule. According to him, the king was "only a ghost to the people" and continuing to maintain the king's rule under French protection would only worsen the situation of the country because that governing apparatus was too outdated. He called this policy a way to "discredit the elite class in the eyes of their people by allowing them to continue their ancient methods of oppressing and oppressing the lowly and ordinary people".

He therefore called it “a policy of dishonesty”, “an insult to our honor” and “people always treat us like children”. [145]

Nguyen Van Vinh believed that the French-Southern cooperation at that time was insincere, temporary and could never lead to a good result as expected. “The first thing people must be disappointed to discover is that they will never be united as one, the Annamese people and the French minority will never be sincerely attached to each other in this country”. This is the basis for him to propose the theory of direct rule. However, the direct rule regime he proposed was not complete French rule but “the form of a country with a government headed by France and South Vietnam; there are parliaments consisting of both sides in which all components must be representatives commensurate with the interests and forces of each side”. It was a single government “managed by French and Annamese civil servants, recruited according to regulations of true equality of rights and equality of positions, with priority given to Frenchmen in command positions and to Vietnamese in positions dealing directly with the local people.”

He believed that if done in this way, the French minority would unite with the Annamese people, who were already a stable element. And thus, they would be attached to Annam, a country “which they also considered as their own, which they loved and the people there from before. They wanted to make that country their second homeland and treat the people there as their compatriots”. [171]

It can be seen that compared to the constitutionalism advocated by Pham Quynh, Nguyen Van Vinh's direct rule theory cannot avoid illusion and naivety. Because the main purpose of the colonialists was to exploit the colony for their own benefit, not to bring civilization to the poor and hungry people of An Nam as they had always preached. Therefore, Nguyen Van Vinh's direct rule theory was not successful and was a weak point for people to attack when evaluating his career.

Nguyen Van Vinh and Pham Quynh used to collaborate with each other: many of Pham Quynh's articles were initially published in the Indochina magazine, edited by Nguyen Van Vinh. But later, due to their different views, they argued with each other, sometimes fiercely, and fate pushed the two of them in two different directions. But in general, in terms of direction, both Pham Quynh and Nguyen Van Vinh are phenomena that can be explained according to the same rules.

In the history of foreign invasions and interventions, there have always been intellectuals who collaborated or compromised with the rulers. Among them, there were those who were complacent, self-satisfied, considered themselves up to date, and were cursed by the world. At the same time, there were also those who were tormented by conscience, who sought to justify themselves, either sincerely or clumsily, but more or less showing remorse and division in their personalities. Ton Tho Tuong is a typical case.

Nguyen Van Vinh never expressed regret for his path. Moreover, he did not have the time or opportunity to look back on his life. But in the context of Vietnamese history and society in the early 20th century, when patriotic forces had not yet found a flag to focus their leadership on, perhaps Nguyen Van Vinh's political choice should be viewed more leniently.

As the following part of the thesis will present, Nguyen Van Vinh's entry into the protectorate regime was a stroke of luck, and at the same time a chance for someone who wanted to change his fate. And once he was in the machine, with the temptations of working conditions in the civilized world, pulling out was not an easy and simple thing. In fact, as we will see, Nguyen Van Vinh was not a person who completely compromised, he sought to "struggle" within the framework.

The limits that colonialism imposed on the intellectuals it trained and used. Many times, he deviated from the orbit oriented by colonialism: participating in Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc , defending Phan Chau Trinh, criticizing Pham Quynh...

But his path was also different from that of Phan Chau Trinh, with whom he sympathized, shared, and had collaborated. If Phan Chau Trinh determined the task of reform to save the country and steadfastly pursued the goal of national independence, Nguyen Van Vinh reformed but still maintained French domination through the policy of direct rule. It is clear that Phan Chau Trinh criticized the semi-feudal colonial regime from the outside, while Nguyen Van Vinh criticized from the inside. He was still a product of that regime and had worked to serve it for a long time. Perhaps at the end of his life he somewhat awakened and realized the illusions of his youth, but he did not have time to correct his mistakes.

On the other hand, it is also necessary to see that political actions and cultural actions have different effects objectively. The direct rule theory was clearly a mistake of Nguyen Van Vinh. But the policy of spreading the national language, participating in the Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc , writing newspapers, translating books... are cultural actions that have had a positive impact on the country's renewal. Today, talking about the direct rule theory is talking about something outdated, surpassed by history. Talking about Nguyen Van Vinh's cultural and literary activities is talking about what still resonates today, in the cause of building and developing the spiritual life of the country. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the person and career of Nguyen Van Vinh in the spirit of "filtering the muddy to bring out the clear", because it was a rich life but also a very complicated life.

1.2. The birth of Indochina magazine

1.2.1. Policy of Indochina magazine

Because it was part of the French colonialists' plan to invade culture, the original purpose of Indochina Magazine was to serve the colonial government's propaganda. The "Caution" column in Indochina Magazine first appeared on May 15.

In 1913, he wrote: “The newspaper had to be printed out in a hurry due to a dangerous situation, so this first issue did not have time to present to you gentlemen for review. What is the philosophy of this newspaper, and what is in the printing and editing methods of the newspaper, I cannot tell you clearly. In the next issue, I will clearly explain the program and philosophy. Now let me give you an outline so that you all know. Each issue will have a summary of the events of the week, a major discussion on current events, global telegrams, things to know about business…” Accordingly, the article also stated: “Encourage the Annamese people to use the national language as the national language, the foundation of their studies”, “The Annamese also opened a chapter titled Ancient Literature to take out the practical needs and rationale of the Annamese people to present to the government and to bring the noble ideas of the State to the people”.

And, in the second issue, published on May 22, 1913, in the “Ism” section , the motto and purpose of Dong Duong magazine were once again stated more clearly and specifically, which were: “Disseminating Western culture, promoting the study of the national language, introducing practical knowledge such as agriculture, technology and propagating for the protectorate government”. According to the assessment of researcher Nguyen Van Trung: “All the goals that Dong Duong magazine set out were similar to the goals of the Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc movement, except for propagating for the protectorate government”. [86]

The policy and objectives of Indochina magazine were summarized by Pham The Ngu as follows:

- Politically, the newspaper was obviously a propaganda organ for the French protectorate. Propaganda in what way? By telling the people about the state's affairs […], by telling them the pros and cons and persuading them not to rebel or follow a violent revolution.

- Regarding academics, "the newspaper was established with the aim of bringing Western academics to teach in Nom script to the Annamese people so that they could learn without having to go to school or after having gone to school, they could learn more." This education was of a popular and encyclopedic nature, so we saw translations and explanations of all kinds of issues, from raising children to repairing dikes, from the Lang Sa people's trading methods to the division of Western psychology.

- Regarding writing, promote the national language, a type of writing that is several times more convenient for the Annamese people than Chinese characters. “Open this newspaper and look at it, all the things discussed in the newspaper, just think, if they were discussed in Chinese characters, how many people would understand all the meaning? But the national language is not only readable and understandable by those who know the national language, but also read aloud so that the whole family can understand it”. Not only promoting by writing a national language newspaper for everyone to read for fun, recognizing the advantages of the new writing, the newspaper was even more active, promising “to give away for free to those who buy the newspaper a book on teaching the national language, which is very convenient for you so that you don’t have to bring the book to ask, everyone can learn the national language by themselves”. [54, 46].

The above political policy is completely consistent with the spirit of the report of Sestier, a French inspector: “Instead of news entering this country through the Chinese press, we think it is best to have in this country an Annamese newspaper in which each interesting event will be presented honestly and clearly, accompanied by a specific explanation to the extent necessary and legal comments” 17. That policy was clearly shown in the early stages of Indochina Magazine, with articles showing Nguyen Van Vinh's bad attitude towards the patriotic movement at that time.

In the very first issue of Indochina Magazine, Nguyen Van Vinh loudly denounced the patriots who threw bombs and killed several French officers at a Hanoi hotel as “wolves, liars, uneducated people, using beggars’ tricks”, and even threatened to throw them in a basket and roll in the river if they were caught (!). In the article “ Original Essay 18 ”, Nguyen Van Vinh tried to defend those who studied in the West, while criticizing and disparaging patriotic scholars like Phan Boi Chau as “fake Confucians”, “useless pedants”, “jobless”. Referring to the uprisings that had taken place before, Nguyen Van Vinh wrote: “There are people who slander that the recent rebellion was also caused by Western learning. The state allowed too much education, talented people were useless, resulting in a class of people who were unfinished, not high enough to reach low enough, not having any position, thinking too much, and having too big of an ambition, thus giving birth to a

17 Excerpt from Nguyen Van Hoan, Open letter to the researchers of Tale of Kieu in the South about the meaning of the debate between Pham Quynh and Ngo Duc Ke, Literary Research, Hanoi, No. 12-1960.

18 Indochina Magazine, No. 2, May 22, 1913.

The party hates Lang Sa, and slanders the Annamese people to cause chaos. This is a big mistake. We think we should clear it up so that the government can avoid the reckless actions of a few crazy people from spreading the most loyal people to Lang Sa in this country.

Editor Nguyen Van Vinh's anger at the members of the Vietnam Restoration Association who participated in the bombing of the Hanoi Hotel and his tendency to praise the colonial government clearly revealed his political views during his early collaboration with the French. Nguyen Van Vinh considered violent acts to only bring about useless bloodshed. Moreover, if successful, they would only lead to the maintenance of the corrupt monarchy... not believing that "following the West will lead to the loss of the country", and also believing that "colonialism is not as harmful as feudalism". With a practical mind, fond of practical science and technology as well as Western democracy and freedom , and already disliking the feudal regime, his enthusiastic praise of the "publicization" of the protectorate state is not difficult to understand.

However, over time, the number of articles of a propaganda nature for the government in the Indochina Journal gradually decreased. Instead, there was an increase in academic articles. Since 1915, the newspaper focused entirely on literature and pedagogy. Nguyen Van Vinh himself also completely abandoned editorials and focused on translation.

1.2.2 Editorial team of Indochina magazine

The editorial staff of Indochina magazine included both the new and old scholars. The new scholars included Nguyen Van Vinh (1882 – 1936), Pham Quynh (1892 – 1945), Nguyen Van To (1889 – 1947), Pham Duy Ton (1883 – 1924); the old scholars

There were Tan Da (1889-1939), Phan Ke Binh (1875-1921), Nguyen Do Muc (1882-1951). Among them, Nguyen Van Vinh, Phan Ke Binh, Nguyen Do Muc were the three writers most closely associated with the newspaper. Later, the newspaper also had the collaboration of Tran Trong Kim (1883-1953), Nguyen Huu Tien (1875-1941), Nguyen Ba Trac (1881-1945), Than Trong Hue (1869-1925). The writing team of Dong Duong magazine is often referred to by a common name, " Dong Duong magazine group ". They brought

gave Indochina Magazine a unique spirit and writing style that became a "brand", a writing style that researchers call "Indochina Magazine writing style".

The common characteristic of the writers in Indochina magazine is that they are all intellectuals of the 1907 generation – intellectuals of two worlds. [77] This generation of intellectuals was born in the context of the increasingly fading power of the feudal court and Confucianism losing its position in society. In the battle between old and new, between tradition and modernity, the power of the past (Confucian ideology, the monarchy, the aging mandarin system, the closed village community) seemed to be about to disappear quickly. In addition, the situation in Indochina and the world seemed to tend to support reform, creating an upper hand for reformist thinkers and intellectuals. But that was only their fleeting victory when the colonial government, sometimes playing the role of supporting reform, sometimes ready to use an iron fist to crush reforms that went further than expected.

Except for Nguyen Van Vinh, who was born into a peasant family, the intellectuals who participated in Dong Duong magazine all came from families with a tradition of mandarin examinations or were trained by Confucian education from a young age. These intellectuals, when they grew up, were trained by Western education early, so they were highly adaptable to changes in the times. Tan Da Nguyen Khac Hieu belonged to a noble family with a tradition of mandarin examinations. His ancestors had many generations of mandarins under the Le dynasty. Duong Ba Trac was the son of Duong Trong Pho (1862 - 1927), a Confucian scholar with progressive ideas; he was the older brother of Duong Quang Ham (1898 - 1946) and Duong Tu Quan (1902 - 1969) , both of whom were progressive teachers in the modern era. At Dong Duong magazine , Tan Da was in charge of the column A Nom writing style , which was considered rich in artistry and a stepping stone for his later success in his writing career.

Nguyen Van To, pen name Ung Hoe, studied Chinese as a child, then went to France to study and received a Baccalaureate (High School) degree. Returning to Vietnam, he worked at the School of the Far East in Hanoi, specializing in ancient Vietnamese literature. He was the President of the Tri Tri Association, the Association for the Propagation of the National Language before 1945.

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