Re: Ba?o DDa.i not as a "playboy" king? (fwd)

[Aiviet Nguyen <aiviet@cat.syr.edu>]

Hello,

   Don't compare my beloved hero with the playboy king, please.
First, Bao Dai never proved by any action that he was Anh Hung. Dda(.ng Dung
did. He never tried to sacrify his pleasures to fulfill his duty as a King.
   "Le Dragon d'Annam" ( not the vietnamese Dragon, as Bao Dda.i ruled 
only Middle Vietnam = Annam) can not serve as an evidence od his patriotism.
Ba?o Dda.i is world famous in the bridge game.
  Maybe he wanted to be a patriot however he did not have time. Too much 
time was spent on hunting, casino, wooing, tennis.
   Actually, Ba?o DDa.i was in position to be a great King. A lot of 
opportunity was lost by his ignorance. He could have saved our country from
wars, quarrels if he had had spent only haft that much time of what he did
on tennising.

Cheers
Aiviet


It painted Bao Dai
as a patriotic king who; due to the circumstances such as the French
occupation of VN, WW2, Japanese occupation, the rise to power of VCP, etc.;
could not do much to help VN.  In summary, the book tried to justify Bao
Dai's action using the commonly VN reasoning expressed by the poem of Dda.ng
Dung:
     "Tho+`i lai ddo^` ddie^'u tha`nh co^ng di.
       Va^.n bi' anh hu`ng a^?m ha^.n dda"