Re: "Tua^'n, cha`ng trai nu+o+'c Vie^.t" -Reply (fwd)

[Tuan Pham <tuan.pham@unsw.edu.au>]

Aiviet Nguyen <aiviet@cat.syr.edu> wrote

>   I am curious about the development process. Is the 1945 famine a shock 
>to turn an Anamite into a Vnmese hero in Himlam?
>  
>   The hero spirit of Viets was at minimum when 7 French soldier attacked
>Ninh Binh. The "Tua^`n Vu~" "a'n Sa't" with 2000 soldiers in hands have 
>surrendered the castle. What a shame!
>
>   The two defeats " Ha` Tha`nh Tha^'t thu?" did not lack heros like 
>Hoa`ng Die^.u, Nguye^~n Tri Phu+o+ng, Nguye^~n La^m,...However, they lost
>the belief to be able to resist in the very first moment. And dozen
>of their arm mates surrendered so easily ( Look at "Ha` Tha`nh Chi'nh 
>Khi' ca"). That is " da^n khi' dda~ ma^'t" and the whole nation has
>fallen asleep. And Phan Sao Nam tried in vein to wake up " da^.y, do^`ng 
>ba`o o+i da^.y ma` nghe to^i ke^? chuye^.n.."
>  
>  Vietnamese Nationalists fought bravely but hopelessly with the slogan
>"Kho^ng tha`nh co^ng cu~ng tha`nh nha^n". One can not win with that slogan.
>
>What shaked everything up?
> 

Hi

To the Vietnamese of the early 20th century it must have
seemed like the whole world had fallen down around them.
An alien people came from nowhere, destroyed their
civilisation, and even toyed with the centre of their world,
China. It's no wonder they  lost their spirit.

What shook everything up? 

David Marr, who is now at the ANU in Australia, wrote
what I think is a very good analysis of that question.
Check out his book: Vietnamese tradition on trial, 1920-1945.
(pub. Uni of California, Berkeley).

Essentially, the thesis is that the Vietnamese spirit
was not suddenly reawakened in 1945, but the reawakening
took place over the period mentioned by the conscious efforts
of many intellectuals, and culminated in 1945.

A very convincing and well researched work.

Cheers
Tuan Pham