Phan Khoi
Encyclopedia
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
leader who inspired a North Vietnamese variety of the Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
Hundred Flowers Campaign
Hundred Flowers Campaign
The Hundred Flowers Campaign, also termed the Hundred Flowers Movement, refers mainly to a brief six weeks in the People's Republic of China in the early summer of 1957 during which the Communist Party of China encouraged a variety of views and solutions to national policy issues, launched...
, in which scholars were permitted to criticize the Communist regime, but for which he himself was ultimately persecuted by the Communist Party of Vietnam
Communist Party of Vietnam
The Communist Party of Vietnam , formally established in 1930, is the governing party of the nation of Vietnam. It is today the only legal political party in that country. Describing itself as Marxist-Leninist, the CPV is the directing component of a broader group of organizations known as the...
.
Early life and education
Phan Khôi was born to an elite family. His father was "Phó Bảng" Phan Trân (1826–1935) who was the son of Judge Phan Nhu. His mother was Hoàng Thị Lệ (1826–1882) who was the daughter of Governor Hoang Dieu.Phan Khôi learned Chinese characters from a young age and was very well read. He read many progressive writings and developed a belief in civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
and a new society.
In 1906, he joined the Progressive Movement (Duy Tân) led by Phan Chu Trinh
Phan Chu Trinh
Phan Chu Trinh also known as Phan Châu Trinh was a famous early 20th century Vietnamese nationalist. He also used the alias Tây Hồ. He sought to end France's brutal occupation of Vietnam...
(1872–1926), Huynh Thuc Khang
Huynh Thuc Khang
Huỳnh Thúc Kháng was a Vietnamese anti-colonialist and associate of Phan Chu Trinh.Born in Thanh Binh in Tien Phuoc district in Quang Nam Province, the same district from which Trinh hailed, Khang went on to top the imperial examinations in 1900.Most cities in Vietnam, regardless of the political...
(1876–1947) and Tran Quy Cap (1870–1906). Phan Khôi moved to Hanoi to learn French and Quốc ngữ (Vietnamese written in the Latin alphabets).
In 1907, he joined the "Đông Kinh Nghĩa Thục" school, founded by Phan Chu Trinh
Phan Chu Trinh
Phan Chu Trinh also known as Phan Châu Trinh was a famous early 20th century Vietnamese nationalist. He also used the alias Tây Hồ. He sought to end France's brutal occupation of Vietnam...
with the help of Phan Boi Chau
Phan Boi Chau
Phan Bội Châu was a pioneer of Vietnamese 20th century nationalism. In 1903, he formed a revolutionary organization called the “Reformation Society” ....
in teaching materials.
Then in 1908 the French cracked down on Progressive Movement, they captured all members, executed the leaders and imprisoned others. Phan Khôi was sent back to prison in Điện Bàn.
In 1909, being pardoned by the French, he went to Huê and studied at the Pellerin School (1909–1911).
Opening school and teaching
1911 his father Phan Tran died. Phan Khoi came home for the funeral and stayed at his village, opened his own school and started teaching.1913, Phan Khoi married the daughter of Lương Thúc Ký (1873–1947). Lương Thúc Ký was a teacher at Dục Anh school at Phan Thiêt. Dục Anh school was founded by Mr. Nguyễn Trọng Lợi, who also was a member of the Progressive Movement.
Journalism
Phan Khôi wrote under the pen name Chương Dân, and was very well known for his new, revolutionary and controversial ideas.He contributed to Đăng Cổ Tùng Báo (1907) of Đông Kinh Nghĩa Thục, Nam Phong (1918) founded by Phạm Quỳnh, Lục Tỉnh Tân Văn, Hà Nội Thực Nghiệp Dân Báo (1920), Hữu Thanh (1921), Đông Pháp Thời Báo (1923), Trung Lập Báo (1924), Thần Chung (1929)
Editorships
Phan Khoi was the editor of Phụ Nữ Tân Văn (1929), Phụ Nữ Thời Đàm (1932), Tràng An (1934).In 1956, Phan Khoi led the Nhân Văn - Giai Phẩm movement in Hà Nội, and he served as editor in chief as well as the publisher of the Nhân Văn (1956). He also contributed to the Giai Phẩm periodical and Văn, a weekly publication.
The Nhân Văn Affair
Some leading Vietnamese intellectuals in the north of the country, like Nguyen Huu Dang and Tran Duc Thao, joined Phan Khoi to express their ideals in the Nhân Văn - Giai Phẩm Movement, demanding freedom of speechFreedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
, freedom of the press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
, and democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
. They accused the Vietnamese Communist Party of violating the Constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
In December 1956, the Vietnamese Communist Party forced the papers to close. By 1958,after indecision about what to do about the participants in this dissent, it had arrested numerous participants in the Nhan Van Giai Pham affair, imprisoned some of them, forced some into public self-criticism, and put others on trial. This was reported to the world as "The Nhân Văn Affair" by Hoàng Văn Chí
Hoang Van Chi
Hoàng Văn Chí was one of the first Vietnamese political writers, a prominent intellectual who was an opponent of colonialism and later of communism in Vietnam. He used the penname Mạc Định...
.
Since this event till the last day of his life, Phan Khôi was kept prisoner at home by the Communist Party, his ideas and writings were oppressed.
Phan Khôi died suddenly January 16, 1959 at home in Hà Nội.
Published works
1936 - Chương Dân thi thoại [Poems of Chương Dân]1939 - Trở vỏ lửa ra
1955 - Việt ngữ nghiên cứu [Studies about Vietnamese language]
1932 - Tình già [Old Love - Poem written in new format]
1918 - Bàn về tế giao [Remarks about diplomacy]
Ngẫu cảm (thơ chữ Hán) [Inspiration - poem written in Chinese characters]
Viếng mộ ông Lê Chất [Visiting the grave of Lê Chất - poem in Chinese characters]
Ông Năm chuột (truyện ngắn) [Mr. Năm Chuột - short story]
Phan Khôi - Poems
Phan Khôi: Thánh hiền ta đời xưa chưa hề có tư tưởng dân chủ
Phan Khôi: Việt ngữ nghiên cứu
Phan Khôi: văn học với nữ tánh
Phan Khôi: cấm sách, sách cấm
Phan Khôi: Tư tưởng Tây phương và Đông phương
Phan Khôi: Học thuyết cũ với vận mạng mới nước Tàu
Phan Khôi: Mấy lời kết luận về Cô Hồng Minh và cái thuyết Âu châu sắp tan nát
Phan Khôi:Thanh niên với tổ quốc
Phan Khôi: Chữ quốc ngữ ở Nam kỳ với thế lực của phụ nữ
Phan Khôi: Cách mạng giả
Phan Khôi: Khoa học với văn hóa
Phan Khôi: Cái ảnh hưởng của Khổng giáo ở nước ta
Phan Khôi: Chữ trinh, cái tiết với cái nết
Phan Khôi: Về cái ý kiến lập hội “Chấn hưng quốc học” của ông Phạm Quỳnh
Phan Khôi: Về chữ Quốc ngữ
Phan Khôi: Cách ngôn luận của người Á Đông
Phan Khôi: Người mở đầu cho luận lý học Á Đông
Phan Khôi: Trên lịch sử nước ta không có chế độ phong kiến - Lại Nguyên Ân sưu tầm, hiệu đính, giới thiệu
Legacy
Phan Khôi represented a Vietnamese eliteElite
Elite refers to an exceptional or privileged group that wields considerable power within its sphere of influence...
class in the transitional time from Chinese education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
to the new era of Western values.
Phan Khôi had made the transition very swifly not only by himself, but he also took his generation
Generation
Generation , also known as procreation in biological sciences, is the act of producing offspring....
along with him.
Being exposed to different cultures from China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, he was able to combine them all to serve his Vietnamese people
Vietnamese people
The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...
.
Phan Khôi brought many new ideas to Vietnam, from a new democratic society with respect to human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
and civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
, to equality for women
Gender equality
Gender equality is the goal of the equality of the genders, stemming from a belief in the injustice of myriad forms of gender inequality.- Concept :...
, to a new trend of poetry.
He provided the best spirit to a debate in Bàn thêm về “bút chiến”, which until today is still the foremost valuable lesson the Vietnamese ought to learn.
The Nhân Văn Affair continued to be an inspiration for the Vietnamese intellectuals today.
In his writing:Đàn bà với quốc sự, Phan Khôi clearly offered Vietnamese ladies an honor place in society within the setting of Vietnamese culture.
His poem "Old Love" was the first poem written in a new format, opening doors for many young poets to surpass him in a short time.
However, he also was very interested in researching the roots of Vietnamese heritage, especially Vietnamese spoken language, which had long been ignored and looked down upon by the elite class in Vietnam. His research Phan Khôi: Việt ngữ nghiên cứu was a well of knowledge for young Vietnamese to follow.
One generation before Hoàng Văn Chí
Hoang Van Chi
Hoàng Văn Chí was one of the first Vietnamese political writers, a prominent intellectual who was an opponent of colonialism and later of communism in Vietnam. He used the penname Mạc Định...
, one generation after Phan Chu Trinh
Phan Chu Trinh
Phan Chu Trinh also known as Phan Châu Trinh was a famous early 20th century Vietnamese nationalist. He also used the alias Tây Hồ. He sought to end France's brutal occupation of Vietnam...
, Phan Khôi represented a class of Vietnamese intellectuals caught between colonialism
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
, nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
, communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. Phan Khôi's progressive spirit and his life-long effort to raise the Vietnamese people's awareness of human rights, civil rights, and good education were suppressed by the Communist Party with The Nhân Văn Affair since 1956 are being revived in the 2000s by the younger generation of Vietnam.