Academic literature on the topic 'Vietnam History Nguyen dynasty, 1802-1945'

Following the traditions of the preceding feudal dynasties, efforts were made by the Nguyen Dynasty (Vietnam) to prevent piracy and ensure security and marine safety in the South China Sea during the first half of the nineteenth century. The Nguyen Dynasty directed its energies towards national interests and showed an elevated level of international awareness and responsibility, especially at the beginning of the successful cooperation with Qing Dynasty (China) to resolve this widespread problem. This article examines the attempt of the Nguyen Dynasty to suppress the raiding and looting of pirates in the South China Sea, and its important achievements in this difficult and dangerous work. Addressing this non-traditional security problem also helped confirm the Nguyen Dynasty’s possession of islands within the South China Sea, including the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands.

Southern Vietnam is the central region of the Nguyen Dynasty. It occupies an important position in national defense and foreign affairs. The region has had the huge economic potential and can create a breakthrough for Vietnam's economic development up to now. However, due to the historical conditions and geographical location, political upheaval was tremendously popular during the period of the Nguyen Lords and early Nguyen Dynasty. Besides, the economic factors of international trade and the development of commodity production (specific social foundations) were high above the national standard. As a result, the central government had to use a special method of selecting and using local officials/mandarins. The officials selected must have been good in ``handling the statecraft'', who could understand and have/had a process of living and working in the South. As two eminent political kings, Gia Long and Minh Mang applied flexible measures, not taking the aristocratic nature of candidates very seriously. Both kings completely removed the ``hereditary'' regime, not following the Confucian model as in the North and the Central regions in selecting and using mandarins in the local government apparatus. This policy helped the Nguyen Dynasty build a dedicated, competent service bureau in the region. The policy is an exception in the history of recruiting mandarins under the Confucian perspective in the country/Vietnam, and to a certain extent, it has successfully promoted local socio-economic development. This paper aims to argue that it is difficult to apply a unified but rigid policy in Vietnam on issues related to the locality and that Southern Vietnam always demands more special attention in state policies.

This paper introduces Memorial Tombs in the context of memorial compound tomb types for the aristocrat of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802- 1945) in Southern Vietnam in The Medieval and Post-Medieval Time. This type was of rare tangible and intangible cultural heritage at the time (1.5%). These heritage assets are very valuable because they are associated with historical figures – “state founders, meritorious officials” in country expansion time “The Great South Unification (Dai Nam Nhat thong)”. In addition to the typical complex of mausoleums in Southern Vietnam (Nguyen Huu Canh, 1650-1700; Le Van Duyet, 1763-1832; Le Van Phong, Truong Tan Buu, 1752-1827 or Tran Van Hoc, Phan Tan Huynh, Huynh Van Tu, and "Sir Nhieu Loc"), the authors studied Vo Tanh mausoleum at both Hoang De (emperor) and Gia Dinh (emperor) citadels, and the mausoleum of his warmates related to the last and biggest-scaled sea fight between the Nguyen dynasty’s army and the Tay Son insurgent army on Thi Nai lagoon in 1801 (Vo Di Nguy, 1745-1801; Ngo Tung Chau; Thu Ngoc Hau, etc.). In our opinion, the presence of memorial tomb types of Vo Tanh and his warmates – historic-cultural-artistic heritage sites of national/provincial levels in Southern Vietnam relating the honoring of heroes who “wholeheartedly served the King, defended the country, saved the people” in the history of country expansion “Towards the South” in medieval and post-medieval times. They contribute to the moulding of prominent features of the comtemporary Southerners’ personality. Those historical stories of the Southern heroes are preserved and worshipped by their descendants bearing in mind the Vietnamese way of life “praising the bridge carrying one over” and pay homage to ancestors for their nation-building service.

This article discusses the cult of the tutelary spirits (thành hoàng) in Vietnam. These are spirits venerated as patrons of villages, rural communities and urban areas in Vietnam are expected to protect area against calamities, disasters, epidemics, wars, etc. These are mythical, historical and pseudo-historical characters who have merits to the area and its inhabitants. The veneration of them is rooted in the traditional culture. It is an integral part of the Vietnamese folk religion (tín ngưỡng dân gian Việt Nam). The spirits of the area are included in the pantheon of numerous deities and spirits (thần) worshipped by the Vietnamese nowadays despite the anti-religious policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam (in the second half of the 20th century). The article describes reconstruction of the history of the cult and a description of its current state. The milestones of its development are considered: the formation of the cult during the Late Lê dynasty (1428–1788), development trends during the Nguyễn dynasty (1802–1945), which included the period of colonization of Vietnam by the French, the decline of the cult in the second half of the 20th century in socialist Vietnam, the revival of the cult and the entire religious system with the beginning of economic reforms and the democratization of public life in the 1980-90s, and finally, the modern flourishing of the cult and the features of its adaptation to modern conditions. The definition of the historical forms of the cult allows to identify the dynamics in its development and describe the inevitable transformations of the cult in the 21st century, which often are not realized by the bearers of culture, who perceive the cult as an ancient unchanging tradition. The cult has not previously been studied by Soviet and Russian orientalists. I propose the first systematic description of the history of the cult and an assessment of its current state.

In the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), inheriting the knowledge and legacy of the previous dynasties, the Hue court was always interested in the management of the border areas, particularly Hung Hoa, the northwest border region with a geo-strategic position of the country. Based on the study of the life and career of Pham Than Duat (1825-1885) and his works, especially “Hung Hoa Summary”, the article focuses on clarifying the context, approach, and content of the geographic work, which has a rich and valuable scientific information content. The real-world experiences Pham Than Duat had while adhering to the imperial court's directives as a Tuan Giao chief magistrate in the province of Hung Hoa during roughly two years (1855–1866) revealed his feeling of responsibility and dignity as a mandarin-intellectual–passionate patriot. In order to carry out his responsibilities and make insightful management judgments, he carefully examined the area's geography, residents, and cultural customs. His initiatives and programs not only help to maintain peace in the Hung Hoa region, one of the more ethnically diverse and politically difficult regions, but they also help to inspire locals to pursue personal and professional growth. encourage communication and interaction between ethnic groups in border regions. Because of the thoughts and contents it expresses, any scientists use the Hung Hoa summary as a valuable reference for researching remote locations, especially those in the Northwest of Vietnam during the nineteenth century.

My thesis focuses on the heritage of Hue, a city of special significance to the Vietnamese. For four centuries, Hue was at the heart of developments that shaped the course of Vietnam. In modern times, commencing with the French occupation of Vietnam in the mid nineteenth century, and lasting until well after the end of the Vietnam wars, Hue's position in the nation's cultural agenda dimmed. However, it regained international attention when UNESCO inscribed its complex of monuments on the World Heritage List in 1993. My thesis engages critically with some of the premises that inform the UNESCO heritage listing and, more broadly with the way Hue has been represented in modern Vietnamese public culture. In political discourse and scholarly literature on Vietnam, Hue features in four broad themes. As the former center of the Nguyen dynasty, Hue has come to represent the stagnation, impotence and obsolescence of the precolonial imperial order that failed to deter the colonisation of Vietnam by the French. When radical movements of opposition to the French were emerging in Vietnam's more dynamic urban centres, Hue was singled out as a bastion of conservatism and so-called feudal values. During the Vietnam War, Hue became a symbol of the destruction and suffering inflicted upon the Vietnamese people by external agents and powerful violent forces. Today it has re-emerged as custodian of Vietnam's imperial heritage materialised in the monumental architecture that features prominently in the heritage listing. I suggest that this rehabilitation of Hue's status, as heritage has taken place without sufficient consideration being given to the contradictory notions of decline, irrelevance and victimhood still pervasively associated with Hue in Vietnamese political discourse, or to the non-material aspects of living heritage that remain potent in Hue to the present. Providing a critical re-appraisal of these themes, my thesis begins with tracing the rise and fall of Hue as the imperial center of Vietnam to demonstrate that this locality has a long and dynamic history of becoming and reinvention. The decline of monarchy rule, in turn, left a legacy that facilitated the radicalization of a generation of Vietnamese leaders. Demonstrating the critical role Hue played in this radicalisation process, my thesis hence reassesses Hue's significance in modern Vietnamese political life. The thesis then covers the radical movement in Hue during the turbulent years of the Vietnam War, and shows how the war's ideological fault-lines found expression in the city. My thesis then returns to the complex of monuments built by the Nguyen kings and studies their spiritual significance to reveal the enduring power of Hue's heritage. The argument of the thesis is that critical re-appraisal of these aspects of Hue's history and cultural legacy is essential in order to achieve a balanced and nuanced understanding of Hue's local significance, and of its status as heritage.