Tran Cao Van
Encyclopedia
Trần Cao Vân was a mandarin
of the Nguyễn Dynasty who was best known for his activities in attempting to expel the French colonial powers in Vietnam
. He orchestrated an attempt to expel the French and install Emperor Duy Tân
as the boy ruler of an independent Vietnam, but the uprising failed. Vân was executed while Duy Tân
was exiled by the French.
Vân was born in the village of Phu Cu
in the prefecture of Dien Ban
in Quang Nam Province
in central Vietnam. The prefecture was also the home area of General Hoàng Diệu, who commanded the garrison Citadel of Hanoi when it fell to France in 1882 and then committed suicide, marking the start of colonisation.
Vân's father was believed to be of scholar-gentry background, but never passed the imperial examination system. Instead, he made a living for himself by running a silkworm and rice production business. Vân was the first son of his father's wife (his father had three wives) and started his formal studies at the age of nine, and by the age of thirteen was regarded as the most adept in his village at "capping" parallel sentences. In 1882 his outlook on life changed when news came in from Hanoi that the city had fallen to French military forces and that Hoàng Diệu had hanged himself. Hoàng Diệu's body was brought back to the area for a full dress funeral, generating a large upswell in anti-French and anti-Catholic nationalist sentiment. By 1885, Vân had concluded that pursuing a career in the imperial court through the mandarinate examination was pointless in the face of French control of the monarchy, so he bade farewell to his family and entered a Taoist temple in the mountains of Dai Loc
district. He was persuaded to come out of his mountain abode in 1888 due to family pressure, and he took the regional exams, but he failed and returned to his mountain.
Although the religious abode may have suggested a purely spiritual lifestyle, Vân also used the temple as a meeting place for anti-colonial discussions, while another scholar friend travelled the adjacent districts attempting to make contacts. The French caught wind of Vân's activities, so a colonial inspection party travelled the temple, resulting in Vân's departure for Binh Dinh Province
to work as a geography teacher. Vân quickly garnered a reputation in Binh Dinh as a geomancer and soon had a following of anti-French mystics. In 1898, he was involved in a local uprising, which was unsuccessful. As a result, he fled westward into the hills near the border, as the French swept west, burning down villages. He then returned to his home in Quang Nam without being captured by colonial authorities. However, in 1908, he was arrested for allegedly inciting tax riots in his locality.
As a result, Vân was held in jail in Hội An
for a year while his activities in the past in Binh Dinh were investigated. After this, he was jailed for six years in Con Lon island.
However, by 1913, Vân had been transferred back to the mainland and was returned to Hội An
. Two of his mandarin friends at the court in Huế managed to get Vân released so that he could be reunited with his dying father. Soon, Vân was again involved in anti-colonial activities. He joined a group in Quang Ngai Province
that maintained contacts with the Quang Phuc Hoi, a leading overseas revolutionary activist group of the time, mainly in southern China near the Vietnamese border. His group briefly contemplated orchestrating their own military ambushes in central Vietnam, to coincided with cross-border raids by the Quang Phuc Hoi in the north, but nothing materialised in central Vietnam.
At the time, The Emperor of Vietnam was Duy Tân
, who was still a boy and French colonial authorities had hoped that he would be a pliant puppet who would not seek to inspire revolt among the populace. However, Duy Tân was to prove more troublesome than his father Thành Thái
, whom the French removed after proving to be too erratic and uncooperative. A few of the mandarins in the court felt that Duy Tân had an independent and inquisitive streak that could be exploited and used as a symbol for an anti-French revolt in the central provinces. At the time, the Vietnamese soldiers who had been recruited by the French for domestic purposes were also restive; there was a general fear that with the outbreak of World War I, they would be sent to the frontline in Europe.
Can arranged for a secret meeting with Duy Tân by bribing the royal chauffeur, and he managed to gain the emperor's full agreement to attempt a coup against the French, complete with permission to use the royal seal on secret orders to participants. The seal allowed the plotters to gain a much larger following. Small armed units were prepared with the intention of seizing the strategically important towns of Huế, Quang Nam and Quang Ngai. The plan was for Duy Tân to escape the palace, then signal assaults on the French installations with artillery and elephants, as well as a royal order declaring a general revolt. The signal was to be passed by igniting large firewires southwards on the Hai Van pass. The rebels had contemplated other plans, including an attempt to set up a rebel capital further south at Qui Nhơn
and seizing the central port of Da Nang
in the hope of attracting supplies from Germany, who were currently pitted against France in World War I. Another effort was made to attempt to convince the French commander of the Mang Ca colonial garrison in Huế to defect to the rebels. The Vietnamese royalists had hoped that the German born Frenchman would switch sides to due to the situation in World War I.
However, the French got wind of the plan. A mandarin in Quang Ngai sensed a plot was brewing and he forced one of the low level participants to confessing to what he knew. The intelligence was passed to resident superieur in Huế, who then realised that there was a very large number of Vietnamese soldiers’ families evacuating from Huế. In Quang Nam, information was found indicating that seizures of several local forts was planned.
The French responded by confiscating the firearms of the Vietnamese troops serving in the colonial army, and confined them to their barracks. More details were extracted from several conspirators who were suspected of rousing Vietnamese soldiers in the barracks.
However, Vân and the plot leaders were unaware that the French had discovered the conspiracy, and went ahead with their planned upring on the night of May 2, 1916, spiriting Duy Tân out of the imperial palace. The signal mechanism also failed to work as planned, and those soldiers who were not already confined to barracks simply wandered away from their planned roles, with the exception of a unit at Tam Ky, who killed several Frenchmen before they were overpowered.
The evacuation was also slow to be implemented, and Duy Tân and his entourage were captured at a Buddhist temple south of Huế. Vân and five others were executed, while lower level plotters were sent to various jails and penal colonies. Duy Tân
was exiled to Réunion
in the Indian Ocean
to join his father Thành Thái.
The Duy Tân plot was regarded as the last purely monarchist anticolonial action of any note in Vietnam, similar to the Can Vuong
movement of the 1880s and 1890s rather than their more noted compatriots such as Phan Boi Chau
and Phan Chu Trinh
, who were open to the prospect of republicanism. Most cities in Vietnam have named major streets after him.
Mandarin (bureaucrat)
A mandarin was a bureaucrat in imperial China, and also in the monarchist days of Vietnam where the system of Imperial examinations and scholar-bureaucrats was adopted under Chinese influence.-History and use of the term:...
of the Nguyễn Dynasty who was best known for his activities in attempting to expel the French colonial powers in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. He orchestrated an attempt to expel the French and install Emperor Duy Tân
Duy Tan
Emperor Duy Tân , was a boy emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty and reigned in 9 years between 1907 and 1916. His name was Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh San and was son of the Thành Thái emperor...
as the boy ruler of an independent Vietnam, but the uprising failed. Vân was executed while Duy Tân
Duy Tan
Emperor Duy Tân , was a boy emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty and reigned in 9 years between 1907 and 1916. His name was Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh San and was son of the Thành Thái emperor...
was exiled by the French.
Vân was born in the village of Phu Cu
Phu Cu
Phù Cừ is a rural district of Hung Yen province in the Red River Delta region of Vietnam. As of 2003 the district had a population of 88,605. The district covers an area of 94 km². The district capital lies at Tran Cao.-References:...
in the prefecture of Dien Ban
Dien Ban
Điện Bàn is a rural district of Quang Nam province in the South Central Coastal region of Vietnam. As of 2003 the district had a population of 195,048. The district covers an area of 217 km². The district capital lies at Vĩnh Điện....
in Quang Nam Province
Quang Nam Province
Quảng Nam is a province on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bordered by Thua Thien-Huế province to the north, the nation of Laos to the west, Kon Tum Province to the southwest, Quảng Ngãi Province to the southeast, the South China Sea to the east, and the city of Da Nang to the...
in central Vietnam. The prefecture was also the home area of General Hoàng Diệu, who commanded the garrison Citadel of Hanoi when it fell to France in 1882 and then committed suicide, marking the start of colonisation.
Vân's father was believed to be of scholar-gentry background, but never passed the imperial examination system. Instead, he made a living for himself by running a silkworm and rice production business. Vân was the first son of his father's wife (his father had three wives) and started his formal studies at the age of nine, and by the age of thirteen was regarded as the most adept in his village at "capping" parallel sentences. In 1882 his outlook on life changed when news came in from Hanoi that the city had fallen to French military forces and that Hoàng Diệu had hanged himself. Hoàng Diệu's body was brought back to the area for a full dress funeral, generating a large upswell in anti-French and anti-Catholic nationalist sentiment. By 1885, Vân had concluded that pursuing a career in the imperial court through the mandarinate examination was pointless in the face of French control of the monarchy, so he bade farewell to his family and entered a Taoist temple in the mountains of Dai Loc
Dai Loc
Đại Lộc is a rural district of Quang Nam province in the South Central Coastal region of Vietnam. As of 2003 the district had a population of 158,052. The district covers an area of 586 km²...
district. He was persuaded to come out of his mountain abode in 1888 due to family pressure, and he took the regional exams, but he failed and returned to his mountain.
Although the religious abode may have suggested a purely spiritual lifestyle, Vân also used the temple as a meeting place for anti-colonial discussions, while another scholar friend travelled the adjacent districts attempting to make contacts. The French caught wind of Vân's activities, so a colonial inspection party travelled the temple, resulting in Vân's departure for Binh Dinh Province
Binh Dinh Province
Bình Định is a province of Vietnam. It is located in Vietnam's South Central Coast region.-Administration:Binh Dinh is divided into one city and 10 districts:*An Lão*An Nhơn*Hoài Ân*Hoài Nhơn*Phù Cát*Phù Mỹ*Tuy Phước*Tây Sơn*Vân Canh...
to work as a geography teacher. Vân quickly garnered a reputation in Binh Dinh as a geomancer and soon had a following of anti-French mystics. In 1898, he was involved in a local uprising, which was unsuccessful. As a result, he fled westward into the hills near the border, as the French swept west, burning down villages. He then returned to his home in Quang Nam without being captured by colonial authorities. However, in 1908, he was arrested for allegedly inciting tax riots in his locality.
As a result, Vân was held in jail in Hội An
Hoi An
Hội An , or rarely Faifo, is a city of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea in the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is located in Quang Nam province and is home to approximately 120,000 inhabitants...
for a year while his activities in the past in Binh Dinh were investigated. After this, he was jailed for six years in Con Lon island.
However, by 1913, Vân had been transferred back to the mainland and was returned to Hội An
Hoi An
Hội An , or rarely Faifo, is a city of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea in the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is located in Quang Nam province and is home to approximately 120,000 inhabitants...
. Two of his mandarin friends at the court in Huế managed to get Vân released so that he could be reunited with his dying father. Soon, Vân was again involved in anti-colonial activities. He joined a group in Quang Ngai Province
Quang Ngai Province
Quảng Ngãi is a province in the South Central Coast region of Vietnam, on the coast of South China Sea. It is located 883 km south of Hanoi and 838 km north of Ho Chi Minh City.-History:...
that maintained contacts with the Quang Phuc Hoi, a leading overseas revolutionary activist group of the time, mainly in southern China near the Vietnamese border. His group briefly contemplated orchestrating their own military ambushes in central Vietnam, to coincided with cross-border raids by the Quang Phuc Hoi in the north, but nothing materialised in central Vietnam.
At the time, The Emperor of Vietnam was Duy Tân
Duy Tan
Emperor Duy Tân , was a boy emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty and reigned in 9 years between 1907 and 1916. His name was Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh San and was son of the Thành Thái emperor...
, who was still a boy and French colonial authorities had hoped that he would be a pliant puppet who would not seek to inspire revolt among the populace. However, Duy Tân was to prove more troublesome than his father Thành Thái
Thanh Thai
Emperor Thành Thái of the Vietnamese Nguyễn Dynasty was born Prince Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Lân, son of Emperor Duc Duc. He reigned for 18 years, from 1889 to 1907.-Biography:...
, whom the French removed after proving to be too erratic and uncooperative. A few of the mandarins in the court felt that Duy Tân had an independent and inquisitive streak that could be exploited and used as a symbol for an anti-French revolt in the central provinces. At the time, the Vietnamese soldiers who had been recruited by the French for domestic purposes were also restive; there was a general fear that with the outbreak of World War I, they would be sent to the frontline in Europe.
Can arranged for a secret meeting with Duy Tân by bribing the royal chauffeur, and he managed to gain the emperor's full agreement to attempt a coup against the French, complete with permission to use the royal seal on secret orders to participants. The seal allowed the plotters to gain a much larger following. Small armed units were prepared with the intention of seizing the strategically important towns of Huế, Quang Nam and Quang Ngai. The plan was for Duy Tân to escape the palace, then signal assaults on the French installations with artillery and elephants, as well as a royal order declaring a general revolt. The signal was to be passed by igniting large firewires southwards on the Hai Van pass. The rebels had contemplated other plans, including an attempt to set up a rebel capital further south at Qui Nhơn
Qui Nhon
Qui Nhơn , also Quy Nhơn, is a coastal city in Binh Dinh province in central Vietnam. It is composed of 16 wards and five communes with a total of 286 km². Quy Nhon is the capital of Bình Định province. As of 2009 its population was 280,900. Historically, the commercial activities of the city...
and seizing the central port of Da Nang
Da Nang
Đà Nẵng , occasionally Danang, is a major port city in the South Central Coast of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea at the mouth of the Han River. It is the commercial and educational center of Central Vietnam; its well-sheltered, easily accessible port and its location on the path of...
in the hope of attracting supplies from Germany, who were currently pitted against France in World War I. Another effort was made to attempt to convince the French commander of the Mang Ca colonial garrison in Huế to defect to the rebels. The Vietnamese royalists had hoped that the German born Frenchman would switch sides to due to the situation in World War I.
However, the French got wind of the plan. A mandarin in Quang Ngai sensed a plot was brewing and he forced one of the low level participants to confessing to what he knew. The intelligence was passed to resident superieur in Huế, who then realised that there was a very large number of Vietnamese soldiers’ families evacuating from Huế. In Quang Nam, information was found indicating that seizures of several local forts was planned.
The French responded by confiscating the firearms of the Vietnamese troops serving in the colonial army, and confined them to their barracks. More details were extracted from several conspirators who were suspected of rousing Vietnamese soldiers in the barracks.
However, Vân and the plot leaders were unaware that the French had discovered the conspiracy, and went ahead with their planned upring on the night of May 2, 1916, spiriting Duy Tân out of the imperial palace. The signal mechanism also failed to work as planned, and those soldiers who were not already confined to barracks simply wandered away from their planned roles, with the exception of a unit at Tam Ky, who killed several Frenchmen before they were overpowered.
The evacuation was also slow to be implemented, and Duy Tân and his entourage were captured at a Buddhist temple south of Huế. Vân and five others were executed, while lower level plotters were sent to various jails and penal colonies. Duy Tân
Duy Tan
Emperor Duy Tân , was a boy emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty and reigned in 9 years between 1907 and 1916. His name was Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh San and was son of the Thành Thái emperor...
was exiled to Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
to join his father Thành Thái.
The Duy Tân plot was regarded as the last purely monarchist anticolonial action of any note in Vietnam, similar to the Can Vuong
Can Vuong
The Cần Vương movement was a large-scale Vietnamese insurgency between 1885 and 1889 against French colonial rule. Its objective was to expel the French and install the boy emperor Hàm Nghi as the leader of an independent Vietnam...
movement of the 1880s and 1890s rather than their more noted compatriots such as 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” ....
and 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...
, who were open to the prospect of republicanism. Most cities in Vietnam have named major streets after him.