Tran Trong Kim
Encyclopedia
Trần Trọng Kim was a Vietnam
ese scholar and politician who served as the Prime Minister
of the short-lived Empire of Vietnam
, a puppet state
created by Imperial Japan in 1945. This came after Japan had seized direct control of Vietnam
from the French colonial
forces during the Second World War.
had just been formed after the colonization of Vietnam
, and Hà Tĩnh was part of the central region, which had been become a French protectorate under the name of Annam. In the immediate decade afterwards, the province
was the scene of a guerrilla movement led by Phan Đình Phùng
that attempted to expel the French authorities. This movement was particularly popular in the Nghệ An-Hà Tĩnh region, which had boasted a long line of nationalist
icons.
Nevertheless, the movement was crushed; and when Kim grew up, he initially studied in Hanoi
at schools reserved for the ruling elite
. He then worked in the public service of the French administration. Kim's early career was as an interpreter, serving in Ninh Bình
in northern Vietnam, which was known as the protectorate of Tonkin
. In 1905, Kim was sent to France as an employee of a private company. In 1908, he won a scholarship from the École Coloniale (Colonial School) to begin his training as a teacher at the École Normale of Melun
(Seine-et-Marne
). Kim returned to Vietnam in September 1911, commenced his career as a teacher in Annam, and slowly rose in the educational hierarchy. By 1942, he had risen to become an inspector of elementary public instruction in Tonkin
. He wrote many works on pedagogy
and also started a review on the topic. Kim was also a freemason.
, Buddhism
, and Vietnamese history
.
His two best known works were Việt Nam Sử Lược
(A Brief history of Vietnam), published in 1920 and Nho giáo (Confucianism), published in 1929–1933. In the first book, Kim emphasised the Chinese influence on Vietnamese society. The latter book dealt with examining Confucianism
in China and its impact on Vietnam. Kim strongly praised Confucianism
, and his book provoked much intellectual debate on the philosophy's place in Vietnamese society. The book was seen as a link between previous generations of scholars who were brought up under the Confucian examination system of pre-French Vietnam and the later generations who grew up under the French system. Việt Nam Sử Lược remains in print as of 2009.
Due to his reputation in literary circles, Kim was a leading figure in the Buddhist and Confucian associations, and in 1939 he was appointed to the Chamber of People's Representatives in Tonkin. He was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honour and listed in a French publication in 1943 that profiled prominent figures in French Indochina.
in 1940-1941.
As France had fallen to Nazi Germany
, the colonial administration in Vietnam of Admiral Jean Decoux
was loyal to the Axis collaborationist Vichy France
of Marshal Philippe Pétain
.
As Vichy France
was nominally allied to Japan, the French administration was left in charge of the day-to-day affairs of French Indochina, with the Japanese overseeing them.
In the early 20th century, Japan was also seen by many Vietnamese as a promoter of Asian nationalism, and many Vietnamese nationalists had travelled to Japan in an attempt to further the Vietnamese independence movement.
During the period, Kim was approached by several Japanese experts in Vietnamese studies. These contacts, together with his ties to a progressive organisation in Hanoi
, made Kim politically suspect to the Decoux administration. When Decoux implemented his second major purge of pro-Japanese Vietnamese in the autumn of 1943, Kim was reported to be on the list of the Sûreté (Criminal Investigation Department). On October 28, 1943, Japanese agents escorted Kim to the Kempeitai
(military police) office in Hanoi and put him under protection. There, Kim was joined by Duong Ba Trac, a co-editor on a dictionary that was currently being written. According to Kim's account, Trac persuaded him to co-sign a letter applying for an evacuation to Singapore. At the beginning of November, the Japanese escorted them to Saigon. After briefly living at the Kempeitai office, they became the guests of Dai Nan Koosi, a Japanese business firm owned by Matsushita Mitsuhiro, which was known as a front for intelligence operations.
, the French threat to Kim appeared "to have been a wholly illusory French menace". After spending just over a year on the island, and following Trac's death from lung cancer in December 1944, Kim was transferred to Bangkok
. Three months later, on March 30, 1945, he was unexpectedly recalled to Saigon by the Japanese to be consulted on "history". This came after Captain Michio Kuga from the Japanese Army's liaison office in Saigon was flown to Bangkok for talks.
By this stage, the Liberation of Paris
in August 1944 and the fall of Vichy France meant that Japan could no longer depend of the French colonial administration to cooperate. As a result, they assumed direct control of Indochina by deposing the French in a coup on March 9, and declared Vietnam to be independent under the newly created Empire of Vietnam with Bảo Đại
, who was Vietnam's titular monarch, as its head of state. Japan however, maintained military control. Bảo Đại was then charged with selecting a prime minister and a cabinet. It was believed that Bảo Đại sent a message to Ngo Dinh Diem
, who was then living under Japanese protection in Saigon, asking him to form a government. However, the message never arrived, and this was put down to Japanese concerns that Diem would seek to govern independently rather than toe the Japanese line.
Arriving in Saigon, he met with General Kawamura, Chief of Staff of the Japanese Garrison Army (38th Army), and Lieutenant Colonel Hayashi Hidezumi, Kawamura's chief of political affairs. Kawamura told Kim that he was one of the "notables" invited by Emperor Bảo Đại to consult in Huế
on the creation of the new independent government. During this time, Kim also met with Diem for the first time, finding out that he had not been included on the Japanese shortlist.
According to his own account, Kim accepted the invitation to talk with Bảo Đại because Hoang Xuan Han, a young friend, was also on the emperor's list. Kim departed Saigon on April 2, and arrived in Huế three days later. On April 7, Bảo Đại held a personal meeting with Kim, and at first Kim refused to accept the prime ministerial post. Kim said that he was too old, was an independent with no party political infrastructure, as well as his lack of prior involvement in politics. However, Kim prolonged his stay for further negotiations and finally agreed to form a new government on April 16. The following day, Kim submitted his proposed cabinet consisting of ten ministers. With the exception of one nominee who refused his cabinet post, the others arrived in the capital by late April or early May to take office).
Most of his cabinet members had been trained in French schools but were regarded as nationalists although they were not regarded as anti-French. Kim's regime was quickly endorsed by the Dai Viet Quoc Dan Dang
and the Viet Nam Phuc Quoc Dong Minh Hoi, two nationalist political parties. The Phuc Quoc were connected to Phan Boi Chau
and Cường Để, two leading anti-colonial activists from the early 20th century who championed cooperation with Japan and pan-Asianism to expel French colonialism.
Kim's actions have caused a debate as to whether he was a Japanese puppet. Milton Sacks and John T. McAlister regard him as such, although others, such as Truong Buu Lam, regard Kim and his cabinet as a group of apolitical technocrats.
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 –...
ese scholar and politician who served as the Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
of the short-lived Empire of Vietnam
Empire of Vietnam
The Empire of Vietnam was a short-lived puppet state of Imperial Japan governing the whole of Vietnam between March 11 and August 23, 1945.-History:...
, a puppet state
Puppet state
A puppet state is a nominal sovereign of a state who is de facto controlled by a foreign power. The term refers to a government controlled by the government of another country like a puppeteer controls the strings of a marionette...
created by Imperial Japan in 1945. This came after Japan had seized direct control of Vietnam
Second French Indochina Campaign
The Second French Indochina Campaign, also known as the Japanese coup of March 1945, was a Japanese military operation in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, then a French colony and known as French Indochina, during the final months of the Second World War. Vietnam was not a real colony at this time. The...
from the French colonial
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
forces during the Second World War.
Early years
Kim was born in Dan Pho, Hà Tĩnh Province in northern central Vietnam in 1883. At the time, French IndochinaFrench Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
had just been formed after the colonization of Vietnam
History of Vietnam
The history of Vietnam covers a period of more than 2,700 years. By far Vietnam's most important historical international relationship has been with China. Vietnam's prehistory includes a legend about a kingdom known as Van Lang that included what is now China's Guangxi Autonomous Region and...
, and Hà Tĩnh was part of the central region, which had been become a French protectorate under the name of Annam. In the immediate decade afterwards, the province
Province
A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...
was the scene of a guerrilla movement led by Phan Đình Phùng
Phan Dinh Phung
Phan Đình Phùng was a Vietnamese revolutionary who led rebel armies against French colonial forces in Vietnam. He was the most prominent of the Confucian court scholars involved in anti-French military campaigns in the 19th century and was cited after his death by 20th-century nationalists as a...
that attempted to expel the French authorities. This movement was particularly popular in the Nghệ An-Hà Tĩnh region, which had boasted a long line of nationalist
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...
icons.
Nevertheless, the movement was crushed; and when Kim grew up, he initially studied in Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
at schools reserved for the ruling elite
Elite
Elite refers to an exceptional or privileged group that wields considerable power within its sphere of influence...
. He then worked in the public service of the French administration. Kim's early career was as an interpreter, serving in Ninh Bình
Ninh Bình
Ninh Bình is a city in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. It is the capital of Ninh Binh province.-Geography:Ninh Binh city located in the southernmost plains north Vietnam...
in northern Vietnam, which was known as the protectorate of Tonkin
Tonkin
Tonkin , also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is the northernmost part of Vietnam, south of China's Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces, east of northern Laos, and west of the Gulf of Tonkin. Locally, it is known as Bắc Kỳ, meaning "Northern Region"...
. In 1905, Kim was sent to France as an employee of a private company. In 1908, he won a scholarship from the École Coloniale (Colonial School) to begin his training as a teacher at the École Normale of Melun
Melun
Melun is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Located in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris, Melun is the capital of the department, as the seat of an arrondissement...
(Seine-et-Marne
Seine-et-Marne
Seine-et-Marne is a French department, named after the Seine and Marne rivers, and located in the Île-de-France region.- History:Seine-et-Marne is one of the original 83 departments, created on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution in application of the law of December 22, 1789...
). Kim returned to Vietnam in September 1911, commenced his career as a teacher in Annam, and slowly rose in the educational hierarchy. By 1942, he had risen to become an inspector of elementary public instruction in Tonkin
Tonkin
Tonkin , also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is the northernmost part of Vietnam, south of China's Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces, east of northern Laos, and west of the Gulf of Tonkin. Locally, it is known as Bắc Kỳ, meaning "Northern Region"...
. He wrote many works on pedagogy
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
and also started a review on the topic. Kim was also a freemason.
Academia
In contrast to his low-key career as an education official, Kim was widely known as a scholar for a collection of textbooks published in Romanized Vietnamese (Quốc Ngữ), especially for his writings on ConfucianismConfucianism
Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...
, Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, and Vietnamese history
History of Vietnam
The history of Vietnam covers a period of more than 2,700 years. By far Vietnam's most important historical international relationship has been with China. Vietnam's prehistory includes a legend about a kingdom known as Van Lang that included what is now China's Guangxi Autonomous Region and...
.
His two best known works were Việt Nam Sử Lược
Việt Nam sử lược
Việt Nam sử lược was the first Quoc Ngu history text compiled by Vietnamese historian Trần Trọng Kim. It covered the period from Hồng Bàng Dynasty to the time of French Indochina. The book was first published in 1921 and reprinted many times to this day...
(A Brief history of Vietnam), published in 1920 and Nho giáo (Confucianism), published in 1929–1933. In the first book, Kim emphasised the Chinese influence on Vietnamese society. The latter book dealt with examining Confucianism
Confucianism
Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...
in China and its impact on Vietnam. Kim strongly praised Confucianism
Confucianism
Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...
, and his book provoked much intellectual debate on the philosophy's place in Vietnamese society. The book was seen as a link between previous generations of scholars who were brought up under the Confucian examination system of pre-French Vietnam and the later generations who grew up under the French system. Việt Nam Sử Lược remains in print as of 2009.
Due to his reputation in literary circles, Kim was a leading figure in the Buddhist and Confucian associations, and in 1939 he was appointed to the Chamber of People's Representatives in Tonkin. He was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honour and listed in a French publication in 1943 that profiled prominent figures in French Indochina.
World War II
After the outbreak of the Second World War, Japan continued its military conquest of Asia. It invaded and annexed Indochina into its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity SphereGreater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was a concept created and promulgated during the Shōwa era by the government and military of the Empire of Japan. It represented the desire to create a self-sufficient "bloc of Asian nations led by the Japanese and free of Western powers"...
in 1940-1941.
As France had fallen to Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, the colonial administration in Vietnam of Admiral Jean Decoux
Jean Decoux
Jean Decoux was a French politician, who was the Governor-General of French Indochina from 1940 to 1945, representing the Vichy French government.-Biography:Decoux was born in Bordeaux...
was loyal to the Axis collaborationist Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
of Marshal Philippe Pétain
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
.
As Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
was nominally allied to Japan, the French administration was left in charge of the day-to-day affairs of French Indochina, with the Japanese overseeing them.
In the early 20th century, Japan was also seen by many Vietnamese as a promoter of Asian nationalism, and many Vietnamese nationalists had travelled to Japan in an attempt to further the Vietnamese independence movement.
During the period, Kim was approached by several Japanese experts in Vietnamese studies. These contacts, together with his ties to a progressive organisation in Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
, made Kim politically suspect to the Decoux administration. When Decoux implemented his second major purge of pro-Japanese Vietnamese in the autumn of 1943, Kim was reported to be on the list of the Sûreté (Criminal Investigation Department). On October 28, 1943, Japanese agents escorted Kim to the Kempeitai
Kempeitai
The was the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1881 to 1945. It was not an English-style military police, but a French-style gendarmerie...
(military police) office in Hanoi and put him under protection. There, Kim was joined by Duong Ba Trac, a co-editor on a dictionary that was currently being written. According to Kim's account, Trac persuaded him to co-sign a letter applying for an evacuation to Singapore. At the beginning of November, the Japanese escorted them to Saigon. After briefly living at the Kempeitai office, they became the guests of Dai Nan Koosi, a Japanese business firm owned by Matsushita Mitsuhiro, which was known as a front for intelligence operations.
Return to Vietnam
On January 1, 1944, Kim and Trac boarded a Japanese vessel headed for Singapore. According to Ellen HammerEllen Hammer
Ellen Joy Hammer was an American historian who specialized in 20th-century Vietnamese history. She is best known for writing the two history texts The Struggle for Indochina and A Death in November...
, the French threat to Kim appeared "to have been a wholly illusory French menace". After spending just over a year on the island, and following Trac's death from lung cancer in December 1944, Kim was transferred to Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
. Three months later, on March 30, 1945, he was unexpectedly recalled to Saigon by the Japanese to be consulted on "history". This came after Captain Michio Kuga from the Japanese Army's liaison office in Saigon was flown to Bangkok for talks.
By this stage, the Liberation of Paris
Liberation of Paris
The Liberation of Paris took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the surrender of the occupying German garrison on August 25th. It could be regarded by some as the last battle in the Battle for Normandy, though that really ended with the crushing of the Wehrmacht forces between the...
in August 1944 and the fall of Vichy France meant that Japan could no longer depend of the French colonial administration to cooperate. As a result, they assumed direct control of Indochina by deposing the French in a coup on March 9, and declared Vietnam to be independent under the newly created Empire of Vietnam with Bảo Đại
Bảo Đài
Bảo Đài is a commune and village in Lục Nam District, Bac Giang Province, in northeastern Vietnam.-References:...
, who was Vietnam's titular monarch, as its head of state. Japan however, maintained military control. Bảo Đại was then charged with selecting a prime minister and a cabinet. It was believed that Bảo Đại sent a message to Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngô Đình Diệm was the first president of South Vietnam . In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable U.S. support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a...
, who was then living under Japanese protection in Saigon, asking him to form a government. However, the message never arrived, and this was put down to Japanese concerns that Diem would seek to govern independently rather than toe the Japanese line.
Arriving in Saigon, he met with General Kawamura, Chief of Staff of the Japanese Garrison Army (38th Army), and Lieutenant Colonel Hayashi Hidezumi, Kawamura's chief of political affairs. Kawamura told Kim that he was one of the "notables" invited by Emperor Bảo Đại to consult in Huế
Hue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...
on the creation of the new independent government. During this time, Kim also met with Diem for the first time, finding out that he had not been included on the Japanese shortlist.
According to his own account, Kim accepted the invitation to talk with Bảo Đại because Hoang Xuan Han, a young friend, was also on the emperor's list. Kim departed Saigon on April 2, and arrived in Huế three days later. On April 7, Bảo Đại held a personal meeting with Kim, and at first Kim refused to accept the prime ministerial post. Kim said that he was too old, was an independent with no party political infrastructure, as well as his lack of prior involvement in politics. However, Kim prolonged his stay for further negotiations and finally agreed to form a new government on April 16. The following day, Kim submitted his proposed cabinet consisting of ten ministers. With the exception of one nominee who refused his cabinet post, the others arrived in the capital by late April or early May to take office).
Most of his cabinet members had been trained in French schools but were regarded as nationalists although they were not regarded as anti-French. Kim's regime was quickly endorsed by the Dai Viet Quoc Dan Dang
Dai Viet Quoc Dan Dang
Đại Việt Quốc dân đảng , often known simply as Đại Việt, was a nationalist and anti-communist political party and militant organisation that was active in Vietnam in the 20th century. The party was founded by Trương Tử Anh, known as Anh Cả Phương...
and the Viet Nam Phuc Quoc Dong Minh Hoi, two nationalist political parties. The Phuc Quoc were connected to 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 Cường Để, two leading anti-colonial activists from the early 20th century who championed cooperation with Japan and pan-Asianism to expel French colonialism.
Rule
Kim only had the chance to rule for five months, and most of his policies were not implemented before the Vietminh seized power following the Japanese collapse at the end of the Second World War. After his government collapsed, Kim returned to his research and academic work.Kim's actions have caused a debate as to whether he was a Japanese puppet. Milton Sacks and John T. McAlister regard him as such, although others, such as Truong Buu Lam, regard Kim and his cabinet as a group of apolitical technocrats.