They were a group of over 200 young Vietnamese who - responding
to Phan Boi Chau's appeal - went to Japan to "study" during the
period 1906-1907. Only a part of them - Tran Dong Phong and Luong
Ngoc Quyen for instance - came to join Phan Boi Chau at their own initiative.
Many others, mainly children of rich people in the Saigon Lu.c-Ti?nh areas, just
happened to be in Japan because their parents supported Phan Boi Chau's
(and Prince Cuong De), hence sent them "Dong-Du". Most of them were young,
some were at lower stage of their teen-age, yet not too young to understand Phan's
noble cause.
Almost all of these students, however, left Japan by the end of 1907.
They were deported by the Japanese government, due to a Franco-Japanese
agreement. Consequently, those Vietnamese who happened to be in Japan
AFTER 1907/1908 yet claimed themselves DDS are merely "frauds" [ or
Ddo^ng-Du Do?m]. (In 1986, when I interviewed a politician-turned-priest
Vietnamese in Los Angeles, he claimed himself one of the DDS. The old man
could not give any answer when I asked him in which year had he come to
Japan. Actually he came to Japan sometime after the W.W. II).
2. Why they were deported ?
The French government allowed Japan to issue in Paris a very large
amount of Japanese bonds. In return, Japan pledged to respect the
French status-quo in East Asia.
[Not only the students were deported. Phan and Prince Cuong De
were of no better luck. Later on, in his letter to Japanese Foreign
Minister Kobayashi Jutaro, Phan bitterly protested the Japanese government
of (a) having expelled Prince Cuong De and (b) having informed the French
in advance so that they could arrest the prince when his boat came to
international water. This letter is currently kept at the archive of
Gaimusho in Roppongi, Tokyo].
3. Why Phan brought them to Japan?
Originally, Phan did NOT want to bring anyone to Japan for
study. He came to Japan by his organisation's decision of seeking
Japanese military assistance.
4. Then what happened ?
When Phan Boi Chau first came to Japan, his aim was military weapon.
He and his group did not know that Japan was neither in a position of
competing with any major powers nor capable to change international
order of the time. Japan won the Russo-Japanese war, but from an
international relations viewpoint, she was not strong. England and
America pushed Japan into that war. They backed her up with finance
and technology (for the heavy social toll Japan had to pay for that
victory, please read the book published by Tokyo Univ. Press. I
cannot recall the correct title at the moment, but it is something
very close to "Nichiro Senso no Shakaiteki Eikyo". This truth is
verified by most good books on Japanese history, anyway). [For instance,
those published by Iwanami Shoten. For a brief account in English language,
see William Beasley : Japanese Imperialism 1894-1945, Oxford UP 1987].
Understandably, politicians like Okuma (Shigenobu) and Inukai
(Tsuyoshi) could not tell Phan their circumstances. They just told Phan
to wait "until when good time comes". Later on they suggested Phan to
bring young men to Japan to study. Many DDS arrived, only found
themselves being another student of the Toa Dobun Shoin (a sort of
Takushoku school). Finally there was the fateful Franco-Japanese
agreement. All the Vietnamese were expelled as mentioned above.
5. Why Phan Boi Chau did not want the students going Dong-Du?
What Phan looked for was military weapon. His mission to Japan was
solely asking Japan for military assistance (and nothing else). When
this failed, he could not help but bring young men to Japan for study
(he had hoped that they will be given military training - not
anything else unuseful for the fighting). Dong-Du movement was a
RELUCTANT choice.
6. More details about the Dong Du students ?
There were many types of students. The first group was mainly
children of famous families. Among them there were Luong-Ngoc-Quyen
(son of Luong-Van-Can, the head of Dong-Kinh-Nghia-Thuc), Phan Ba
Ngoc (son of Dr Phan Dinh Phung, commander in chief of all Can Vuong
armed forces), etc.
a) Tran Dong Phong, Hoang Trong Mau and Luong Ngoc Quyen were
elites among the elites, two of them were among the "three tigers of
Dong-Du" (3 co.p Dong-Du). They were "va(n-vo~ toa`n ta`i". Later on
Hoang Trong Mau became commander in chief of Phan Boi Chau's
Viet Nam Quang Ph.uc Qu^an. Attacked the French, captured by them,
he lost his life as a warior. Our commander Hoang left an excellent
"ca^u-ddo^'i" before the enemies shot him to death:
Using famous Chinese classicals creatively was an art of Vietnamese
contemporary literature: "Ai Quoc Ha Co" derives from the famous saying of
Nhac Phi. "Xuat Su Vi Tiep" are parts of Do Phu's verses for Khong Minh.
Commander Hoa`ng had another pair of verses, but I can only recall part of
them at the moment:
b) Tran Dong Phong was the son of a very rich family. He supported
Phan Boi Chau's 's group financially from the very beginning of the revolution.
Tran was a brave man. He had once said :
Later on he committed sucide, reasons still unknown to honest historians.
Cuong De did respect him. The Prince continued to visit Tran's tomb every
year until his death in 1951. Tran's tomb is currently located in Ichigaya
cemetery, Tokyo. Phan Boi Chau himself had also written a book on Tran,
entiled "Tra^`n Chi' Si~ Truye^.n". The book has not been found so far.
c) Luong Ngoc Quyen, later on led a small military group attacking the
French. They captured him but were so scared of "the tiger". Apart
from locking him in, they drilled a big hole in his right shoulder, put a
big chain through it so that he could not move or escape. Luong
suffered the pain for years, until Phan Boi Chau's Quang Phu.c Qua^n
organised an uprising and freed him. Two soldiers had to carry him on a
small bed (stretcher ?) in order to enable him to take command of the fighting.
There was a street named after him in Saigon. His other name was
Luong Lap Nham. (I hope the man from Vien Su Hoc who came to Saigon for
the re-naming of streets did not madly take Luong Ngoc Quyen's away from
the City, as he did it to Dr Phan Dinh Phung).
All the DDS lived a respectable life during those fateful two years in
Japan: Most of them living in extremely poor condition (some even
had to beg in the street before they could meet Phan Boi Chau's). They
had no particular entertainment. One student got the news of his father's
death. Unable to return for the mourning, he put his tears into words:
7. How about the other group ?
They were mainly children of many wealthy Nam Ky` Phu. La~o. They
came to Japan partly because their parents wanted them to do so. Some
of them were very young (13-14 years of age). When the French started
to arrest their parents at home, many cried and asked Phan to let them going
home. Later on, a few of them became mandarins. Because there were no
materials showing who was doing what, attempt to find out the good and the
bad among the group is almost impossible. However, I do believe that among
the unsung heroes of Vietnam, there have been also those Dong-Du students
who were children of Nam Ky Phu Lao.
8. Any others ?
In contrary to those who sacrificed themselves for the just cause,
there were also many others who made a good business from the
movement.
(a) Nguyen Thuong Huyen (nephew of C.u Nguyen Thuong Hien) was one
of them. PBC himself, in his autobiography " Phan Boi Chau Nie^n Bie^?u",
tacitly referred to this man as the one who sold him to the French in 1925
(Phan was too nice. He referred to the man very vaguely, mentioning that the man
was the nephew of a respectable scholar). Huyen lived in Saigon during
the Ngo Dinh Diem period. He had an article in Back Khoa magazine
entitled "C.u Phan Boi Chau's o+? Ha`ng Ch^au" , claiming innocent.
(b) Phan B'a Ng.oc (son of C.u Phan Dinh Phung), returned to Vietnam and
eventually became a collaborator. He was later on assassinated by Le Tang
Anh (a friend of Le Hong Phong) by an order from Cuong De.
(c) The case of Nguye^~n Ba' Tra'c was typical : he simply returned to
Vietnam, became a collaborator, and helped the French to arrest many of his
fellow Dong-Du old friends. It was said that during one of his celebration
parties, a brave scholar sweetly offered him 4 verses from "The Tale of Kieu":
9. Any more ?
After the deportation, most of those students who refused
to return headed for China. Helped by various Chinese military
personals, many of them were admitted to Chinese military schools.
Later on, as we have already known it, part among them - Hoang Trong
Mau, Luong Ngoc Quyen, Nguyen Thuc Du+o+`ng and Ddo^~ Co+ Quang
for instance - came back to fight for freedom for their motherland.
They died gloriously to make each page of our history beautiful.
They deserve to be our proud dai-sempai. Their names live eternally
with us, in our heart, with our love and our respect !
There were others who led a relatively quiet life, yet always
devoted themselves wholeheartedly to the revolution. Ho^` Ho.c
La~m was one, Tra^`n Ddu+'c Co^ng was another.
Understandably, there were also people who, for one reason or
another, had become Chinese citizens or Chinese millitary officers.
Nguye^~n Ha?i Tha^`n was one of the cases. However, Nguyen did not do
anything significant other than making a big fuss during the years
around 1945.
10. To sum up.
In short, as can be seen in any community, there were the good,
the bad, the ugly --- all sorts of people among the Dong-Du students.
Almost all of them were in Japan only during the period 1906-1907.
Those who happened to be in Japan after 1907 were not Dong-Du students at
all. They were exchanged-students who came to Japan sometime from
1918-1919 onwards (Japan and French Indochina had a sort of exchange
program, by which "good students" were sent periodically to Japan for study
- and vice versa).
Among these students, several names are known by some of us: Le^ va(n
Qu'y, Ddo^~ Va.ng L'y, etc. Mr Nguye^~n Ri~nh Nhie^'p, however, was not
an exchanged student. He apparently was recruited by the Mitsui (or
Mitsubishi ?) group for teaching Vietnamese language for the Japanese
army. As Cuong De had no actual Vietnamese supporters at side during
the years after 1945, the Prince had "volunteered" Mr Nhiep as General
Secretary of his Japanese sponsored Phuc Quoc Dong Minh Hoi (actually
Mr Nhiep was the Secretary on paper only). Mr Nhiep hence had nothing
related to either Phan Boi Chau or the Dong-Du movement.
Most of us know Mr Lu+o+ng Ddi`nh Cu?a and Dr Dda(.ng Va(n Ngu+~.
Both were exchanged students. They returned to Vietnam after finishing their
study and used their skills to serve Vietnam until the end of their lives.
Home, Sweet Home
