Vinh The Seed That Would Grow

Berghahn Books
Vinh, the Seed that Would Grow Red: Colonial Prelude, Revolutionary City
Author(s): David W. Del Testa
Source: Historical Reflections / Rflexions Historiques, Vol. 33, No. 2, French Colonial Urbanism
(Summer 2007), pp. 305-325
Published by: Berghahn Books
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41299414
Accessed: 23-09-2015 09:46 UTC
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Vinh,
Colonial
the
Seed
Prelude,
David
that
Would
Revolutionary
W. Del
Grow
Red:
City1
Testa
Introduction
In spite of the growing scholarship on Italian, British,and Dutch
colonial cities,2 historians have produced relatively few studies of
Vietnam's colonial-era cities,3and have produced almost no studies of
1. Thispaperoriginated
as "Sharing
TheLight
oftheCapital7:
NewUrbanHistories
andIndochina:
New
forFrench
Indochina"
forthepanel"Colonial
Africa
CitiesinFrench
at theAnnualMeeting
for
Avenuesto ColonialHistory"
of the2002Western
Society
in Baltimore,
wishestothank
California
Lutheran
French
Theauthor
Maryland.
History
He also wishesto thank
forproviding
thefundsto attendtheconference.
University
comments
on theconference
Professors
forproviding
TylerStovalland SusanAsbury
to
of
Brian
for
as editor.
the
this
and
Newsome
article,
preparation
serving
paperprior
2. Somerecent
The
includeSwatiChattopadhyay,
Boundaries:
"Blurring
examples
Historians
of'White
Town'inColonial
Limits
Calcutta,"
Journal
ofArchitectural
oftheSociety
L. Cobban,
59:2(2000):154-79;
"Public
inColonialIndonesia,
1900-1940,"
James
Housing
AsianStudies
27:4(1993):871-96;
Power:Italy'sColonial
Modern
Mia Fuller,
"Building
and Urbanism,
3:4 (1988):455-87;
Architecture
Cultural
Idem,
1923-1940,"
Anthropology
ofAddisAbabaand
YouAre:Fascist
"Wherever
YouGo,There
PlansfortheColonial
City
Suburb
ofEur'42," Journal
31(1996):
397-418.
theColonizing
History
ofContemporary
or
3. Thosestudies
thatdo existconcern
Indochina's
administrative
capitalatHanoi
1925-1945:
dela 'Belle
itscommercial
Franchini,
ed.,Saigon
capitalofSaigon.SeePhilippe
a Veclosion
oulafindesdieux
blancs
Colonie'
revolutionnaire,
Guillaume,
1994);Xavier
(Paris,
in
ofanAmbition
inColonial
Cities:
onUrbanism
ortheFailure
(1858-1945),"
Essays
"Saigon,
a Colonial
ed.Robert
Context,
(Dordrecht,
1985),
J.RossandGerard
J.Telkamp
pp.181-92;
DavidDelTesta
isanAssistant
atBucknell
University.
Professor
ofHistory
Vol33,no.2
2007HISTORICAL
REFLECTIONS/REFLEXIONS
HISTORIQUES,
306
Historical Reflections/ReflexionsHistoriques
colonial Vietnam's provincial towns.4 Yet, as scholars have amply

demonstratedforprovincialcitiesin Francesuch as Toulouse or Lyon or
in France's colonial empire such as Bone, the study of provincialurban
centers reveals cultural changes that the bright lights and careful
planning of capital cities may otherwise obscure.5 One particularly
interestingexample of an importantcolonial-eratown outside of colonial
Vietnam's capital citiesof Hanoi, Saigon, Phnom Penh, and Vientianeis
the northerncoastal town of Vinh,whose streets,lined with plane trees
and small shops, reminded many European visitors of a French
provincial city. Vinh's vibrant industrialcentermade it an important
contributor to French colonial Indochina's economy, and it was,
throughout the period of French colonial occupation, an important
center of both Franco-Vietnamese collaboration and anti-colonial
resistance.
Studying Vietnam's colonial-era provincial towns enriches an
understandingof the everyday impact of colonialism on the average
Vietnamese. During the colonial period, about 90% of Vietnam's ethnic
Vietnamesepopulation lived in the countryside,but 70% of those in the
countrysidelived within easy reach of a provincial town. Exchanges
between these towns and the countryside occurred regularly.
Vietnamesein the countryside
wealthyor poor mightvisitprovincial
towns for larger markets,festivals,pilgrimages,or to take seasonal
work.6 In addition, afterthe French colonial administrationreopened
in French
andCulture
Race,Power,
and,MichaelVann,"White
Cityon theRedRiver:
ofCalifornia,
Colonial
Hanoi,1872-1954"
1999).
(Ph.D.diss.,University
themin fiction,
mention
andother
authors
4. Although
French
memoirs,
certainly
thataddresses
Vietnam's
theonlystudywithwhichI amfamiliar
andautobiographies,
Of course,
Vietnamese
of essaysby CharlesFourniau.
citiesis a collection
provincial
someof
drawsfrom
aboutVietnamese
andthisarticle
havewritten
authors
cities,
amply
a l'epoque
"Le Phenomene
urbainau Vietnam
thosesources.See CharlesFourniau,
inPeninsule
etudes
ed.P.B.Lafont
indochinoise,
urbaines,
coloniale,"
(Paris,
1991).
1945-1975
the
Provincial
5. See Rosemary
Toulouse,
Wakeman,
City:
Modernizing
Parisandthe
Sisters
Marseille,
MA,1997);LouisM.Greenberg,
Lyon,
ofLiberty:
(Cambridge,
1868-1871
toa Centralized
Reaction
MA,1971);andDavidProchaska,
State,
(Cambridge,
inBone,
1870-1920
French:
Colonialism
1989).
(NewYork,
Making
Algeria
of
wasabouteighteen
WarII,Vietnam's
totalpopulation
World
6. Just
before
million,
oftheVietHoa(Chinese
With
theexception
wereethnic
Vietnamese.
million
which
sixteen
in
livedalmost
minorities
Vietnam's
ofethnic
colonial
Vietnamese),
exclusively
population
livednearanykindofurban
andduring
thecolonial
thecountryside,
periodtheyrarely
center,
anecdotally
theymayhavelivedcloserto thecitiesthanis otherwise
although
minorities
onthe
ofethnic
SeeClaudieBeaucarnot's
living
accepted.
description
generally
of
andDalatin the1940s.Indeed,significant
ofHue,NhaTrang,
outskirts
populations
Vinh, the Seed that Would Grow Red
307
Vietnam's economy to the world market by ending the pre-colonial

Nguyen Dynasty's tight control of the country's economy,7 the
and the centralizationof administration
modernizationof transportation
and financetended to concentrateVietnam's economy in the towns and
cities, making an analysis of these towns particularly germane for
understandingVietnamduringthecolonial era.8
Recentscholarshiphas focused on how urban planning and colonial
architectureenforcedEuropean colonial racial and economic values. As
AnthonyD. King wrote in 1976, "the colonial cityis thaturban society
most totally characterized by the physical segregation of its ethnic,
social, and cultural component groups, which resulted from the
processes of colonialism."9More recently,Nezar AlSayyad, in his 1992
collectionof essays on colonial citiesentitledFormsofDominance
, wrote
that "[c]olonial cities, more than other cities, serve as expressions of
dominance . . . [In] colonial cities the relationships between the
dominatorand the dominated are clear, as are the political agenda and
motivationsbehind it."10Scholars who have examined urbanizationin
the French empire, such as the anthropologistPaul Rabinow and
architecturalhistorian Gwendolyn Wright,have also emphasized the
creation of separate spheres and artificialhybridizationin cities in
minorities
areasdominated
didnotrelocate
tothehighland
ethnic
Vietnamese
byethnic
ethnic
Vietnamese
to
Vietnam
ofSouthandNorth
untilthegovernments
beganrelocating
Vacances
inthelate1950s.ClaudieBeaucarnot,
thehighlands
1943,ou,Hanoi-Saigon
parle
destcoliers
Chemin
(1943),
http://www.bucknell.edu/Beaucarnot.
from1802until1886,after
7. TheNguyenDynasty
ruledVietnam
independently
theNguyen
onFrench
becamedependent
whichitsrulers
Dynasty's
authority.
Although
Anh(1762-1820)
camefrom
a family
founder
happytotakerisksand
apparently
Nguyen
and
thedynasty
whenhe founded
to facilitate
their
questforpower,
adaptinnovations
anadministrative
as GiaLong,initiated
becameemperor,
Anh,ruling
praxisthat
Nguyen
This
and isolationism.
Neo-Confucianism
reliedheavilyon a particularly
retrograde
ananti-merchant
andanti-urban
stance.
included
inDavidW.DelTesta,"SomePreliminary
someoftheseprocesses
8. I demonstrate
of Tonkinand Annam
of Railroads
to theEconomies
on theRelationship
Findings
onVietnam's
inResearch
French
1919-1937,"
Indochina,
Quantitative
Protectorates,
History,
AsianHistorical
Statistics
ed.Jean-Pascal
2000),pp.
Bassino,
Papers
(Tokyo,
Project
Working
oftheearlyNguyen
isolationist
Becauseofthedisruptions
237-68.
(1802Dynasty
policies
as a net
from
withdrew
itsotherwise
1885),Vietnam
strong
position
usually
temporarily
ofriceandhandicrafts.
exporter
andEnvironment
Urban
Culture
9. Anthony
, SocialPower,
Development:
King,Colonial
1976),
(Boston,
p.6.
and
On theArchitecture
in Forms
10. NezarAlSayyad,
"Introduction,"
ofDominance:
Urbanism
, ed.NezarAlSayyad
1992),
(Brookfield,
p.5.
Enterprise
ofthecolonial
308
colonial Morocco, Madagascar, and Indochina at the behest of the

colonial occupier.11This separation,distinction,and hybridizationin the
service of imperial control, however, do not always precisely
characterizeprovincialcolonial cities.In thecase of Vinh,althoughracial
separation certainlyinfluencedurban planning, the lack of ethnicallydistinct districts and sharp lines between colonizer and colonized
demands a more nuanced approach to understand cross-cultural
exchange. Likewise, since it seems that militaryengineersand civilian
residents,rather than professionalurbanists,planned and developed
colonial-era Vinh, an exploration of the assumptions these amateurs
would go a long way to exposing the motivationsbehind day-to-day
colonial relationships.
In order to describe more fullythe adaptations at play in smaller
colonial urban centers, this paper applies to Vinh the concept of
from Nihal Perera's description of colonial Colombo.
indigenization,
Perera writes that "[i]ndigenisation is simultaneously a form of
assimilationand resistance,a way ofassuminga colonial subjectposition
through the creation of new and hybridised cultural processes and
spaces." It concerns "the transformationof colonial institutionsand
and of power
spaces, particularlyof theirmeaningsand representations
With indigenization,the
relationsconstitutedas colonizer-colonised/'12
scholar can note, as Susan Neild does for colonial Calcutta, the
"connectionswith the pre-colonialorder along with the changes of the
colonial era" and how colonial cities evolved as "... a process of
accommodation between local and colonial influences."13Rather than
demarcate European influencealone, indigenizationreveals a dynamic
exchange and adaptation to changing political,cultural,and economic
conditions.
Indigenizationin Vinh occurredas part of the increasingimportance
of the cityto the colonial economy and the growingrole of Vietnamese
actors within thateconomy during the 1920s and 1930s. Indigenization
was also a part of a larger project of the Government-Generalof
Indochina to include, for reasons of economy and political harmony,
andForms
French
Modern:
Norms
11. See Paul Rabinow,
oftheSocialEnvironment
inFrench
colonial
ThePolitics
MA,1989)andGwendolyn
ofDesign
Wright,
(Cambridge,
Urbanism
1991).
(Chicago,
Colombo
andIts
theColonial
12. NihalPerera,
City:Late19th-century
"Indigenising
Studies
39:9(2002):
1703-21.
Urban
Landscape,"
ofMadrasCityin the
TheDevelopment
Urbanism:
13. SusanM. Neild,"Colonial
217-46.
13:2
and
Modern
Asian
Studies
Nineteenth
Centuries,"
(1979):
Eighteenth
309
increasingnumbersofVietnamesein thecolonial administration.Finally,

it was a result of the relative diminution of the city's European
population. Indeed, by the 1940s, it was possible to imagine the
disappearance of French authoritywithout a sacrifice of economic
stabilityor personal security.By the 1940s, the Vietnamese controlled
much of the economy and participated heavily in the city's
administration and cultural institutions(newspapers, schools, local
government).They had quite obviouslybecome thoroughparticipantsin
the modernization that colonialism had brought to Vietnam. The
persistent activity of the anti-colonial nationalist and communist
movements in and around Vinh by the end of the 1920s, and the
takeoverof Vinh by the Viet Minh in 1945 with the support of much of
the city'spopulation, show a desire forindependence thatevolved in a
dynamic and complex fashion among an increasingly activist
population. However, the duration of Vietnamese participation in
French institutions,officialand otherwiseilluminatesan ambiguityof
sentiment about colonialism. Vinh's indigenization occurred as a
complex process in which social, cultural, economic, and political
changes were interlinkedand evolutionary. Although a transferof
power occurred after 9 March 1945, when the Japanese military
authoritiesstationed in Vietnam since 1940 decided to usurp French
authorityin Vietnam, it seems the citywas Vietnamese in termsof its
political authorityin everythingbut name by then already. This study
examines changes in population and occupation in colonial Vinh's
historyto show how ". . . the indigenizationof various structures[did]
not necessarilyrevamp the entirecolonial system..." and how "... the
reinterpretationof subject positions provide[d] new meanings for
colonial social and spatial structures."14
Vinh's main occupational group was the railroad workersemployed
by the Compagniedes Cheminsde fer de VIndochine(the CFI), French
Indochina's state railroad,at the depot and stationas well as the nearby
Truong Thi railroad workshops.15This study responds to the largely
unanswered call that scholars AlfredMcCoy and JohnIngleson made
twentyyears ago to study the urban proletariatof colonial port citiesso
14. Perera,
theColonial
"Indigenising
p. 1704.
City,"
Thirailroad
15. In 1905,theTruong
workshops
openedjusttotheWestofVinhwith
of theformer
Vietnamese
mandarins
3,000employees,
mainly
superannuated
imperial
former
textile
workers
from
northern
andlocallandless
Vietnam,
factory
regime,
peasants.
atTruong
Thihadgrown
tocommunity
ofover5,000highly
skilled
By1940,theworkforce
workers.
310
as to understand better the creation of class-consciousness and the

formationof politicalmovementsin colonized countries.16
In particular,I
responded to Ingelson's call "to recovertheseordinarypeople fromtheir
obscurityin order to see them as far more than passive victims of
I concur that an analysis of "their
exploitativeeconomic structures."17
individual and collectiveaspirationsand theirchangingperspectivesof
theworld" will show them"as importantactorsin theirown rightin the
urban landscape."18As suggested in both McCoy's and Ingleson's work,
the changing lived environmentof workers- their access to housing,
sanitation,part-timefarmland, traditionaland moderndiversions- had
a very important influence on their own politicization and the
politicizationof thosepeople withwhom theyhad intimatecontact.
More broadly, however, examining the indigenization of colonial
towns and the countrysidein Vietnamwill help guide scholarshipaway
fromits obsession with elites and elite culture,away from"the lightof
the capital" and better represent the constant flow and exchange
between thecitiesand the countrysidethatmarkedthecolonial period.19
Relatively few books address social and cultural change in Vietnam
during the colonial period, although an increasingnumber of scholars
have devoted attention to the topic in both secondary works and
translations of pertinent primary texts.20Additional scholarship on
16.John
"LifeandWorkinColonial
inJavainthe
Cities:
Harbour
Workers
Ingelson,
1910sand1920s,"
Modern
AsianStudies
W McCoy,
17:3(1983):455-76;
"TheIloilo
Alfred
General
Strike:
DefeatoftheProletariat
ina Philippine
Colonial
Journal
City,"
ofSoutheast
AsianStudies
15:2(1984):
330-64.
17. Ingelson,
"LifeandWork
inColonial
Cities"
p.455.
18. Ibid.
19. In1938,
theVietnamese
author
a story
aboutgrowing
Nguyen
Hongpublished
up
In thestory,
withthe
poorinNamDinh,a cityabout80milessouthofHanoi,in1928-31.
ofthecapital
inthedistant
theconflict
between
light
background,
Nguyen
Hongaddresses
in thecontext
andtradition
ofthefamily
in a provincial
town.See Nguyen
modernity
in TheLight
Three
Modern
Vietnamese
Classics
,
Hong,"DaysofChildhood,"
oftheCapital:
inAsiaPaperbacks,
ed.GregLockhart
andMonique
Lockhart
(KualaLampur,
1996),
Oxford
pp.157-218.
20. The threemostimportant
in
of culture
textson thetransformation
summary
Vietnam
Anticolonialism,
duringthecolonialperiodincludeDavidG. Marr,Vietnamese
1885-1925
Tradition
onTrial,
1920-1945
1971);idem,Vietnamese
1981);
(Berkeley,
(Berkeley,
VanKy,LaSociete
andNguyen
LeTonkin
delafinduXlXeme
vietnamienne
facea lamodernite:
a la seconde
siecle
ed.AlainForest,
Recherches
mondiale,
(Paris,
1995).Some
guerre
Asiatiques
andfictional
intranslation
which
onVietnam's
sources
reflect
cultural
important
primary
transformation
thisperiodinclude
TheSacred
Willow:
Four
during
DuongVanMaiElliott,
in theLifeofa Vietnamese
Generations
"Broken
(NewYork,1999);GregLockhart,
Family
311
colonial towns will help expose the importanceof the increasingsocial

differentiation,economic disparity, and intense acculturation that
occurred during the colonial period that some scholars have already
but withoutlimitinggreaterunderstandingof how, forthe
recognized,21
French,thecolonial townswere places to "[work] out thesocial, political,
and aestheticdilemmas of France,in order to apply the positive results
to the metropole."22Withthe historian'sattentiondrawn away fromthe
narrow society of elites,the social and culturaldynamismof Vietnam's
colonial period comes intoclearerfocus.
The study of colonial cities in Vietnam has presented its share of
problems,of course,and theseproblemsare partof thereason why more
studies have not appeared. Unlike the relatively rich primary and
secondary sources forHanoi and Saigon, the majorityof administrative
archivesforVietnam's provincialcitieshave been scatteredor destroyed,
and colonial-eraauthorssaid littleabout themin theirmemoirs.Indeed,
in ten years of searching, I can find no substantive qualitative
descriptionsof colonial-era Vinh in French or Vietnamese. Historians
used to face severe political and logistical problems accessing archival
documentation in Vietnam itself; however, Vietnam's archives and
librarieshave opened to foreignscholars,and theyface fewerrestrictions
on the documentationthey seek to consult.23For historicalanalysis of
NhatLinh'sGoingtoFrance
Lockhart
and
," EastAsianHistory
(1994):73-134;
Journey:
TranTu Binh,
Vietnamese
Three
Modern
Classics;
Lockhart,
eds.,TheLight
oftheCapital:
ona Colonial
A Vietnamese
Memoir
Rubber
DavidG. Marr,
andHa An,TheRedEarth:
ofLife
vol.66,Monographs
inInternational
AsiaSeries
Southeast
Plantation,
Studies,
OH,
(Athens,
andPeter
Dumb
Luck
Zinoman,
(AnnArbor,
1985);
2002).
21. In hisearlydiscussion
ofurbanization,
Woodside
Alexander
arguesin favorof
thatbrought
lookingbeyondsocialelitesinto thenew,transitional
organizations
withimportant
Vietnamese
ofmanydifferent
classesandoccupations
socialand
together
See AlexanderWoodside,"The Development
of Social
politicalramifications.
inVietnamese
44:1(1971):
CitiesintheLatecolonial
Period,"
Affairs
Pacific
Organizations
39-64.
22. Gwendolyn
"Tradition
in theServiceof Modernity:
Architecture
and
Wright,
inFrench
Urbanism
colonial
59:2(1987):2911900-1930,"
Journal
ofModern
History
Policy,
316.
Descours23. Forguidestoarchival
andlibrary
inVietnam,
sources
pleaseseeChantal
etbibliotheques
deFrance
derecherches
surleVietnam:
archives
Gatinetal.,Guide
Bibliographies,
Inventaire
des
Devos,JeanNicot,and PhilippeSchillinger,
(Paris,1983);Jean-Claude
deL'lndochine.
Sous-Serie
Archives
lOh1867-1956
1987);Commission
(Vincennes,
franâise
danslesarchives
duGuidedessources
del'histoire,
Sources
deVhistoire
deVAsie
etdeI'Oceanie
ChiDan
etbibliotheques
andVuChuThaetal.,eds.,Sdch
, 2 vols.(NewYork,
1981);
frangaises
LuuTruThoiThuoc
DiaBaQuanTaiTrung
des
CacPhong
TamLucTruQuocGiaI Hanoi/Guide
coloniale
Hanoi(Hanoi,
d'archives
conserves
aucentre
no.1desarchives
nationales,
fonds
d'epoque
312
Vinh, however, the historianfaces additional problems. Excepting the

ruinsof St. Sulpice Convent,Can Linh BuddhistTemple,and thewalls of
the citadel, no pre-1972buildings and very few archives survived the
firesset by the Viet Minh in 1946 and the relentlessbombing by the
United States between 1964 and 1972. The city was unfortunately
flattened,at a great cost in human miseryand cultural destruction.I
have had to rely on maps, telephone books, commercial yearbooks,
touristbrochures,textbooks,governmentreports,and so forth,for at
on Vinh.
least some French-languageinformation
Increasing access to the scholarship of Vietnamese historians has
made writingon colonial Vietnam easier and richer.Although often
politicallytendentious,the work of these historians,especially for the
period before the startof the Second Indochina War in 1964, contains
rich and often relatively unfilteredoral histories and referencesto
documentationnow sadly lost or destroyed.For thisstudy,I have used
traditionalarchivesin France and Vietnam,Frenchlanguage materialsin
contemporary Vietnam's archives and libraries, and information
provided by Vietnamese historians.24Studying Vietnam's provincial
citiesduringthe colonial period presentsa challenge.The conclusionsto
Trao
toThanh
toVinh,
refer
sources
Que,ed.,ThuMuc:Phong
1995).Forarchival
particular
Tinh
NhanVaCongDoanNghe
(Vinh,
1983).
Cong
ofVinh.ForFrench
sources
fora representation
24. Thisstudydrawsfrom
myriad
and R.J.Dickson,
it drawsfromL. Barriere
statistical
adresses,
eds.,Indochine
sources,
descolonies
"Essaide d^mographie
1938-1939
troisieme
edition,
1938);Cazanove,
(Saigon,
22(August
international
d'Hygiene
Bulletin
deVOffice
1930):
(supplement)
franâises,"
publique
enIndochine
& riziculture
andMaurice
deVisme,
Documents
dedemographie
YvesHenry
1-86;
andJ.Burtschy,
adresses,
eds.,Indochine
R.J.Dickson,
(Hanoi,1928);L Lacroix-Somme,
1933-1934
deuxieme
1936-1937
adresses,
annee,
annee,
1936);idem,Indochine
premier
(Saigon,
Indochine
duNord:
Annum,
Laos,1926ed.,vol.1
Tonkin,
1933);ClaudiusMadrolle,
(Saigon,
Indochine
duNord:
Claudius
Laos,Yunnan,
Tonkin,
Annam,
Madrolle,
1923);
(Paris,
Hongkong,
dela
Ministere
desColonies,
Wan(Paris,1939);Office
colonial:
Statistiques
Kouang-Tcheou
M.MilliesdesColonies
ed.Ministre
danslesColonies
1906,
pourVannee
frangaises
population
dela population
desColonies,
colonial:
Ministere
Lacroix
1908);Office
(Melun,
Statistiques
desColoniesM. LeBrun(Paris,
danslescolonies
pourVannee1911,ed. Ministre
frangaises
de I'lndochine
General
(GuideAlphabetique
1914);and,GuidesTaupin,GuideTouristique
evenin
Vinhqualitatively,
sources
toaddress
(Hanoi,1937).OneofthefewFrench
Taupin)
duNord-Annam
LesOublies
isJacques
a peripheral
Teisserenc,
fashion,
(Fontenay-sous-Bois,
CuuLichSu
BanNghien
include
inVietnamese
sources
onVinh's
1998).Available
history
LichSuThanh
ChuTrong
vol.1 (Vinh,
Thinh
Tinh,
1984);
Huyen,
NgheTinh,LichSuNghe
CachMang
LichSuDauTranh
BenThuy:
PhoVinh
1997);HoangAnhTri,ed.,Phuong
(Vinh,
PhoVinh
(Phan1),vol.1 (Hanoi,1997);and,
1994);HoangNgocAnh,LichSuThanh
(Vinh,
Trinh
GiaKhanhandHoangNgocAnh,"BanGopY VeCuonLichSu So ThaoPhuong
Thi(Vinh)/'
(Hanoi).
Truong
313
which historiansarrivemay be provisional,but richrewardswill emerge

fromsuch studies.
HistoricalBackground
Vinh is at the center of a region of extraordinaryimportance to
Vietnam's history. Traditionally,the province of which Vinh is the
capital- Nghe An- was the southernfrontierof Vietnam,both during
the period of Chinese occupation (222 BCE-980 CE) and the early Ly
Dynasty that succeeded it (1009-1224).Because it had long served as a
crossroads on the main road connectingHanoi with southernVietnam
(the QuartLd, or Mandarin Road) and fortrade coming fromLaos over
the Mu Gia Pass to the West, Vinh had initially developed as a
commercial transportation center and a center for government
administration.25
Startingin 1778, Vinh began to serve as a center for
Because
institutionallearningand pre-colonialimperialadministration.26
of its place at the region's most importantcrossroads as well as its
notoriousrebelliousness,Vinh and the area around it had vital strategic
potential to the Vietnamese imperial authoritiesof whichever dynasty
ruled Vietnam. In 1804, EmperorGia Long (r. 1802-20),firstemperorof
the Nguyen Dynasty,ordered the constructionof an earthenfortressin
Vinh, and his son and successor, Ming-Manh (r. 1820-41),ordered the
reconstructionof this fortressinto a Vauban-stylestone citadel in 1831.
The citadel itselfreveals the cross-culturaladaptabilityof Ming-Manh's
father,who had readilyadapted foreignmilitarymethods to supporthis
drive towards political supremacyprior to 1802. Vinh itselfappears to
have had a small permanent population in the pre-colonial period,
perhaps 3,000 inhabitants,which mainly served the needs of the
Vietnameseimperialgarrison,theadministrativemandarins,the porting
companies that managed human and animal transportation,and the
commercial enterprises that managed rice exports, and handicraft
production.It served as an importantregional marketfor the denselypopulated agriculturalplain surroundingit,famous forcertainproducts
such as oranges and, so long as the weather cooperated, a significant
crop of rice. One historicallyimportantculturalfeatureof the Nghe An
basinin
theNamMo river
from
from
Laos'XiengKhuong
25. Specifically
province,
andfrom
theMekong
River
some320milestotheWest.
basin,
NgheAn'sinterior,
forthe
hadrelocated
thesiteoftheannualexaminations
26. In 1770,theLe Emperor
to theSouth,to Vinh.Theregional
fromHa Tinh,forty-nine
kilometers
mandarinate
there
thesametime.
wasalsorelocated
atroughly
government
314
regionwas its population of Catholics,centeredin the nearbyvillage of

Xa Doai.
In 1858, Napoleon III (r. 1851-70)of France attemptedto forceopen
Vietnam's markets by sending a Franco-Spanish naval squadron to
capture the port cityof Da Nang. Afterfailingto capture Da Nang, the
Frenchcommandersinstead,with the help of Vietnamesecollaborators,
conquered the whole of southern Vietnam. Beginning in 1859 and
continuingduring the Frenchconquest of centraland northernVietnam
in 1884, the area around Vinh assumed the role as a rear base for the
Vietnamese to repulse the Frenchinvaders.Aftersome bloody fightsin
the countrysidesurroundingit, in July1885 the French established a
Residencyin Vinh and graduallybroughtthe provinceof Nghe An and
its southern neighbor Ha Tinh under their control (although
"pacification" continued until 1895). According to the Vietnamese
historianChu TrongHuyen, Frenchand Chinese entrepreneursfollowed
the French military "on the tips of their bayonets" and began
immediatelyincorporatingNghe An and Ha Tinh provinces into the
emergingcolonial economy,with Vinh as the locus of commercialand
industrial development. Vietnamese entrepreneursprofited from the
new economic opportunitiesthatthe town offeredas well. Vinh was a
natural terminusforrivertrafficflowingdown the Fish River fromthe
rice fields and fruitorchards of Nghe An and Ha Tinh and the thick
forests and mines of the Truong Son mountains to the West.27In
response to the increase in industryand commerce,small businesses
opened to supply the needs of factoryowners and workers,and the
number of governmentworkers increased. In terms of city planning,
Frenchmilitaryauthorities,who controlledVinh until the GovernmentGeneral established a civilian governmenttherein 1892,raised the level
of the cityabove the surroundingflood plain using corvee labor and reimposed the grid patternof streetsthathad existed in the pre-colonial
period. They leftthe traditionalclustersof hamletsand theirorganizing
villagesjust beyond thecityboundaries.
With pacification, Vinh became a colonial provincial town par
with its eye towards commerceand with the living areas of
excellence,
mostFrenchinhabitantsinitiallyseparatedfrombut graduallyintegrated
with thoseof theVietnamese(at least of thesame economicclass). It was
colonial Indochina's fifthlargestcityin termsof population,afterHanoi,
Saigon, Phnom Penh, and Nam Dinh. Despite its size, however, it
certainly fit into the pattern of a provincial city in that it was
27. ChuTrong
LichSuThanh
PhoVinh
, pp.15-16.
Huyen,
315
subordinatedto a stilllargercityin certaineconomic and administrative

affairs.A French business elite managed the city's administrativeand
economic affairs,but Vinh also had a large number of French and
Vietnamese small business owners, some of whom sat on the city's
RepresentativeCouncil (elected by limited suffrage).Contraryto the
Vietnamese historiography,many Vietnamese were quite active in the
business communityand a certainsense of prosperityexistedamong the
city'scommercialand governmentemployees.28Industryand commerce
became increasinglyimportantto the economic and social lifeof the city
throughoutthe colonial period. The Bank of Indochina opened a branch
in Vinh in 1898, although this served, according to Huyen, merely to
exploit the people and improve the opportunitiesof the colonizing
group.29
During his tenure from 1895-1906,Vinh's firstcivilian Resident,
Maurice Sestier enlarged the grid of city streetsand named the new
streets after prominent features of the town ("Avenue des
Marchandises" fora streetof Vietnameseshops, "Boulevard des Filaos"
for an importanttree-linedeast-west street along the quais of canals
leading to the Fish River, etc.). In the wave of patriotism that
accompanied and followed World War I, one of Sestier's successors
renamed Vinh's streetsfor importantrepublican and militaryfigures
popular at the time, a common practice in French cities (e.g. the
Boulevard des Filaos became Boulevard Marechal Joffre,
afterone of the
heroes of the 1914 defenseof Paris).30Vinh began to administerits river
and seaport,Ben Thuy,just beforeWorld War I, and theyand the three
kilometersbetween thembecame unifiedin 1927. In thatsame year, the
FrenchgrantedVinh a representativecouncil (Chambredes Representants)
28. Thehistorian
ChuTrong
toVinh'sFrench
and
Huyengivesa dominant
position
Chinese
business
leaders.
Whiletheycertainly
ranthelargest
theVietnamese
businesses,
commercial
wasactive
andexpansive.
Seeibid.,p. 19.Between
1899and1944,
community
Vinhhad a weeklyand monthly
edition
oftheBulletin
mensuel
de la chambre
mixte
de
commerce
etd'agriculture
duNord-Annam.
TwoVietnamese
Thanh
NgheTinhand
papers,
Tuanhe,appeared
invarious
forms
andperiodicities
the1930s.
Thesenewspapers
during
contain
a widevariety
ofadvertisements
fora broadrangeofgoodsand services
by
theVietnamese
Vietnamese
as wellas dailynotation
ofVietnamese
targeting
community,
intheNghe-Tinh
entrepreneurial
activity
region.
29. ChuTrong
LichSuThanh
PhoVinh,
Huyen,
p. 19.
30. Resident
de l'Annam
Pierre
(RSA),"Arrete,"
(Hue,1921).See
superieur
Pasquier
DanielMilo'sarticle
onstreet
namesinFrance
andpurpose
fora discussion
ofthemethod
inFrance:
ofnaming
streets
DanielMilo,"Lenomdesrues/'inLaNation,
ed.Pierre
Nora,
LesLieux
dememoire
(Paris,
1984),
pp.282-315.
316
consisting of four French and four Vietnamese elected by limited

suffrage(qualifiedby tax payments),and theserepresentativesmanaged
the town's day-to-day affairs (common police activities, street
maintenance,etc.). Typically of the same economic background, the
members of the Chambrepromoted the city and its efficientoperation
with littleconflictuntil the mid-1930s,when leftistactivistsoccasionally
succeeded in electing candidates. During this time, French authorities
opened thearea between thecityand portto increaseddevelopment;the
residentVietnameseimperialauthoritiesappear to have gone along with
most of the desires of the French in regards to these administrative
changes.However, thestruggleover land expropriationfordevelopment
purposes (particularlyfor the railroad workshops in 1905 and the air
fieldin 1928) provided some of thegreatestlocal conflictsthatthetown's
leadershipand its citizensfaced.
On the West side of town, the Frenchand wealthierVietnameseset
up their residences and businesses. The European hotels, restaurants,
drygoods stores,governmentand commercialoffices,and pavilionswere
located here.31On the East side of town were the houses and businesses
of most Vietnamese,although some poorer French (a widowed French
woman who sold charcoal, for example) lived there as well. The
Vietnamese imperial administration, which putatively ruled in
cooperationwith the French,had its facilitiesinside the Citadel. French
and Vietnamese formerresidentsof Vinh recall how the city's streets
were lined with lovely pine and plane trees,32
althoughone Vietnamese
informantremembershow very modest Vietnamese housing was in
In thefew survivingimages
comparisonto thatprovided to theFrench.33
of colonial-eraVinh that I have seen, the citystreetsresemble those of
Aix-en-Provence,but the buildings are a mixtureof Vietnamese and
Westernarchitecture(narrow Vietnamesebuildings with an open-front
shop on the firstfloor and a half-storyliving space above and broad
buildingswithwindows and doors). By 1939,Vinh and its
Western-style
immediate region reportedlyhad over 100,000 inhabitants.It covered
the
citiessuchas Vinh,
inregards
tocolonial
31. Although
as DilipBasugeneralized
SeeDilipBasu,ed.,The
toseparate.
localandEuropean
partsoftownareinfactdifficult
andSoutheast
Center
Port
Cities
RiseandGrowth
Series,
, vol.25,Monograph
forSouth
ofColonial
AsianStudies
1985),
p.xxviii.
(Berkeley,
1999andHoangNgocAnh,
21 November
interview
32. RogerJeannin,
byauthor,
27November
2000..
interview
byauthor,
of
Fora fictionalized
33. SeeHoangNgocAnh,interview
representation
byauthor.
seeHoangNgocAnh,Xom
Thi(Hanoi1975).
ThoTruong
Vinh,
postwar
317
some 1,200hectares,with dense housing near Vinh's portand industrial

center,Ben Thuy.34
The Indigenization of Vinh
If one observes the transformationsin Vinh's population and
professionsbetween 1899, when statisticsfirstbecome available, and
1939, the adaptation of the Vietnameseof Vinh to the opportunitiesand
realities of colonialism is evident. So is the increasingabsence of the
- several
French in public and private life.35Cultural transformations
Vietnamese and French-languagenewspapers, a movie theater,and
several bookstores- accompanied the social transformations
as well. By
in
more
Vietnamese
were
of
more
of
the
"modern"
1939,
aspects
charge
administrationand economy than in 1930. By the late 1930s, the
Vietnameseeffectively
ran themodernstateand economicapparatus the
Frenchhad created.
Overall, therewas a distinctindigenizationof Vinh's economy and
administration.The percentageof Europeans in theoverall population of
theVinh-BenThuy urban area fell,froman estimatedhigh of 1% in 1906
to a low of .04% in 1937.36Significantly,
this change occurred during a
of
robust
within
the cityitself,which almost
population growth
period
tripledin size between 1906 and 1935. Between 1932 and 1935,while the
Vietnamese construction,retail,and service sectors declined seriously,
by 1937 they had recovered strongly,achieving about 66% of 1932
ownership in the retail and services sectors. In all of the sectors that
typically indicate economic growth construction, finance, and
services- the representationof Europeans declined after1932. Likewise,
thepercentageof Europeans in thepublic sectorfell,from46% in 1932 to
26% in 1937. Only the European industrialand retail sectors,perhaps
bolsteredby emergingwartimedemands and theend of the darkestpart
1 and 2 to compare
in Vinh
34. Pleasesee figures
density
changing
population
1925and 1936.Service
"Villede Vinh/'(Hanoi,
between
de l'lndochine,
geographique
de l'lndochine,
"Plande la villede Vinh-Ben
(Hanoi,
1925),Service
Thuy/'
geographique
1936).
statistics
witha grain
35. Historian
Gillesde Gantes
warnsustotakeFrench-supplied
avoidedcensuses
outof
ofsalt,andChuTrongHuyenmentions
thatmanyVietnamese
LichSuThanh
Pho
suchcounting
fearoftheconsequences
ChuTrong
Huyen,
might
bring,
"La population
au Tonkin
entre1931-1948"
Vinh;Gillesde Gantes,
(Maitrise,
franâise
1981),
p.25.
of35,000
indicate
outofa population
36. Extrapolated
statistics
about350Europeans
in1937.
in1906and440Europeans
outofa population
of100,000
318
of the 1929-1939Depression,recoveredto earlierlevels. In thecase of the

industrialand retail sectors,the number of Europeans still seems high
relative to their overall numbers and in comparison to their
representativedecline in other sectors. This may also represent the
dominanceof Europeans in largeenterprisesin theNorthand Center.
At the centerof the town's population were Vietnameseand French
administratorsand militaryofficials.In Vinh, it is very evident that
between 1906 and 1937, a large public sector became increasingly
Vietnamese.The 1936 map of Vinh also shows many more government
officesthan the 1925 map of the city does. (Figures 1 and 2) By 1936,
Vinh had an expanded Residency;a new tax office;officesforroads and
irrigationand an equipmentyardfortheBureau of Public Works;offices
and veterinaryservices;a regularpolice and
fortheagricultural,forestry,
Sureteoffice;and officesforcourtsof the tribunaland commissaire.
Also,
of
the
the
facilities
the
and
of
railroad
the
company
yards
by 1936,
Vinh
an
of
had
airport its
garrisonwere much larger than in 1911, and
own. However, the people who occupied these buildings and spaces
were increasingly Vietnamese. The Depression had encouraged the
French to expand a process they had begun afterWorld War I. They
turned over more and more of the colonial government to the
Vietnamese,in part as a way to encouragepositive relationsand in part
to reduce overall governmentexpendituresthatconstantlythreatenedto
exceed or actually exceeded tax income. It is importantto note that
under theVichyregimeof 1940-45,Vietnamesepublic employeesearned
only69% of thewages of theirFrenchcolleagues.
Besides being an importantcenterof government,Vinh was also an
importantreligious and educational centerforboth the Frenchand the
Vietnamand centralLaos, with
Vietnamesein theregionofnorth-central
an importantnunnery,cathedral,religioushospital, and two European
secondaryschools, the Collegede Vinhand theLyceede Vinh.Huyen cites
a totalof 1,090high school studentsin 1940 alone.37The Catholic Church
maintained about thirtyEuropean and twenty Vietnamese religious
workersin Vinh, half of whom were nuns. The provincesaround Vinh,
Nghe An and Ha Tinh, both had relatively significant Catholic
populations. The schools, regionally important,had probably five
European and Vietnamese instructorseach, totalingtwentyeducators.
Studentscame fromas faraway as Vientianeand Savannakhetin Laos to
attend school in Vinh as boarders. There were also two important
Buddhist temples, but the number of monks, nuns, and acolytes in
PhoVinh,
LichSuThanh
37. ChuTrong
p.21.
Huyen,
319
residence there cannot be estimated. This created an important

opportunityfor Vietnamese students and teachers to have intellectual
witheach otherbased
exchangeswith theFrenchand, moreimportantly,
on the same terms.Compared to otherprovincialcities,Vinh was a welleducated town,both in termsof the numbersof studentsstudyingthere
and theeducational level of manyof itsnumerousworkers.For example,
many railroad workers read quoc ngu, the Romanized alphabet for
Vietnameseadvanced by theFrenchafter1900,and spoke and read some
French.This made themmore able to acquire and distributeinformation
among themselvesand thosewithwhom theymet.
The increasinglysharp discrepancybetween rural and urban wealth
was one of the most importantconsequences of the re-impositionof an
export-orientedeconomy by the French on Vietnam. As the historian
Nguyen The Anh has noted, "The cataclysmic consequences of the
introductionof colonial social and legal relationshipsthattorethe social
As I have
fabricof rurallifeled in a way naturallyto social revolution/'38
suggested, however, Vietnam's towns, such as Vinh, were the chief
beneficiariesof the introductionof this colonial economy, and in the
towns the Vietnamese people experienced the greatestsocial, cultural,
and financialeffectsof thiseconomy.
The Frenchalways had greathopes forthecommercialand industrial
of dredgingthe mouth
potentialof Vinh,but the expense and difficulty
of the Fish River always limited the amount of cargo that Vinh's port
received or shipped. The railroad yards and the Vinh railroad station
and depot dominated the city's industrial sector as well as the
population of the town itself.The Vietnamese railroad workforcewas
1,000in 1905 and 3,300in 1938.39Beyond therailroadyards,the matches
and wood products factory(the Societe indochinoisedes forestiereset
allumettes,or SIFA [The Indochinese Wood Products and Match
Corporation])employed a few Europeans and about 100 Vietnamese in
1909 and increaseditsworkforceto 500 Vietnamese(thoughprobablyno
more Europeans) by 1930.40In addition to the rail yards and the match
38. Nguyen
TheAnh,"Lemouvement
de 1908contre
lescorvees
etles
deprotestation
et Marches,
(La Rochelle:
Ethiques,
impotsau CentreVietnam/'
Colloque"Echanges,
XIIe-XXe
the
siecles"1999),p. 2. In particular,
notesthatchanging
Nguyen
Europe-Asie,
hadtopaytaxes,
anin-kind
toa cash-only
caused
method
from
peasants
system,
bywhich
andgrief.
thegreatest
disruption
Thi(SoLuocLichSuSauTranh
39. SeeToanViet,
A Brief
atTrudng
History
oftheStruggle
trans.
LamQuangDong(Vinh,
CuaNhaMayTrudng
Thi),
1964),
p. 17.
in1922outofthemerger
40. SIFAwasformed
oftwoother
woodproducts
companies.
320
factory,Vinh also had another,smaller wood products factory,a ship

food productsfactory
chandlery,and, aftertheearly1920s,a refrigerated
thatprobably employed at least one European and several Vietnamese.
In the constructionindustry,always a good gauge of economic growth,
thenumberof Vietnameseownersdropped fromtwelve in 1932 to six in
1937. But only one European appeared in thissectorin 1937; like public
administration,the constructionsectorbecame a Vietnamese sector by
theend of the 1930s.
At the heart of Vietnam's revolutionaryhistoriographyare Vinh's
industrial workers, especially its railroad workers and match factory
workers.They played importantroles in strikesthatwere part of largerscale uprisingsin 1930, 1936, 1937,and 1945. They formedthe solid core
of Vietnam'snascentworkingclass and fromtheirnumbersmany future
revolutionaryleaders appeared. The number of Vietnamese industrial
workers continually increased during the colonial period, and they
appear to have lived in craft-and denominationally-segregated
villages
near their workplaces between Vinh and Ben Thuy. For example,
Catholic railroadworkerslived apart fromtheirBuddhistcompatriotsin
Lang Bac (NorthernVillage). It appears that,in these villages, many
industrialworkerskept in close touch with peasants. The "blue shirts,"
as industrialworkers were known, changed into "brown" or peasants
shirtsduring theirtime off.41How political activists(Communists and
Nationalists) targeted the city might have contributed to the
participationof industrialworkersin anti-colonialactivities,but workers
often came to anti-colonialactivism throughinjustices they felt their
bosses perpetratedon theindividualshop workforceratherthanthrough
angeragainstthewhole colonial system.
Commercially, Vinh was the main entrepot and trading center
betweenThanh Hoa, 130 miles to theNorth,Hue, 200 miles to theSouth,
and Thakhek,150 miles to the West. Much of the town's economy was
based on supplying the materialand service needs of the Vinh region.
Local or itinerantsuppliers probably traveled to the region's peasant
population. Plantation and mine operators,however, had to come to
Vinh forthe goods necessaryforthe operationof theirbusinesses. Vinh,
as thelocus of regionaltransportation,
served as thesale, processing,and
transshipmentpoint for raw materialsproduced and harvested in the
region'shinterlandsforthecolonialeconomy.
41. For discussion
thechanging
identities
of Vinhworkers
and the
concerning
PhoVinh,
of thatchanging,
see ChuTrongHuyen,LichSu Thanh
consequences
p. 23.
A Brief
Thi.
seeallofToanViet,
the
at
Likewise,
of
Truong
History Struggle
Vinhf the Seed that Would Grow Red
321
In 1906, the number of Europeans in Vinh's commercial sector,

including retailers,wholesalers, financial services, and other service
providers,was small- no more thana few dozen. The Vietnamesesector
supplying the colonial economy was probablyalso quite small, perhaps
also a few dozen. By 1932, the number of Vietnamese owners in the
commercial sector appears much larger (92) than the number of
Europeans workingin the same sector(6).42By this time,Vinh had two
major hotels, the GrandHotel,built beforeWorld War I, and the newer
Hotelde la Gare,builtsometimeafterWorld War I. Vinh remaineda busy
commercial hub, with the inflation-adjustedvalue of merchandise
leaving its railroadstationand portquadruplingbetween 1919 and 1936.
The GreatDepression of 1929-1939had a significantimpact on Vinh's
commercialsector,loweringthenumberof Vietnameseworkingthereto
35 by 1936. By 1937, the number of Vietnamese in Vinh's commercial
sector had dropped still further,to 30, but the number of Europeans
increased to 9. This points to the persistenceof large-scalecommercein
the hands of the French,who faced fewer Depression-induced losses
than the Vietnamese did, and who might have catered to an
impoverished rural clientele. However, as Huyen points out, because
many of Vinh's colonial era residents had originated in the villages
surroundingthe city,the small commercialagents and workersof Vinh
kept in close contactwith theircountrycousins such thatboth groups
knew of one another's material situation.43In combination with the
relativelywell-educated population and its economic importance,the
exchange of population between the cityand the countrysideprobably
worked to heightenitsimpactas a source of anti-colonialactivism.
Conclusion
In the scholarship on French colonial Vietnam, historians often
presentthecapital cities- MargueriteDuras' "whitecities"- as symbols
forthewhole of the colonial experience.44
While it is truethatthe capital
cities hosted the greatestvarietyof contactbetween the Frenchand the
Vietnamese, and while more ample documentationcertainlyexists for
42. Thenumbers
hereinclude
oftheAdresses
whattheauthors
seriescalled
presented
"smallindigenous
butcannotincludeitinerant
or stall-based
merchants
and
business/'
service
providers.
43. ChuTrong
LichSuThanh
PhoVinh
, p.23.
Huyen,
73.
44. Marguerite
China
Lover
Duras,TheNorth
, trans.
(NewYork,1992),
LeighHafrey
p.
322
the historyof the capital cities,theyserve, I believe, as only a starting

place for fully understandingthe depth of the colonial condition in
colonial Vietnam.
between the town of Vinh and
One of themost importantdifferences
the colonial capitals was the lack of any physical barriersbetween the
French and Vietnamese societies. Although the Europeans tended to
snuggle closely against thewalls of thecitadel on thewesternside of the
centerof town,European and Vietnamesebusinesses and residencessat
side-by-sidealong thecity'smain streets.Imaginarybarriersexisted,and
exploring them would produce a rich discussion of how colonialism
functionedpsychologicallyin the absence of physical barriers.In the
contextof a provincialcitywithoutthose physicalbarriers,the conflicts,
complicity,and compromisesof colonialism become very apparent. In
Vinh, the increasingpopulation of Vietnamesein government,business,
and industryveryobviouslyshows manyVietnameseworkingwith and
even profitingfrom colonialism,though most did not agree with the
politics that came with it, as is clear fromthe historyof rebellion that
surroundsthecity.
Of particular importance are the exchanges between groups and
across space that made Vinh an excellent candidate for its role as a
revolutionarycenter,a role that arose only because of its provincial
character.As noted above, Vinh's workersoriginatedin thepenumbraof
small villages thatsurroundedthecity,and workersfrequentlyreturned
to theirnatal villages where theyundoubtedlyexchanged information
and ideas withvillage residents.Huyen notes how thevillages served as
the meetingplaces foranti-colonialactivistsforpreciselythese reasons:
proximityand access to both "brown" and "blue" shirts.45However,
beyond the bloody uprisingsthatmarked its colonial-erahistory,Vinh
seems on thesurfacelike a placid provincialcityin which theFrenchand
Vietnamesemust have cooperated to make thecityfunction,even as the
citygraduallylost its Frenchnessto a growingVietnamesepresence.
In addition, the intellectualenvironmentof Vinh, with its many
schools and well-educated population,meant thatideas could circulate
freelyand outside propaganda could be ingested more directly.Vinh
was known as the "forestof pens" forthelarge numbersof matriculated,
graduated, and failed students who lived there.46The newspapers,
bookstores,and cinemas of the cityfurtherlinked Vinh's residentswith
LichSuThanh
PhoVinh,
45. ChuTrong
Huyen,
p.23.
46. Ibid,p.22.
323
modern ideas and the latest debates, withoutalienatingthem,as in the

capital cities,fromthe countryside.Vinh and its people remained more
in touch with the bulk of the Vietnamese population than did the
Vietnamesein thecapital cities.
By exploring provincial cities like Vinh, and by observing the
growing strength of the Vietnamese sector of the economy, the
increasing representation of Vietnamese within the colonial
administrativestructure,and theincreasingnumberof "modern" outlets
of public culture managed by Vietnamese,we can better discern the
impact of colonialism.Althoughthe fullextentof exchange between the
French and Vietnamese remains unclear, it appears as if the
opportunitiesforit decreased while the circulationof modern,Westerninfluenced ideas increased. In this context, the means for Vinh to
transformfroma colonial to an independent city seem quite obvious;
only the motivationsforVinh's many revolutionariesneed to be further
exposed.
In 1973,thepeople ofVinh emergedfromthecaves in which theyhad
lived duringthe 1964-1972AmericanWar to rebuildtheircity.Vinh was
deemed the "seed that would grow red" and achieve socialism. This
rebirth,however, had its roots in a rich and complicated revolutionary
history. The indigenization of colonial Vinh, particularly of its
administrativeand commercialsectors,occurredas a resultof economic
trends,governmentpolicies,and processes of culturalmodernizationbut
without the rigid physical and symbolic racial separation that
characterized Hanoi or Saigon. French administrative policies
encouraged local participationin the colonial governmentapparatus at
all levels. The economyof theregionaround Vinh benefitedboth French
and some local interests. A traditionallyvibrant educational and
intellectualcommunityin and around Vinh also gradually adapted the
to anti-colonialism.Unlike parts
longstandinglocal anti-authoritarianism
of other colonial-era cities in Vietnam,Vinh was not part of "a larger
project of freezing the development at the archaic level of the
picturesque."47 Like colonial Bone or metropolitan Toulouse, city
planners oftenlacked the resources to create entirenew districtsfrom
scratch.They had to create hybridsof modernityand traditionand had
no clear program to fuse the two together.This colonial strategy
produced contradictoryresults and ultimately helped to stimulate
revolutionarychange.
47. Wright,
'Tradition
intheService
ofModernity/'
p.309.
324
Figure1. Map ofVinh,1925.FR.ANOM Aix-en-Provence.Asie 178. Tous

droitsreserves.
325
Figure2. Map of Vinh, 1936. FR.ANOM Aix-en-Provence.Asie 178. Tous

droitsreserves.

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Berghahn Books

colonial Vietnam's provincial towns.4 Yet, as scholars have amply

Vinh, the Seed that Would Grow Red

Vietnam's economy to the world market by ending the pre-colonial

colonial Morocco, Madagascar, and Indochina at the behest of the

Vinh, the Seed that Would Grow Red

increasingnumbersofVietnamesein thecolonial administration.Finally,

as to understand better the creation of class-consciousness and the

Vinh, the Seed that Would Grow Red

colonial towns will help expose the importanceof the increasingsocial

Vinh, however, the historianfaces additional problems. Excepting the

Vinh, the Seed that Would Grow Red

which historiansarrivemay be provisional,but richrewardswill emerge

regionwas its population of Catholics,centeredin the nearbyvillage of

Vinh, the Seed that Would Grow Red

subordinatedto a stilllargercityin certaineconomic and administrative

consisting of four French and four Vietnamese elected by limited

Vinh, the Seed that Would Grow Red

some 1,200hectares,with dense housing near Vinh's portand industrial

of the 1929-1939Depression,recoveredto earlierlevels. In thecase of the

Vinh, the Seed that Would Grow Red

residence there cannot be estimated. This created an important

factory,Vinh also had another,smaller wood products factory,a ship

Vinhf the Seed that Would Grow Red

In 1906, the number of Europeans in Vinh's commercial sector,

the historyof the capital cities,theyserve, I believe, as only a starting

Vinh, the Seed that Would Grow Red

modern ideas and the latest debates, withoutalienatingthem,as in the

Figure1. Map ofVinh,1925.FR.ANOM Aix-en-Provence.Asie 178. Tous

Vinh, the Seed that Would Grow Red

Figure2. Map of Vinh, 1936. FR.ANOM Aix-en-Provence.Asie 178. Tous

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