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Tự Đức
Tự Đức
Tự Đức
Tự Ðức (Hanoi: [tɨ˧˨ ɗɨk̚ ˧˦], chữ Hán: 嗣德, lit. "inheritance of virtues", 22 September 1829 – 19 July
1883) (personal name: Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm, also Nguyễn Phúc Thì) was the fourth emperor of
the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam; he ruled from 1847 to 1883.
Names
Posthumous name
Temple name
Dực Tông (翼 宗)
Mother Empress Từ Dụ
As the eldest son of Thiệu Trị, Prince Hồng Bảo was resentful of his brother. He plotted rebellion
against Tự Ðức with a wide range of supporters: Confucians who were angered that Hồng Bảo as the
eldest son had been passed over in favour of Tự Ðức, Lê dynasty supporters, corrupt mandarins,
Catholic missionaries and Christian converts who had been persecuted by Minh Mạng and Thiệu Trị,
and peasants disgruntled with Nguyễn taxation. He never had the chance to rebel however, as he was
arrested in 1854 and scheduled to be executed. The dowager empress Từ Dụ advised him against it,
and Hồng Bảo killed himself in prison. He was buried simply without a funeral.
In 1866, Hồng Bảo's son Ðinh Ðạo rebelled against Tự Ðức. The rebellion was crushed and Tự Ðức
ordered Ðinh Ðạo, his brothers and his mother to be put to death.
Religious suppression
Emperor Tự Ðức continued the policies of his predecessors, shutting Vietnam off from the outside
world and refusing all efforts to modernize the country. Accounts of his personal life show a gentle and
educated man, but his policies brought on conflict with Europe that Vietnam could not win. He
oppressed all foreigners in Vietnam, especially the Christian community, who had tried to overthrow his
grandfather, such as in the Lê Văn Khôi revolt, calling their religion a "perverse doctrine". The Christian
mandarin Nguyễn Trường Tộ tried to convince Tự Ðức that this was a suicidal policy, but he did not
listen, confident that France was too involved with the chaos in Europe in 1848 to respond, but he was
mistaken.
Attempts at reforms
It was quite ironic that even during the height of Tu Duc's persecution against Catholic Christians, there
were always devout Catholic officials serving in his court, occupied among the high-ranking positions.
Among them, Nguyễn Hữu Thơ, an accomplish priest, was sent by Tu Duc to France with another
French priest, to plan the creation of a school of "Sciences, and Arts and Crafts" in Hue, but later that
project was defied by Tu Duc himself who quickly lost interest in reforms.[5] Another Catholic official,
Nguyễn Trường Tộ, had attempted forty-three times to persuade the court of Tu Duc to renovate the
kingdom and adopt the changing global order. In 1866 he was sent to Europe on the Vietnamese third
mission to recruit technicians and teachers for a Western-style school foundation in Vietnam, but that
project was also cancelled in 1867 when France annexed the rest of Cochinchina.[5]
Nguyễn Trường Tộ launched an campaign against the established-Confucian education and thinking in
Vietnam. He denounced Confucianism "the evil that has been brought on China and on our country by
the Confucian way of life." Concluding "No other country in the world has so irrational a system of
education," Nguyễn Trường Tộ advocated for a new, modernized education system followed the
European model.[6] Indeed, neither of his proposals was applied.[7]
In 2018 Lê Minh Khải claimed that he found two instances where the Tự Ðức Emperor had ordered the
Chinese edition of several classic books on science and industry from the West to be read by the
mandarins and soldiers of the country.[8] As an example he mentioned the book "Vạn Quốc Công Pháp"
(萬國公法), a Chinese translation of The Elements of International Law, first published in 1836 by
American lawyer Henry Wheaton, a book noted by many researchers to have made a profound
contribution to the ideological transformation of the ruling elites in Qing China and Japan.[8] It is noted
that the very slow adoption of the ideas from this work in the Nguyễn dynasty showed how slowly its
elites adopted Western ideas and despite learning about Western ideas they proved to be unable or
unwilling adopt them or adapt to them.[8]
Tonkin or Northern Vietnam, had been ravaged by constant cholera epidemic, natural disasters, and
famines in the 1840s–1850s, was left barely administrated by the court. The mountainous parts of
Tonkin were territories of mainly indigenous Tai-speaking communities, and later Hmong, who were
autonomous and lightly submissive in relations with the court of Hue. Rebellion and pirate activities
increased. In 1857, Chinese Muslim rebels from Yunnan attacked and occupied areas near Tụ Long
mines, Tuyên Quang. Tụ Long was an important mining zone for the Vietnamese economy which
depended on copper coins in every transaction.[9]
In 1860, the Chinese Muslim rebels were driven back, but the new White Flag army invaded Tonkin and
laid Tụ Long abandoned by 1863, disrupting Vietnamese finance and the opium trade. Threats from the
White Flags mounted as violence and anarchy escalated. In 1862, Tu Duc appointed Nguyễn Bá Nghi to
fought off the White Flag rebels.[10] The White Flags made a series of devastating raids in Hưng Hóa,
Cao Bằng, Thái Nguyên, and lowland Red River Delta, made local governments there dysfunctional. In
summer 1865, the White Flags ambushed Vietnamese troops at Tuyên Quang, killing three hundred
soldiers.[9] In February 1868, the White Flags seized Lục Yên and chased the Vietnamese away. Unable
to defeat the White Flags in conventional warfare, the Vietnamese began to hire Chinese and Tai-
Zhuang mercenaries. In 1860, He Junchang, a Chinese opium merchant, had recruited his own personal
militia to protect the opium trade from the White Flags. His private army effectively drove the White
Flags away from Lào Cai, the main station along Kunming-Hanoi opium trade route.[11]
Liu Yongfu proclaimed the Kingdom of Yanling in Guangxi in 1861. In 1865, after the fall of the Taiping
Heavenly Kingdom, Liu Yongfu fled to China-Vietnam borders and founded the Black Flag Army,
consisting of Chinese and Tai-Zhuang militia.[12] The Vietnamese immediately made an alliance with the
Black Flags to fight against the White Flags. In 1868, war in Tonkin broke out between the White Flags
and the Black Flags, resulting in White Flags defeat and their forces diminished. The Vietnamese now
were harboring the Black Flags and benefiting from their good fighting and reputations.[13]
New waves of Chinese rebels invaded Vietnam in form of the Yellow Flag Army, led by Wu Yazhong and
later his lieutenant Pan Lunsi. In March 1868, thousands of Yellow Flags crossed the borders and
attacking local Vietnamese authorities and raiding grain warehouses in Cao Bằng.[14] The Yellow Flags
occupied large territories in Tonkin, and continued their operations until 1885.
European conquest
France and Spain responded to Tự Ðức's persecution with a large military expeditionary force and
attacked up from southern Vietnam in 1858–1862. The Nguyễn army fought bravely for some time, but
their antiquated weapons and tactics were no match for the French, who suffered more from the
climate and disease than from enemy resistance. The fighting around Hanoi against the Black Flag in
the 1880s[15] pirates ended with France victorious and the Qing Empire gave up its supremacy over
Vietnam and recognized France as the ruling power over the region.
Rebellions
To make matters worse, Emperor Tự Ðức had to deal with renewed internal rebellions which had
become commonplace for the Nguyễn dynasty. There were literally hundreds of small rebellions and
uprisings against Nguyễn rule. Ineffective attempts to enforce the ban on Christian missionaries were
also the biggest source of trouble, including the execution of a Spanish bishop which was used to
justify the French and Spanish invasion that led to the fall of Saigon. By an order of 1848 Tự Ðức
commanded all Vietnamese Catholic converts to renounce their religion, otherwise they would be
branded on the face with the mark of a heretic and surrender all of their rights and privileges. This
rallied most of the European powers against Vietnam, and Tự Ðức by doing this had given up any hope
of Vietnam gaining help as a victim from the outside world.
Treaties
When further rebellions broke out as the French were advancing on the capital, Tự Ðức feared that his
authority was crumbling. He preferred to make a deal with the French so that he could crush the
rebellion since while France may demand humiliating concessions, the rebels would most likely depose
and/or kill him. He signed away the southernmost of Vietnam, Cochinchina, to be a French colony and
accepted the status of a French protectorate for his country. This caused a huge uproar, and many,
such as the famous mandarin Trương Ðịnh, refused to recognize the treaty and fought on in defense of
their country, denouncing Tự Ðức for surrendering any part of their homeland.
Hoàng Diệu, who was Phan Liêm, son of Phan Phạm Thận Duật who Ðặng Huy Trứ, the
the viceroy of Hanoi, Thanh Giản was signed the Treaty of Huế reformist and the known
committed suicide in captured by French (1884) and later he for introduction of
1882 after his defensive colonel Francis Garnier joined the anti-French photography and
failure in Battle of Hanoi in 1873 and released in resistance. He was the western-model
to France. 1874 after peace treaty. private tutor of future shipbuilding into
emperor Dục Ðức and Vietnam.
Ðồng Khánh.
After the Tonkin incident (1873), Third French Republic governor of Cochinchina Marie Jules Dupré and
the Hue court official Nguyễn Văn Tường signed treaty of Saigon (1874), concluding Vietnam as a
vassal of France but allowing Vietnam's status quo in foreign relationships. But in 1876 Tu Duc sent a
delegation to Beijing, reassessing Vietnam's tributary status for the Chinese Empire. Another
Vietnamese mission in 1880 went on to pay homage to the Qing court. On 10 November 1880, the
Chinese ambassador in Paris announced that Dai Nam was still a vassal of China and rejected the
Franco-Vietnamese treaty of 1874. In the next year, the Qing sent an envoy to Vietnam to negotiate
trade relationship.[16]
Siam and Vietnam renewed their relationship in 1878. In 1880, Tu Duc welcomed an Italian trade
delegation. Frustrated of being harassed by Tu Duc, Résident-supérieur Rheinart France retaliated by
barring Vietnam from joining the Paris International Fair, and from sending envoy to congratulate
President Jules Grévy's inauguration.[17]
By September 1882, more than 200,000 Chinese troops had been sent to Northern Vietnam (Tonkin)
following Tu Duc's request of aid fighting against new French incursion.[18]
Death
Emperor Tự Ðức did not live to see the worst effects of colonialism on his country, and he was also the
last Vietnamese monarch to rule independently. A case of smallpox left him impotent so he had no
children despite a huge harem of wives he kept in his palace. He died in 1883 and, according to legend,
cursed the French with his dying breath. His adopted son, Dục Ðức, succeeded him but was deposed
by court officials after a reign of three days.[19]
Pavilion east of the tomb Pavillon and lotus pond. Portrait of Emperor Tu Pavilion east of the tomb
Duc in 1883
Family
Date of
Rank Title Name birth– Note
death
Palace lady
Palace lady
Consort Second rank consort Chiêu Nguyễn Thị
Thiện Cẩm
First rank Consort Thiện
Palace lady
Palace lady
Concubine From Hồ
Thận Third rank concubine Thận family
From Nguyễn
Sixth rank lady
Trinh family
From Nguyễn
Eighth rank lady
Ðình family
Trương Thị
Ninth rank lady
Ân
From Lê
Ninth rank lady
Family
See also
References
1. Lincoln, Martha (2021). Epidemic Politics in Contemporary Vietnam: Public Health and the State.
Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-755-63618-1.
2. Goscha, Christopher (2016). Vietnam: A New history. Basic Books. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-46509-437-0.
3. Kiernan, Ben (2019). Việt Nam: a history from earliest time to the present. Oxford University Press.
p. 295.
4. Kiernan, Ben (2019). Việt Nam: a history from earliest time to the present. Oxford University Press.
p. 290.
5. Kiernan, Ben (2019). Việt Nam: a history from earliest time to the present. Oxford University Press.
p. 304. ISBN 978-0-19005-379-6.
6. Kiernan, Ben (2019). Việt Nam: a history from earliest time to the present. Oxford University Press.
p. 305.
7. Kiernan, Ben (2019). Việt Nam: a history from earliest time to the present. Oxford University Press.
p. 306.
8. AN ÐẠT (19 January 2018). "Cuốn sách luật quốc tế này đã có thể góp phần thay đổi vận mệnh Việt
Nam? Về số phận cuốn sách kinh điển đầu tiên về luật quốc tế được đưa đến Việt Nam" (https://www.lua
tkhoa.org/2018/01/cuon-sach-luat-quoc-te-nay-da-co-gop-phan-thay-doi-van-menh-viet-nam/?amp=
1) (in Vietnamese). Luật Khoa tạp chí – Sáng kiến Pháp lý Việt Nam (Legal Initiatives for Vietnam).
Retrieved 14 September 2021.
9. Bradley, Camp Davis (2016). Imperial Bandits: Outlaws and Rebels in the China-Vietnam Borderlands.
University of Washington Press. p. 31.
10. Bradley, Camp Davis (2016). Imperial Bandits: Outlaws and Rebels in the China-Vietnam Borderlands.
Seattle and London: University of Washington Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-295-74205-2.
11. Bradley, Camp Davis (2016). Imperial Bandits: Outlaws and Rebels in the China-Vietnam Borderlands.
University of Washington Press. p. 32.
12. Bradley, Camp Davis (2016). Imperial Bandits: Outlaws and Rebels in the China-Vietnam Borderlands.
University of Washington Press. pp. 32–33.
13. Bradley, Camp Davis (2016). Imperial Bandits: Outlaws and Rebels in the China-Vietnam Borderlands.
University of Washington Press. pp. 35–37.
14. Bradley, Camp Davis (2016). Imperial Bandits: Outlaws and Rebels in the China-Vietnam Borderlands.
University of Washington Press. p. 37.
15. "South China in the Imperial Era: South China from 1800 to the fall of the Qing in 1911" (https://web.arch
ive.org/web/20100830072218/http://www.cpamedia.com/articles/20080724_03/) . CPA Media. 2008.
Archived from the original (http://www.cpamedia.com/articles/20080724_03/) on 30 August 2010.
Retrieved 9 July 2010. "[...] the Black Flags and their leader, Liu Yung-fu, were to acquire a certain
dubious legitimacy and fame in the service both of the Vietnamese king, Tu Duc, and of the latter's Qing
suzerains in their struggle against French imperialism in Tonkin."
16. Chapuis, Oscar (2000). The Last Emperors of Vietnam: from Tu Duc to Bao Dai. Greenwood Press. p. 61.
ISBN 0-313-31170-6.
17. Chapuis, Oscar (2000). The Last Emperors of Vietnam: from Tu Duc to Bao Dai. Greenwood Press.
p. 62. ISBN 0-313-31170-6.
18. Chapuis, Oscar (2000). The Last Emperors of Vietnam: from Tu Duc to Bao Dai. Greenwood Press.
pp. 64–65. ISBN 0-313-31170-6.
19. Bruce M. Lockhart, William J. Duiker Historical Dictionary of Vietnam 2010. p. 154 "A younger brother
and adopted son of Emperor Tự Ðức, he succeeded his nephew Dục Ðức after the latter was deposed
by court officials in 1883. Hiép Hoa attempted to wrest power back from these officials, but he was not
strong enough"
Chapuis, Oscar (2000). The Last Emperors of Vietnam. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-
313-31170-6. OCLC 42296168 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/42296168) .
External links