Hoa Lo
Hoa Lo
From dduffy@email.unc.edu Mon Nov 26 17:18:10 2001
Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 17:55:26 -0400
From: duffy.daniel <dduffy@email.unc.edu>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Hoa Lo
The current issue of Bui Xuan Quang's "Viet Nam Infos: bulletin d'information economique et culturelle sur le Viet-Nam" (No. 8, Septembre, 2001), under the title "Ha Noi Hilton" on page 7, reports a new collection of recent stories by Nguyen Chi Thien titled "Hoa Lo". The article says Thien did time at Hoa Lo during his decades in and out of prisons in Viet Nam.
The same brief notice observes that a room of the old prison is now maintained as a museum and claims that male tourists may arrange to have sex with a woman there at night for 40 USD.
For questions about the article, contact:
Bui Xuan Quang, editor
Viet Nam Infos
240, rue de Tolbiac
75013 Paris
Tel/FAX 33 01 45 65 39 63
email: vninfos@ifrance.com
site internet: www.vninfos.com
From OJHM.Salemink@scw.vu.nl Mon Nov 26 17:19:39 2001
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 9:59:55 +0100
From: Oscar Salemink <OJHM.Salemink@scw.vu.nl>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: History of Hanoi
Almost simultaneously with William Logan, Philippe Papin, EFEO Representative in Hanoi, published a French-language "Histoire de Hanoi" (Librairie Fayard, 2001, ISBN : 35-0871-2001-II). I have not seen a review yet.
Oscar Salemink
Department of Cultural Anthropology & Sociology of Development
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
De Boelelaan 1081c
1081 HV Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Phone: (+31)(0)20-444 6712 / 6704
Fax: (+31)(0)20-444 6722
E-mail: O.Salemink@scw.vu.nl
From OJHM.Salemink@scw.vu.nl Mon Nov 26 17:20:08 2001
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 9:22:29 +0100
From: Oscar Salemink <OJHM.Salemink@scw.vu.nl>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: re: History of Hanoi
I append a review of Papin's book by Jean Michaud - with Michaud's permission.
The review will appear in the journal Asia-Pacific Viewpoint.
Oscar Salemink
---------
PAPIN, Philippe, 2001, Histoire de Hanoi. Paris :
Fayard. 400p.
After more than a thousand years under Chinese occupation, the town we know today as Hanoi became the capital of the Viet kingdom in 1010A.D. The Ly and the Tran dynasties made it the centre of a prestigious Empire. Under the name of Thang-Long, æThe City of the Rising Dragon, Hanoi had its golden age in the 15th and 16th centuries during the Le dynasty, who is successive kings made it the heart of the Dai-Viet kingdom. In the 17th century, traders and craftsmen migrating in town from the surrounding countryside to supply the court triggered a gradual replacement of the ælettrésÆ by the æcommerçants'. Then unfolded a troubled period where the country was divided to be later expanded and united under Emperor Gia Long, who transferred his capital to Hue in 1802. In the 19th century, as a consequence of that out-migration of the court craftsmen and traders, Thang-Long had shrunk into no more than a provincial town. The French conquest of Tonkin in 1883 unexpectedly resuscitated it and crowned it not only as the capital of Vietnam, but of all of French Indochina. This new golden age which saw considerable economic activity and caused the town population to soar from 50,000 in 1880 to 200,000 in 1940, was then abruptly ended by 30 years of war that took their gruesome toll and left profound scars on the architecture of the city as well as in the memory of its inhabitants. The collectivization years influenced profoundly the geographical distribution of the population. In the post-Doi Moi and still Socialist Hanoi of today, temples are standing side by side with colonial villas, the statue of Lenin contemplates what is left of the old Imperial Citadel, and Hanoians devoutly pray their ancestorsÆ spirits next to the Catholic cathedral, in the constant noise of thousands of newly imported Japanese motorcycles.
Few cities in Asia can claim a history so turbulent, yet so rich as Hanoi. Surprisingly though, very few books have been written about it in any Western language. Among this very select group, Papin definitely takes the first rank and may keep it for a long time.
Since 1996, Philippe Papin, a fluent speaker and reader of Vietnamese, has been director of the Hanoi branch of the Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient. Historian by formation, erudite though still relatively young, Hanoian by adoption û he has been living there for over 10 years û, his previous publications on the migration of villagers into old Hanoi all pointed at him as one of the best possible Western author for writing a history of the city.
The book is definitely the work of a scholar, covering centuries of history and using published documents as well as archives written in Vietnamese, French and English; half of the bibliography of the book is in Vietnamese. Yet, it is highly readable and the publisher, Fayard, whose readership goes well beyond narrow academic circles, certainly saw to make sure the author it commissioned for this work in its series Histoire des grandes villes du monde (incidentally, Hanoi is the first truly Asian city in the series), was not only a competent historian, but an excellent writer too.
The book has 17 chapters covering every important period from the mythical times of Hanoi to the present, with an epilogue. The text fluidly blends expected information on the Good and the Greats with welcome depictions of the daily life of commoners and craftspeople, often leaving the front stage to humble and nameless Hanoians. It has several appendices informing on successive names for the city and the country, names of successive dynasties, and a chronology of the important dates in Hanoi's history. There is an index of place names and one of historical and legendary characters. The black-and-white iconography is informative (but I would have liked it to be more important) and both front and back inside covers are adorned with colour maps of Hanoi in the late-19th century.
In my opinion, PapinÆs history of Hanoi is destined to be the reference on the subject for a good while, in any Western language I can read. For the benefit of the English and international readership, it is hoped that an English language publisher will take on the much needed task of providing us with a competent translation.
Jean Michaud
University of Hull, UK
Oscar Salemink
Department of Cultural Anthropology & Sociology of Development
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
De Boelelaan 1081c
1081 HV Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Phone: (+31)(0)20-444 6712 / 6704
Fax: (+31)(0)20-444 6722
E-mail: O.Salemink@scw.vu.nl
From dgm405@coombs.anu.edu.au Mon Nov 26 17:20:47 2001
Date: Thu, 01 Nov 2001 13:22:49 +1100
From: David Marr <dgm405@coombs.anu.edu.au>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: re: History of Hanoi
Just a footnote on the earlier discussion of `Dong Kinh', and in the Hanoi context.
Trawling through some 1997 newspaper clippings yesterday, I noticed a list of the names for Hanoi, in chronological order:
Co Loa, Van Xuan, Thang Long, Dong Do, Dong Kinh, Dai Do, Bac Thanh, Thanh Phu Hoai Duc, Hanoi (1831). `Dong Kinh' was the choice of Le Loi in 1430, and this persisted until 1749. Source: Thanh Nien 18-3-97, p.4.
David Marr