Hội Tề

From: "Pierre Asselin" <passelin@sdsu.edu>

To: "VSG" <vsg@u.washington.edu>;

Cc:

Sent: 2022-05-15 (Su) 16:45:21 (UTC+09:00)

Subject: [Vsg] "Hôi tê"

Comrades:

Salutations from Hanoi. A report on the situation in Nam Bo in 1945-46 by the Uy ban khang chien hanh chinh Nam Bo I found at Archives 3 refers to "bon Hôi tê" (sorry, the doc has no diacritics) as enemies of the revolution. Who/what does the term refer to? Is it the religious sects?

The same doc refers to "bon miên gian," which I'm assuming is ethnic Cambodians (Khmer Krom) who opposed the communists, as Shawn (McHale) has documented. Let me know if I'm wrong about that.

Thanks and all my best,

Pierre

Pierre Asselin

Professor of History - Dwight E. Stanford Chair in US Foreign Relations

San Diego State University

History Department

5500 Campanile Dr.

San Diego, CA 92182-6050

On Sun, May 15, 2022 at 4:09 AM GROSSHEIM MARTIN <mgrossheim@snu.ac.kr> wrote:

Hi Pierre,

salutations from Seoul. In the North "(bọn) hội tề" (not "tè" :-) ) referred to village councils set up by the French, not by the Việt Minh; "bọn" just emphasizes the derogatory meaning. I am not sure whether in the South the term had a different meaning; I guess in general here it also referred to "ngụy" councils at lower administrative levels.

Hope that information helps a bit.

Good luck in the archives and best,

Martin

MARTIN GROSSHEIM

Department of Asian History / Associate Professor, Vietnamese History

Email mgrossheim@snu.ac.kr

From: Vsg <vsg-bounces@mailman11.u.washington.edu> on behalf of Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>

Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2022 6:27:07 PM

To: GROSSHEIM MARTIN <mgrossheim@snu.ac.kr>

Cc: vsg@u.washington.edu <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: Re: [Vsg] "Hôi tê"

Pierre and Martin

Salut les potes

"Bon" indicates the plural. In this case, it is a colloquial wording perhaps mildly derogatory but does not connote illegitimacy like "nguy." It can be used in phrases such as "bon toi se den" "we'll come." " hoi te" (sac on 'te') seems to mean " ritual councils."

Hue Tam Ho Tai

Harvard University emerita

On Sunday, May 15, 2022, 07:46:12 AM EDT, Phan Quang Anh <phanquanganh@u.nus.edu> wrote:

Dear Pierre,

Hội tề, which is exactly like what Prof Martin has described, is the administrative council at village level. It was documented in a decree signed by the governor-general of French Indochina on 27 August 1904 (Paul Beau's era, I believe) that regulates the administration of units in Nam Kỳ. There is a research written in Vietnamese that touches upon that matter, the link is here: https://sti.vista.gov.vn/tw/Lists/TaiLieuKHCN/Attachments/274918/CTv75S92018035.pdf.

Best,

Phan Quang Anh

VNU-SIS, Hanoi

PHAN Quang Anh, PhD (NUS)

From: tran_n_a@yahoo.com <tran_n_a@yahoo.com>

Sent: Sunday, May 22, 2022 5:22 PM

To: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>; GROSSHEIM MARTIN <mgrossheim@snu.ac.kr>; Phan Quang Anh <phanquanganh@u.nus.edu>; Pierre Asselin <passelin@sdsu.edu>

Cc: vsg@u.washington.edu

Subject: Re: [Vsg] "Hôi tê"

Dear Pierre,

I am not familiar with the term hội tề, but I would be very surprised to see tề used in southern Vietnam in 1945-1946 to mean French-controlled or French-allied. In my research, I've only seen the term tề (meaning loyal to or controlled by the French/State of Vietnam) and dinh tê (from French rentrer, meaning to escape from the communist zone to the French/State of Vietnam-controlled zone) used in literature and memoirs about the First Indochina War in the northern half of Vietnam. Also, I've mostly seen it for the late 1940s and early 1950s, when the radicalization of the DRV drove many middle and upper class Vietnamese to escape to the cities and other French/State of Vietnam controlled areas but never for 1946. What an interesting puzzle!

Cheers,

Nu-Anh

Nu-Anh Tran

Associate Professor

University of Connecticut

From: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>

Sent: Monday, May 23, 2022 10:44 AM

To: tran_n_a@yahoo.com

Cc: vsg@u.washington.edu

Subject: Re: [Vsg] "Hôi tê"

Dear Nu Anh,

"Te" in this context does not have political connotations; it is part of "hoi te" or the council of notables, in other words, the village level administrative unit. Most village councils were hostile to the Communists, whether out of socio-cultural conservatism, fear of being replaced by Communist cadres, or because they represented the interests of local elites. The report that Pierre has uncovered shows that, for their part, Communist activists were just as hostile to the "hoi te", hence the collective "bon".

Hue-Tam Ho Tai

Harvard University emerita