Paris locations for Viet history
From: John Phan <jdp49@cornell.edu>
Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2023 12:29 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Vsg] Paris locations for Viet history
Dear colleagues,
Greetings and happy new years from Paris. I was wondering if anyone had any reliable information on locations in Paris relevant to Vietnamese colonial history. I am especially interested in locations related to Phan Châu Trinh and his activities during his many years in the city. I am not an expert on this topic and my interest is personal, so I'd really appreciate any tips. Some naive searches online have indicated that Phan Châu Trinh may have stayed at a hotel on the Rue l'Abbé de l'Epée as well as Rue Cujas, both in the 5th, and Wikipedia says that his group of 'patriots' were based out of 6 Villa des Gobelins, but I have no specifics and have no idea of even these vague suggestions are verifiable.
If anyone has any specific addresses or locations, for Phan Chu Trinh or any other Vietnamese figures operating in Paris in history, I'd be so grateful.
With warm new year's wishes, John
--
John D. Phan, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures
Columbia University
New York, New York 10027
From: Chau NGUYEN NGOC <yakiribocou@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2023 3:21 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Vsg] Paris locations for Viet history
I write in my book about the Ngũ Long :
“ […] Some, such as Hồng Hà[1], said that Nguyễn Tất Thành arrived in Paris in 1917, from England. However, this author pointed out that the latter, as soon as he arrived in Paris, went to the 6 Villa des Gobelins in the 13th District, while Phan Văn Trường did not move there until after his demobilization, i.e. only on April 1919. Thus, at the earliest Nguyễn Tất Thành had arrived in May or June 1919, just before the date of the handover of the document to the Congress of Versailles[2], i.e. less than two months, and not two years before this handover. This was evidenced by numerous texts from the French archives […]
[1] Thời thanh niên của bác Hồ (The youth period of uncle Hồ), Hồng Hà, éd. Thanh niên, 1976.
[2] Ai viết bài ký tên Nguyễn Ái Quấc tại Pháp từ 1919 đến 1923? (Who wrote the articles signed Nguyễn Ái Quấc in France from 1919 to 1923?), article by Thụy Khuê on the RFI website in Vietnamese (in 2010, updated in 2013).
Nguyễn Ngọc Châu
Visitez mon site https://sites.google.com/view/nguyenngocchau/accueil
From: Keith, Charles <ckeith@msu.edu>
Sent: Monday, January 16, 2023 12:03 AM
To: vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: [Vsg] Paris locations for Viet history
Hi John and list,
6 Villa des Gobelins is indeed the most famous Parisian address in Vietnamese history (not Avenue des Gobelins, a mistake one sees occasionally). Along with Phan Châu Trinh and the future Hồ Chí Minh, its other residents included the lawyer Phan Văn Trường (almost surely the principal author of the Revendications du peuple annamite) and Nguyễn Thế Truyền. PCT and HCM both lived at several addresses in Paris. I don’t remember the details, but they’ll be in Thu Trang-Gaspard’s scrupulously documented books: Ho Chi Minh à Paris (1917-1923) and Những hoạt động của Phan Châu Trinh tại Pháp (1911-1925).
A few others: 15 rue du Sommerard in the Latin Quarter was home of the Association mutuelle des Indochinois, Paris’s most visible and important Vietnamese mutual aid association during the colonial era (though there were many others). In the mid-1920s, Nguyễn Thế Truyền lived a couple doors down at number 20. The proximity wasn’t an accident, but a reflection of his effort to recruit newly-arrived students into his anti-colonial networks. 16 rue Cujas, a longstanding Chinese restaurant, was a popular place for group gatherings and association meetings. 11 rue Jean Beauvais was the headquarters of the Association amicale des annamites, formed in the mid-30s, which in 44/early 45 (so, before the August Revolution) became the nerve center of a nationwide Vietnamese political movement in France calling for autonomy and independence (its high point was a congress in December 1944 in Avignon). Finally, during the First Indochina War, both Vietnamese postcolonial states had proto-embassies in Paris. The DRV’s “permanent delegation” was at 10 rue Sainte-Anne; it was created after the Fontainebleau conference and tolerated by the French until 1949, when it was shut down. The Bảo Đại government’s (fancier) digs were at 45 avenue de Villiers.
Hope this helps!
Charles Keith
Department of History
Michigan State University
From: Christina Firpo <christina.firpo@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, January 16, 2023 2:02 PM
To: Keith, Charles <ckeith@msu.edu>
Cc: vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Paris locations for Viet history
This is a fun thread!
Bao Dai lived with the former RSA Jean Charles at Avenue de Lamballe, where Charles' wife would bring back hand-picked pretty young women to introduce to the young emperor.
I always enjoy a walk through Cite Indigene, where many young intellectuals dormed at the Maison Indochinoise while studying at the university.
I look forward to hearing more from the list.
c
From: billhayton <bill@billhayton.com>
Sent: Monday, January 16, 2023 2:27 PM
To: Christina Firpo <christina.firpo@gmail.com>
Cc: Keith, Charles <ckeith@msu.edu>; VSG <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Paris locations for Viet history
And if you want the vestiges of another emperor, take a trip to Thonac (actually some distance from Paris) and see the grave of the exiled Ham Nghi…
Bill Hayton
From: Dien Nguyen <nguyendien519@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, January 16, 2023 4:10 PM
To: Christina Firpo <christina.firpo@gmail.com>
Cc: Keith, Charles <ckeith@msu.edu>; Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Paris locations for Viet history
Let's wallow in more nostalgia: Bảo Đại's grave is in the Passy Cemetary, Paris.
Nguyễn Điền
Canberra
From: Chau NGUYEN NGOC <yakiribocou@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2023 12:26 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Vsg] Paris locations for Viet history
A less known and even unknown address in Paris for most historians is 7 rue Guénégaud, Paris 5è where was the "Éditions Minh Tân", a publishing house which published books for Vietnam (dictionaries, etc.) written by Vietnamese intellectuals and where the "Minh Tân group" used to meet.
Viet Nam 1954 - A possible choice other than that of Ngô Đình Diệm
The logo of Minh Tân publishing house clearly shows the objective of
the "Minh Tân group" : Peace
Nguyễn Ngọc Châu (author of two books on Viet Nam History)
Visitez mon site https://sites.google.com/view/nguyenngocchau/accueil
From: Cari Coe <caricoe@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2023 10:00 AM
To: Chau NGUYEN NGOC <yakiribocou@gmail.com>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Paris locations for Viet history
Dear all,
Enjoying this discussion, I have taken the liberty of mapping the addresses that have been clearly identified into Google Earth, along with descriptions as provided. You can access this project here:
https://earth.google.com/earth/d/1UVH_sE0RhIJlby9bzR0SGewY6vev33_l?usp=sharing
If you click on "Present," Google Earth will take you on a virtual tour of the places. If you click on the little person icon in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, streets that have "Street View" capacity will be highlighted in blue, and in many cases, you can click right in front of the place icon and it will zoom in to give you the street view of that place today.
This is open for all to add locations to, edit, and augment. You can add photos (if you have the rights to them, please credit your sources), and links and any other details you might like. If you add a location, just press New Feature, then you can press "replace" to edit the description of the location and add photos or other details. Or, you can search for a location, then add it to the presentation. Please keep in mind that anything you add or edit affects everyone's experience of the project- this is a shared source and it's public.
Thank you and please have fun with this! For all who love to travel to Paris and Vietnamese history, this will allow you to go there in your mind if you cannot go in person!
Yours,
Cari
Cari An Coe, Ph.D.
Southeast Asia Librarian-in-Training
University of Washington Libraries
MLIS student, UW School of Information
Cari An Coe
From: Tan Pham <nxb315kio@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2023 11:13 AM
To: Cari Coe <caricoe@gmail.com>
Cc: Chau NGUYEN NGOC <yakiribocou@gmail.com>; Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Paris locations for Viet history
Cari and List,
Thanks Cari, I checked out the sites, thanks for a great job in putting them together for us to view without leaving home.
On a side note, please find a Youtube view of the graves of Ngô Đình Diệm, his brothers Nhu and Cẩn, and their mother at Nghĩa trang Lái Thiêu B, HCM city. The relevant section starts at 18 mins.
Their names have been erased and replaced by Huynh (older brother) and Đệ (younger brother) and their baptised names but Cẩn keeps his on the grave stone.
Tan Pham