Vietnamese History
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Person

Phan Khoi

The writer of the article Put Trieu Da and his line out of Vietnamese history, in the newspaper Song Huong in 1936, who took the nation as the measure of national history.

At a glance

Dates
The article appeared in August 1936, in issue three of Song Huong in Hue; his reply appeared in issue nine12
Role
Author of the article demanding the Trieu be put out of Vietnamese history altogether, subtitled breaking an error running from Le Van Huu and Ngo Si Lien down to Tran Trong Kim; his measure was the nation1

Life

How later ages remembered

His measure differs both from Le Van Huu's virtue and from Ngo Thi Si's land. He writes: national history must take the nation as its foundation. In his view, our country at that time should be counted as already lost to Trieu Da, while Trieu Da's country of Nam Viet, newly founded over in Guangdong, truly was not our country. Our country was under northern rule for over a thousand years in any case, so why begrudge letting that rule start earlier, adding ninety-six more years, counted from the moment Au Lac fell into Trieu hands. He also names Tran Trong Kim directly: in the Viet Nam su luoc, the rise and fall of the Trieu still takes up as many as six pages.1

The article contains one error. Listing those who honoured Trieu Da, Phan Khoi writes: the likes of Le Van Huu, Vo Quynh, Ngo Si Lien, Ngo Thoi Si, down to Mr Tran Trong Kim today, all styled him King, styled him Emperor. Ngo Thoi Si is Ngo Thi Si — the very man who, in the Viet su tieu an, rejected the honouring of the Trieu and demanded they be filed under foreign rule. Phan Khoi put a man whose position was close to his own on the opposing side. The article does not say why.13

Nor did the article stand alone. The paper Tin van in Hanoi objected, and in his reply in issue nine, Phan Khoi set out their two arguments. First, if Trieu Da is dropped, then the thousand years of northern rule should not be counted either, and neither should the French protectorate. Second, a country is always the country of its own people, whoever holds power.2

Mentioned in

  1. Episode 3The Trieu: legitimate dynasty or foreign conquest15 min

Sources for this page

Every row of the profile and every passage below points to one of these documents. How we choose and check sources

  1. Song Huong — Phan Khoi's two articles on Trieu Da

    the article Put Trieu Da and his line out of Vietnamese history, Song Huong issue 3, 15 August 1936 — the typed transcription on Wikisource

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  2. Song Huong — Phan Khoi's two articles on Trieu Da

    the article The question of Trieu Da in Vietnamese history, Song Huong issue 9, 26 September 1936 — the typed transcription on Wikisource

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  3. Viet su tieu an

    end of the part on An Duong Vuong, before the heading on Trieu Da setting himself up as king of Nam Viet — the 1960 translation, not checked against the classical Chinese

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