Khải Định (;

chữ Hán Chữ Hán (𡨸漢, literally "Chinese characters", ), Chữ Nho (𡨸儒, literally "Confucian characters", ) or Hán tự (漢字, ), is the Vietnamese term for Chinese characters, used to write Văn ngôn (which is a form of Classical Chines ...

: 啓定; born Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Đảo; 8 October 1885 – 6 November 1925) was the 12th

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( e ...

of the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (chữ Nôm: 茹阮, vi, Nhà Nguyễn; chữ Hán: 阮朝, vi, Nguyễn triều) was the last Vietnamese dynasty, which ruled the unified Vietnamese state largely independently from 1802 to 1883. During its existence, ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

, reigning from 1916 to 1925. His name at birth was Prince Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Đảo. He was the son of Emperor Đồng Khánh, but he did not succeed him immediately.

Biography

Before Emperor Đồng Khánh's era came the eras of Emperor Thành Thái and Emperor Duy Tân, both of whom were exiled by the French for their resistance to the colonial regime. After this trouble, the French decided to enthrone Bửu Đảo as he was the son of the monarch who was the most submissive Nguyễn collaborator with the colonial regime, standing with the French colonizers and opposing any independence movements, Emperor Đồng Khánh. File:Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy (阮福永瑞) and the Khải Định Emperor (啓定帝) - Southern China Morning Post.jpg, Emperor Khải Định and crown prince Vĩnh Thụy. File:KD1234.jpg, Emperor Khai Dinh File:KD on throne.jpg, Khai Dinh on throne File:KD Ao Dai.jpg, Emperor in Ao dai File:KD back to palace.jpg, Emperor return to palace after Nam Giao ceremony, 1924. File:Vua-khai-dinh.jpg, Emperor Khải Định and cabinet ministers File:Hunting trip.jpg, Emperor in hunting trip Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Đảo became the nominal ruler of Annam on 18 May 1916, after the exile of Duy Tân (Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh San) and took the name Khải Định for his reign, meaning "auger of peace and stability." He said he wanted to restore the prestige of the empire, but this was not possible with his close collaboration with the French occupiers. Although not satisfied with his position, Khải Định enacted a policy of close collaboration with the French government and was effectively a puppet political figurehead for the French colonial rulers, following all of their instructions to give "legitimacy" to French policies. Because of this, Khải Định was very unpopular with the Vietnamese people. The nationalist leader

Phan Châu Trinh Phan Châu Trinh (Chữ Hán: 潘周楨, 9 September 1872 – 24 March 1926), courtesy name Tử Cán (梓幹), pen name Tây Hồ (西湖) or Hi Mã (希馬), was an early 20th-century Vietnamese nationalist. He sought to end France's colonial ...

accused him of selling out his country to the French and living in imperial luxury while the people were exploited by France. Nguyễn Ái Quốc (later known as Hồ Chí Minh) wrote a play about Khải Định called "The Bamboo Dragon" that ridiculed him as being all grand appearance and ceremony but a powerless puppet of the French government. From 1919 onward, the Emperor made a decree that Vietnam cease to use Chinese as official written language and was replaced by Romanized Vietnamese. In 1922, the Emperor's visit to France to see the Marseilles Colonial Exhibition was also ridiculed by nationalist leaders, who hated Vietnam's status as a colonial subject of France and saw nothing in the exhibition worth celebrating. Emperor Khải Định's unpopularity reached its peak in 1923 when he authorized the French to raise taxes on the Vietnamese peasants, part of which was to pay for the building of his palatial tomb, and which caused a great deal of hardship. He also signed the orders of arrest against many nationalist leaders, such as Phan Bội Châu, forcing them into exile and having their followers who were captured beheaded.

Marriages and sexuality

When he was still Duke of Phụng Hóa, Emperor Khải Định married his first wife Trương Như Thị Tịnh in 1907. She left him in 1915 and became a nun, before he was enthroned. Upon ascending the throne, he married his second wife, Ân phi, Noble consort of the first rank Hồ Thị Chỉ (1902–1982) of An Truyền Hồ Đắc clan. She is a daughter of

Hồ Đắc Trung Hồ is a Vietnamese word. It may refer to: *Hồ (surname), a Vietnamese surname *Hồ dynasty The Hồ dynasty (Vietnamese: , chữ Nôm: 茹胡； Sino-Vietnamese: ''Hồ triều, chữ Hán:'' 胡朝) was a short-lived Vietnamese dynasty ...

, who became Annam's Minister for Public Instruction. Emperor Khải Định had his first and only son with one of his concubines,

Hoàng Thị Cúc Từ Cung Hoàng thái hậu (1890–1980), was an empress dowager of Vietnam between 1926–1945. She was the mother of emperor Bảo Đại of the Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (chữ Nôm: 茹阮, vi, Nhà Nguyễn; chữ Hán: ...

(1890–1980). She gave birth to Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy (later Emperor

Bảo Đại Bảo Đại (, vi-hantu, , lit. "keeper of greatness", 22 October 191331 July 1997), born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy (), was the 13th and final emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling dynasty of Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was em ...

) in 1913. After Khải Định's ascension, she was given the title of Huệ tần, noble consort of the third rank, later elevated to the title Huệ phi, noble consort of the second rank. File:Hoang Thi Cuc.jpg, Hoàng Thị Cúc as Empress Dowager Từ Cung, wife of Khải Định and the last Empress Dowager of Vietnam Historical records and studies state that Emperor Khải Định only had homosexual desires. He rarely slept with his wives during his reign. He was close to his male guard,

Nguyễn Đắc Vọng Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元）is a different word and surname. By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this su ...

, and always slept with him.

Death

Khải Định suffered poor health like his father and became a drug addict. He died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...

in the Imperial City of Huế, according to his concubine Ba Phi, who described him as "''not interested in sex''" and "''physically weak''".

Reign symbols

Gallery

File:Khai Dinh2.jpg , Emperor in

Mianfu Mianfu () is a kind of Chinese clothing in hanfu; it was worn by emperors, kings, and princes, and in some instances by the nobles in historical China from the Shang to the Ming dynasty. The mianfu is the highest level of formal dress worn b ...

ceremonial outfit. File:Khải Định 1919.jpg, Emperor Khải Định on throne drawing. File:Emperor Khai Dinh 1916.jpg, Emperor Khải Định in his study (1916). File:Roi-Khai-Dinh.jpg, Emperor Khải Định, 1916. File:Empereur d'annam Khai-Dinh un costume-trois-pièces.jpg, Emperor Khải Định in the three-piece Fujitsu File:KD in palanquin.jpg, Khai Dinh in palanquin File:7tien.jpg, Flying dragon. ''Phi long'' (coin) of Khải Định File:Khải Định's 1922 visit to France.jpg, Emperor Khải Định and crown prince Vĩnh Thụy to France,1922. File:Le roi Khai Dinh et le prince Vinh Thuy à Paris en 1922.jpg, Emperor Khải Định and crown prince Vĩnh Thụy paid tribute to World War I memorials File:KhaiDinh bureau.jpg, Working time of the emperor. File:Thanh Thai in Le Petit Journal.jpg, Khải Định in Hue royal palace published in ''Le Petit Journal''.

References

External links

Asian Historical Architecture: Tomb of Emperor Khai DinhErdal Can Alkoçlar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khai Dinh 1925 deaths Nguyen dynasty emperors 1885 births 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis LGBT royalty LGBT heads of state LGBT people from Vietnam Tuberculosis deaths in Vietnam Vietnamese monarchs