Phan Văn Trường (1876–1933) was an early 20th century Vietnamese nationalist, the first

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

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 i ...

and a key actor of cultural modernization in Vietnam in the decade 1920–1930. Along with his four compatriots Phan Châu Trinh, Nguyễn Tất Thành, Nguyễn An Ninh and Nguyễn Thế Truyền, Phan Văn Trường formed the group known as the ''Ngũ Long'' (Five Dragons, French: ''Cinq Dragons'') during his stay in France from 1908 to 1925. Phan Văn Trường was born on 25 September 1876 in Đông Ngạc commune, Từ Liêm district,

Hà Nội Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

, in a family of academics. From the young age, he was well known for his intelligence and being hardworking, he started by studying

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...

, then switched to studying

Chữ quốc ngữ The Vietnamese alphabet ( vi, chữ Quốc ngữ, lit=script of the National language) is the modern Latin writing script or writing system for Vietnamese. It uses the Latin script based on Romance languages originally developed by Portuguese m ...

and the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

. After graduating from the School of Interpretation in Hà Nội, Phan worked as an interpreter at the Bắc Kỳ Governor's Office. In 1908, he went to France to study law at the

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, then defensed his doctoral thesis and practiced law, he became a Juris Doctor and the first lawyer of Vietnam. In 1931, he went to

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

and met

Nguyễn An Ninh Nguyễn An Ninh (September 5, 1900 – August 14, 1943) was a radical Vietnamese political journalist and publicist in French colonial Cochinchina (southern Vietnam). An independent and charismatic figure, Nguyen An Ninh was able to conciliate ...

again with the intention of continuing the struggle against the French colonizers on the front of the public press. However, Phan's wish did not come true. In 1933, he returned to Hà Nội to visit his family. During his stay there, he suddenly fell ill and died at home on 23 April 1933.

References

1876 births 1933 deaths People from Hanoi Vietnamese nationalists Vietnamese democracy activists Vietnamese independence activists {{Vietnam-activist-stub