Thành Thái (, vi-hantu, 成泰; 14 March 1879 – 20 March 1954) born Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Lân (阮福寶嶙), was the son of Emperor

Dục Đức Dục Đức (, ; born Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Ái, 23 February 1852 – 6 October 1883), was Emperor of Vietnam for three days, from 20 to 23 July 1883. He was the fifth emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty and father of Emperor Thành Thái, who ruled ...

and Empress Dowager Từ Minh. He reigned as emperor for 18 years, from 1889 to 1907.

Biography

Early life

While the emperor

Tự Đức Tự Đức (, vi-hantu, 嗣德, lit. "inheritance of virtues", 22 September 1829 – 19 July 1883) (personal name: Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm , also Nguyễn Phúc Thì) was the fourth emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam; he ruled ...

was alive, Prince Quang Thái was placed under house arrest with his family for having connections with those who opposed him. When the emperor Đồng Khánh died, however, the French colonial authorities and the high-ranking mandarins decided that Quang Thái was the ideal successor and enthroned him as the new Vietnamese emperor, Emperor Thành Thái. File:Young emperor Thanh Thai.jpg, Young emperor Thanh Thai in 1892 File:Young emperor Thanh Thai1.jpg, Young emperor Thanh Thai's enthronment File:Young emperor Thanh Thai on throne.jpg, Young emperor Thanh Thai on throne File:Thanhthai.jpg, Thanh Thai on throne At the age of 10, Thành Thái was recognized as being very intelligent and was already realizing that the French were keeping watch over him through palace spies. Whereas Đồng Khánh had tried to be friendly with the French, Emperor Thành Thái took a course of passive-resistance. Although he refrained from outright rebellion (which would have been political suicide), he made his feelings clear in other ways, symbolic gestures and biting remarks. He was also a man of the people, and a monarch who cared deeply for his country. The emperor would often slip out of the

Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is a palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples including the Zhongshan Park, the sacrifi ...

dressed in the clothes of a commoner to talk with his people directly and see how they were being affected by government policies.

Opposing French authority

To show that he was friendly with Western civilization, Thành Thái was the first Vietnamese monarch to cut his hair in the French style and learn to drive a car. He encouraged French-style education, but maintained bitter feelings over their control of his country.Van Dan Nong, ''Churchill, Eden and Indo-China, 1951–1955'' 2011 Page xiii "Thành Thái founded the 'Hué national school' and the traditional mandarinate examinations were allowed by the French to ... He also supported numerous building projects and took an interest in the everyday lives of his subjects. When traveling among his people, he would hold impromptu "town hall meetings" where the Emperor sat on a mat with his subjects in a circle around him, discussing the issues of the day and hearing their point of view. Tranh-goc-voi-cop-danh-nhau

Slowly, as the emperor began to realize how thoroughly his palace had been infiltrated with French spies, he had to feign insanity to escape their constant scrutiny. With his enemies believing he was a harmless lunatic, Thành Thái was able to push more forcefully for Vietnamese autonomy while waiting for the right time to overthrow the French colonial rule. He was on his way to join a resistance movement in China when he was arrested by French forces who declared him insane and forced the Emperor to

abdicate Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...

. In 1907, his son was installed as Emperor

Duy Tân Emperor Duy Tân (, vi-hantu, 維新, lit. "renovation"; 19 September 1900 – 26 December 1945), born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh San, was the 11th emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty in Vietnam, who reigned for nine years between 1907 and 1916. Early ch ...

. Thành Thái was exiled first to

Vũng Tàu Vũng Tàu (''Hanoi accent:'' , ''Saigon accent:'' ) is the largest city of Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province in southern Vietnam. The city area is , consists of 13 urban wards and one commune of Long Sơn Islet. Vũng Tàu was the capital of the p ...

in South Vietnam and when Duy Tân rebelled against the French they were both exiled to

Réunion Island Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island o ...

in 1916. Unlike

Hàm Nghi Emperor Hàm Nghi (, vi-hantu, lit. "entirely right", ar, هام نغي; 3 August 1872 – 4 January 1943), personal name Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Lịch, also Nguyễn Phúc Minh, was the eighth emperor of the Vietnamese Nguyễn dynasty. He reign ...

, the lives of Thành Thái and Duy Tân were tough. They even had no money to pay for rent. In 1925, Emperor

Khải Định Khải Định (; chữ Hán: 啓定; born Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Đảo; 8 October 1885 – 6 November 1925) was the 12th emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty in Vietnam, reigning from 1916 to 1925. His name at birth was Prince Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Đ� ...

knew his situation and sent 1,000

piastres The piastre or piaster () is any of a number of units of currency. The term originates from the Italian for "thin metal plate". The name was applied to Spanish and Hispanic American pieces of eight, or pesos, by Venetian traders in the Levant ...

to him. Khải Định later occasionally gave him money. He never gave up hope for the liberation of his country. In 1945, just after the death of Duy Tân, he was allowed to return home, but was kept under house arrest in Vũng Tàu. He died in Saigon on 24 March 1954 and was buried on the grounds of An Lang (Tomb of Duc Duc) in an old commune,

Hương Thủy Hương Thủy is a County-level town (''thị xã'') of Thừa Thiên–Huế province in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam. As of 2020 the town had a population of 95,299. The town covers an area of 426.96 km². This district ...

district,

Thừa Thiên Huế Province Thừa Thiên Huế () is a province in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng Trị province to the north, Quảng Nam province and Đà Nẵng to the south, Laos to the wes ...

, at the age of 75.

Honours

*Grand Cross of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

of France – 1883 *Grand Cross of the

Royal Order of Cambodia The Royal Order of Cambodia ( km, គ្រឿងឥស្សរិយយសព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា; french: Ordre royal du Cambodge) was a colonial order of chivalry of French Cambodia, and is still in use ...

– 1889

Cabinet

File:方蘇雅（Auguste Francois）曾著越南官服.jpg, Auguste François, French consul who sponsored the construction of the rail line from Vietnam to Kunming. File:Hoang Kao-Kai.jpg, Hoàng Cao Khải, viceroy of

Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain '' Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includ ...

who was the spy of French colonial regime and oppressed the anti-French revolution of

Phan Đình Phùng Phan Đình Phùng (; 1847January 21, 1896) was a Vietnamese people, Vietnamese revolutionary who led rebel armies against French colonial empire, French colonial forces in Vietnam. He was the most prominent of the Confucian court scholars ...

and

Cần Vương movement The Cần Vương (, Hán tự: , ) movement was a large-scale Vietnamese insurgency between 1885 and 1889 against French colonial rule. Its objective was to expel the French and install the Hàm Nghi Emperor as the leader of an independent V ...

, Bãi Sậy uprising and Yên Thế Insurrection of Hoàng Hoa Thám. File:NguyenThienThuat.jpg,

Nguyễn Thiện Thuật Nguyễn Thiện Thuật (阮善述, 1844–1926), courtesy name Mạnh Hiếu, was a Vietnamese revolutionary leader, who commanded armed forces during the anti-colonial struggle. As a high-ranking official under the Nguyễn dynasty, he gover ...

File:Nguyen Trong Hop.jpg, Nguyễn Trọng Hợp File:Cao Xuan Duc2.jpg, Cao Xuân Dục one of the loyal official of emperor Thành Thái.

Gallery

File:Thanh Thai with French Indochina governor Paul Doumer.jpg, Thanh Thai with French Indochina governor Paul Doumer File:Emperor Thanh thai.jpg, Emperor Thanh thai File:ThanhThai1.jpg, Emperor Thanh thai File:Emperor Thanh thai1.jpg, Emperor Thanh thai File:Emperor Thanh thai5.jpg, Emperor Thanh thai File:EmperorThanh Thai.jpg, Emperor (seat) and his siblings. File:Young emperor Thanh Thai4.jpg, Emperor Thanh Thai(purple) and his younger brother Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Tán. File:Thanh Thai riding bicycle.jpg, Thanh Thai riding bicycle in French press.

References

External link

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thanh Thai 1869 births 1969 deaths Vietnamese nationalists Vietnamese revolutionaries Nguyen dynasty emperors Dethroned monarchs 19th-century Vietnamese monarchs Vietnamese monarchs