Phạm Hồng Thái (1896–1924) was a

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

activist, revolutionary and a member of

Đông Du Đông Du (, , ''journey to the east''; ja, 東遊) was a Vietnamese political movement founded by Phan Bội Châu at the start of the 20th century that encouraged young Vietnamese to go east to Japan to study, in the hope of training a new era o ...

. He was responsible for the assassination attempt on Martial Merlin, the governor-general of

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...

then visiting

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

, China. Disguised as a journalist at the party given in Merlin's honor, Pham Hong Thai detonated the explosive device but failed to kill Merlin at the banquet. Hunted down by authorities, he chose to drown himself in the

Pearl River The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-a ...

to avoid capture. He was interred in the Huanghuagang Cemetery (Hoàng Hoa Cương in

) Cemetery in Guangzhou next to 72 Chinese revolutionaries who died in the

Second Guangzhou uprising The Second Guangzhou (Canton) Uprising, known in Chinese as the Yellow Flower Mound Uprising or the Guangzhou Xinhai Uprising, was a failed uprising took place in China led by Huang Xing and his fellow revolutionaries against the Qing dynasty i ...

. Even though the assassination were unsuccessful, it fanned nationalist sentiments in Vietnam against French rule and intensified agitation among activists.

References

1896 births 1924 deaths Vietnamese activists Vietnamese nationalists Vietnamese revolutionaries Burials in Guangzhou {{Vietnam-activist-stub