Phạm Quỳnh (December 17, 1892 – September 6, 1945) was a

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...

during the late Nguyễn dynasty and supporter of adhering to traditional Vietnamese customs in the establishment of a

constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

. He was born near

Hanoi 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 ...

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 ...

, to a literati family of Hải Dương province. He was appointed Minister of Education to the royal court at

Huế Huế () is the capital of Thừa Thiên Huế province in central Vietnam and was the capital of Đàng Trong from 1738 to 1775 and of Vietnam during the Nguyễn dynasty from 1802 to 1945. The city served as the old Imperial City and admi ...

in 1932, and held several other posts in the court as premier and Minister of the Interior for 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 ...

's government. He served as a government minister along with Ngô Đình Diệm under Emperor

's administration. After the

August Revolution The August Revolution ( vi, Cách-mạng tháng Tám), also known as the August General Uprising (), was a revolution launched by the Việt Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) against the Empire of Vietnam and the Empire of Japan in ...

, he was killed by the

Viet Minh The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...

along with two other high-ranking members of

's cabinet in September 1945. Phạm Quỳnh graduated top of his class from the College of the Protectorate in Hanoi and was appointed as an interpreter in the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient. Phạm Quỳnh dedicated his early years at the school to mastering classical Chinese, and could easily read the

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...

classics which he thought represented the soul of Vietnamese people. In 1913, fellow journalist and collaborator

Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh (1882–1936) was a Vietnamese journalist and translator of Western literature in the early 20th-century during the Nguyễn dynasty. Together with François-Henri Schneider he founded the '' Đông Dương tạp chí'' (1912) ...

invited him to be an assistant editor to the weekly journal '' Đông Dương tạp chí'' (Indochina Magazine). However, the journal’s aggressive pro-French position alienated its prospective readership, and in 1917 Governor-General

Albert Sarraut Albert-Pierre Sarraut (; 28 July 1872 – 26 November 1962) was a French Radical politician, twice Prime Minister during the Third Republic. Biography Sarraut was born on 28 July 1872 in Bordeaux, Gironde, France. On 14 March 1907 Sarraut ...

and chief of the Surete Louis Marty decided to sponsor the creation of ''Nam Phong'' (Southern Wind), a new journal with Phạm Quỳnh at the head. Apart from editing ''Nam Phong'', Phạm Quỳnh also wrote for several other French and Vietnamese journals, and authored one of the earliest

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 ...

dictionaries.

Nam Phong

''Nam Phong'' (Southern Wind) was a periodical that sought to create a new forum for elite debates surrounding colonial society and was written in

. Phạm Quỳnh often engaged in heated debates with Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh over the issue of assimilation versus association in their respective journals, ''Nam Phong'' and ''L'Annam Nouveau''. However, Nam Phong's political platform was also deemed too pro-French and sycophantic by some, and was often mocked by rival journal ''Phong Hóa'', which was run by members of the Tự-Lực văn-đoàn.

Heritage

On May 28, 2016, the Phạm's Council in Vietnam collaborated with the family of musician Phạm Tuyên held the inauguration ceremony of the tomb restoration work and the erecting of Phạm Quỳnh's statue in

City. The bust of Phạm Quỳnh was designed by his grandson, architect Tôn Thất Đại, is 60 cm tall x 50 cm wide, placed on a pedestal nearly 2 meters high, behind his grave in front of the Vạn Phước pagoda (Trường An Ward, Huế City). The front of the tomb is covered with a black stone stele engraved with his famous saying:

''(" The Tale of Kieu remains then Our language remains. Our language remains then Our country remains.")''

References

External links

Biography of Phạm Quỳnh''Pháp du hành trình nhật ký''
about his travel in France
"Phạm Quỳnh và quá trình tiếp nhận văn hoá phương Tây
ở Việt Nam đầu thế kỷ XX", by Vương Trí Nhàn
"Phạm Quỳnh: Người Nặng Lòng Với Tiếng Ta,"
Phạm Tôn on Phạm Quỳnh
"Về cái ý kiến lập hội 'Chấn hưng quốc học' của ông Phạm Quỳnh"
a 1930 article by Phan Khôi
Những uẩn khúc
trong cuộc đời ông chủ báo Nam Phong (1)
Những uẩn khúc
trong cuộc đời ông chủ báo Nam Phong (2)
Những uẩn khúc
trong cuộc đời ông chủ báo Nam Phong (3)
Thông tin về ngày mất của Phạm QuỳnhA broadcast on Phạm Quỳnh
by Thụy Khuê on Radio France Internationale 1892 births 1945 deaths Vietnamese revolutionaries Vietnamese writers 20th-century executions of Vietnamese people Nguyen dynasty officials Government ministers of Vietnam Assassinated Vietnamese politicians People from Hanoi 20th-century executions by Vietnam Vietnamese scholars Vietnamese journalists {{Vietnam-politician-stub