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. C ...

during the late

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (, chữ Nôm: 茹阮, chữ Hán: 朝阮) was the last List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruling unified Vietnam independently from 1802 until French protectorate in 1883 ...

and supporter of adhering to traditional Vietnamese customs in the establishment of a

constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited 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 making decisions. ...

. He was born near

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, to a literati family of

Hải Dương province Hải Dương was a former province in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. Its name derives from Sino-Vietnamese "ocean sun", though the modern province is in fact landlocked. Located in the Northern Key Economic Region, Hai Duong Provin ...

. He was appointed Minister of Education to the royal court at

Huế Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...

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, , , 22 October 191331 July 1997), born Nguyễn Phúc (Phước) Vĩnh Thụy (), was the 13th and final emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling dynasty of Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was ''de jure'' em ...

's government.Womack, Sarah. "Colonialism and the Collaborationist Agenda: Phạm Quỳnh, Print Culture, and the Politics of Persuasion in Colonial Vietnam." PhD Dissertation, University of Michigan, 2003. He served as a government minister along with

Ngô Đình Diệm Ngô Đình Diệm ( , or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician who was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955) and later the first president of South Vietnam ( Republic of ...

under Emperor

's administration. After the

August Revolution The August Revolution (), also known as the August General Uprising (), was a revolution led by the Việt Minh against the Empire of Vietnam from 16 August to 2 September 1945. The Empire of Vietnam was led by the Nguyễn dynasty and was ...

in 1945, he was killed by the

Viet Minh The Việt Minh (, ) is the common and abbreviated name of the League for Independence of Vietnam ( or , ; ), which was a Communist Party of Vietnam, communist-led national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1 ...

along with

Ngô Đình Khôi Ngô Đình Khôi (, 1885–1945) was the eldest son of Ngô Đình Khả. He had eight younger siblings: five brothers, Ngô Đình Thục, Ngô Đình Diệm, Ngô Đình Nhu, Ngô Đình Cẩn, Ngô Đình Luyện; and three sisters, Giao, ...

and his son, two other high-ranking members of the former

's cabinet. 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, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius ...

classics which he thought represented the soul of Vietnamese people. In 1913, fellow journalist and collaborator Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh 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 (, ) is the modern writing script for the Vietnamese language. It uses the Latin script based on Romance languages like French, originally developed by Francisco de Pina (1585–1625), a missionary from Portugal. The Vi ...

dictionaries.

Nam Phong tạp chí

''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 People executed by the Viet Minh Executed Vietnamese people Nguyen dynasty officials Government ministers of Vietnam Assassinated Vietnamese politicians Politicians from Hanoi Vietnamese scholars Vietnamese journalists Politicians assassinated in the 1940s {{Vietnam-politician-stub