Thành Thái

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 Vietnamese Emperor Dục Đức and Empress Dowager Từ Minh. He reigned as emperor for 18 years, from 1889 to 1907. Thành Thái was one of the three "patriotic emperors" in Vietnamese history, along with Hàm Nghi and Duy Tân (his son), for their actions and views against French colonial rule in Vietnam.

Biography

Early life

While the emperor Tự Đức 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:Annam3h.jpg, Coronation of Thành Thái.
File:Young emperor Thanh Thai1.jpg, Young emperor Thanh Thai's enthronement
File:Young emperor Thanh Thai on throne.jpg, Young emperor Thanh Thai on throne in Thái Hòa Điện (太和殿).
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 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.

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.

In 1907, his son was installed as Emperor Duy Tân. Thành Thái was exiled first to Vũng Tàu in South Vietnam and when Duy Tân rebelled against the French they were both exiled to Réunion Island in 1916.

Unlike Hàm Nghi, the lives of Thành Thái and Duy Tân were tough. They did not even have money to pay rent. In 1925, Emperor Khải Định knew his situation and sent 1,000 piastres to him. Khải Định later occasionally gave him money.

He never gave up hope for the liberation of his country. In May 1947, 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 district, Thừa Thiên Huế Province, at the age of 75.

There are now roads in Vietnam named in his honour.

Honours

* Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour of France – 1883
* Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Cambodia – 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 who was the spy of the French colonial regime and suppressed the anti-French revolution of Phan Đình Phùng and Cần Vương movement, Bãi Sậy uprising and Yên Thế Insurrection of Hoàng Hoa Thám.
File:NguyenThienThuat.jpg, Nguyễn Thiện Thuật
File:Nguyen Trong Hop.jpg, Nguyễn Trọng Hợp
File:Cao Xuan Duc2.jpg, Cao Xuân Dục, one of the loyal officials of emperor Thành Thái.

Gallery

File:17064318 2a.jpg, Emperor Thành Thái in Cổn Miện in Nam Giao ceremony.
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:Annam - Hué - Empereur d'Annam en Costume de Ville (2).jpg, Emperor Thanh Thai.
File:Le Tonkin vers 1900 - Kiến Trúc Việt-Vietnam Architecture 19.jpg, Emperor Thanh Thai.
File:Le Tonkin vers 1900 - Kiến Trúc Việt-Vietnam Architecture 18.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.
File:ThanhThai.jpg, Emperor Thành Thái in palanquin.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thanh Thai
1879 births
1954 deaths
Vietnamese nationalists
Vietnamese revolutionaries
Nguyen dynasty emperors
Dethroned monarchs
19th-century Vietnamese monarchs
Vietnamese monarchs