HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Trần Tử Bình (1907–1967) was a Vietnamese
revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...
who later became one of the first generals of the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it opposed the French-suppor ...
(1948) and Vietnam's Ambassador to
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
(1959–1967). Trần Tử Bình was originally named ''Phạm Văn Phu''. Later, during revolutionary time he changed his name into Trần Tử Bình (a name which means "''man who can die for peace''"). He is most famous for being a leader of Phú Riềng Đỏ labor movement in 1930 and one of the most prominent diplomats of Vietnam, who worked as the Ambassador of Vietnam to China during period 1959–67. Honours and Awards * Gold Star *
Ho Chi Minh Order The Order of Ho Chi Minh () is a decoration of the Vietnam, Socialist Republic of Vietnam that was first instituted on 6 June 1947. The creator of the order was the president Hồ Chí Minh. The Order of Ho Chi Minh is conferred or posthumously ...


Biography

Trần Tử Bình was born in an all-Catholic village named Tieu Dong, Bình Lục District,
Hà Nam Province Hà is a Vietnamese given name, male or female, meaning "river". Hà is a Vietnamese 'surname' (during French colonialism). The name is transliterated as He in Chinese and Ha in Korean. Ha is the anglicized variation of the surname Hà. It is ...
in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. His family were poor peasants but the parents managed to scrape together enough money to enroll Trần Tử Bình at a seminary. At school, he was remembered as a brilliant but very restive and steady student. In 1926, because of participating in the public mourning the death of
Phan Chu Trinh Phan may refer to: * Phan (surname), a Vietnamese family name * Phan District, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand * Phan River, Bình Thuận Province, Vietnam * Phan (tray) Phan (, ) is an artistically decorated tray with pedestal. It is common in T ...
, a prominent Vietnamese scholar-patriot, and mobilizing the students and young people in the neighbourhood to protest against French colonial rule in Vietnam, Trần Tử Bình was expelled from the seminary. His parents and relatives were very much disappointed about it but the young man did not regret it. He had a strong belief that what he did was an obligation of any responsible Vietnamese. At that moment, without yet knowing it, Trần Tử Bình joined the ranks of the young patriot intelligentsia, a group destined to play a critical role in modern Vietnamese history.


Early revolutionary years

In 1927 he signed up to a working labor on
Michelin Michelin ( , ), in full ("General Company of the Michelin Enterprises P.L.S."), is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes '' région'' of France. It is the second largest t ...
's Phú Riềng rubber plantation in the distant region of southern Vietnam
Cochinchina Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; ; ; ; ) is a historical exonym and endonym, exonym for part of Vietnam, depending on the contexts, usually for Southern Vietnam. Sometimes it referred to the whole of Vietnam, but it was commonly used to refer t ...
.Charles Keith ''Catholic Vietnam: A Church from Empire to Nation 2012'' Page 266 Trần Tử Bình, ''The Red Earth: A Vietnamese Memoir of Life on a Colonial Rubber Plantation'' (Athens: Ohio University monographs in International Studies) This decision was another blow to the family because, even without a school diploma, with his education Trần Tử Bình could have found a respectable job as a village clerk or landlord's agent. Again Trần Tử Bình was determined to break away, to seek adventure, to test his physical and spiritual powers in the totally unfamiliar land. This decision proved crucial for his entire life. It is during this period working in Phú Riềng plantation that he first met communist revolutionaries and learned about the Marxist–Leninist theory. In 1929 he joined the Indochina Communist Party. On 3 February 1930 he became the Party Secretary of Phú Riềng and directly led a revolt of more than 5000 workers against the cruel French colonial exploitation at rubber plantation. The movement was repressed by French, Phú Riềng strike leaders were all imprisoned, nonetheless it forced the Michelin company to make certain changes to improve labor's working and living conditions. The Phú Riềng's labor movement 1930, also known as
Phu Rieng Do Phu may refer to: Places *PHU (Polish-Hungarian Union), personal union between Poland and Hungary in 14th century. People Given name *Phu Dorjee (died 1987), first Indian to climb Mount Everest without oxygen *Phu Dorjee Sherpa (died 1969), firs ...
, has become known as the first big labor movement in the history of Vietnam. This remarkable period is chronicled in Trần Tử Bình's memoir, Red Earth: A Vietnamese Memoir of Life on a Colonial Rubber Plantation, first published in Hanoi in 1965, and translated into English in 1985. After the Phu Rieng Do incident
French colonial French colonial architecture includes several styles of architecture used by the French during colonization. French colonial architecture has a long history, beginning in North America in 1604 and being most active in the Western Hemisphere (Car ...
government sentenced Trần Tử Bình to 10 years on the infamous
Côn Đảo Prison Côn Đảo Prison (), also Côn Sơn Prison, is a prison on Côn Sơn Island (also known as Côn Lôn), the largest island of the Côn Đảo archipelago in southern Vietnam (today it is in Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province). The prison was buil ...
, where he met many communist revolutionary leaders of Vietnam, i.e.
Tôn Đức Thắng Tôn Đức Thắng (; 20 August 1888 – 30 March 1980) was the second President of Vietnam under the leadership of General Secretary Lê Duẩn. The position of president is ceremonial and Tôn was never a major policymaker or even a member of ...
, Hoang Quoc Viet,
Phạm Văn Đồng Phạm Văn Đồng (; 1 March 1906 – 29 April 2000) was a Vietnamese politician who served as Prime Minister of North Vietnam from 1955 to 1976. He later served as Prime Minister of Vietnam, following reunification of North and South Viet ...
, Le Van Luong, Pham Hung, Ha Huy Giap, Tran Xuan Do, Nguyen Van Phat and took advantage of this opportunity to improve his knowledge of communist ideology and nationalism.


August Revolution

In 1936, the Popular Front forced the French colonial government to release some political prisoners from Côn Đảo. Trần Tử Bình was one of them. After being amnestied from Côn Đảo he returned home to work as a clerk in Bình Lục District and secretly continued to take part in communist activities against French. From 1936-1940 Trần Tử Bình was appointed as communist party secretary of Bình Lục District and then party secretary of Ha Nam Province. In 1940 he was elected by the communist party as a member of Northern Region ( Tongkin) Committee (Xu Uy Bac Ky) and Commissar of Interregional Network C (including Hà Nam, Nam Đinh, Thái Bình, Ninh Binh Provinces) and network D (Vinh Phuc, Phuc Yen, Phu Tho, Tuyen Quang Provinces) in 1941 and 1943. He became one of the most wanted objects of French Gendarmerie in TongKing during the 1940s. On 24 December 1943 Trần Tử Bình was arrested again in Thái Bình Province and was imprisoned in Hà Nam Prison. In early 1944, after an unsuccessful attempt at jailbreak, he was sent to
Hỏa Lò Prison Hỏa Lò Prison (, Nhà tù Hỏa Lò; ) was a prison in Hanoi originally used by the French colonists in Indochina for political prisoners, and later by North Vietnam for U.S. prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. During this later perio ...
(
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 ...
), where he became one of the organizers of a famous collective escape for over 100 political prisoners. After he returned to the rear, Trần Tử Bình was appointed as a standing member of Xu Uy Bac Ky and was in charge of establishment and development of Hoa-Ninh-Thanh military base for the League for the Independence of Vietnam (
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 ...
). On August 14, 1945, the Japanese surrendered to the
Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...
. The leaders of Viet Minh decided to act promptly to seize the power from the weak and helpless
Trần Trọng Kim Trần Trọng Kim (; chữ Hán: 陳仲金, Kanji pronunciation: ''Chin Jūkin''; ; 1883 – December 2, 1953; courtesy name Lệ Thần (, chữ Hán: 隸臣) was a Vietnamese scholar and politician who served as the Prime Minister of the sho ...
's pro-Japanese puppet government before the French returned. On 19 August 1945, Trần Tử Bình and Nguyen Khang, the two representatives of Xu Uy Bac Ky remained in Hanoi, directly commanded the general uprising in Hanoi and some neighboring provinces which lead to a start of the successful
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 ...
of 1945.


Military and political career

After the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Trần Tử Bình was appointed as Vice Rector, Political Commissar of Tran Quoc Tuan Military Training Academy. In 1947, he became Deputy Secretary of the General Political Department of Vietnamese People's Army. Late 1947, together with Lê Thiết Hùng, he successfully led the Vietnamese military forces to a military victory at Song Lo front. On 1 January 1948, Trần Tử Bình was honored to receive a rank of major general and became one of the first 11 generals of the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it opposed the French-suppor ...
along with other outstanding military officers like
Võ Nguyên Giáp Võ Nguyên Giáp ( vi-hantu, , ; 25 August 1911 – 4 October 2013) was a Vietnamese general, communist revolutionary and politician. Highly regarded as a military strategist, Giáp led Vietnamese communist forces to victories in wars agains ...
,
Nguyễn Sơn Nguyễn Sơn (1 October 1908 – 21 October 1956), also known by his Chinese name Hong Shui (), was a Vietnamese military leader who participated in the Chinese Communist Revolution and the First Indochina War against the French. Sơn spent muc ...
, Lê Thiết Hùng,
Chu Văn Tấn Chu Văn Tấn (1909–1984) was a colonel-general in the People's Army of Vietnam active during the First Indochina War. He was the first Minister of Defence of Vietnam Early years Chu Văn Tấn was born in Võ Nhai district, Thái Nguyê ...
, Hoàng Sâm,
Hoàng Văn Thái Hoàng Văn Thái (; 1 May 1915 – 2 July 1986), born Hoàng Văn Xiêm (), was a Vietnamese Army General and a communist political figure. His hometown was Tây An, Tiền Hải District, Thái Bình Province. During the 1968 Tết Offensi ...
, Lê Hiến Mai,
Văn Tiến Dũng Văn Tiến Dũng (; 2 May 1917 – 17 March 2002) was a Vietnamese general in the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), PAVN chief of staff (1954–1974); PAVN commander in chief (1975–1980); member of the Central Military–Party Committee ...
, Trần Đại Nghĩa, Nguyễn Bình. In the same year he was appointed as Deputy Chief Inspector of the Vietnamese People's Army. From 1950-56 he served as Political Commissar of the Vietnam's Ground Forces Officer Academy, which at that time was based in China. Since 1951 he was elected to be a representative of the Army Forces to the Third and Fourth National Communist Party Congress and member of the National Assembly. After the First Indochina War (1946–54) general Trần Tử Bình was appointed as the Chief Inspector of the Army, Deputy Chief Inspector of the State. He served at these positions for two years (1956–58) before moved to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs following the personal request of president
Ho Chi Minh (born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), colloquially known as Uncle Ho () among other aliases and sobriquets, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first President of Vietnam, president of the ...
. In 1959, Trần Tử Bình was appointed as the Ambassador of Vietnam to the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
and Mongolia. He worked as ambassador in China for two terms (1959–1967), perfectly performed his duty and contributed greatly to the development of cooperative relations between China and Vietnam. On 11 February 1967, he died at the age 60 due to hypertension in Hanoi. He was honoured posthumously with the
Gold Star medal The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...
, the most noble medal of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, befitting his long service to the state and people of Vietnam.


References


External links


"The historical prison escape"
''Nhan Dan'' newspaper
''Phú Riềng Đỏ'' ''(The Red Earth - Vietnamese Memoir of Life on a Colonial Rubber Plantation''
Memoire of general Tran Tu Binh (1965), translated into English and published by Ohio University Press, 1985

* ttp://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=02POL150108 "General, diplomat Tran Tu Binh gets posthumous Gold Star" Vietnamnews {{DEFAULTSORT:Tran, Tu Binh 1907 births 1967 deaths People from Hà Nam province Viet Minh members Generals of the People's Army of Vietnam Ambassadors of Vietnam to China Ambassadors of Vietnam to Mongolia Recipients of the Order of Ho Chi Minh Vietnamese Roman Catholics Members of the 3rd Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Vietnam