The Văn Thân Movement ( Nôm: 風潮文紳;

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 ...

: ''Phong trào Văn Thân'') was a popular movement led by non-governmental scholars in 19th century central Vietnam. Their motto was "Demolish the Westerners; kill the heretics" (i.e. Christians) (

Chinese characters Chinese characters are logographs used Written Chinese, to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represe ...

: 平西杀左; quốc ngữ: "Bình Tây sát tả") in order to preserve Vietnam and Vietnamese Confucian culture. Supporters took issue with the changes occurring in Vietnam because: * Vietnamese society had been stagnating for centuries. The Văn Thân were conservatives who longed to uphold tradition and rejected the new western influence. * The Văn Thân studied only Confucius' teachings and related fields. Their livelihood was tied to Confucianism, thus the new change brought economic hardship to them. The Văn Thân blamed the Emperor and the pacifists of Vietnam for the Treaty of Saigon, which ceded three provinces and one island to the French.

History

It started in 1862 following the

Treaty of Saigon Treaty of Saigon may refer to: * Treaty of Saigon (1862), between France and Vietnam * Treaty of Saigon (1874), between France and Vietnam {{dab ...

in which Saigon, the island of Poulo Condor and three southern provinces later known as the

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 ...

colony (

Bien Hoa Bien may refer to: * Bien (newspaper) * Basic Income Earth Network * Bień, Poland * "Bien", a song by Tini from ''Un Mechón de Pelo'' * Gertrud Bien Gertrud Bien (1881–1940) was an Austrian pediatrician and one of the first female medical stu ...

, Gia Dinh, and Dinh Tuong), were ceded to France. Later on, in 1885, it joined the

Cần Vương movement The Cần Vương (, chữ Hán: , ) movement was a large-scale Vietnamese insurgency between 1885 and 1896 against French colonial rule. Its objective was to expel the French and install the Hàm Nghi Emperor as the leader of an independent V ...

. However, some reports state that the movement was later expelled from the Cần Vương insurgency due to its brutality toward Christians. The Văn Thân Movement is often referred to as the Scholar's Revolt or Scholar's Rebellion. 'Văn' (文) literally means "writing" in Sino-Vietnamese; meanwhile, 'Thân' (紳) means a girdle worn by

bureaucrats A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can compose the administration of any organization of any size, although the term usually connotes someone within an institution of government. The term ''bureaucrat'' derives from "bureaucracy", wh ...

East Asian cultural sphere The Sinosphere, also known as the Chinese cultural sphere, East Asian cultural sphere, or the Sinic world, encompasses multiple countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia that were historically heavily influenced by Chinese culture. The Sinosph ...

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

age and thus metonymically, a bureaucrat. Taken as a whole, 'Văn Thân' 文紳 indicated the class of educated individuals who acted in this campaign.

1864

The Văn Thân boycotted the examination and claimed the Christians were stockpiling weapons, training with them, and forcing people into Christianity. The Văn Thân began plans to kill pacifists, force the emperor to follow their way or be forcefully removed from the throne, kill Christians, then take back ceded territory. The plan was exposed and the leaders were persecuted. Despite this, the rumor that Christians were stockpiling weapons scared the government enough to investigate. Ultimately, no evidence was found from these rumors, and the emperor declared the Christians innocents.

1865 - 1884

Văn Thân movements attacked Christian villages in Nghệ Tĩnh while pro-Văn Thân officials ignored the attacks. Christian villages with pro-French army pastors (who were often French born) tended to be attacked more brutally than villages with non-partisan pastors. Places with French pastors were more likely to receive protection from the French Army, causing many villages with native pastors to protect themselves.

1885

The

Cần Vương Movement The Cần Vương (, chữ Hán: , ) movement was a large-scale Vietnamese insurgency between 1885 and 1896 against French colonial rule. Its objective was to expel the French and install the Hàm Nghi Emperor as the leader of an independent V ...

started, which many people of the Văn Thân Movement claimed to follow. Activities among the Văn Thân increased. A notable revolutionary

Phan Đình Phùng Phan Đình Phùng (; 1847January 21, 1896) was a Vietnamese revolutionary who led rebel armies against French colonial forces in Vietnam. He was the most prominent of the Confucian court scholars involved in anti-French military campaign ...

, proclaimed 'religious equality', but this idea did not become popular.Những Vụ Thảm Sát Người Công giáo Do Phong trào Văn Thân Khởi Xướng
/ref>Trần Văn Giàu, ''Sự phát triển của tư tưởng ở Việt Nam, tập I, Hệ ý thức phong kiến và sự thất bại của nó trước các nhiệm vụ lịch sử'', Nhà xuất bản tổng hợp TPHCM, 1993.

Legacy

The Vietnamese government took no official stance on Văn Thân. Schools rarely teach this movement. Modern historians often consider Văn Thân a misguided nationalist movement, as it failed to fight against the French or unify Vietnamese people. Instead the movement's priority on preserving Confucian values ended up pushing the Christians toward the French.

References

{{Nguyễn dynasty topics Pages with unreviewed translations 19th century in Vietnam Political movements in Vietnam