Readings: Hà Nội in the Old Days, Pt. 5

The National Alphabet, and the People who "Opened the Mountains and Broke Stones"

In the second half of the 16th century, Christianity began to enter Việt Nam through missionaries from Portugal, Spain, France and Italy. At first they encountered difficulties with language and customs and stumbled, causing suspicion. Eventually they learned to speak Vietnamese and started to convert fishermen to Christianity.

Alexander Deros, a Frenchman who was very good at languages, arrived in Việt Nam in 1624. In four months, he was able to understand Vietnamese, and in six months he was able to preach in it. In addition to preaching, he helped compile the Bible into a new script based on the Portuguese-Latin alphabet to convey the phonetics of Vietnamese.

There were many conflicts between secular and religious people. The courts of Việt Nam often banned religion. Nôm script (adapted from Chinese) continued to be the official written language, and no one knew about the 'national alphabet'. It wasn't until the middle of the 19th century that two Vietnamese scholars - Huýnh Tịnh Của and Trương Vĩnh Ký - realized its potential to help spread Western scholarship into the country's literature. They wrote the first textbooks in the national alphabet, and Huýnh Tịnh Của compiled the first Vietnamese-French dictionary, still in use today.

Following their work was the scholar Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh, who said: "The future of our country, good or bad, depends on the national alphabet."

Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh: Journalist, Writer, Technologist

Hà Nội fell on April 25, 1882, and a few weeks later Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh was born on Hàng Giấy street. Eight years later, his family was poor and had many children, so his father asked a friend to let his oldest son work as a fan puller at the newly opened Interpreter School.

Sitting at the back of the class, pulling two rows of fans, he listened attentively to the lectures. In three years, he could speak French more fluently than most other students. The principal let him take the graduation exam and he placed 12th out of 40 students. But he was not an official student, so he was given a scholarship to study another year. At the age of 14, he graduated as valedictorian and entered the civil service as an interpreter in 1896.

In his approach to life, Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh continuously self-studied with books, dictionaries, and newspapers. Over the next 10 years he worked his way up to the Governor's Office in Hà Nội and had also taught himself English and Chinese.

In 1906, he was sent to France to the Marseilles Exhibition and was fascinated by newspaper printing. When he returned, he resigned and became a freelance journalist; within years he would be editor-in-chief of several notable Vietnamese newspapers and journals. He would start the first literary newspaper and select Vietnamese writers to contribute; they wrote the first short stories in Western prose style as opposed to the Biền Ngẫu (parallel verse) style.

He was the first person to boldly cut off his hair bun and was criticized by conservative scholars for it.

He opened a publishing house for books that at one time employed 100 workers. He was very prosperous, until the economic crisis of 1929-1932. He had to borrow from the bank, and when he couldn't pay it back all of his assets were seized.

In 1936, Mr. Vĩnh went to Laos to pan for gold with other desperate bankrupt men. The search for gold failed and he contracted malaria and dysentery. At age 54, he died leaving his last report in his canoe: "A Month with the Gold Prospectors".

His funeral procession was two kilometers long and had 25,000 people. Many famous people including Phan Bội Châu came to speak, praising his life's work bringing glory to the Vietnamese press, starting a new literature, improving and disseminating the national alphabet, and enriching the Vietnamese language.

Scholar Nguyễn Văn Tố (1889-1947)

Those who knew him remember a man wearing a turban and a dark silk shirt. When going out, he always carried an umbrella in hand. He looked like a locksmith or a garbage collector. You would not think that he would be someone with profound knowledge hidden inside.

Four times a week, he would walk to his office at the French School of the Far East. He always walked, considering it the best form of exercise. His office was at the foot of the stairs; his mahogany table cluttered with books in Chinese and French, manuscripts and rough drafts brought for him to correct for printing. He started there as a secretary and worked his way up to publishing director. He still found time to write his own articles, published in Vietnamese and French newspapers, about history, literature, archaeology, language, art, philosophy, and more. And on certain evenings or holidays, he would go to Hội Trí Tri to teach French to adults, usually for free and he was the architect of the National Language Propagation Association there.

Father Cadìere recalled: Books were his close friends. He had an extraordinary memory for quotes and the years when articles were published. His method was not to ponder every sentence, but look at the table of contents and turn to the pages that need to be read; thus, he reads many books in a short time.

Mr. Phạm Mạnh Phan of Tri Tân magazine remembers being tutored by him in French when he was 17; even though he could have been Tố's child, Tố would address him as "ông" (grandfather). He had a habit to address any adult with this honorific - acquaintance or stranger - except for men older than himself who he would address as "ngài" (sir).

Professor Nguyễn Thiệu Lâu would consult Tố on historical or archeological matters, and recalls asking his friend to edit a manuscript for him. He was furious to get it back absolutely covered with red ink corrections. Then when he realized that every correction fixed an error, he thought: I should just retire. A bachelor of French literature forcing an old secretary with an elementary school degree to correct factual information and bad grammar should feel humiliated...

In the old days, there was a saying that there are four geniuses: "Quỳnh, Vĩnh, Tố, Tốn" - Phạm Quỳnh, Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh, Nguyễn Văn Tố, and Phạm Duy Tốn. These talented men were all self-taught.

After the August Revolution, Tố was a part of the National Assembly and was at one time its chairman. In 1946, he was killed by French paratroopers in an attack at Bắc Cạn (in the North, when the Vietnamese government had to retreat from Hà Nội).

The Botanical Gardens

During the Lê Dynasty, in the late 15th century, a martial arts arena was built on a hill for the king to watch his soldiers practice. When the French occupied Hà Nội, they forced the people out of this area to make way for what they called the Herbal Garden (Vườn Thảo Mộc). They raised the land in places, and dug in others, making pleasant hills and lakes with many trails. When the original agronomist fell ill and died, another was brought in who boldly imported plants from Africa and Europe, dividing the land into a Botanical Garden (Vườn Bách Thảo) and an enclosed nursery for growing vegetables and flowers from other climates.

Animal cages of various sizes are scattered throughout the park featuring foxes, monkeys, deer, tigers, elephants, bears, peacocks, cranes, and other birds. In the middle of the lake is an island with a brass house where every week the 9th Marine Band plays for people sitting around the lake on the grass. Students from the nearby Bưởi School would come during noon break to seek shade trees to study under.

During World War II, the city budget could not provide food for all the animals, so some were moved and some were slaughtered. The garden was left with a flock of birds, and the monkeys and apes. After liberation, the park was renovated, adding a pond, a rockery, a slide, and a swing carousel. Mongolia, North Korea, Germany, China, and the Soviet Union donated new animals: camels, lions, panthers, pythons, crocodiles, and mandarin ducks. There are many lively activities for families on weekends and holidays.

As Hà Nội grows, the Botanical Garden shrinks and becomes sad. Duckweed chokes the pond, and trees felled by storms are not hauled away. The two remaining birdcages can raise a few dozen pigeons; whether for pets or for their meat is unknown. And why did they build a bridge across the lake to the island? It's really unsightly!

Đồng Xuân Market

In 1889, Đồng Xuân Market was first built, under five long arched sections under a corrugated metal roof. This is where goods from all over the world, from the highlands to the lowlands. People say it has everything from the best to the worst. Goods from the forests and the seas, handicrafts and flowers, raw and cooked foods. There is food, phở, and snacks to eat while shopping. Occasionally, you can hear the sounds of a blind couple playing Xẩm music, one sings while the other plays erhu.

During the resistance war against France, on February 14, 1947 our army and people fought fiercely here, causing the enemy to retreat in fear. In recent years (the '90s), the market was renovated and expanded to two stories, with fluorescent lighting installed; the outside still retains some of its old appearance. There are about 2,300 businesses inside. Compared to other markets, Đồng Xuân is still the 'master'.

Văn Điển Wine

In the middle of leaf-falling season, Đỗ Hữu Thục had to leave his village. He was seventeen and had never gone to school, so he didn't know a single letter. His father was poor, had many children, and was addicted to drugs, making the situation worse.

He went to the port of Hải Phòng looking for any kind of menial work and wound up an iron worker. When he had enough money, he quit to become a contractor. After sixteen years, he became wealthy, and he was a millionaire at 40. But in 1930, he bid to build a hospital in Bắc Giang and when he failed to comply with the contract, he had to pay compensation. His construction license was revoked.

But after this setback, people saw Mr. Thục's extraordinary determination. With contacts in many fields, he gathered a group of investors to establish the Văn Điển Wine Company (Văn Điển is a suburban commune south of Hà Nội). He gathered the best machine experts, the best wine makers, and the best accountants. He hired 600 workers and 6 westerners* to guard the facilities. The salaries were very good, and the technical experts were making as much money as the head of their province.

Mr. Thục sought to promote national spirit by breaking the monopoly held by the Fontaine liquor company. They made Văn Điển wine from sticky rice, strong, but smoother and cheaper than Fontaine wine. They used propaganda, publishing poems and songs that included references to the brand, and publishing articles that stated Fontaine used additives that lead to stomachache. Fontaine shot back with a newspaper cartoon showing the Văn Điển's directors feeding their wine to cows, implying that it was too strong for humans to drink.

Around a decade later, there was a conflict on the board, and Mr. Thục separated to found the Quốc Bảo Wine Company. This factory was three times the size and employed twice as many people. Every day it consumes 200 quintals of rice, producing 16,000 liters of wine. It sells for the same price as Văn Điển wine, but he pays a higher commission to his agents, so they sell it faster. His secretaries read him the day's reports and he signs them with the only word he can write: Thục.

He became even richer, owning villas in many cities. He had 9 wives. Each one lived in their own house and had 8 children. He believed in Buddha's protection and worshipped every day. He spent his money to renovate many communal houses and pagodas, schools and roads. His reputation for generosity spread far and wide.

In 1945, there was widespread famine and crop failure, and the Quốc Bảo Wine Company had to stop production and lay off workers. Mr. Thục died that year at the age of 66.

Petrol, Fish Sauce

In the past, sellers of petrol or fish sauce often carried their products on shoulder poles. If it was fish sauce, they would carry two round barrels. Each barrel held about 20 liters, but each side was only half full to prevent spillage. Inside the barrel was a bamboo scoop. Each time a customer buys, the seller scoops a little fish sauce out so the buyer can ensure it suits their taste.

During the economic crisis of 1929-1932, goods flooded the market and fish sauce manufacturers fell into a slump. Some jealous people spread false rumors about their competitors. One was that a fish sauce manufacturer emptied their tanks one day to find a dead female worker dried up like a salted fish inside. Gullible people did not dare buy fish sauce from them for a long time.

Before 1930, petrol was sold from a two-wheeled cart with a square metal barrel attached, holding 18 liters, painted yellow with a red shell on it. At the end of the day, the seller would return the cart to Shell Oil company and the foreman would lower a ruler into the barrel to determine how much how much had been sold.

In the next edition: Bicycles, Cyclos, and Trams, oh my...