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| Minh Mang |
The
Nguyen Dynasty had ruled a unified Vietnam for two decades by 1820. Its
founder, Gia Long passed away. His son then ascended to the throne as Emperor
Minh Mang. Under his rule, Vietnam plunged into orthodox Confucianism and
towards centralization and conquest.
Emperor
Minh Mang ruled as the second Nguyen Emperor. Born with the name Nguyen Phuoc Dom
(Dam) in 1791, he was the son of Prince Nguyen Anh who later became Emperor Gia Long. He had an eldest brother, but he died in the early 1800’s, making him next
in line to the throne. In 1816, it became official when he received the title
of Crown Prince, hence heir to his father Gia Long.
Gia Long preferred Prince Nguyen Phuoc Dom to succeed him as Emperor. Unlike his
eldest son Nguyen Canh, Phuoc Dom did not fell to the influence of the French
or he did not had any strong connections with the French or westerners. Gia Long treated the westerners with courteousness but also felt suspicious about
them as well. The First Emperor owed the French for his crown and rule. Hence,
he allowed western missionaries to conduct their evangelization of Christian
faith but then he began to mistrust them. Gia Long saw them as a threat to the
dynasty and to the Vietnamese tradition and culture. This he knew why Prince
Phuoc Dom would be a good choice as the next Emperor because he did not had any
previous connections with the foreigners and thus he could act against them.
In
1820, after two decade reign, Emperor Gia Long passed away and Phuoc Dom
ascended to the throne with the name Minh Mang.
Upon
taking the throne, he enacted reforms in the administration of the country. He wanted to centralize the government
further. And he began with abolition of the positions of Tong Tran Bac Thanh
(Governor of the North) and Tong Tran Gia Dinh Thanh (Governor of the South)
that his father had created. He replaced it by creating 31 provinces of tinh.
Each tinh had a governor of tong duc that the Emperor appointed. A governor
served as long as the Emperor’s desires. In the top levels of the government, he
established the Noi Cac Vien (Grand Secretariat) in 1829 and followed it with
the establishment of the Co Mat Vien (Privy Council) in 1837. The Bureaucracy
of the Mandarins or officials faced reorganization and Minh Mang limited them
to nine ranks.
Minh
Mang also made changes in the training and recruitment of officials. Civil
service exams became frequent and wide. From being held only few in six years
and only in regional level, during Minh Mang’s reign, aspiring official took
their exams in regional levels (Thi Huong), Capital Level (Thi Hoi), and in the
palace of Hue itself (Thi Dinh). The Emperor also made improvements to the
national college or the Quoc Tu Giam. He made the college to focus more in
Confucian ideals that became a base for the strong Confucian fundamentalism
within Minh Mang’s court.
But
the Confucianism did not only become accessible to scholars. Minh Mang wanted
to promote Confucianism throughout his domain. He wrote the Huan Dich Thap Dieu
or the Ten Moral Maxims based on Confucian principle and proliferated it
throughout the country.
Following
the relationship between the ruler and his subjects in Confucianism, Minh Mang
took good care of his mostly peasant subjects. He viewed himself as the father
and his subjects as his sons. In addition, a ruler must serve his subjects
benevolently in order to keep harmony between the two. Indeed, he did this by
improving Vietnam’s agriculture. He provided relief for peasants during times
of bad harvest. In 1831, he gave land titles on idle lands for cultivation. As
additional incentives, he lowered land taxes on new farmlands and provided the
needed materials like buffaloes and farming tools.
On
the other hand, Minh Mang’s suspicion and great dedication to Confucianism
resulted to a strained relation with the Christians and foreigners. His agitation towards foreigners made his
western advisers leave the country by 1824. In 1825, his great adherence to
Confucianism led to his attempt to ban Catholicism and ordered a halt in the
activities of missionaries. However, his orders did not stopped their
activities and so he decided to take though actions in the 1830’s. From 1833 to
1838, he began the execution of Vietnamese Christians and resulted to the death
of nine French and Spanish missionaries.
His
views against the Christians also reflected in his dealings with Westerners. He
developed a paranoia towards them and even their technology. His reign avoided
the establishment of permanent missions by Westerners. On January of 1833,
Edmund Roberts, envoy sent by President Andrew Jackson to the east, arrived in
Vietnam aboard the ship the Peacock. His request for an audience with Minh Mang
failed to materialize because of cultural and language barriers. In dismay with
the differences, Roberts left Vietnam. Although skeptical of the westerners,
Minh Mang allowed trade with other countries including westerners, like the
Dutch in Indonesia, Americans, and British in Malaya Peninsula.
Although
conservative in the face of westerners, he showed ruthlessness and aggression
towards his neighbors, in particular, Laos and Cambodia. His father, Emperor
Gia Long had challenged Siam’s domination of the kingdom. And with his reign,
Vietnam launched a full scale invasion of Cambodia and waged a military confrontation
with the Siamese. Minh Mang had great territorial ambitions. In fact his
ambition became visible when in 1838 he changed the name from Dai Viet or the
Great Viets to Dai Nam or Great South, implying that his rule doesn’t only
encompassed Vietnam and the Vietnamese people but a larger territory. The
involvement of Vietnam in the hinterlands of mainland Southeast Asia started in
1827 up to 1831. In 1827, Siamese forces invaded Laos because it deemed the
area as part of its sphere of influence. But Vietnam wanted to challenge the
claim and she invaded the country too, bringing the two Kingdoms in
confrontation over Laos. In 1833, it escalated and became further complicated.
Minh
Mang had many revolts during his reign. In 1826, he faced a rebellion in the
north under Phan Ba Vanh and another in 1833 under Nong Van Van. But no more so
great as the rebellion in the south.
In
South Vietnam, the governor and trusted General of Emperor Gia Long, Le Van
Duyet passed away. Minh Mang despised Le Van Duyet for his moderate stand
towards the westerners. And so, after Le’s demise, he sentenced him
posthumously guilty of treason. Le’s son, Le Van Khoi then began a revolt
against Minh Mang to avenge his father’s disgrace. Le did not had any problem
from gaining support. Many in the south also had their grievances. Chinese
merchants, Champs, and Khmers, hated the policy of assimilation that Minh Mang
began. They did not like the imposition of rigid Vietnamese Confucian culture
to their lives and wanted to retain their cultural identity. Christian
missionaries and Vietnamese, who had sought refuge in the south because of Le
Van Duyet, also support Le Van Khoi’s revolt. In addition to minority support,
Le Van Khoi gained also the support of the Siamese under King Rama II.
Rama
II invaded Cambodia in support of Le Van Khoi as well as strengthen his control
over the weak kingdom. Rama II viewed that the disturbance in southern Vietnam
was an opportunity to kick out Vietnamese intervention in Cambodian affairs.
Under the command of Chaophraya Bodin, Siamese forces overran Cambodia and
attempted to link up with Le Van Khoi in southern Vietnam. By 1834, Siamese
forces invaded Vietnam.
But
Minh Mang, however, launched a counter attacked. He sent troops to southern
Vietnam to quell Le’s rebellion and halt the Siamese advance. His generals
succeeded in crushing Le’s revolt. In addition, they repelled Bodin’s forces
and pushed them back and captured the capital of Phnom Penh. After the fall of
Phnom Penh, Minh Mang made his conquest official by declaring it as a province
of Vietnam with the name Tran Tay Thanh with Truong Minh Giang as its governor.
Governor Truong Minh Giang received instructions to use Cambodian officials to
govern the new province. However, to his disappointment, the Cambodian
officials had more interest in corruption and receiving brides that
administering the province. In addition, Minh Mang also installed his own ruler
to the Khmer throne – Queen Mei/Mey.
Minh
Mang attempted to get a hold of Cambodia. Once again, he launched a policy of
assimilation, sending officials to teach Vietnamese Confucianism and culture.
Economically, he wanted them assimilated to. He ordered the survey of
Cambodia’s farmlands, irrigation, rainfall, etc. But his efforts failed to stop
the chaos that followed the 1834 invasion. Rebellions of Cambodian continued at
a tremendous rate.
Much
of the burden of the conflict in Cambodia fell to the provinces in southern
Vietnam. Mobilization of armies led to huge cost of rice, money, and manpower.
Rice had to be taken from peasants in the south. In 1836, Minh Mang ordered a
massive land survey of the south as a precondition for increasing land taxes.
After the same year, most of the 21,000 men that Vietnam sent to Cambodia came
from southern Vietnam. Hence, it was not a surprise that three or more rebellions
erupted in the southern Vietnam before Minh Mang’s reign ended.
In
1840, the war escalated once more. In 1840, Chaophraya Bodin launched another
invasion of Cambodia. Minh Mang then ordered the evacuation of Queen Mei and
other members of the Cambodian family to Saigon. Bodin continued to press on
and in the process, he captured thousands of Vietnamese troops. Many of the
captured faced deportation back to Siam.
In
January 11, 1841, Emperor Minh Mang passed away. He left the kingdom as an
isolationist, expansionist, and also, highly conservative. His high regards to
the Confucianism led to his bad and good decisions. Much of his legacy fell to
his successor and son, Emperor Thieu Tri, who faced the momentous task of
facing the greatest threat to Nguyen power – French Imperialism.
See
also:
Bibliography:
Corfield,
Justin. The History of Vietnam. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2008.
Miller,
Robert. The United States and Vietnam, 1787 - 1941. Washington DC: National
Defense University Press, 1990.
Moses,
Dirk (ed.). Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation, and Subaltern
Resistance in World History. Berghahn Books, 2008.
Pham
Cao Duong, "Minh Mang" in The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A
Political, Social, and Military History, edited by Spencer Tucker. Santa
Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2011.
Phan,
Peter. "Christianity of Indochina." in Cammbridge History of
Christianity: Volume 8, world Christianities, 1815 - 1914. Edited by Sheridan
Gilley & Brian Stanley. New York, New York: Cambridge University Press,
2006.
Reid,
Anthony. A Hsitory of Southeast Asia. Chichester, West Sussex: John wiley &
Sons, Ltd, 2015.
Sharrock,
Peter & Vu Hong Lien. A Hsitory of Vietnam. London: Reaktion Books Ltd,
2014.
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