The (Complex) Power of Empty Rooms

In the previous post I wrote about an impression that one can get from viewing the interior design of the Independence Palace (Dinh Độc Lập) in Saigon.

Viewing the rooms in the bunker (the basement), on the other hand, can bring about other impressions and feelings.

In Honolulu, one can visit the USS Missouri, the ship on which the Japanese, in Tokyo Bay, formally signed the surrender documents that ended World War II in Asia on September 2, 1945, the very same day that, in Hanoi, Hồ Chí Minh declared Vietnam to be independent.

Miss

That ship has many empty rooms like the ones that are in the basement of the Independence Palace.

In both cases, those empty rooms can elicit complex feelings.

I have seen many pictures of Independence Palace, but I’d never seen those empty rooms until I visited this historical site. Below are some pictures that I took of those rooms.

They are as important to this building as the official meeting rooms and the hip entertainment room. (more…)

Continue ReadingThe (Complex) Power of Empty Rooms

Sihanouk’s “Glory to Our Arab and African Brothers”

Among the many musical compositions that Norodom Sihanouk composed was a piece called “Glory to Our Arab and African Brothers.”

It would appear that this was a piece that Sihanouk composed while he was living in Beijing and Pyongyang in the 1970s, when he was allied with the Khmer Rouge.

Here is a re-creation of this song and an English translation of the lyrics.

(more…)

Continue ReadingSihanouk’s “Glory to Our Arab and African Brothers”

Sihanouk’s “Korea and Cambodia Are Revolutionary Comrades-in-Arms”

After Cambodian Head of State Norodom Sihanouk was overthrown in 1970, he took up residence in Beijing, China and Pyongyang, North Korea.

I’ve always wondered what Sihanouk did in those places, and now I know. . . He composed music!

(more…)

Continue ReadingSihanouk’s “Korea and Cambodia Are Revolutionary Comrades-in-Arms”

Sihanouk’s “Thank You, Hồ Chí Minh Trail” (1973)

In 1970, the head of state of Cambodia, Norodom Sihanouk, was overthrown by one of his military officers, Lon Nol.

Sihanouk, who had declared Cambodia to be a neutral state, was in Moscow at the time. He then flew to Beijing. In Beijing, Premier Minister Zhou Enlai summoned Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Văn Đồng, and together they convinced Sihanouk to form a government-in-exile and resist Lon Nol.

Sihanouk proceeded to do so, and in the process, he decided to support a group that was also opposed to Lon Nol, the Khmer Rouge.

(more…)

Continue ReadingSihanouk’s “Thank You, Hồ Chí Minh Trail” (1973)

A World War II Annam Anthem (Đăng Đàn)

One period of Vietnamese history that I find fascinating is World War II. During the War, Vietnam was occupied by the Japanese, but for most of the war the Japanese left the French in power.

France, however, had been occupied by the Germans, so the French colonial officials in Indochina during the war were part of a collaborating government known as Vichy France.

Vichy France was led by Philippe Pétain, a military man and authoritarian. He sent Admiral Jean Decoux to Indochina to promote his authoritarian agenda and to try to keep the Japanese from gaining influence among the Vietnamese.

(more…)

Continue ReadingA World War II Annam Anthem (Đăng Đàn)

59 Years of English-Language Scholarship on Vietnamese History

While reading Christopher Goscha’s new survey of Vietnamese history, Vietnam: A New History, I decided to go back and read the first survey of Vietnamese history in English, Joseph Buttinger’s 1958 work The Smaller Dragon: A Political History of Vietnam.

Buttinger was an interesting person. Born in Austria, he quit school at age 13 and got involved in underground politics. During World War II he started to work for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an organization that at that time was helping war refugees.

In 1954, Buttinger worked for the IRC where hundreds of thousands of refugees were arriving from the North. He became interested in Vietnam at that time and start reading about.

Four year later he published The Smaller Dragon.

(more…)

Continue Reading59 Years of English-Language Scholarship on Vietnamese History