Uncle Ho and Phan Boi Chau

(Baonghean.vn) - Patriotic scholar Phan Boi Chau was born in 1867 in Dan Nhiem village (now Xuan Hoa commune, Nam Dan, Nghe An). He belonged to the last generation of Can Vuong scholars. President Ho Chi Minh once said, 'Phan Boi Chau is a hero, an angel, a person who sacrificed himself for national independence, revered by 20 million enslaved people'. He was also a person with a vision beyond his time, who opened a new path to save the country...

Mr. Phan was a classmate of Mr. Pho Bang Nguyen Sinh Sac (Uncle Ho's father). They were from the same hometown, studied together, and often visited his house to discuss literature and current affairs, so Mr. Phan Boi Chau knew the boy Nguyen Sinh Cung since he was young. In 1900, Phan Boi Chau passed the Provincial Examination at Nghe school as the valedictorian, a few years later founded the Duy Tan Association and in 1905 went to Japan to "find a way to save the country". In 1925, he was arrested by the French colonialists and imprisoned in Hue, known as "Old Man Ben Ngu".

Statue of Phan Boi Chau on the banks of the Perfume River (Hue).

On the occasion of Tet At Ty 1905, Phan Boi Chau returned to his hometown to repair his ancestors' graves before going to Japan to "find a way to save the country". On the occasion of Tet that year, Phan visited Nguyen Sinh Sac. After a round of wine, Pho Bang asked about his friend's upcoming work. Phan improvised a couplet: "Tiet hau dang trinh, lao can thien trung, vong hoan thanh vien" - (After Tet, I will leave, with countless hardships, just hoping to repay the debt of foreign aid).

Mr. Nguyen Sinh Sac sympathized with his friend but could not find a suitable antithetical couplet. Nguyen Sinh Cung, who was serving wine, immediately responded: “Before winter, I will leave, traveling a thousand miles, only hoping to find the right strategy.” Both Mr. Phan and Mr. Pho Bang were surprised at the very correct and strange antithetical couplet of the 15-year-old boy!

Half a year later (1906), Mr. Phan returned from Japan to organize the Dong Du Movement and send Vietnamese youth to study in Japan. Nguyen Sinh Cung was on the list, but Nguyen Sinh Cung cleverly refused because he felt that the path Mr. Phan was pursuing was not stable because "it was no different from letting a tiger in the front door and a leopard in the back door"!

Although he knew that Phan's path was not stable, when he was working abroad, Nguyen Ai Quoc always supported Phan Boi Chau. The most prominent was the essay "The ridiculous tricks or Varen and Phan Boi Chau" signed by Nguyen Ai Quoc published in the newspaper Nguoi Dong Khoi No. 36-37 (October 1925). The article criticized the deception of the French colonialists, specifically the representative of the Governor General of Indochina, Varen, in pretending to welcome Phan from abroad, but in reality, "his right hand reached out to shake hands with Phan Boi Chau, while his left hand lifted the huge shackles that were tightening around Phan Boi Chau in the gloomy prison." The French arrest of Phan in the country was promptly reported by Nguyen Ai Quoc's newspaper Nguoi Dong Khoi in France.

Farce or Varen and Phan Boi Chau - Work by Nguyen Ai Quoc published in the newspaper The Povertyeer, issue 36-37, September-October 1925

According to researcher Truong Thau, in December 1924, after meeting, discussing and receiving advice from Nguyen Ai Quoc, Phan planned to reform the Vietnam Nationalist Party he founded in 1925 following the model of Sun Yat-sen's Chinese Nationalist Party, in the most progressive direction. But the matter had not yet been completed when Phan was arrested in June 1925. In 1929, while being held under house arrest in Ben Ngu, Hue, Phan also mentioned Nguyen Ai Quoc's name three or four times (according to the book Phan Boi Chau's Chronology).

Scholar Dao Duy Anh in the book “Some unpublished memories of Phan Boi Chau” recounted that, on the boat on the Perfume River, talking to patriotic intellectuals in Hue, Mr. Phan confided: “My revolutionary life was ultimately a great failure. That is because although I have the heart, I am incompetent. But our nation will be independent. Now there is someone much greater than us... Have you heard of Mr. Nguyen Ai Quoc? Because he is talented, not like me. He has many followers and friends all over the world...”. When Mr. Dao Duy Anh asked Mr. Phan about the prophecy “Bo Dai lost his voice, Nam Dan gave birth to a saint” spreading in Nghe An, was it referring to Mr. Phan? Mr. Phan immediately replied: “If Nam Dan has a real Saint, it is Mr. Nguyen Ai Quoc and no one else!”.

While in France, Uncle Ho wrote four letters to Phan Chau Trinh in 1914, but did not contact Phan Boi Chau. It was not until he returned to Hoang Chau (Guangzhou, China) to carry out revolutionary activities, on January 21, 1925, that Phan Boi Chau sent them to Ly Thuy (Uncle Ho). The letter was found in the archives of the Overseas Archives Center in Aixen Provence (France) along with two other letters from Phan to revolutionaries Ho Tung Mau and Lam Duc Thu.

Phan Boi Chau Memorial House has just been inaugurated in Nam Dan (Nghe An).

In the letter sent to Ly Thuy, Mr. Phan addressed himself as “uncle” and “nephew”. In the letter, Mr. Phan said that he had received a letter from comrade Nguyen Ai Quoc delivered by Ho Tung Mau. Mr. Phan’s letter said: “...your education and intelligence have now matured so much... Thinking back twenty years ago, when I came to your house to drink wine, knock on the altar and recite poems, you and your brothers were all minors. At that time, Phan Boi Chau had no idea that you would become such a young hero. Now, comparing this old man with you, I feel very ashamed... Receiving two consecutive letters from you, I feel both sad and happy, sad for myself, happy for our country... The matter of rebuilding the country, besides you, who else can I ask to be entrusted with...”.

In that letter, Mr. Phan wanted to go to Guangdong to meet Nguyen Ai Quoc to discuss because he had many things in mind that he wanted to ask his nephew's opinion. Mr. Phan requested: "If you do not consider old age and weakness as a waste, then write to me often, I sincerely request you!...". In the letter, there was a passage where Mr. Phan highly appreciated Nguyen Ai Quoc: "You are widely educated and have been to many places, dozens or hundreds of times more than me. Your knowledge and plans are certainly beyond my ability to measure. I wonder if you can share one or two things with me?...".

Unfortunately, Phan Boi Chau's desire to collaborate with Nguyen Ai Quoc was never realized, because Phan was later arrested by the French colonialists. Otherwise, the history of the Vietnamese revolution with the two great patriots joining forces would have had a stronger change.

Peace

(Synthetic)