Early Life
Nguyễn Sinh Cung was born in 1890 in the village of Hoàng Trù (the name of the local temple near to Làng Sen), his mother's village. From 1895, he grew up in his father Nguyễn Sinh Sắc's village of Làng Sen, Kim Lien, Nam Đàn, Nghe An Province. He had three siblings: his sister Bạch Liên (or Nguyễn Thị Thanh), a clerk in the French Army; his brother Nguyen Sinh Khiem (or Nguyễn Tất Đạt), a geomancer and traditional herbalist; and another brother (Nguyễn Sinh Nhuận) who died in his infancy. As a young child, Nguyễn studied with his father before more formal classes with a scholar named Vuong Thuc Do. Nguyễn quickly mastered Chinese writing, a requisite for any serious study of Confucianism, while honing his colloquial Vietnamese writing. In addition to his studious endeavors, he was fond of adventure, and loved to fly kites and go fishing. Following Confucian tradition, at the age of 10, his father gave him a new name: Nguyễn Tất Thành (“Nguyễn the Accomplished”).
Nguyễn’s father, Nguyễn Sinh Sắc, was a Confucian scholar and teacher, and later an imperial magistrate in the small remote district of Binh Khe (Qui Nhon). He was demoted for abuse of power after an influential local figure died several days after receiving 100 strokes of the cane as punishment for an infraction. In deference to his father, Nguyễn received a French education, attended lycée in Huế, the alma mater of his later disciples, Pham Van Dong and Vo Nguyen Giap. He later left his studies and chose to teach at Dục Thanh school in Phan Thiết.
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