Phan Boi Chau - Vietnam Restoration League

Vietnam Restoration League

The Wuchang Uprising occurred in China on 10 October 1911. It quickly spread and declared itself the Republic of China. This greatly inspired Phan, since he had many friends among the Chinese revolutionaries. Phan thought this new regime would fix all that was wrong with the old China, and unite with Japan to defeat the Europeans and build a strong Asia. Leaving the farm in the hands of his comrades, he went to China to visit his friends there.

The old Vietnam Modernization Association had become worthless, with its members scattered. A new organization needed to be formed, with a new agenda inspired by the Chinese revolution. A large meeting was held in late March 1912. They agreed to form a new group, the Vietnam Restoration League. Cường Để was made president and chairman; Phan was vice-president.

People voted to campaign for democracy instead of a monarchy, despite strong objections of people from southern Vietnam. The organization's sole purpose was to kick out the Westerners and establish a democratic republic. Unfortunately, they had no funds and had great difficulty getting revolutionary leaflets into Vietnam. Also, the new Chinese government was too busy and would not help the movement with anything other than allowing Vietnamese comrades into its education and training system. The Vietnam Restoration League came up with a proposed flag design. Previously, Vietnam never had a flag, only banners to represent royalty. Their flag idea had 5 five-pointed stars, arranged in a square with a star in the middle. It symbolized the five regions of Vietnam. The national flag had red stars on a yellow background, and the military flag had a red background with white stars. The yellow represented their race, the red represented fire which represented their location to the south of China (see I Ching), and the white represented the metal of their weapons. They also created a book on military strategy and regulations for their army. They even printed their own currency, which they agreed to honour when, or rather "if", they attained power. If they won they could easily pay people back, and if they lost it wouldn't cost them anything. The "money" was printed in a similar way to the Chinese paper notes.

They also formed an organisation called the Association for the Revitalization of China. It was dedicated to getting support from China for independence movements in smaller Asian countries, starting with Vietnam of course. Using a medical centre as a front, and a fancy office they managed to create the false impression that they were a huge successful organisation. They got hundreds of people to join, and sold a huge amount of their made-up currency. They changed some of the leadership positions of the "Vietnam Restoration League" to allow the Chinese to take part. However, they could not get enough money to buy more weapons until they had proved themselves with a military attack of some sort. Everyone said they needed something big and explosive because the people of Vietnam were short on patience. So Phan sent five people with a few grenades to the three regions of Vietnam. The grenades they sent to the North were unfortunately used on a minor target, the governor of Thái Bình province, two officers and a French restaurateur. They were meant to be used at the mandarin examinations when all the officials would be gathered. Those they sent to the centre via Thailand did not make it to Vietnam at the time, and they had to throw their grenades away. Those that they sent to the south were wasted on some Vietnamese traitors. The attacks in the North enraged the French, and they demanded Phan be arrested, but the Chinese government refused. But the value of Phan's special currency dropped dramatically after the failure.

They had no money, so they decided to trick a pharmaceutical company in Japan into providing lots of expensive drugs for them on credit. They then closed down their medical centre and didn't pay their debt. But their membership slowly dwindled, and the difficulty of getting into Vietnam increased. And changes in the government of their Chinese province made things difficult. And they had to close their office and send their comrades away.