Describe the ‘Go East Movement’ of the first decade of the 20th century.
(1) The early Vietnamese nationalists had a close relationship with Japan and China because they provided models for those looking to change. They provided a refuge to escape French police and enabled them to have contact with a wider Asian network of revolutionaries. (2) One such movement was ‘Go East Movement’. In 1907-08, some 300 Vietnamese students went to Japan to acquire modem education. Their primary objective was to drive out the French from Vietnam, overthrow the puppet emperor and re-establish the Nguyen dynasty that had been deposed by the French. These nationalists looked for foreign arms and help. They appealed to Japan as fellow Asians. It may be mentioned that Japan had modernised itself and had resisted colonisation by the west. It had defeated Russia in 1907 and proved its military capabilities. Vietnamese students established a branch of the Restoration Society in Tokyo but after 1908, the Japanese Ministry of Interior clamped down on them. Many including Phan Boi Chau were deported and forced to seek exile in China and Thailand.
