Chuyến đi Tây của sứ bộ Phan Thanh Giản 1863-1864

Abstract

In 1863, the court of King Tu Duc sent Phan Thanh Gian, Pham Phu Thu and Nguyen Khac Dan on a diplomatic mission to France to negotiate the return of the three eastern Cochinchinese provinces lost to the French expedition of 1861-1862. This was the first diplomatic mission of Vietnam to France. Nevertheless, the official historical chronicle did not write much about this mission. This essay examines the two memoirs on the journey to the West by Pham Phu Thu (Tay hanh nhat ky) and Nguy Khac Dan (Nhu Tay ky) in order to understand the aforementioned diplomatic mission of the Nguyen court within the complex historical circumstances at the time. The essay briefly presents the main events of the journey, describes the challenges that they faced, and interprets the thinking of the authors as they encountered Western civilization. In a limited way, the essay tries to explain the failure of this historical significant mission of Phan Thanh Gian and his diplomatic group.