Tonkin Free School
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The Tonkin Free School (Vietnamese: Đông Kinh Nghĩa Thục, Hán tự: 東京義塾) was a short-lived but historically-significant educational institution in Hanoi that aimed to reform Vietnamese society under French colonialism during the beginning of the 20th century.
The school was founded in March 1907, run by Luong Van Can with the participation of many nationalists including Phan Bội Châu and Phan Chu Trinh. It stemmed from the movement of the same name, which aimed to modernize Vietnamese society by abandoning Confucianism and adopting new ideas from the West and Japan. In particular, it promoted the quốc ngữ script for writing Vietnamese in place of Hán tự by publishing educational materials and newspapers using this script, as a new vehicel of instruction. The shollars offered free courses to anyone who wanted to learn about the modern spirit.
The school operated legally for several months before the French authorities closed it down in November. In March 1908, a tax revolt in Annam and an attempted poisoning of French soldiers in Hanoi were blamed on the leaders of the school by the French. Subsequently, all the leaders were arrested and the school's publications were suppressed.
