Trn T Bnh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Trn T Bnh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Trn T Bnh (19071967) was a Vietnamese revolutionary who

later became one of the first generals of the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam (1948) and Vietnams Ambassador to People's Republic of
China (19591967).
He was originally named Phm Vn Phu. Later, during
revolutionary time he changed his name into Trn T Bnh (a name
which means "man who can die for peace"). He is most famous for
being a leader of Ph Ring labor movement in 1930 and one of
the most prominent diplomats of Vietnam, who worked as the
Ambassador of Vietnam to China during period 195967.
Honours and Awards
Gold Star
Ho Chi Minh Order
General Trn T Bnh

Contents
1 Biography
1.1 Early revolutionary years
1.2 August Revolution
1.3 Military and political career
2 References
3 External links

Biography
Bnh was born in an all-Catholic village named Tieu Dong, Bnh Lc District, H Nam Province in the Red
River Delta of northern Vietnam. His family was poor but the parents managed to scrape together enough
money to enroll Trn T Bnh at a seminary. At school, he was remembered as a brilliant but very restive
and steady student. In 1926, because of participating in the public mourning the death of Phan Chu Trinh, a
prominent Vietnamese scholar-patriot, and mobilizing the students and young people in the neighbourhood
to protest against French colonial rule in Vietnam, Trn T Bnh was expelled from the seminary. His
parents and relatives were very much disappointed about it but the young man did not regret. He had a

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strong belief that what he did was an obligation of any responsible Vietnamese. At that moment, without yet
knowing it, Trn T Bnh joined the ranks of the young patriot intelligentsia, a group destined to play a
critical role in modern Vietnamese history.

Early revolutionary years

In 1927 he signed up to labor on Michelin's Ph Ring rubber plantation in the distant region of southern
Vietnam Cochinchina.[1] This decision was another blow to the family because, even without a school
diploma, with his education Trn T Bnh could have found a respectable job as a village clerk or landlord's
agent. Again Trn T Bnh was determined to break away, to seek adventure, to test his physical and
spiritual powers in the totally unfamiliar land. This decision proved crucial for his entire life.
It is during this period working in Ph Ring plantation that he first met communist revolutionaries and
learned about the MarxistLeninist ideology. In 1929 he joined the Indochina Communist Party. On 3
February 1930 he became the Party Secretary of Ph Ring and directly led a revolt of more than 5000
workers against the cruel French colonial exploitation at rubber plantation. The movement was repressed by
French, Ph Ring strike leaders were all imprisoned, nonetheless it forced the Michelin company to make
certain changes to improve labor's working and living conditions. The Ph Ring's labor movement 1930,
also known as Phu Rieng Do, has become known as the first big labor movement in the history of Vietnam.
After the Phu Rieng Do incident French colonial government sentenced Trn T Bnh to 10 years on the
infamous Cn o Prison, where he met many communist revolutionary leaders of Vietnam, i.e. Tn c
Thng, Hoang Quoc Viet, Phm Vn ng, Le Van Luong, Pham Hung, Ha Huy Giap, Tran Xuan Do,
Nguyen Van Phat and took advantage of this opportunity to improve his knowledge of communist ideology
and nationalism.

August Revolution
Due to the movement by the Popular Front in 1936 the French
colonial government was forced to release some political prisoners
from Cn o. Trn T Bnh was one of them. After being
amnestied from Cn o he returned home to work as a clerk in
Bnh Lc District and secretly continued to take part in communist
activities against French. From 1936-1940 Trn T Bnh was
appointed as communist party secretary of Bnh Lc District and
then party secretary of Ha Nam Province.
In 1940 he was elected by the communist party as a member of
Northern Region (Tongkin) Committee (Xu Uy Bac Ky) and
General Trn T Bnh (1949)
Commissar of Interregional Network C (including H Nam, Nam
inh, Thi Bnh, Ninh Binh Provinces) and network D (Vinh Phuc,
Phuc Yen, Phu Tho, Tuyen Quang Provinces) in 1941 and 1943. He became one of the most wanted objects
of French Gendarmerie in TongKing during the 1940s.
On 24 December 1943 Trn T Bnh was arrested again in Thi Bnh Province and was imprisoned in H
Nam Prison. In early 1944, after an unsuccessful attempt at jailbreak, he was sent to Ha L Prison (Hanoi),
where he became one of the organizers of a famous collective escape for over 100 political prisoners.

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After he returned to the rear, Trn T Bnh was appointed as a standing member of Xu Uy Bac Ky and was
in charge of establishment and development of Hoa-Ninh-Thanh military base for the League for the
Independence of Vietnam (Viet Minh).
On August 14, 1945, the Japanese surrendered to the Allies. The leaders of Viet Minh decided to act
promptly to seize the power from the weak and helpless Trn Trng Kim's pro-Japanese puppet government
before the French returned. On 19 August 1945, Trn T Bnh and Nguyen Khang, the two representatives
of Xu Uy Bac Ky remained in Hanoi, directly commanded the general uprising in Hanoi and some
neighboring provinces which lead to a start of the successful August Revolution of 1945.

Military and political career

After the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Trn
T Bnh was appointed as Vice Rector, Political Commissar of Tran
Quoc Tuan Military Training Academy.
In 1947, he became Deputy Secretary of the General Political
Department of Vietnamese People's Army. Late 1947, together with
Le Thiet Hung, he successfully led the Vietnamese military forces to
a military victory at Song Lo front.
On 1 January 1948, Trn T Bnh was honored to receive a rank of
major general and became one of the first 11 generals of the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam along with other outstanding
military officers like V Nguyn Gip, Nguyn Sn, Le Thiet Hung,
Chu Van Tan, Hoang Sam, Hong Van Thai, Le Hien Mai, Vn Tin
Dng, Tran Dai Nghia, Nguyen Binh. In the same year he was
appointed as Deputy Chief Inspector of the Vietnamese People's
Army.
Trn T Bnh and Tn c Thng in
Vit Bc (1951)

From 1950-56 he served as Political Commissar of the Vietnam's

Ground Forces Officer Academy, which at that time was based in
China. Since 1951 he was elected to be a representative of the Army
Forces to the Third and Fourth National Communist Party Congress and member of the National Assembly.
After the First Indochina War (194654) general Trn T Bnh was
appointed as the Chief Inspector of the Army, Deputy Chief
Inspector of the State. He served at these positions for two years
(195658) before moved to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs following
the personal request of president Ho Chi Minh.
In 1959, Trn T Bnh was appointed as the Ambassador of Vietnam
to the People's Republic of China and Mongolia. He worked as
Ambassador in China for two terms (19591967), perfectly
performed his duty and contributed greatly to the development of
cooperative relations between China and Vietnam.

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Ambassador Binh with President Ho

(1961)

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On 11 February 1967, he died at the age 60 due to hypertension in Hanoi. He was honoured posthumously
with the Gold Star medal, the most noble medal of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, befitting his long
service to the state and people of Vietnam.

References
1. Charles Keith Catholic Vietnam: A Church from Empire to Nation 2012 Page 266 Trn T Bnh, The Red Earth: A
Vietnamese Memoir of Life on a Colonial Rubber Plantation (Athens: Ohio University monographs in International
Studies)

External links
"The historical prison escape" (http://www.nhandan.com.vn/english/life/200805/the.htm), Nhan Dan
newspaper
Ph Ring (The Red Earth - Vietnamese Memoir of Life on a Colonial Rubber Plantation (http://w
ww.selectbooks.com.sg/getTitle.cfm?SBNum=7057), Memoire of general Tran Tu Binh (1965),
translated into English and published by Ohio University Press, 1985
"August Revolution: an inevitable path leading to the Nation-State" (http://www.nhandan.com.vn/engl
ish/news/010905/au.htm)
"General, diplomat Tran Tu Binh gets posthumous Gold Star" (http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/s
howarticle.php?num=02POL150108), Vietnamnews
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Trn_T_Bnh&oldid=712828586"
Categories: 1907 births 1967 deaths Generals of the People's Army of Vietnam
Ambassadors of Vietnam to China Ambassadors of Vietnam to Mongolia
Recipients of the Order of Ho Chi Minh
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