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| Interesting Facts and General Trivia about Imperial Vietnam |
| Before the death of Emperor Dong Khanh, the French authorities refused to let a descendant of his take the throne because of a family history of mental illness. Instead they chose Emperor Thanh Thai to succeed him. However, when Emperor Thanh Thai proved too independent the French declared him insane in order to depose him. The second Son of Heaven of the Nguyen Dynasty, Emperor Minh Mang was quite the family man. His Majesty had a total of 40 wives who gave him 78 sons and 64 daughters for a total of 142 children. It is no wonder that the Nguyen Dynasty numbers well over 10,000 members. His Imperial Majesty Emperor Bao Dai is known for building the first golf course in the nation of Vietnam. During World War I the former Emperor Thanh Thai showed his displeasure towards their French colonial masters by going out of his way to buy only German merchandise. The flag of South Vietnam (yellow with 3 red stripes) was actually the last flag of the Vietnamese Empire and was designed by His Majesty Bao Dai, South Vietnam's "Head of State". Prior to the north/south split and the resulting Vietnam War, the Empire of Annam was very wealthy and considered one of the most prosperous Asian countries. His Majesty Emperor Bao Dai was a very famous hunter, especially of Vietnam's fierce tiger population. The Son of Heaven was known to crawl into the tiger's den alone with only his rifle and a flashlight to confront the beast. When it came time to choose a successor among the children of Emperor Thanh Thai, the seven-year-old Duy Tan was missing and later found covered in dirt and sweat. While the future emperor was supposed to be chosen he had been chasing crickets. Duy Tan was soon enthroned as the Son of Heaven. After being exiled to France, the last Emperor of Vietnam, HM Bao Dai, converted to Christianity and was baptised into the Roman Catholic Church as "Jean-Robert". The elegant 'ao dai' the world-recognized traditional costume of Vietnam was adopted as the national dress because of the inspiration of China's Qing Dynasty fashions. It first came into widespread use under Emperor Minh Mang. The traditional ao dai can still be seen, mostly in rural areas or the cultural enclave of Hue City. |