terrible witch, but Le Xuan saw the potential in the role. She would never be cast as Snow White; that part would go to one of the fair-skinned French girls. So she might as well steal the show with a magnificent, if cruel, performance.
Le Xuan saw Nhu as an opportunity. Whether out of love, ambition, or mutual convenience, Le Xuan and Nhu were engaged shortly after their garden encounter. They were betrothed for three years, a Vietnamese tradition, although one not followed by Le Xuanâs parents. But during that time, from 1940 to 1943, the universe as Le Xuan had always known it changed entirely.
World War II raged in Europe. The military defeat of France left Indochina all but cut off from the motherland. The Vichy government inFrance granted the Japanese the right to transport troops across northern Vietnam to southern China, build airfields, requisition food supplies, and station 6,000 men in Tonkin.
Japanese diplomats, interpreters, intelligence specialists, and businessmen took the places of honor at the Chuongsâ Tuesday salons, and the French colonials in Indochina took it badly. They simply couldnât, or wouldnât, believe that their surrender in Europe compromised their colonial rights to rule Indochina. So for a time, the French tried to live as normally as possible, retaining their servants, dressing formally for dinner, and gathering at cafés to talk about their weekend trips to the beach or the winner at the horse races. The French might have handed the deed to their colonial property in Indochina over to the Japanese, but for five more years, they would do their best to keep up appearances. The French flag continued to fly. Boulangeries, deprived of their customary 20,000 tons per year of imported wheat flour, also tried to make the illusion last, baking bread from corn and rice. Indochina was the only Southeast Asian area under Japanese control that had allowed white colonials to remain.
In 1942 ration tickets were issued to Europeans for rice, salt, sugar, cooking oil, soap, matches, âqualityâ cigarettes, and fuel. The French still enjoyed favored status when it came to meat and condensed milk: they were supplied first. All this was justified in the colonial mind-set by the notion that the Annamites were accustomed to simple diets, whereas Europeans would become ill without variety.
Although the Chuong family did not exactly suffer, they were deprived of the luxury goods they were used to. But the Chuongs were masters of political maneuvering and managed just fineâat least for a while. The Japanese infiltration of the nominal French regime made for a rather confusing state of political affairs. Who was in power, the Westerners or the Asians? Who would be more sympathetic to the nationalist aspirations of the Vietnamese? The Chuongs tried to cultivate important friendships on both sides, but eventually they chose to cast their lot with the Japanese under a banner of âYellow Brotherhood.â The Japanese encouraged the Vietnamese to think of themselves as part of a greaterAsian Co-Prosperity Sphereâone led by Japan, of course. At least the Japanese wouldnât claim superiority based on the color of their skin.
Le Xuanâs mother signed on for Japanese-language lessons, and her romance with Yokoyama, the Empire of the Rising Sunâs envoy in Hanoi, was soon rewarded. In 1945, her lover Yokoyama was appointed resident of Annam, and Tran Van Chuong, her husband, was promoted to a cabinet position in the Japanese puppet government.
Le Xuan and Ngo Dinh Nhu were married in the first week of May 1943 at the Saint Joseph Cathedral of Hanoi, or as Hanoi residents called it, Nha Tho Lon , the big church. It was only Le Xuanâs second time in the towering, neo-gothic style church. The first had been the day before, for the confirmation of her conversion to the Catholic faith. She had worn long gloves and a lace mantilla that draped over her dark hair and
Le Xuan saw Nhu as an opportunity. Whether out of love, ambition, or mutual convenience, Le Xuan and Nhu were engaged shortly after their garden encounter. They were betrothed for three years, a Vietnamese tradition, although one not followed by Le Xuanâs parents. But during that time, from 1940 to 1943, the universe as Le Xuan had always known it changed entirely.
World War II raged in Europe. The military defeat of France left Indochina all but cut off from the motherland. The Vichy government inFrance granted the Japanese the right to transport troops across northern Vietnam to southern China, build airfields, requisition food supplies, and station 6,000 men in Tonkin.
Japanese diplomats, interpreters, intelligence specialists, and businessmen took the places of honor at the Chuongsâ Tuesday salons, and the French colonials in Indochina took it badly. They simply couldnât, or wouldnât, believe that their surrender in Europe compromised their colonial rights to rule Indochina. So for a time, the French tried to live as normally as possible, retaining their servants, dressing formally for dinner, and gathering at cafés to talk about their weekend trips to the beach or the winner at the horse races. The French might have handed the deed to their colonial property in Indochina over to the Japanese, but for five more years, they would do their best to keep up appearances. The French flag continued to fly. Boulangeries, deprived of their customary 20,000 tons per year of imported wheat flour, also tried to make the illusion last, baking bread from corn and rice. Indochina was the only Southeast Asian area under Japanese control that had allowed white colonials to remain.
In 1942 ration tickets were issued to Europeans for rice, salt, sugar, cooking oil, soap, matches, âqualityâ cigarettes, and fuel. The French still enjoyed favored status when it came to meat and condensed milk: they were supplied first. All this was justified in the colonial mind-set by the notion that the Annamites were accustomed to simple diets, whereas Europeans would become ill without variety.
Although the Chuong family did not exactly suffer, they were deprived of the luxury goods they were used to. But the Chuongs were masters of political maneuvering and managed just fineâat least for a while. The Japanese infiltration of the nominal French regime made for a rather confusing state of political affairs. Who was in power, the Westerners or the Asians? Who would be more sympathetic to the nationalist aspirations of the Vietnamese? The Chuongs tried to cultivate important friendships on both sides, but eventually they chose to cast their lot with the Japanese under a banner of âYellow Brotherhood.â The Japanese encouraged the Vietnamese to think of themselves as part of a greaterAsian Co-Prosperity Sphereâone led by Japan, of course. At least the Japanese wouldnât claim superiority based on the color of their skin.
Le Xuanâs mother signed on for Japanese-language lessons, and her romance with Yokoyama, the Empire of the Rising Sunâs envoy in Hanoi, was soon rewarded. In 1945, her lover Yokoyama was appointed resident of Annam, and Tran Van Chuong, her husband, was promoted to a cabinet position in the Japanese puppet government.
Le Xuan and Ngo Dinh Nhu were married in the first week of May 1943 at the Saint Joseph Cathedral of Hanoi, or as Hanoi residents called it, Nha Tho Lon , the big church. It was only Le Xuanâs second time in the towering, neo-gothic style church. The first had been the day before, for the confirmation of her conversion to the Catholic faith. She had worn long gloves and a lace mantilla that draped over her dark hair and
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