ABOUT ME

I first came across the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence of 2 September 1945 when teaching my Rise and Fall of the Great Powers course at SMU.

Ho Chi Minh’s reference to the 1776 American Declaration of Independence and the 1793 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen has continued to intrigue me since: was this to impress the Americans (yes!), was he quoting from these declarations or did he draw on them in a more original way?

I never thought I would ever investigate this historical document any deeper, let alone set up a website to facilitate the comparison of some of the English language translations.

My curiosity was piqued, however, when I wrote a contribution for an encyclopedia (not yet published as of October 2009) on the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence.

You will find some of the questions (though not the answers!) that intrigued me in the study questions section.

If you have any feedback or would like to share other translations (in English and in other languages) that do not feature on this site, I would be interested to hear from you (feedback).

You will find more information on my past and present research interests at the School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University.