Indigenous Doctors, Health and Sporting Activities in Indochina before 1941
Journal Title: Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research (BJSTR) - Year 2019, Vol 18, Issue 5
Abstract
French Indochina was occupied by the Japanese army during the Second World War and the vice-admiral Decoux became governor general. He tried to implement a new political program above all for the local youth. I have been working for five years about this topic [1]and most of the time when I read one article or a book [2] I discover that Vichy was the climax for sport policies and health activities. I argue that it is partly wrong, and I would like to demonstrate that Vichy could not create its policies without the legacy of the Third republic [3] According to Jean Decoux. […] the local youth who before was reluctant to practice or unaware of the physical exercises are gradually turning to physical education. […] one should use this impetus to set up a proper physical education promoting order and discipline and a harmonious racial development. It is necessary to integrate physical education into the school curriculu [4]. Decoux promoted Physical Education at school as if he was the inventor of this action in Indochina. It’s wrong because since 1917 Albert Sarraut has complemented the school curriculum by adding some lessons about physical education for elementary and primary schools: schoolboys had to practice Moral and Physical Education such as running, playing with balls or training like child soldiers. In addition, two years later Nguyen Qui Toan opened his Physical educational school in Hanoi: he was sent to France to study and discovered one of the reasons of the French superiority: sporting and physical activities. In 1913 he trained in Reims at the “Collège des Athlètes” and came back to Hanoi in order to face his country’s challenges. At the very beginning this School was very famous and succeeded in attracting one hundred and fifty-two children [5]. Then, this school was a model for many societies in Indochina. In Cochinchina now, many Indochinese doctors took part to this acculturation process [6] by spreading the ways to improve children’s health or to prevent diseases in the early 1920s. For instance, Pham Van Ngoi used his leadership and his athletic training experience to convince the audience to follow the example of the Western elite citizens [7]. His colleague Tran Van An was the president of the ‘Cercle Annamite Sportif’ in Saigon, the most powerful Annamite tennis club there.In Saigon, the Regional Center for Physical Instruction, a military school, was opened in 1923. Then, the other capitals had their own similar school. Each center was training every year around one hundred schoolteachers. So we can conclude that physical education, sports activities and health advice were spreading for a long time before the Second World War. The newspapers during the Interwar issued many articles about this topic and asserted the same ideas: “The French colonization is characterized by a positive transformation of the indigenous population‘s physical and spiritual health (….). This evolution was made possible by the practice of sport activities and above all because of physical education. And we can claim beyond doubt that thousands of Annamites have been saved from rickets, from tuberculosis among other afflictions thanks to an elementary physical hygiene that has been methodically and regularly put into practice for some years [8].
Authors and Affiliations
Brice Fossard
Keywords
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- EP ID EP622643
- DOI 10.26717/BJSTR.2019.18.003200
- Views 161
- Downloads 0
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