Daoists from the Mountain

In his May 1887 telegram to Saigon headquarters, the French commander of the Châu Đốc area reported at the beginning of a two-week operation that traces of insurgents – flags, swords, machetes and certificates allegedly belonging to the Đạo Lành group – were discovered in the pagoda (a Buddhist temple) of An Định village at Núi Tượng (Mount Elephant) of Châu Đốc province. ¹ Đạo Lành (‘the Wholesome, Beneficent Way’) is another name for the Bữu Sơn Kỳ Hương religion. By 1887, the group had been hunted as rebels and scoundrels for at least seventeen years. ² The commander wanted, in the same telegram to the colonel in charge of the troops in Saigon, to solve once and for all this insurgency problem: he proposed to burn down the 500-house, 1,200-inhabitant village, including its pagoda. ³ After some further exchange of messages, on 21 May 1887, a decision came from the top – the Governor himself agreed to let the local commander act as he saw fit, with a more humane caveat:

Will grant you … all freedom to act in An Định but would like, before destruction of village, that inhabitants who were not compromised, be dispersed to their districts of origin, allowed to take with them livestock, furniture, utensils, food supplies and provisions that belong to them. For compromised inhabitants, their furniture, food supplies and provisions must be surrendered and distributed to the most needy before the huts are burnt. The pagoda must not be destroyed before all ornaments or objects that may be of historic or antique interest have been evacuated. ⁴