Phan Khôi short time. However, he also was very interested in researching the roots of Vietnamese heritage, especially Vietnamese spoken language, which had long been ignored and looked down upon by the elite class in Vietnam. His research Phan Khôi: Việt ngữ nghiên cứu was a well of knowledge for young Vietnamese to follow. One generation before Hoàng Văn Chí, one generation after Phan Chu Trinh, Phan Khôi represented a class of Vietnamese intellectuals caught between colonialism, nationalism, communism. Phan Khôi's progressive spirit and his lifelong effort to raise the Vietnamese people's awareness of human rights, civil rights, and good education were
Phan Đình Phùng consecutive generations of the Phan family had been successful mandarinate graduates. All three of Phan's brothers who lived to adulthood passed the imperial examinations and became mandarins. Early on, Phan indicated his distaste for the classical curriculum required of an aspiring mandarin. He nevertheless persevered with his studies, passing the regional exams in 1876 and then topping the metropolitan exams the following year. In his exam response, Phan cited Japan as an example of how an Asian country could make rapid military progress given sufficient willpower. Phan was never known for his scholarly abilities; it was his reputation for principled