Hygine, Disease And Everyday Resistance


 
 
Concept Explanation
 

Hygine, Disease And Everyday Resistance

Hygiene, Disease and Everyday Resistance: Education was not the only sphere of everyday life of Vietnamese in which political battles against colonialism were fought. There were many other institutions in which the colonised people expressed their anger and frustration against the colonisers.

Plague Strikes Hanoi: To create a modern Vietnam, the French authority decided to rebuild a part of Hanoi with modern architecture. But the beautiful part of Hanoi was struck by bubonic plague in 1903. The French part of Hanoi had wide avenues and a well-laid-out sewer system. The other native part of the city was not provided with any modern facilities; as a result, the refuse from the old city overflowed the whole area during rains or floods.

The large sewer system in the modern part of the city became the ideal and protected breeding grounds for the rats. There was a widespread plague, which threatened the very lives of the French. The sewers also served as a great transport system, allowing the rats to move around the city without any problem and rats began to enter the well-maintained homes of the French through the sewage pipes.

The Rat Hunt: In order to check this menace, the French authority started the Rat Hunt Scheme in 1902. The French hired Vietnamese workers and paid them for each rat they were caught. As many as 20,000 rats were caught in a single day (30th May). Rat hunting became a profitable business for the natives. Ultimately, the French were forced to stop the programme. It did not prevent the bubonic plague, which swept through the area in 1903 and in subsequent years. The rat menace marked the limits of French power and restricted their ‘Civilising Mission’.

#Civilising Mission :- The European countries acquired colonies in the East Asian countries to exploit their natural resources . like other European countries the french also propagated that it was their mission to bring the benefits of civilisation to backward people . like the British in India , the French considered that it was their duty to bring modern ideas into their colonies even at the cost of destroying the local culture ,beliefs etc as these were seen as outdated and prevented modern development . 

 
 


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