French School of the Far East with Vietnamese Social Sciences and Humanities

However, conservation work is only one of many important contributions of EFEO to the social sciences and humanities in Vietnam during its development journey through the 20th century. To have a comprehensive view of EFEO's contributions, let's review a few features of the formation process and activities of this organization. On January 20, 1900, Governor-General of Indochina Paul Doumer signed a decree to establish the "Extreme Oriental School" (École francaise d'Extrême-Orient) on the basis of the "Permanent Archaeological Mission in Indochina" established in late 1898. More than a year later, on February 26, 1901, French President Émile Loubet signed a decree officially recognizing the establishment of EFEO. Accordingly, the Academy became an institution of the French state, a scientific research agency on history, archaeology, language, ethnology, geophysics and human geography in the East, ensuring the preservation and maintenance of historical works in Indochina.

The old Far Eastern Institute of Archaeology, now the National Museum of History.

During its journey of more than a century, EFEO has experienced many ups and downs along with the changes of Vietnamese history. Since its establishment until the August Revolution (1945), despite being under the control of the colonial government, EFEO has always maintained its independent scientific goals to achieve brilliant achievements in research, publishing and preservation of heritage and culture. During the short period alongside the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (September 1945 - December 1946), the flexible policy of the Vietnamese government created conditions for EFEO to have administrative autonomy and manage its headquarters. During the 10 years of France, there was a shortage of research staff (both French and Vietnamese). After the Geneva Agreement (1954), EFEO's headquarters was moved to Saigon and officially closed in 1960, ending six decades of operation in Vietnam. In 1993, EFEO returned to open a representative office in Hanoi. Currently, in addition to EFEO's headquarters in Paris, there are 18 centers located in 12 countries, of which Vietnam has representative offices in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Through a long and continuous development process of more than a century, EFEO has made many important contributions to the formation and development of social sciences and humanities in Vietnam, demonstrated in the following aspects:

Firstly, EFEO contributed to preparing the premises and scientific basis for the formation of a number of modern social sciences and humanities in Vietnam, including archaeology, ethnology, textual studies, museology, etc. EFEO's veteran scholars have made many groundbreaking discoveries, leaving behind many works of scientific value to this day, such as: Madeleine Colani, Olov Jansé, Loius Malleret, H.Parmentier, Henri Maspéro, Paul Lévy, Louis Finot, George Coedès, André-Georges Haudricourt, Georges Condiminas, etc.

Second, EFEO contributes to promoting and modernizing traditional social sciences and humanities along with newly established ones, typically History, Han-Nom, folklore and customs, ancient architecture and sculpture, etc. Many in-depth and systematic research works on Vietnamese history have been researched and published, contributing to expanding knowledge and promoting it to the world.

The French School of the Far East, the French research center on Indochina in 1926, in South Vietnam.

Third, EFEO contributes to building a team of international Vietnam scholars (mainly French scholars), while creating conditions for training a generation of modern Vietnamese social scientists in the 20th century. The process of implementing research programs in Vietnam, especially in the first half of the last century, attracted and created a team of famous researchers from Loius Finot, George Coedés, Madeliene Colani, Olov Jansé, Loius Malleret, H.Parmentier, Henri Maspéro, Paul Lévy to André-Georges Haudricourt, Georges Condominas, etc. In addition, a golden generation of Vietnamese researchers grew up thanks to the cooperation and collaboration with EFEO in academic activities, typically: Nguyen Van To, Tran Van Giap, Tran Ham Tan, Nguyen Van Huyen... The academic atmosphere of EFEO directly contributed to the formation of a Europeanized and modern education in Vietnam, thereby contributing to the training of typical intellectuals of Vietnamese social sciences in the second half of the 20th century from the founding generation such as Tran Van Giau, Dao Duy Anh, Tran Duc Thao, Hoang Xuan Han, to the generation of scholars. Leading scientists were trained and matured after peace was restored in the North such as Dinh Xuan Lam, Phan Huy Le, Tran Quoc Vuong, Ha Van Tan... These were generations of intellectuals who collected, developed and harmoniously combined the quintessence of many great contemporary sciences and educations including Sinology, French studies and Russian studies...

Fourth, EFEO has organized many major research programs and projects, contributing to the clarification of many academic aspects in Vietnam. In the first half of the 20th century, ethnographic field programs have brought about comprehensive and profound understandings of ethnic and linguistic aspects; archaeological explorations and excavations have provided more scientific arguments contributing to the discovery and clarification of many issues about archaeological eras, ancient kingdoms and cultures... with thousands of documents, inscriptions... In addition, EFEO has also made efforts to publish a series of works to socialize the research results of French and Vietnamese scientists.

After re-establishing its representative office in Hanoi in 1993, EFEO has actively implemented many research programs and published many famous works, such as:Kinh Bac Administrative Agency(1996),Vietnamese taboo words through dynasties(1997),Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Literature and Poetry(1997),The Universe of Nom Stories(1998),Textual issues of Nguyen Trai's military loyalty and mandate(1999),Special names and archives of villages in Bac Ky(1999)... In particular, within the framework of a large-scale interdisciplinary research program on Vietnamese Villages, the monographVillages in the Red River Delta: an open issuepublished in 2002, gathering leading researchers on Vietnam such as Phan Huy Le, Le Ba Thao, Phan Dai Doan, Dao The Tuan, Dang Nghiem Van, P.Papin, Nelly Krowolski, Oliver Tessier... In recent years, EFEO has invested a lot of effort and money in the research project on Truong Luy in Quang Ngai and has had initial publications.

Fifth, EFEO has made a practical contribution to the collection and preservation of antiquities and the construction of modern museums, making a practical contribution to the field of heritage management in Vietnam. A series of large-scale museums have been built since the beginning of the 20th century: Louis Finot Museum (1901, now the Vietnam National Museum of History), Henri Parmentier Museum (1918, now the Museum of Cham Sculpture in Da Nang), Blanchard de la Brosse Museum (1929, now the Museum of History in Ho Chi Minh City)... In addition, EFEO has made efforts to compile statistics on relics throughout Indochina, launching many heritage catalogues. Many relic restoration programs were also invested in and implemented (Champa relics in 1901-1903, Temple of Literature - Imperial Academy in 1918-1920, One Pillar Pagoda in 1922, But Thap Pagoda and Phat Tich Pagoda in Bac Ninh in 1930...).

It can be said that, in more than a century of presence in Vietnam, despite its ups and downs, the French School of the Far East (EFEO) has always been a solid bridge in many bridges of knowledge connecting Vietnam's academia with the world, especially with French and European academia. Through its scientific activities, EFEO has made many practical contributions to introducing new research trends, new scientific perspectives and schools, and modern interdisciplinary approaches, thereby contributing to promoting the development and strong integration of Vietnam's social sciences and humanities.