The Tonkin Free School was started in 1907 to provide western style education in Vietnam.
(i) The education included classes in science, hygiene and French.
(ii) The school wanted to introduce modernism. According to the school, to be modern the Vietnamese had to look modern.
(iii) The school encouraged the adoption of western styles such as having a short hair cut.
(iv) These schools also encouraged the students to wear Western clothes and play Western games like, tennis.
For the traditional Vietnamese, ‘having short haircut’ was a major cultural setback as they traditionally kept long hair. Thus, the establishment of new schools gave a major setback to the Vietnamese traditional culture.
