** Bui Huu Nghia (1807 (the Dinh Mao cat year) - 1872) was born to a poor fisherman’s family in present-day Can Tho city. With the help of an acquaintance, he went to Bien Hoa and attended the Confucian school of scholars Do Hoanh. In 1835, he won the first laureate at an interprovincial exam in the Gia Dinh exam compound.

At first he was appointed chief of Phuc Long county. After that, he was demoted to be chief of Tra Vinh district in Tra Vinh province because he was upright and often protected the poor. Later, he was falsely accused of inciting a people’s rebellion. He was arrested and sentenced to death.

His wife took pains to go to Hue to see the king and claim her husband’s innocence. He was pardoned but demoted to look after the Vinh Thong military post in Chau Doc. Meanwhile, his wife fell sick after the long travel and died in his absence. He wrote a funeral oration to mourn his wife. Later, it became a noted literary work among others

After that, Nghia became fed up with the mandarinate. He resigned and worked as a school teacher. He joined the Can Vuong (Royalist) Movement against the French colonialists.

He left many renowned literary works full of patriotism and love for the people.

** Huynh Man Dat (1807-1882) was born in Gia Dinh, now Ho Chi Minh city. In 1831, he passed the interprovincial exam and became a mandarin under the reign of king Tu Duc.

In 1861, the French army seized Chi Hoa military post and attacked Dinh Tuong. The Provincial mandarins of Dinh Tuong led the people to fight against the enemy. However, they were defeated. Dat was removed from his post by the Hue court and taken to Hue capital for punishment. Later, he was released and followed Nguyen Tri Phuong to Bien Hoa to fight the French invaders.

After the French occupied 6 southern provinces, he resigned and came to live in Rach Gia, Kien Giang and became a friend of Bui Huu Nghia.

He was well-known for poems written in Nom (the demotic scrip of Vietnam).

** Mac Dang Dung (1483 (The Quy Mao cat year)- 1541) the founder king of the Mac dynasty was born to a fisherman’s family in present-day Hai Phong city . He became a bodyguard for King Le Uy Muc.

Despite the troubled situation, at the time Mạc Đang Dung continued to gain power and rank in the military. With the enthronment of the young king Le Chieu Tong in 1516, a power struggle in the court ensued. Around 1520, the power struggle broke into civil war. King Le Chieu Tong fled to Thanh Hoa province. Mạc Đăng Dung soon proclaimed a new king; Le Cung Hoang.

In 1527, Mạc Đăng Dung removed and killed King Le Cung Hoang and was proclaimed king of Vietnam, setting up the Mac dynasty.

In 1529 Mạc Đăng Dung abdicated to his son, Mac Dang Doanh. Under the rule of the Mac dynasty, despite the war between northern and southern forces, the national economy still developed and people lived in relative prosperity.

** Nguyen Thiep (1723 (the Quy Mao cat year) – 1804), also known as La Son Phu Tu, was born into a noble family in Ha Tinh central province. He passed a number of royal exams. In 1756, he was appointed district education officer and then district chief. In 1768, he handed in his resignation and came to live in seclusion in Thien Nhan mountain area, Ha Tinh province. He refused the invitation of many lords to work as a mandarin.

 Only after King Quang Trung defeated the Ch’ing invaders in 1790 and restored peace to Vietnam, did Nguyen Thiep agree to work for the Tay Son dynasty and King Quang Trung then assigned him with important tasks, including Minister of Education.

Nguyen Thiep made great contributions to Vietnam’s education. He promoted the use of Nom (Vietnamese demotic script) to replace the Han script and the translation of important books from Han to Nom.

** Nguyen Van Sieu (1795 (the Ky Mao cat year – 1872) was born in Thanh Tri, Hanoi.

He was a famous writer, poet and architect. In 1838, Sieu won the junior doctor title in the royal exam and was appointed a mandarin in the royal academy, ministry of rites and judge in Ha Tinh and Hung Yen provinces. In 1854, he left office and returned to work as a school teacher. In 1865, he designed and built the Ngoc Son temple, Pen tower and The Huc bridge on Hoan Kiem Lake.

** Pham Ngu Lao (1255 (the At Mao cat year -1320) was born in Thuong Hong (in present-day Hung Yen province). At the age of about 20, his talent was noticed by Tran Hung Dao who married his adopted daughter to him and also assigned him to different posts of training officer to become a capable general.

During the war agains the Mongols invaders, Pham Ngu Lao participated in several battles, including Chuong Duong, Ham Tu, Van Kiep and Bach Dang battles.

Pham Ngu Lao was also a poet with several famous poems such as Thuat Hoai (Express my heart).

** Phan Boi Chau (1867 (the Dinh Mao cat year) -1940) was born in Nam Dan, Nghe An to a poor scholar family. He was known as a child prodigy.

In 1883, the French finished the colonization of Vietnam by conquering the northern part of Vietnam, and the country was incorporated into French Indochina. Phan drafted an appeal for "putting down the French and retrieving the North" (Binh Tay thu Bac).

In 1885, the Can Vuong movement began its uprising against French rule. The scholar gentry of the province rose up, and Phan attempted to rally approximately 60 classmates who were prospective examination candidates to join in the uprising. Phan called his new unit the "army of Loyalist Examination Candidates" (Si tu Can Vuong Doi) and convinced an older cu nhan graduate to act as its commander. They had just begun to collect money and raw materials to make ad hoc weapons when a French patrol attacked the village and scattered the students.

In 1900, Phan passed regional mandarin exams with the highest possible honors. In 1901, he intended to attack Vinh city on the French National Day July 14, but could not. He came to the north to find the then resistance force leader, De Tham to discuss a battle plan.

Phan wrote his first significant work, Luu Cau Huyet Le Tan Thu (Letter from the Ryukyus Written in Tears of Blood). He argued that independence in Vietnam could only be achieved "through a transformation and revitalization of national character". The book was moderately successful amongst the Vietnamese populace and received attention from other nationalists like Phan Chu Trinh, Huynh Thuc Khang, Tran Quy Cap and Nguyen Thuong Hien.

In 1904, Phan set up the Vietnam Duy Tan Hoi (Vietnam Modernization Association) in 1904.

In 1905, the Vietnam Modernization Association agreed to send Phan Boi Chau to Japan to get Japanese military assistance and use Japan as a base to train and educate young Vietnamese students, by starting the Dong Du (Visit the East) Society. The number of Vietnamese students sent to Japan for training peaked at 200 in 1908.

Phan Boi Chau wrote many works calling on people’s support for the revolutionary cause. These works included Viet Nam Vong Quoc Su (History of the Loss of Vietnam), Tan Viet Nam (New Vietnam), Hai Ngoai Huyet Thu (Letter from Abroad Written in Blood) and others.

Later, under increasing pressure from the French government, Japan declared Phan persona non grata and expelled him in 1909.

After being deported from Japan, Phan Bội Châu went to Hong Kong. There, he made plans to raise money and bring Vietnamese students who had studied in Japan to Thailand, but they had now been dispersed.

After the success of the Wuchang Uprising in China in 1911, he went to China, dispersed the Vietnam Modernization Association and established the Vietnam Restoration League.

Activities of the Vietnam Restoration League angered the French who increased repression against the revolutionaries. Phan Boi Chau was accused of being the instigator and was sentenced to death in absence. He was caught by the Chinese militarists in 1913 and detained until 1917. After being released, he continued his revolutionary activities. In 1922, he reformed the Vietnam Restoration League to the Vietnam Nationalist Party.

Later, influenced by leader Nguyen Ai Quoc, Phan Boi Chau intended to adopt socialism. However, he could not realise his plan when he was kidnapped by French agents in 1925 and transported back to Hanoi. He was sentenced to penal servitude for life. However, in response to huge public protests, he was released from prison in 1925 and placed under house arrest in Hue city until he died in 1940 causing an outpouring of grief across the whole country.