This was the first struck coin type minted in Vietnam. Most Vietnamese coins continued to be cast.
Nguyen Hoang Tong held the title of Khai Dinh, meaning "auger of peace and stability." He was a puppet figurehead for the French colonial rulers, following all of their instructions giving "legitimacy" to French policies. As a result, he was very unpopular with the people. Nguyen Ai Quoc (later known as Ho Chν Minh) wrote a play about Khai Dinh called "The Bamboo Dragon" that ridiculed him as grand only in appearance and ceremony but a powerless puppet of the French government. In 1919, the Emperor decreed Vietnam cease using Chinese as official written language and replaced it with Romanized Vietnamese. |  |