Đặng Phong


Đặng Phong, born in Hà Tây Province, Vietnam, was a historian specialized in Vietnam's economic history of the 19th and 20th centuries.
He graduated from Hanoi University, Faculty of History, in 1960, National Economics University, Planning Faculty, in 1964 and the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier in 1991. He wrote many articles and books about Vietnam's economic history during the French colonization period, South Vietnam, the centrally planned economy period, and more recently on the "Doi Moi" in Vietnam.
Đặng Phong worked as researcher at the Institute of Economics, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, from 1961 to 2000. He also taught at the Hanoi University of Business and Technology from 1996 to 2009. For his vast knowledge, he has also been visiting scholar to various universities around the world.
He is internationally recognized as the leading scholar of twentieth-century Vietnamese history among his generation in Vietnam. He was also the author of various articles in the media, including the BBC in Vietnamese.
Đặng Phong died of cancer on 20 August 2010.

Early life

Đặng Phong was the second of the two sons of a colonial official and a teacher. His youth was marked by the following historical events, of which he was a witness:
His father's decision to join the Việt Minh in 1944 influenced his education, which he received by night in the 'liberated zone' from 1947-1954. After independence, he studied at Hanoi University and took a BA in history in 1960. Aged twenty-three he was employed by the Institute of Economics. His interest in economic history dated from this time.

Public service and career

In 1965, American bombings started and he was evacuated to a village in Bắc Giang province. In 1967, he was sent as soldier and war correspondent on the southern front. Wounded, he returned to Hanoi in 1968.
Upon Vietnam's reunification, he conducted research in Saigon, and presented a report to the Institute of Economics on US aid to South Vietnam.
In 1983, he was appointed to the State Committee for Markets and Prices, an economic analysis agency above ministerial rank, where he established the journal Markets and Prices Review. In 1988, this agency assigned him to compete for a scholarship to France, which he won, and spent a year at the Institut Agricole Méditerranéen in Montpellier.
In 1995, he returned to the Institute of Economics, and signed a contract with the same institute after his formal retirement in 2003. He signed a similar contract with his second employer, the Hanoi University of Business and Technology. He co-authored books with Professor Đỗ Hoài Nam and served as personal assistant to Mr Võ Văn Kiệt.
His major works include: