What would a British Vietnam be like?

raharris1973

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What if instead of France, britain colonized or puppetized Vietnam and Indochina? or at least everything north of cochinchina and Cambodia, if the French got those.
 
Britain had a more hands-off kind of colonization. I expect a high segree of autonomy and perhaps even the Kingdom of Vietnam still having a king
 
Britain had a more hands-off kind of colonization. I expect a high segree of autonomy and perhaps even the Kingdom of Vietnam still having a king

French Vietnam still had an emperor, although he did not reign in Cochinchina which was under direct French rule.
 

raharris1973

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@Alex Zetsu - The hands-off factor might be in that the British would probably govern with far fewer British officials. The French used their colonies as more of a jobs program for petty officials.

The British had the same number of officials in India as the French had in Indochina, so there was a much higher ratio of colonial officials to population in French colonies. This made job opportunities for locals in administration worse in the French system than the British
 
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chankljp

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Is there any legacy in Vietnam of French rule?

On a more mundane and cultural front, there is Bánh mì (Vietnamese baguette sandwiches made with rice flour, and stuffed with local meats), cà phê đá (French pressed iced coffee), Bò Lúc Lắc (Sauté Diced Beef in tomato sauce), and many other French influences on Vietnamese cuisine that continues to this day. In fact, I once read that the reason why Vietnamese food was comparatively not spicy by South-East Asian standards was because the cooking were modified to suit the milder palates of their French colonial masters.

So, with British Indochina, you might see them introducing the tradition of afternoon tea, Worcestershire sauce, and brown steak sauce to Vietnam instead, the same way that they did for their colony of Hong Kong.
 
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kernals12

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On a more mundane and cultural front, there is Bánh mì (Vietnamese baguette sandwiches made with rice flour, and stuffed with local meats), cà phê đá (French pressed iced coffee), Bò Lúc Lắc (Sauté Diced Beef in tomato sauce), and many other French influences on Vietnamese cuisine that continues to this day. In fact, I once read that the reason why Vietnamese food was comparatively no spicy by South-East Asian standards was because the cooking were modified to suit the milder palates of their French colonial masters.

So, with British Indochina, you might see them introducing the afternoon tea and Worcestershire sauce, and brown steak sauce to Vietnam instead, the same way that they did for their colony of Hong Kong.
I think my baseline for colonial influence is India, where a significant minority, especially in the upper classes, speak English. Or France's former colonies in Africa where French is still the main language.
 
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