Anonymous poem on French colonialism in Vietnam (1900)

The following anonymous poem was written around 1900 and tells of French colonialism in Vietnam:

“In the year I Wei
The seventh year of the reign of Emperor Thanh thai [1895]
The war indemnities had to be paid in full and at once.
The official order struck like lightning across the sky.
They came with summons to this village, with rifles to that hamlet.
Every place had to declare the number of its inhabitants, houses, male adults, rice fields.

Taxes were increased greatly
And were to be paid in money, not in kind.

With each passing year, these taxes mounted.
The cost of all articles rose rapidly

Even those of betel, tea and areca nuts.
The constables, the commissars, the police, the agents of the Security Services, all officials competed to harm the people.

All over the country, city-dwellers…
Paid taxes on their persons and their houses.
They had to purchase licenses for peddling.
There were taxes on theatres, singers,
Dogs, pigs, and shops selling mutton.

In their exploitation, the French did not miss a single item.
There was a monopoly on salt, and alcohol was stored plentifully in the excise offices.
People were obliged to buy and sell
Or they were accused of being smugglers
The situation was simply wretched.

The laws were iron, in a hundred ways,
Every individual was sorrowful, and every family utterly grieved.
Some people sold their wives, some sold their children.
To sell husbands was no longer remarkable.
How is one to recount the sorrow and suffering?

When one questions Heaven, Heaven remains quite silent.
What debts had our compatriots contracted in their previous lives?
Not only were they exploited by the French
They also suffered a drought.
Of ten crops, more than nine perished.
Then too, there were storms, floods, violent winds, and irregular rains.

Who could tend to his wasted body?
How many died hungry on the sidewalks?
Night and day they were compelled to work for the administration.
No sooner was the younger brother back home than the older brother was at his post,
The French had a hundred ways of extorting people’s money.
They took collections, they fined and ceaselessly claimed indemnities.
They never checked the truth of their information.

Whenever they heard rumours of unrest anywhere in the country, they immediately sent in their troops.
They governed tyrannically with their laws.
Of superior strength, they oppressed the people.
No one dared complain.
All suffered damage without ever lodging a grievance.
The French gave orders, the Vietnamese obeyed.”