Brief description of the " go east movement "
Answers
The Go East Movement (Dong Du) was a Vietnamese nationalists campaign that encouraged students to go east to Japan and receive a modernized education (specializing in resisting imperial European powers). The movement really took off from 1907-1908 under the guidance of Vietnamese nationalist leader Phan Boi Chau. He, and others like him, thought Japan could provide a useful ally as an Asia country that was fully industrialized and had recently defeated Russia in war. Over 300 Vietnamese students were in Japan by the end of 1908, enrolling in Japanese schools of higher education and seeking revolutionary support and weapons. The movement ultimately failed to gain Japan's formal support, but did plant the seeds for an organized nationalist/independence movement in Vietnam that was well established by the 1930s.