Almost 400 objects are on display at a large-scale exhibition being held at the Army Museum in Paris, retracing France’s 100-year history in Indochina (1856-1956).
The exhibition, which features old clothes, film reels, photographs, weapons and government documents, opened on October 16.
It spotlights the lives of French expeditionary officers and soldiers in the middle of the 19 th century in contrast to Indochinese combatants, who struggled against the French army in their years of occupation.
The May 1954 Battle of Dien Bien Phu, in which the Viet Minh fought the French and won, is receiving prominent coverage in the exhibition.
Also on display are two embroidered-silk court dresses which belonged to the Governor General Nguyen Tri Phuong, who was a symbol of Vietnam’s anti-France resistance in the colonial period.
Documentary films on France’s eventual defeat in the region are also being screened at the exhibition, which will run until January next year.-VNA
