Activities of the Sai Gon exhibition fair 1942 - 1943: A view from colonial press

Abstract

Besides its economic value, the fair - exhibition is a new cultural form imported from the West, through strong promotions and expansions of the colonial exploitation policy of the Indochinese Federation Government. In other words, fair-exhibitions gradually became a dual economic-cultural activity that was growing popular in the flow of Vietnamese history from the modern period onwards. The Saigon Fair-Exhibition lasted for two full months in late 1942 and early 1943, attracting the participation of five regions from the Indochinese Federation and Japan. This was the largest ever demonstration of production capacity, industry, handicrafts, commodities (including cultural products), commerce, and vivid historical-cultural exchanges among regions, between countries and regions, and between the East and the West. Using statistical methods, comparison, analysis, and synthesis from various press sources, including Nam Ky Weekly, Trang An Newspaper, Saigon, Reportage Weekly, Nuoc Nam, etc., this article presents for the first time a relatively unique set of events in the colonial context with multidimensional interactions and constraints on the economic and cultural levels. From the research results, this article shows that the press was among the valuable sources of documents contributing greatly to the identification and vivid reconstruction of historical processes in particular.