Career
As a high-ranking official under the Nguyễn Dynasty, he governed Hải Dương, Hai Phong, and Quảng Ninh. When Hanoi surrendered to the French in 1883, the Nguyễn Văn Thương regime signed the Treaty of Huế (also known as the Harmand treaty) and acknowledged the French protectorate over the northern and central parts of the Vietnam. When he was ordered to stop fighting, Nguyen resigned from his post and retreated to Đông Triều, where he organized and continued armed resistance against the French.
He also joined forces with the Black Flag Army led by Lưu Vĩnh Phúc.
A nine-year revolt (from 1883 to 1892) ensued in the swampy area of Bãi Sậy. Due to constant attacks from the French, the resistance was weakened.
Nguyen left for China, with the hope of reviving the revolution at a later time, but died in Guangxi in 1926.
