Hygiene Disease And Everyday Resistance

Hygiene Disease And Everyday Resistance

Rats were most common in the modern, newly built areas of Hanoi.

•  The French colonists began to create a modern Vietnam. This was done, one, to provide living quarters for the French and other elites, and, two, to demonstrate the capabilities of the French to achieve modernisation and show what modernisation stood for.
•  The French part of Hanoi was built as a beautiful and clean city, with wide avenues and a well-laid out sewer system. The other part of Hanoi, known as the native quarter; was left untouched; it was not provided with any modern facilities. The refuse from the native quarter drained straight out into the river. During heavy rains or floods, it overflowed into the streets.
•  The large sewers in the French Hanoi were an ideal and protected breeding ground for rats. The rats could freely move around the city within the sewer system. This made it possible for the rats to enter the well-cared for homes of the French through the sewage pipes.
•  A bubonic plague swept through the area in 1903.

THE RAT HUNT:

•  The French Hanoi, i.e., the new city of Hanoi, was faced with a serious problem of fast-multiplying rats. The sewerage system of Hanoi provided both a safe breeding ground and a secure transport system. Hanoi was consistently living under the threat of the outbreak of plague. Plague did outbreak in 1903.
•  To check the invasion by rats, the government started the ‘rat hunt’ in 1902.
•  As a part of the rat hunt, the French hired Vietnamese workers and paid them for each rat they caught. The rat hung began on an enthusiastic note; rats began to be caught in thousands.
•  But, soon, the system of bounty payment turned counter-productive. New ways were found to cheat the authorities. It was in the interest of the poor people to breed more rats. It was also in their mutual interest to help each other rather than the government. The campaign was a total failure as far as its stated objective of eliminating rats was concerned.
•  But, from the nationalist point of view two positive aspects of the campaign were as follows:

(a) It demonstrated to the poor their collective strength; even the mighty French government could be brought down to its knees.

(b) It enlightened a feeling of patriotism and nationalism among different sections of the society. This in turn provided a solid foundation for the freedom movement.