KING MINH MANG’S SENTIMENTS EXPRESSED THROUGH HIS ROYAL POEMS MADE AS HE SHARED A THOUGHT FOR HIS PEOPLE

Abstract

As the head of the country, King Minh Mang was well aware that his people must be reassured and considered as the roots of the country as well as a resource for the reinforcement of the country. Therefore, he issued many reform policies to develop the country such as physiocracy, care for the people, tax reduction, famine relief, dyke maintenance supervision, land reclaimation, river dredging,… These policies were not only recorded in history but also in the King’s own poems, of which many expressed his inmost feeings with a thought he shared for his people when it came to crop failures, natural disasters like floods, storms or when he witnessed his people suffering from homelessness and starvation. Faced with these problems, the King himself prayed for rain or sun, for God’s blessing which could bring his people bumper harvests and drive away starvation as well as poverty. Besides, whenever his people enjoyed a bumper crop, he also composed poems to record his emotions and to share the joy of his people.