Vietnam: Paul Philastre, French colonial administrator (1837-1902)

Paul-Louis-Félix Philastre (born 7 February 1837 in Brussels, died 11 September 1902, Buyat-Beayeau, France) was a French colonial administrator, diplomat and scholar.

Philastre graduated from the French naval academy in 1857 and took service on the Avalanche, arriving in Cochinchina in 1861. In 1863, Philastre was appointed inspector of native affairs in a village in the Mekong river delta and two years later he obtained the position of director of native legal affairs. In 1868, he became ill and was forced to return to France.

In 1873, Philastre returned to the French colonial service in Indochina. Philastre played an important role in mediating between the French colonial authorities in Annam and the royal court in Huế. In 1874, Philastre negotiated the Second Treaty of Saigon with the Annamese court. He also served in Cambodia. He left Indochina in 1889.

Philastre authored a number of works on Chinese and Vietnamese studies, the most important of which are the first French translation of the Yijing and a complete translation of Emperor Gia Long's Code, which was based on the Qing Code.

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