Picture 1_ from left: Như Phong in his youth and in 1990 taken in front of the famous painting "Vườn Xuân Trung Nam Bắc" by Nguyễn Gia Trí [source: private collections of ĐQA Thái & NT Giang]
NHƯ PHONG’S BIOGRAPHY
The actual birthdate of Như Phong Lê Văn Tiến cannot be ascertained positively but his identity card showed he was born on February 1st, 1923 in North Vietnam. Not many people know that his real name is Nguyễn Tân Tiến because on account of his revolutionary activities, he subsequently changed it to Lê Văn Tiến. Since 1945, Như Phong worked with the weekly Ngày Nay Bộ Mới in Hanoi. He later moved to the Information Office in North Vietnam/Thông Tin Bắc Việt to assume the job of an editor. In 1954, he emigrated to the South as a refugee and found a job with Việt Tấn Xã. In the following year, Như Phong left and went to work with the daily Tự Do during the two periods it was in circulation until it closed up shop in 1963. In addition, he also was a contributor to The China Quarterly, London (1964-1972). The articles he wrote on the intelligentsia of North Vietnam and the Phong trào Nhân văn Giai phẩm had earned him international renown. Professor Patrick J. Honey, Director of the Vietnamese Section at the BBC, was his constant associate and for several decades has translated Như Phong’s works into English. In the United States, where he lived in his later years, Như Phong also wrote for The Asian Wall Street Journal, Hong Kong (1994-1996).
From 1997 onward, Như Phong served as advisor to the editor of Radio Free Asia. After years of incarceration, Như Phong eventually resettled in the United States in 1994. He passed away on December 18, 2001 in Virginia at the age of 78.
