"As for their character, it is that of a people whom slavery, ignorance, and sloth have rendered poor, timid, and apathetic. Yet they are capable of being raised to a higher moral and intellectual standard..... But, as a rule, the Annamites are insensible to the arts. Their shrill monotonous music is terrible to a cultured ear; and it may be doublted whether ours is agreeable to them. Of sculpture they know only the rudiments; thier poetry is indifferent; they cannot dance. Thier literary research is confined to an acquaintance with a few Chinese characters; and their scientific acquirements are a blank." Dr Morice, 1872, from "The French in IndoChina", Garnier, 1894