browse tags
Authors

Charles Meyer

Portrait of Charles   Meyer

Charles Meyer (12 March 1923 – 2004) was a French historian, Orientalist, teacher and unofficial diplomat who lived in Cambodia from 1957 to 1970 (out of ​“25 years in Indochina”, according to his laconic autobiography), was at the time the PR adviser and close counselor to King (then Prince) Norodom Sihanouk and became an outstanding portraitist of the country’s people, culture and traditions. 

Charles Meyer started working in French Indochina in 1945 as a topographer with the Service géographique de l’Indochine (SGI), based in Dalat and later Saigon, traveling extensively in Vietnamese and Cambodian areas and developing an expertise on Jarai and Mnong minorities. An urbanist in Saigon from 1953 to 1955, he became a major publicist of the Sangkum Reastr Niyum era, contributing to several publications and directing the edition of the only major book published by the Sangkum, Cambodge (1962). He was particularly interested in the history of the Cambodian nationalist movement, as well as the Royal Ballet and the art form of court dance.

Meyer left Cambodia in the aftermath of General Lon Nol’s coup (encouraged if not sponsored by the CIA). After the publication of his ambitious and controversial essay, Derrière le sourire khmer (Plon, Paris, 1971) — often referred to by historian David Chandler -, he refrained himself to comment on Cambodia, adding to the enigma of his long involvement in Cambodian affairs. His personal diplomatic archive — kept in the INLIBRIS collection, Vienna, Austria — holds many documents on Cambodia-China relations in the 1960s and 1970s. 

Married to a Chinese citizen, he published several guidebooks on China. He also authored La vie quotidienne des Français en Indochine, 1860 – 1960 (repr. Hachette, Paris, 1996) and Histoire de la femme chinoise, 4000 ans de pouvoir (Paris, J.C. Lattès, Paris, 1986). 

Read a review of Behind Khmer Smiles by Laura Summers (Cornell University) [“Behind Khmer Smiles : Prospero’s Adventures in Cambodia”, Journal of Siam Society 61, 1973:310 – 325). In closing, the author remarked

Although it is rich in anecdotal data, occasionally eloquent in description and touching in its romance, the author’s colonial bias is all-pervasive and, as I have attempted to demonstrate, this has a decisive and alarming effect on the analysis and conclusions of his book. Though I have suggested some alternative ways of interpreting the post-independence period in Cambodia, this discussion should be regarded as a preliminary, interim analysis. It is probably too early to comprehend fully the meaning and the significance of the Sihanouk era in modern Cambodian history. In the final analysis, it is necessary to await the assessments of Cambodian scholars; if they, too, sense the in adequacies and biases of Meyer’s study, I would hope this discussion might provoke a long and informative dialogue.

 

A 1965 photograph of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Chinese leader Mao Zhedong, their spouses, with Chinese Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai at the far left. The author is standing on the top row, far left, the lady at his side being probably his wife. To date this is the only photographic document where Charles Meyer appears [from Charles Meyer personal archive, thanks to HE Julio Jeldres for helping identifying him].

A 1965 photograph of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Chinese leader Mao Zhedong, their spouses, with Chinese Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai at the far left. The author is standing on the top row, far left, the lady at his side being probably his wife. To date this is the only photographic document where Charles Meyer appears [from Charles Meyer personal archive, thanks to HE Julio Jeldres for helping identifying him].

Publications

  • [contributor to] Cambodge, Phnom Penh, Ministère de l’Information — Ministry of Information, 1962.
  • “Insurrections nationales du siècle dernier”, Etudes cambodgiennes 9, 10, 11, 12, 1967.
  • “Le corps de ballet royal”, in Philippe Beaussant ed., Musique et danse au Cambodge, Saint-Michel de Provence, Musique de tous les temps (Booklet with 1 vinyl LP), 1969: 2 – 17. [with photos by Raymond Cauchetier]
  • “Cambodian Dances”, Nokor Khmer, Apr-June 1970, n 3, Eng. translation by April Yockney, p. 2 – 27. [with photos by Raymond Cauchetier, Hans Hinz [1] & Luc Ionesco].
  • Derrière le sourire khmer [Behind the Khmer Smile], Paris, Plon, 1971.
  • A Pékin et en Chine, Paris, Hachette Guides-Bleus-Visa, 1980, 206 p.; repr. 1988.
  • Chine (Voir le monde), Paris, Hachette Réalités, 1981, 182 p. ISBN 9782010075872. | ENG ed. China Observed, Oxford University Press, 1981; repr. New York, Gallery, 1986; repr. Oxford University Press, 1987. ISBN 9780831712761.
  • [with Marcel Jullian] Histoire de France des commerçants, Paris, Robert Laffont, 1983. ISBN 13: 9782221008652.
  • La vie quotidienne des Français en Indochine 1860 – 1910, Paris, Hachette, 1985, 298 p. ISBN 9782010082238; repr. as Les Français en Indochine 1860 – 1914, Paris, Hachette, 1996. ISBN 9782012352506.
  • Histoire de la femme chinoise: 4000 ans de pouvoir, Paris, J.C. Lattès, 1986, ISBN 978270960528. | JP edition 中国女性の歴史, Tankobon, nd. ISBN 9784560028940.
  • A history of Germans in Australia, 1839 – 1945, Melbourne, Monash University, 1990, 189 p. ISBN 9780947186999.
  • En Chine, a Hong Kong et Macao, Paris, Hachette Guides-Visa, 1998. ISBN 9782010172861.
  • Histoire des Français en Chine — 1698 – 1939, Paris, Editions You Feng, 2009. ISBN 9782842794354.

[1] German photographer Hans Hinz was then in Cambodia to take photos for Madeleine Giteau​’s Khmer: Kunst Und Kultur Von Angkor (1969).