The Thái Nguyên uprising  in 1917 has been described as  the "largest and most destructive" anti-colonial rebellion in French Indochina between the Pacification of Tonkin in the 1880s and the Nghe-Tinh Revolt of 1930-31. On 30 August 1917, an eclectic band of political prisoners, common criminals and insubordinate prison guards mutinied at the Thai Nguyen Penitentiary, the largest one in the region.  The rebels came from over thirty provinces and according to estimates, involved at some point roughly 300 civilians, 200 ex-prisoners and 130 prison guards. The initial success of the rebels was short-lived.  They managed to control the prison and the town's administrative buildings for six days, but were all expelled on the seventh day by French government reinforcements. According to French reports 107 were killed on the colonial side and fifty-six on the anti-colonial, including Quyen. French forces were not able to pacify the surrounding countryside until six months later. Can reportedly committed suicide in January 1918 to avoid capture. Both Quyen and Can have since been accorded legendary status as nationalist heroes.

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