Leading figure in the anti-colonial movement in early twentieth-century Vietnam. Born in a scholargentry family in Nghe An Province, Phan Boi Chau showed a quick mind as a youth and earned a second class degree (Pho bang) in the metropolitan examinations in 1990. He appeared destined to pursue a career in officialdom, but Chau's patriotic instincts led him in a different direction. In 1903 he formed a revolutionary organization called the Restoration Society (Duy Tan Hoi) under the titular leadership in Prince Cuong De, a member of the Nguyen ruling house. Two years later he established his headquarters in Japan, where he wrote patriotic tracts designed to stir anti-French sentiments among the general population and encourage young Vietnamese to flee abroad and join his exile organization.

In 1908, Phan Boi Chau was ordered to leave Japan, forcing him to turn to China, where Sun Yat-sen's Revolutionary Alliance was attempting to overthrow the tottering Ch'ing Dynasty. In 1912 he transformed the Modernization Society into a new organization, the Vietnamese Restoration Society (Viet Nam Quang Phuc Hoi), modeled after Sun Yan-sen's own republican party. The new organization had little more success than its predecessor, and several attempted uprisings in Vietnam failed. Phan Boi Chau himself was briefly imprisoned in China. On his release in 1917, he appeared temporarily discouraged at the prospects of victory, writing a pamphlet entitled "France-Vietnamese Harmony" (Phap Viet De Hue) which suggested the possibility of reconciliation with the colonial regime.

In 1925 French agents while passing through the International Settlement in Shanghai seized Phan Boi Chau. Brought under guard to Hanoi, he was tried and convicted of treason. He spent the remainder of his life in house arrest in Hue and died in 1940. Phan Boi Chau is one of the most respected patriots in modern Vietnam.