Jean-Bédel Bokassa’s rise from soldier to sovereign is one the strangest tales of the 20th century. Stranger still are the connections between the African emperor and far-flung Vietnam.

Just the Basics

• In the service of France, Jean-Bédel Bokassa fights in Vietnam, eventually marrying and fathering a daughter with a local Vietnamese woman
• Back in Africa, Bokassa leads a coup, names himself emperor and begins a search for his Vietnamese family
• His Vietnamese daughter (twice) joins Bokassa’s giant family, yet this fairy tale does not have a happy ending