Ngô Đức Kế (1878–1929), courtesy name Tập Xuyên, was a prominent scholar-gentry Vietnamese anti-colonial intellectual in the early 20th century.

[1] However, Ngô was most influenced by the ideas from books of the Chinese reformists Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, particular in the advocacy of the modernisation of the education system.

[3] Since early days of the movement, Ngô had contact with Phan Bội Châu, the leading Vietnamese nationalist anti-colonial figure of the time, through their mutual friend Đặng Nguyên Cẩn [vi].

In 1908, the French protectorates of Annam launched a general crackdown on the scholar gentry anti-colonial movement, taking that opportunity, the native officials accused Ngô as a related figure, sentenced and sent him to Côn Sơn Prison, a jail specifically for detaining independence activists.

Ngô earned a reputation for standing outside his office, observantly watching the vehicles roll past, the students in European dress and the women in high heels.