Attitude towards sea of residents in Kim Son District, Ninh Binh Province = Ứng xử với biển của cư dân huyện Kim Sơn, tỉnh Ninh Bình

Towards the sea, from ancient times, the Vietnamese often behave in two ways: Firstly, dyking and sea encroaching for agricultural production; secondly, understanding the sea to make liv

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES

BUI CAM PHUONG

ATTITUDE TOWARDS SEA OF RESIDENTS

IN KIM SON DISTRICT, NINH BINH PROVINCE

MASTER THESIS

MAJOR: VIETNAMESE STUDIES

HANOI, 2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES

BUI CAM PHUONG

ATTITUDE TOWARDS SEA OF RESIDENTS

IN KIM SON DISTRICT, NINH BINH PROVINCE

Master thesis, major: Vietnamese studies

Code: 60 22 01 13

Supervisor: Prof.Dr Pham Duc Duong

Hanoi, 2013

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis is the result of training process in Institute of Vietnamese

studies and Development sciences as well as my process of surveying and

researching last time

First of all, my profound thanks are due to Prof.Dr Pham Duc Duong

who guided me and spent valuable time to explain and make orientation for

my research The thesis is successful thanks to his important help

Secondly, I would like to give my sincere thanks to the teachers

presenting lectures at the sixth class of master’s degree as well to the teachers

in Management Board of the Institute and Training Department providing me

the best conditions in studying progress to complete this thesis

Finally, I would like to give my thanks to my family, friends

encouraging me to study and research

Sincerely!

Ha Noi, 01 November 2013

Student

DECLARATION

I certify that no part of this thesis is copied or reproduced by me from

any other people’s work without acknowledgement and that the thesis is

originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor Prof.Dr

Pham Duc Duong

Ha Noi, 01 November 2013

Student

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1

INTRODUCTION 8

1 Rationale for the research 8

2 Setting of the scene 9

3 Research subject and scope 11

3.1 Research subject 11

3.2 Research scope 11

4 Methodology 11

5 Contribution of the thesis 11

6 Structure of the thesis 12

CONTENT 13

CHAPTER 1: GENERAL OVERVIEW OF KIM SON DISTRICT, NINH BINH PROVINCE 13

1.1 Natural conditions 13

1.2 Social, historical, economic and cultural elements of Kim Son District, Ninh Binh Province 18

1.2.1 History of formation of Kim Son District, Ninh Binh Province 18

1.2.2 Social, economic and cultural elements of Kim Son district 20 Sub-conclusion of Chapter 1 24

CHAPTER 2: HUMAN BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS THE SEA IN KIM

SON DISTRICT, NINH BINH PROVINCE 26

2.1 Definition of behaviour 26 2.2 Adaptation to the sea of habitants in Kim Son District, Ninh Binh

province 28 2.2.1 Process of establishment of production and living materials of

habitants in Kim Son District, Ninh Binh province 28 2.2.1.1 The process of constructing sea dykes and encroaching on the

sea 30 2.2.1.2 The occupations of Kim Son, Ninh Binh in relation to sea 63 2.2.2 Organization of social and cultural of Kim Son inhabitants in Ninh

Binh province 75 2.2.2.1 Social organization - the traditional culture of Kim Son

inhabitants in Ninh Binh province 76 2.2.2.2 Current social organization 92 Sub-conclusion of Chapter 2 94

CHAPTER 3: THE VALUE AND REAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE

BEHAVIOR TOWARDS THE SEA 97

3.1 The value and significance of constructing sea dykes and encroaching

on the sea 97 3.2 The value and significance of sidelines and trade villages 101

3.3 Value and significance of organizing ways of social and cultural life

103

Sub-conclusion of Chapter 3 106

CONCLUSION 107

REFERENCES 110

APPENDIX 115

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the research

Vietnam is a country which has 330.991km2 of land and 3260km of coastline There are about 20 million people who make livelihood closely to the sea from long time ago Thus, the sea takes an important role in economic, political and cultural life in Vietnam

Towards the sea, from ancient times, the Vietnamese often behave in two ways: Firstly, dyking and sea encroaching for agricultural production; secondly, understanding the sea to make livelihood in connection with fishing… Both these kinds of behaviours are covered in our research on human behaviour towards the sea in Kim Son District, Ninh Binh province The establishment of Kim Son district, Ninh Binh province in Nguyen dynasty, during the reign of Minh Mang Emperor, adhered to Nguyen Cong

Tru, the Great Man of “doanh dien” - a kind of land which was used both for

civil and military purposes, is a proof of the first way of behaviour to improve

wild swamps or dry lands to fertile and productive places for growing wet rice and developing wealthy villages

Towards the sea, people understand enormous values of the sea, therefore, they do not only make use of the sea in two mentioned ways but also create specialities from sea food such as shrimps, crabs, fishes, clams, cockles… to serve themselves Those above –mentioned values are deeply attached to each other As a result of this, the research on the coastal area of Kim Son, in nature, is exploring behaviours of the people living there towards the sea in those two aspects

This research also aims to understanding the behaviour of resident community developed by encroaching the sea - a typical feature of this area For more than 2 centuries since the formation, Kim Son area has changed completely, the culture of local people like a cloth of which fabric - wet rice culture has dyed with sea culture To this point, the sea does not only bring living resources to the people but also play an important role to cultural, spiritual lives of local people (faiths, religions and beliefs)

2 Setting of the scene

In current years, there are many research on the sea, especially on sea culture and people who living close to the sea These works use many different scientific approaches, from natural sciences such as ecology, environmentology, pedology, climatology of coastal area to history, culturology and anthropology… However, it is very few research on the area

of Kim Son, Ninh Binh In order to make it clearer, from scientific perspective, we would like to review some research relating to this research’ topic which is about local people and sea culture in Kim Son, Ninh Binh

Amongst the works on Kim Son, first, the one focuses on the history of this area and the process of breaking the area In the book “The process of breaking fresh land to form Kim Son district” (Ky Suu 1829), the author Dao

To Uyen - Nguyen Canh Minh wrote about the process of breaking fresh land

to establish villages, participating forces, techniques and the results of this process in the area of Kim Son, and simultaneously helped us to understand more on the kind of breaking land to form “doanh dien” under Nguyen dynasty including the process of formation of Tien Hai District, Thai Binh

Province and two “tong” - a kind of territorial unit, Hoanh Thu, Ninh Nhat (

now is in Thai Binh Province)

Emphasizing that the Vietnamese people did not only make use of coastal location to trade, exchange culture but also expand their territory, break the fresh lands by encroaching the sea and make the coastal area into wet rice area, Prof Tran Quoc Vuong, in his article “Viet Nam and the Eastern Sea” (Folk culture magazine, No 3, 2000) stated that under Ly, Tran,

Le Dynasty, the encroachment on the Eastern Sea attracted much attention According to him, in 1226, Tran Dynasty, the elites were allowed to collect the poor who had little asset for encroachment Under Le Dynasty, the poor made Son Nam Dyke (Nam Dinh - Ninh Binh) to stop salty water and build new land Later, after replacing Le Dynasty, Mac Dynasty built the capital Duong Kinh (today, is Kien An, Hai Phong) next to the sea shore Under Nguyen Dynasty, in 19th century, the most noticeable encroachment activity was the one of Nguyen Cong Tru He directed people to build salty-water-preventing dykes to support wet rice growing, founded 2 districts Tien Hai (Thai Binh) and Kim Son (Ninh Binh)

In the book “Transformation and economic development in coastal area” of Le Cao Doan (National Politics Press, 1999), the author analyzed in depth the economic transformation in the coastal area of brackish water in Thai Binh province Besides, on the basis of environmental, geographic, natural analysis, the author mentioned the land breaking process of the Vietnamese, deeply analyzed two encroachments of Nguyen Cong Tru to establish Tien Hai district (1828) and Kim Son District (1829), as well as

5 Contribution of the thesis

The thesis provides scientific conclusions on the moving- towards -the sea process of the Vietnamese culture On that basis, the thesis contributes to understanding encroaching desire of the Vietnamese people in order to set the

6 Structure of the thesis

Apart from the Introduction, Conclusion, Reference documents and annex, the main content of the thesis includes 3 chapters:

Chapter 1: General overview of Kim Son, Ninh Binh

Chapter 2: Human behaviour towards the sea in Kim Son, Ninh Binh

Chapter 3: Values and practical meaning of the human behaviour towards the sea

CONTENT CHAPTER 1: GENERAL OVERVIEW OF KIM SON DISTRICT, NINH BINH PROVINCE

1.1 Natural conditions

Kim Son is a coastal district located at the farthest Southern point of Ninh Binh province Its center is Phat Diem town which is 27km far from Ninh Binh city on the Southeast way of national road No 10 Kim Son is situated between latitudes of 19026’40’’ – 20000’ North and longitudes of

10602’05’’ – 106005’20’’ East To the East, it is bordered by Day River, adjoining Nigh Hung district, Nam Dinh province; to the Southwest by Can river adjoining Nga Son district, Thanh Hoa province; to the North and the Northwest by Yen Khanh and Yen Mo district; and to the South next to the sea, coastline more than 20km long

Currently, Kim Son is a purely flat district, in general, its terrain is approximately level, the average height of the main land is at altitude from 0,9 to 1.2 m The terrain bevels gradually from the Northwest to the Southeast and there is a basin at the Northeast of the district Kim Son has a total area of 213,3 square km, including 2 towns namely Phat Diem, Binh Minh and 25 communes which are Hồi Ninh, Chất Bình, Yên Mật, Kim Đông, Lai Thành, Yên Lộc, Tân Thành, Lưu Phương, Thượng Kiệm, Kim Chính, Đồng Hướng, Quang Thiện, Như Hòa, Hùng Tiến, Ân Hòa, Kim Định, Chính Tâm, Định Hóa, Văn Hải, Kim Tân, Kim Mĩ, Cồn Thoi, Kim Hải, Xuân Thiện, Kim Trung Amongst them, there are 5 coastal communes :Cồn Thoi, Kim Trung, Kim Hải, Kim Đông, Kim Tân This area is in the place where alluvium is

deposited, therefore it is going to expand towards the sea, from 80m to 100 m annually The deposition is caused by 2 factors: river and sea, its trend is to the South (this trend is affected by Day and Can River which streams direct from the North to the South)

The climate has typical characteristics of the Northern part of Viet Nam, monsoon – tropical, hot, humid and rainy in summer when the dominant wind blows from the Southeast It is cold, dry in winter when the wind blows from the Northeast The annual average air temperature is about

230C, the average sunshine hours are about 1100 hours The annual solar radiation is 120,000 Kcal/cm2 on average Average humidity is 80% -85% The rainfall per year is about 1658 mm It is rainy mainly in summer (more than 85%), esp in August and September In winter, the rainfall is only about

150 to 400 mm

Table 1.1: Some typical characteristics of Kim Son’s climate

No Climatic characteristics Unit Amount

1 Wind velocity On average m/s 3,8

2

Rainfall

The highest Mm 1658 Great amount mm/month 347/August –

395/September Small amount mm/month 208/March –

Kim Son with 20,5 km coastline, is the only coastal district of Ninh Binh province Originally, soil of the area formed by depositing alluvium of Day river (30%) and Hong River (200 years ago Day mouth was the main

mouth of Hong river) on the shallow seabed, pH on average is 5,0 – 6,0 In the coastal area, average salinity reaches 0,15 – 0,25, the level of salinity drops gradually from Binh Minh Dyke 1 to Binh Minh Dyke 3 whereas pH tend to increase Salt degree and pH of the soil obviously change seasonally Based on origin, soil in the coastal area is divided into groups as following:

- Salty soil on which Rhizophoraceae and Mangrove grow

- Very salty soil

- Normal salty soil

- Less salty soil

Table 1.2: Summary of classification of the coastal area’s soil

Unit: ha, %

1 Salty soil on which

Rhizophoraceae and Mangrove grow

1409 41,67

2 Less salty soil 238,87 8,39

3 Normal salty soil 796,77 23,56

4 Very salty soil 829,36 26,38

(Source: the People’s Committee of Kim Son District, 2000)

Most of soil in the area is salty because it has recently deposited and it needs improving; therefore, it is suitable for planting protection forest (Rhizophoraceae), growing cyperus, raising rice for one growing season rice and raising sea products

Kim Son has 3 chief rivers which are Day, Can and Vac Rivers An River joins Day and Can river Moreover, there is a system of small rivers and canals connecting villages, which also joins Day River These rivers importantly contribute to water control for serving production, as well as major waterways of the area for transportation

Kim Son has diverse and various kinds of plant and animal resources Apart from growing plants such as rice, corn, beans, fruits…, breeding animals like ducks, sweet -water fish, cows, pigs, chickens…, there are many types of typical plants in salty wetlands and 500 kinds of water plants and animals which has high economic value like shrimps, crabs, fishes, oysters, cockles, Gracilaria… Kim Son salty mangrove forest has been planted by the Government of Viet Nam and the Government of Japan and the Management Board of Ninh Binh protection forests since 1995 with 2 kinds of plants: Rhizophoraceae and Mangrove Thanks to the important role in natural preservation and biological diversity, this area has been recognized as a world biosphere reserves in Hong River Delta by UNESCO Main types of trees in Kim Son are Kandelia obovata, Sonneratia caseolaris, Rhizophoraceae, Phragmites australis and Sonneratia alba j.e smith The total forest area is nearly 1300 ha, mainly in coastal alluvial plains Kim Son plain has been assessed as important wetlands in the Northern flat area of Vietnam and has been suggested to be Ramsar zone by Birdlife organisation due to satisfaction

of criteria: consolidating many kinds of rather pristine wetland which are exemplary of the Northern river mouth and coastal area, being a center of water birds which has closely 28000 units Amongst them, there are many kinds in the world red book such as spoonbills, gulls, Calidris pygmeus,

Egretta garzetta … These forests are compared to green walls to protect sea dykes and villages from winds, storms, raising sea level and possible tsunami disasters [28]

1.2 Social, historical, economic and cultural elements of Kim Son

District, Ninh Binh Province

1.2.1 History of formation of Kim Son District, Ninh Binh Province

Civilization of the Vietnamese people is an agricultural civilization adhered to wet rice which developed and achieved high level early Improvements in agriculture demand the first condition as farming land, thus

it is necessary to break the fresh land to make farming land Land breaking is the first step to set the foundation for agricultural development In turn, developed agriculture promotes land breaking continuously to spread the growing land area The mutual relationship between land breaking and intensive farming is the indispensable development law of agriculture of Vietnam Understanding this, for generations, our ancestors had worked hard

by diverse ways like breaking land, founding villages of farmers or building big gardens or farms of land lords or mandarins; that labour continuously expanded farms and villages, as well as enhanced human living standard

“Doanh dien” is a kind of land breaking suggested and implemented by Nguyen Cong Tru – as Nguyen dynasty’s central government official named

“Doanh dien su” Nguyen Cong Tru is a talented man in many fields: he is a gifted general who won a great number battles in both the Northern and the Southern areas of the country, he is also an outstanding poet and a successful

As a result of this, Kim Son was established in 1829 (Ky Suu) by Doanh dien su Nguyen Cong Tru On the first days of land breaking, there were only 1260 men coming from Giao Thủy, Yên Mô, Yên Khánh districts, with simple tools, mainly based on human power, people of Kim Sơn had made an incredible achievement After one year, Kim Son transformed from a wild and large alluvial plain to a wealthy village area, at the end of 1829, Kim Son district was formed, it included 7 “tong”- smaller units, 1260 men, 14

600 “mau” of land and 60 “lý, ấp, trại, giáp”- small communes

In 1829, Kim Sơn had only 1260 men, but in 2006, Kim Sơn population was 172.339 people The population increases and the area expand fast In the period of 184 years Kim Sơn’s people have encroached and conquered alluvial plains 8 times to make the area bigger and expand the farming land 4 times The encroached dykes contain: An River Dyke in 1830,

in 1899, 50 Dyke, built in 1927, Hoành Trực Dyke, built in 1933 – 1934, Văn Hải Dyke, built in1945, Cồn Thoi Dyke, and recently Bình Minh 1 Dyke, 10

km long, built immediately after the independent day of Ninh Bình province

in 1954, Bình Minh 2 dyke the principal dyke of the province, stretched

in building socialism to make the area of “golden land” become more prosperous

1.2.2 Social, economic and cultural elements of Kim Son district

Organization of the society

Like other villages of the Northern flat land of the country, Kim Sơn’s society is organized in the common traditional ways of Viet Nam However, because the area’s natural condition has many rivers and streams, arrangement of the villages is different with other places In this area, villages are arranged in the manner of “road first, then river” (“trên đường dưới sông”), i.e houses are set next to roads and roads adjoin river or canal This kind of arrangement is still used today in new coastal villages

In Kim Sơn, although non-Christians and Christians are united and consolidated to build their villages, the villages of non- Christians and of Christians are usually separate, they are seldom live together in one village

In the past, houses of people mostly were “nhà bổi” (made of cyperus), roofed with “bổi” (a slang of “bỏ”-abandon) which is abandoned small cyperus being disqualified for weaving, the roof was 50cm thick, the thick walls was made of mud, so that in summer it could be cool and in winter it

could be warm Nowadays, “nha boi” almost are replaced by modern spacious and well- equipped building with brick- roofed of cement ceiling

Economic, social, cultural elements

Kim Son District was formed in 1829, 184 years ago, it is a rather large district and an economic and political hub of Ninh Binh province During these years, municipal government of Kim Son District has always been striving for promoting living standard of people by developing economy and taking care of people’s lives It is prescribed by this following table:

Table 1.3: Economic and social development indexes in 2012

4 Cereals productivity (including

107.668 107.500

High quality rice 53.000 55.000

5 Fish productivity Ton 16.911 20.300

6 Splitted cyperus productivity Ton 3.125 3.000

7 Production value/ 1ha farming land M.đồng 84 90

8 Proportion of planting in winter

10 Governmental budget revenue of

the area (including income from

auction of land –use rights)

M.đồng 107.228 68.870

Auction of land –use rights 55.000 10.000

11 Rate of poor households (based on

criteria issued in 2010)

% 13,03 10

12 The number of communes which

are recognized as modern rural

Concrete Type 1 and 2 canals % 31 33

14 National standard schools (to the

end of this year)

schools Kindergartens : the recognized/total 01;11/27 2;13;27

Primary schools: the

16 Index of health care

Birth rate decrease ‰ 0,27 0,25

The number of doctors/ 10 000

18 Building strong local government

Rate of strong local government % 81,48 >80

(Source: The People’s Committee of Kim Son District, 2012)

Considering economic and social development of the district, we realize that industries and construction takes the highest proportion in economy of the district at 39%; group of agriculture- forestry- fishery take the second place at 35% while service is the lowest, at 26% In agriculture, rice and cyperus still are major plants, rice area of 2 harvest seasons was 16.560

ha (2011), rice productivity was the highest one in Ninh Binh province in both Winter- Spring harvest season and Summer- Autumn season, the gross productivity in 2011 was 105.289 ton Cyperus area in two harvest seasons is 348.3 ha, splitted dry cyperus productivity is 3.125 ton annually, cyperus is the main commodity for traditional handicrafts in Kim Son In these years, sea economy has brought huge prospects, gross fish productivity in 2011 was

16991 ton

The social indexes also show that systems of electricity, roads, schools, institutions have developed step by step, satisfying daily needs of people In the field of education, there have been many schools meeting criteria of national schools in all levels

Kim Son district has 46% of Christians, 6% of Buddhists, total number

is 52% Kim Son is a district which has the highest number of Christians comparing to other districts in Viet Nam, at 60% of Christians in Ninh Binh [28]

Sub-conclusion of Chapter 1

1 Kim Son has diverse environments, religions and beliefs The history of Kim Son pointed out that it was an alluvial plain deposited recently Kim Son’s people are unique and impressive People of Kim Son have special characteristics such as hard-working, creative, energetic and willing to overcome difficulties, determined, daring, ready to sacrifice for community, consolidated and humane Kim Son is the place where people from many other positions including land lords, Confucian scholars, defeated warriors in farmer rise were concentrated, all aimed to break and broaden land for better life and production People in this area, even though they were of different origins and religions, but they built history, society and culture of this area together

2 184 years ago, under the direction and leadership of talented Doanh dien su Nguyen Cong Tru, Kim Sơn area was established by dyking and encroaching, people growing rice came to this area and strive for encroaching

to improve the farming land They turned wild swamps to villages and rice farms Today, under the direction of the Communist party and the Government, the people have 3 choices to behave the sea: firstly, traditional way of Nguyen Cong Tru, encroaching the sea for farming, secondly, encroaching the sea for fishery, i.e turning swamps to fish raising lakes,

thirdly, fishing on the sea All three ways, in general, are the way people affect the nature, in particular, exploit endless natural resources to serve their lives However, because the characteristics of the Vietnamese people seldom changes, therefore agriculture is still the main economy, forestry is just supplement economy

In the Great Dictionary of Vietnamese language edited by Nguyen Nhu

Y behaviour is defined as such:

Behaviour: having actions, attitudes, speech somehow in communication [34, p.1730]

In the speech on the occasion of “decade of culture” (1987 – 1997), former Director-General of the UN De Cuellar stated that: “Culture is the way

to live (behaviour) together” [Tran Thuy Anh, Traditional behaviour towards nature and society of the ancient Vietnamese people in the Northern delta presented in folk poems; p.16] Therefore, research on behaviour is also research on culture- lifestyle Behaviour is a system of interactive relationships, reactions conducted by living creatures (including human kinds)

to adapt the natural and social environment It is the subject matter of may sciences including Psychology, Sociology

Le Thi Bung understands that “Behaviour is reflection of people on affection of the others in a certain circumstance”

Author Le Thi Bung introduced a definition that: “Behavior is a human

reflection of other individual(s)’ affect on itself in specific circumstance It

shows not the human initiation of communication but initiation of selective and intentional reaction, expressing through attitude, behavior, gesture, language – depending on knowledge, experience and quality of each person in order to get the best result of communication” [4, p.12] According to this definition, objects of behavioral psychology are psychologic knowledge necessary for reflection of affect in a specific communication circumstance, selection of appropriate attitude, behavior, gesture, language in order to get the best result of communication between humans Accordingly, behavior does not happen in all communication

Cultural anthropology does not focus on particular behavioral acts, but reseach on affects of natural – social – cultural environment on human

behavior Leslie White wrote: “A salient feature of behavior – of human acts

- which is totally different from animals’ is human level when they live in a symbolic and conventional world Anthropologists call it culture Culture is all traditional dogmas … guiding behavior which are descended to individuals

of each society by that society through many different varied learnings [Tran

Thuy Anh, Traditional behavior toward nature and society of Viet people

habiting in the northern delta through folk verses and proverbs; p.17]

Through all afore interpretations of “Vietnamese lexicologists”, and all scholars, it may be interpreted in short as follows: behavior, after all, is an adaptation (humans search for all ways to adapt with surrounding environment) That surrounding environment in fact comprises:

- Nature

- Society

- Even itself (human)

Though, in this thesis, we focus only on one object which is nature In

this scope of nature, we only mention to the sea, (“the sea” herein is certainly

interpreted in the broadest sense), including the shores, bogs, etc in addition

to the sea (as we know, the part covered by salty water all the time) Those are contents we would like to draw your attention before discussing more detailed contents

As we all know, it may say that, in fact, there are many different behaviors But in conclusion, they may be classified in three following behaviors:

a To take existing advantages of nature and society to exploit

b To deal with (prevent) disadvantages of nature as well as society

c To combine both aforementioned behaviors: to exploit while preventing

2.2 Adaptation to the sea of habitants in Kim Son District, Ninh Binh province

2.2.1 Process of establishment of production and living materials of habitants in Kim Son District, Ninh Binh province

As discussed above, in principle, we have three main behaviors:

- First one: to exploit

- Second one: to prevent

- Third one: combination of the aforementioned two ones: to exploit while preventing

However, in this thesis we are not going to apply a mechanical statement in above order, but flexibly reasonably discussing depending on discussed objects

Referring to the sea normally imlies its inherent important values It is infinite seafoods granted by Mother Nature to mankind in general and to habitants of Kim Son District, Ninh Binh province particularly Since that infinite resources is mentioned, it must be mentioned to species of shrimp, crab, shell, snail, arca, mussel etc., in particular fishes with varied kinds: mackerel, rice-paddy eel, bass, goby etc Yet, such an infinite resource of seafoods is just secondary to Kim Son habitants, while argriculture including wet rice and sedge cultivation is still the most important This is an important point which must be noticed

Further studying on this subject, we may see that it is in conjunction with constitution of the land – the process of damming up and sea encroaching (in association with the name of Nguyen Cong Tru – the Vietnamese famous land exploitator of 20s of 19th century) In other word, in term of nature exploitation, in particular with respect to the sea (in the broadest sense), we would like to emphasize that: “damming up and sea

encroaching” by habitants of Kim Son, Ninh Binh is one of their behavior

toward the sea Kim Son habitants have turned a wild alluvial ground and bog into well-off villages As recorded in history, the said “damming up and sea encroaching” is associated with the name of land exploitator Nguyen Cong Tru His proposal was accepted by the State (at that time Nguyen dynasty), particularly he was appointed by dynasty to direct the breaking of this fresh ground Therefore, statement of “damming up and sea encroaching” directed

by Nguyen Cong Tru means statement of behavior of Kim Son, Ninh Binh habitants toward the sea

2.2.1.1 The process of constructing sea dykes and encroaching on the sea

1, History of fresh ground breaking

a, Social context of Vietnam in the 20s of 19 th century

At the beginning of 19th century, Vietnam feudalism was in crisis which causes significant changes in terms of economics, politics, society Agricultural economy was in deep and serious crisis

5th month of the year of Nham Tuat (1802), Nguyen Phuc Anh ascended the throne, naming his reigning year Gia Long, making the start of Nguyen dynasty For over dozens years of war, munities, corner of public farm by landlords, village bullies, regime of King-granted merit field1collapsed; in association with farm farrowing, dispersed farmers, agriculture was in serious stagnation That situation was not only remedied by the new dynasty, but also getting more and more serious in the first decades of 19thcentury, particularly in Tonkin and Thanh – Nghe region

According to land register of the forth year of Gia Long (1805) with respect to 215 communes under 10 districts of counties Son Tay, Upper Son Nam, we can see that rate of public fields was less than 13% of total fields and farms in 9 out of those 10 dictricts, public fields was less than 5% in 5 out

of those 10 districts, and 3 out of those 10 disctricts had no more public fields

1 Vietnamese: Quân cấp công điền

Rate of public fields out of totall fields and land

Rate of private fields

(Source: Bui Quy Lo (1987), Reclaiming work to establish Tien Hai district

1828, Historical science dissertation)

Also, the land register of the forth year of Gia Long (1805) with respect

to 151 villages under districts Nam Xang, Duy Tien (Ly Nhan Town2, Upper Son Nam county) and Vu Ban district (under Nghia Hung town), My Loc district (under Xuan Truong town) of Lower Son Nam county shows that: 3

2 Vietnamese: Phủ

out of 4 those districts had public fields less than 17%, in particular My Loc district had more public land, which accounted for 43%, due to large area of warp along the bank of Red River

Table 2.2: Rate of public and private fields and land out of total fields and land in each area (district) in Gia Long age

Unit: %

communes in research

Rate of public

fields

Rate of private

fields

1 Nam Xang (Ly Nhan

county)

25 10% 49%

2 Duy Tien (Ly Nhan county) 33 13% 67%

3 Vu Ban (Nghia Hung

“In our country, Lower Son Nam County has large area of public fields, land

and ground, other counties have not much public fields which provide enough for war supplies and perquisites, but for hamlets” Land possession by

officials and elders as follows: “Lu Trung, Tho Trach, Tien Dong, Tien Tu

wards are of public fields in our commune, lots of those fields are scattered everywhere Households mortgage and sell each hectare at the price of 300

or 500 francs to each other as private property as if those are reclaimed land” [33, p.19]

Kings of Nguyen dynasty such as Gia Long, Minh Menh, Tu Duc allowed mortgage of public land for the period of 3 years for the reason of

“public interest” Therefore, mass of public land in villages was mortgaged legally “for public interest” Taxes imposed on public fields are triple of those

on private ones, that encouraged cheating by switch of public fields into private ones for lower taxes Firstly, they transform public fields into “private fields for public interest3” of the villages then this kind of private fields would become property of rich village elders According to rules of King-granted merit field in Gia Long age officials and soldiers had priviledge Poor civilians had small portion of public fields which were in bad quality, they thus left their fields to migrate

Due to the aforesaid reasons, public field regime collapsed everywhere Such a collapse meant break of economic foundation of long feudal dynasties

as a sequence Main sourse of income of the State was public field rent and

3 Vietnamese: Tư dân công ích điền

taxation and poll tax, and also army levy4 and other fees and charges Since there were no more plenty of public fields, income from rent and taxation reduced significantly Additionally, lean years, starvation, wars caused loss of rent and tax collection That situation caused the failure to build a rich country and strong army

The passage of time from a decade to another parallels increase of population In the last years of Gia Long age, population concentrated and increased rapidly in the North, particularly in Ha – Nam – Ninh area In the beginning of Minh Menh age (1820 – 1821), total able-bodied young men5 of

11 northern counties were 186,299 individuals Of which, 5 urban counties, which were the northern delta, had 157,616 able-bodied young men, accounting for 84.690 people over population of those 11 counties In particular Nam Dinh county recorded 34,239 able-bodied young men, more than total able-bodied young men of 6 suburban counties (Cao Bang, Hung Hoa, Lang Son, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang, Quang Yen had totally 28,665 able-bodied young men) Highest density of population was in coastal delta of Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Thai Binh

Incease and high density of population in deltal provinces given narrowing of public fields and land in villages as discussed above caused pressing demand of farmers in northern coastal delta provinces such as Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, Ninh Binh to expanse reclaimable land for cultivation and living in first decades of 19th century

4 Vietnamese: Thuế trưng binh

5 Vietnamese: Nhân đinh

Majority of reclaiming crew which formed Kim Son district in 1829 was poor civilians from districts, wards and communes of Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh area They early joined and became main force (including initial, subsequent, new recruiter, self-joined etc.) in this reclaimation and sea encroaching

b, Farmer dispersal and movements

In the beginning of 19th century, poverty and dispersal of farmers were

very serious Dai Nam Thuc Luc Book recorded: “Ky Ty year – the 8 th year of Gia Long age (1809) Pham Van Dang submitted a memorial representing that: The North’s resources is a half of others’ only, people recently have been disordered and cannot settle down…, most of the poors live in exile that made dissatisfied people make insurgency” Nguyen dynasty chronical

records major dispersals happened all year long In the beginning of 19thcentury, exile and dispersal occurred in most of the counties from Nghe Tinh

to the north, moreover, exile repeated many times in each province Some dispersals eliminated hundreds of communes each From 1802 to 1808, dispersals eliminated 372 villages in the northern counties, 20 thousand people left Nghe An in dispersals Hai Duong county in 1827 particularly lost

108 villages, 12,700 hectare of fields were left fallow Those are circumstances where communes and villages permanently lost their population register due to dispersal, partial dispersal was popular but not recorded

Popular and serious situation where farmer left their villages for their living resulted into fallow fields

Fallow area (hectare)

Rate of fallow (%)

(Source: “Sĩ hoạn tu tri lục”)

Fallow fields and land accounted for more than 20% of actual area, that shows the serious decline of agricultural economy of the Northern coastal delta It also shows that the current public field regime failed to maintain the stability and encourage development of agricultural economy; farmers were

no longer interested in cultivation in few ration fields intentionally maintained

by feudal state to bind producers Therefore, reclaimation and land restoration was imperative demand for exploitive interests of the dynasties [7, p.32]

From the end of 18th century, reclaimation was on the table upon reclaimation proposal of Le Quy Don, Bui Si Tiem, Ngo Thoi Nhiem but not conducted by Le – Trinh dynasty In the beginning of 19th century, due to social situation as stated above, reclaimation proposal by Nguyen Cong Tru was implemented Farmer army movement repeated and developed in the

as the most severe feudal oppression Minh Menh King admitted in 1825 that

“nowadays the North is bad and Nam Dinh county is the worst” Lives of

labourers in this region thus were the most miserable Therefore, classes of poors in areas of Thai Binh, Nam Dinh heartily responsed and actively joined the rise up in arms by Phan Ba Vanh from 1821 to 1828 Many local documents explain quite clearly the reasons why farmers in these areas followed the leader Phan Ba Vanh The Dangs annal compiled by Dang Van Phai records with respect to 13th year of Bao Dai age in Quang Thien

commune that: “In the fact that the (Nguyen) dynasty is feeble, focuses on

exploiting people’s havings and construction of citadels, palaces all year long, neglects dykes and dyke-maintenance, fields and farms It is flooded all year long, people are poor and starving, villages are bare, corruption happens everywhere… A man named Phan Ba Vanh, who in the occation of famine in Canh Thin year (the beginning of 1821) gathers people to rise up in arms against the state, is followed by people, establishes a base in Tra Lu”

People in Nam Dinh and Thai Binh responsed the rise in many varied forms: supplying food; covering, helping insurgent soldiers; joining the army and fighting against Phan Ba Vanh’s flag

Rise up in arm founded by Phan Ba Vanh lasted until implementation

by Nguyen Cong Tru of reclaimation policy which formed Tien Hai, Kim Son districts This movement was the most typical among farmer movements in the first half of 19th century, because it implemented many policies and methods which met farmers’ imperative and letigimate aspirations in some certain; the rich’s fortune was taken to give to the poor; cruel village bullies were chastised; fields and land possessed by village elders and bullies who refused to follow the rebel soldiers or escaped away were dispossessed to distribute for rebel soldiers and local civilians; therefore the rise was followed and supported by the crowd In 1827, when the brains, particularly the leader

of the rise made mistakes in policies, strategy, also become victims of beauty trap springed by the court, the rise up in arms were cruelly repressed Hunting and arrestment of farmers defeated after fall of the Phan Ba Vanh’s rise up in arms made social situation in Nam Dinh, Thai Binh become darker and harder Dispersal and starvation heaped up

Phan Ba Vanh’s rise up in arms and its huge politic and social influences rang a bell and waked ruling class up to a wiser and more practical movement to protect their regime, absolutely extinguish farmer movements and rise up in arms which did not only comprise violent measures, but also other measures to deal with living demand of farmers for the purpose of harmonization and relief of class conflicts which had been severe before and after the rise up Such a social reform was reflected in reclaimation policy in the form of land exploitation proposed by Nguyen Cong Tru That policy was agreed and responsed by the farmers In fact a large amount of dispersed farmers, rebel soldiers defeated in Phan Ba Vanh’s rise actively joined the

reclaiming crew which formed Tien Hai district in 1828 and Kim Son district

in 1829

c, Nguyen Cong Tru and his reclaimation project

- Profile of Nguyen Cong Tru

Nguyen Cong Tru was born on 1st of 11th month of Mau Tuat year (i.e

19th December 1778), 38th year of Canh Hung age, in Dia Linh commune, Quynh Coi district, Thai Binh town, Lower Son Nam county; died on 14th of

11th month of Mau Ngo year (i.e 18th December 1858) His hometown was

Uy Vien commune, Nghi Xuan district, Ha Tinh province

Nguyen Cong Tru was born and grew up in a feudal family He was intelligent, hard working and good at poetry since his childhood As decesdant of officials of Le dynasty, he was early trained with feudal ideology He gave prominence to ruler – subject theory of traditional Confucianism and living opinion as:

“Since exist between heaven and earth Must gain glory for the country”

At the age of 25 years old in 1803, he submitted to King Gia Long a cahier namely “Ten books of Thai Binh” He graduated high school at the age

of 35 in 1813, and obtained his bachelor 6 years later at the age of 41 He started his late politic career in 1820 Firstly he held the position of a low-ranking mandarin of National Historiographer’s Office He was promoted to the editor of National Historiographer’s Office in the next year (1821) 2 years later (1823) he was appointed to the chief of Duong Hao district, Hai Duong He was back to the Hue capital for the position of officer of Ministry

of the Interiors, and then transferred to deputy headmaster of Royal college in

He was “Hình tào” of the North in 1826 with perquisite of third – ranked officials, in charge of “Hình tào” activities in the northern palace Phan Ba Vanh’s rebel soldiers rioted in many areas in the north in 1826, won many battles that caused a stir in the Hue court King Minh Menh assigned Nguyen Cong Tru to join the royal army to fight Phan Ba Vanh in Tra Lu (Giao Thuy, Nam Dinh) in 1827 He was promoted to the Left Honorable Minister of Justice with the power of “Hình tào” of the North remained and then Right Honorable Minister of Rites in the same year He was appointed to legislator to draft “Regulation on 100 official positions” (“Bách ti chức chế”) After winning the battle in Tra Lu on 17th February 1827, strong rise up in arms typical for farmer movement against Nguyen dynasty in the first half of

19th century was repressed The leader of the rise, Phan Ba Vanh, was arrested and committed suicide King Minh Menh handsomely rewarded generals and soldiers, Nguyen Cong Tru was granted golden plaque carved with four words “Lao năng khả tướng” (Good and hardworking general) and summoned

to Hue capital to hold the position of Left Honorable Minister of Justice then Acting Right First Assessor of Ministry of Justice and Land Exploitation Embassador to go to the north to implement policy of people recruitment and reclaimation in the areas of Thai Binh, Ninh Binh, Nam Dinh, which was