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The Literati Revival in Seventeenth-century Vietnam

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

K. W. Taylor
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Extract

Modern Vietnamese history is generally considered to begin with the seventeenth century. The final destruction of the Cham kingdom and the concurrent territorial expansion presided over by the Nguyễn lords of Hue increased the visibility of the Vietnamese people along the South China Sea and attracted the attention of refugees, merchants, and missionaries from China, Japan, and Europe. These foreign contacts were symptomatic of basic changes occurring in Vietnam; they were not the cause. From the decline of the Lê dynasty early in the sixteenth century, political life was dominated by militarized family alliances. By the second quarter of the seventeenth century, the two most successful families in the competition for power were locked in a grim testing of wills. Mutually aggressive policies remained inconclusive after half a century of warfare, however, and were eventually abandoned by both parties. This resulted from the rise of new interests tied to the internal social, political, and economic conditions of Vietnam. The rise of these new interests was the most significant development in the seventeenth century.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , March 1987 , pp. 1 - 23
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1987

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References

1 Cadière, L., “Le Mur de Đồng-hới”, Bulletin de L'École Franc ise d'Extrême-Orient 6 (1906): 164Google Scholar.

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24 TT, 9:17b.

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26 TT, 9:13a. Lê Triều Chiếu Linh Thiền Chính, trans. Giac, Nguyễn Sī (Saigon, 1961; hereafter LTC), pp. 69–73, 163–65, 347–49, 387Google Scholar.

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31 Vū Phng, Ðề, vol. 1, p. 1ff.

32 Ibid., vol. 1, p. 2.

33 The Vū family traced its ancestry back to Fu-chien during the T'ang dynasty. When two members of the family were named to an embassy to China in 1673, they made a point of attempting to visit their ancestral home. Vū Phng Ðề, vol. 1. pp. 1–2.

34 Ibid., vol. 3, pp. 34–41.

35 Cadière, p. 147.

36 TT, 9:20a—b.

37 Apparently of nearly equal age, Lịch and Tạc had, in 1632, been promoted to thiếu-úy at the same time. In 1642, both had reached the rank of thái-bão; although the official history gives Tạc at this time the additional title phó-đô-t ng, this may be a reflection of Tạc's later ascendance over his elder brother. TT, 9:17b, 20a–b.

38 In 1631, Tạc was given a command in Bố-chính and Nghệ-an; at that time his chief advisor was, like Trứ, a graduate of 1628: Giang Vān Minh of Phúc-lộc District in So-tây. TT, 9:17a.

39 Cadière, p. 150.

40 TT, 9:21a. Langlet, “Traduction”, p. 118.

41 TT, 9:21a. Tạc appears to have been a more active soldier than his elder brother; this may partially account for Tạc's success in displacing him.

42 W. J. M. Buch, “La Compagnie des Indes Neerlandaises et l'Indochine”, Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient 37 (1937): 122.

43 TT, 9:21a–b.

44 LTC, pp. 167–69.

45 LTC, pp. 389–95.

46 Cadière, p. 160.

47 LTC, pp. 11–13, 79–83, 175, 349, 397–99.

48 Buch, p. 129.

49 Ibid., pp. 126–27. Chappoulie, p. 201.

50 Buch, p. 132.

51 Ibid., p. 137. TT, 9:24a.

52 TT, 9:24a–b.

53 Buch, pp. 132, 138.

54 LTC, p. 399.

55 LTC, pp. 169–75.

56 TT, 9:24b–25a. The edicts of 1653–54 are especially detailed about regulating the activities of bureaucrats and establishing civil suit proceedings; LTC, pp. 13–15, 179, 401–407.

57 Buch, p. 140.

58 Chappoulie, p. 203.

59 Buch, p. 142.

60 The regularly scheduled examination for 1649 was not held until the following year, perhaps as a result of difficulties in the wake of the military disaster of 1648.

61 Lê Sī Triệt was a graduate of 1640 from Nông-cống District; Phan Kiêm Toàn was a graduate of 1643 from Thụy-nguyên District. Langlet, “Traduction”, pp. 117–18.

62 Departments (Khoa) were administrative offices corresponding to the Ministries (Bô) whose work they supervised; although subordinate to the Censorate, they were able to report directly to the lord. Langlet, “La Tradition”, pp. 29–30.

63 TT, 9:25a.

64 Trịnh Thì Tế was a graduate of 1650 from Lôi-dng District. Langlet, “Traduction”, p. 127.

65 LTC, p. 351.

66 TT, 9:25b.

67 Cadière, p. 184.

68 Ibid., p. 189.

69 TT, 9:28b–29a.

70 LTC, pp. 85–109.

71 LTC, pp. 109–111, 123, 127.

72 LTC, pp. 111–13, 119–21.

73 LTC, pp. 477–79.

74 LTC, pp. 409–427.

75 LTC, pp. 179–95.

76 LTC, pp. 197–99.

77 LTC, pp. 15–19.

78 LTC, pp. 109, 115–19, 125.

79 LTC, pp. 17–19, 125, 409, 421–23.

80 LTC, p. 19.

81 LTC, pp. 199–269.

82 The people in question are categorized as “stubborn”; LTC, pp. 121–23.

83 LTC, p. 271. Rhodes (p. 54) mentioned the importance of cockfighting in village life during the seventeenth century.

84 LTC, p. 429.

85 TT, 9:31b–32a.

86 Nguyễn Tông Phong was a graduate of 1650 from Hng-sn District; Nguyễn Nǎng Thiệu was a graduate of 1643 from a Hanoi suburb (perhaps of a military family stationed in the capital); Trần Ðǎng Tuyn was a graduate of 1644 from Yên-dūng District; Vū Vinh Tiến was a graduate of 1640 from Ðnghào District. Langlet, “Traduction”, pp. 117, 118, 127.

87 These men regularly accompanied Cǎn's generals into battle. TT, 9:32a–35b passim.

88 Deloustal, R., “Resources Financières et Economiques de l'Etat dans l'Ancien Annam” (traduction annotée des Livres xxix-xxxii de Lịch Chiếu Hiền Ch ng Loại Chí), Révue Indochinoise (1924): 396Google Scholar.

89 Cao Huy Giu and Ðào Duy Anh, vol. 1, pp. 13–16.

90 Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 9–12.

91 Tạc handed control of the government to Cǎn in 1674.

92 TT, 9:35a–b.

93 Cadière, pp. 213–14.

94 The C nh-trị legislative record is essentially the same as the legislative record of the Vịnh-thọ years described above, only there is more of it and it is more detailed. An indication of what lies in store for the student of this record can be gained from the fact that of the edicts collected in LTC for the years 1619–1705 thirty-seven and one half per cent were promulgated during the nine years of the C nh-trị reign period; if analyzed in terms of number of pages the percentage is much higher, for many of the C nh-trị edicts are relatively lengthy.

95 TT, 9:36a.

96 TT, 9:36a, 10:2b.

97 Chappoulie, p. 211.

98 TT, 10:1b–2b. LTC, pp. 279–99.

99 The old system was retained in Thanh-hóa and Nghệ-an; the greater autonomy of these two provinces was due to their importance as military recruitment grounds.

100 Deloustal, p. 217, n. 1. Khâm Ðịnh Việt S Thông Giám C ng Mục XVI, trans. Bǎng, Hoa et al. (Hanoi, 1957; hereafter CM), p. 26Google Scholar.

101 TT, 10:13b–4a. LTC, pp. 135–37.

102 The peasant rebellions of the eighteenth century may well reflect the long-range impact of this trend; Nhā, Nguyễn Thanh, Tableau Economique du Vietnam aux 17et 18e Siècles (Paris, 1970), pp. 65–68Google Scholar.

103 TT, 10:5b–6a.

104 TT, 10:6b–7a.

105 TT, 10:6b–7a. LTC, p. 25.

106 TT, 10:7b–8a. CM, p. 18.

107 TT, 10:8b. LTC, p. 27.

108 TT, 10:7b–8a.

109 LTC, p. 309.

110 LTC, pp. 29–30.

111 LTC, pp. 441–45.

112 Vū Phng Ðề, vol. 1. pp. 136–38.

113 Thiệu was honoured as a “poor but honest official who had made great contributions in the Southern War”; TT, 10:11b–12a.

114 TT, 10:11b–12a.

115 TT, 10:12b–13a.

116 When Hanoi's wealthiest Japanese merchant died in 1667, Tạc confiscated all of his property to help finance the Cao-bằng campaign. Buch, p. 165.

117 TT, 10:15b–16a. In the same year. King Lê Huyền-tông died and the eleven-year-old Gia-tông ascended the throne with the reign title D ng-đúc (Ocean of Virtue). TT, 10:16a—b.

118 TT, 10:16a. Langlet, “Traduction”, pp. 92–93.

119 TT, 10:18a–19b. Cadière, pp. 214–30.

120 TT, 10:19b.

121 TT, 10:19b.

122 Hiệu was a graduate of 1643, Ðạo of 1640.

123 The official history called him “a deep and serious thinker of great erudition who did great work in the Southern Expedition; a great strategist”; TT, 10:20a—b.

124 TT, 10:20a–b. Langlet, “Traduction”, p. 134.

125 TT, 10:20b–21b. LTC, pp. 35–53.

126 CM, pp. 31–32. Langlet, “Traduction”, pp. 163–65.

127 Baron, pp. 26–27.

128 TT, 10:21b–22b.

129 LTC, p. 53.

130 TT, 10:23b.

131 TT, 10:23b–24a. LTC. pp. 53–57.

132 TT, 10:24b.