Land, Agriculture and Vollages in Early modern Vietnam

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This project aimed at an interdiciplinary research to reconstruct history of a particular village in the Red River Delta from the early modern era to the present time. After a general survey of the delta in 1993, Bach Coc village (Nam Ha province) was selected because there remain a considerable quantity of documents from early modern (land registers, family genealogies・・・) and French colonial period up until now. The first two research programs were undertaken in 1994 (in July/August and in December).In July-August 1995, we made the last field research or three weeks. With more than 20 assistants and observers both from Japan and Vietnam, we pursued two major subjects : Team 1, conducted by Sakurai and Vu Minh Giang, examined topography and land division, hydrographic system and agricultural technology・・・ Team 2, including Momoki, Yao and Shimao, tried to interview some of co-operative leaders and all the 140 families of Hamlet B, one of the five hamlets in the village). We asked about the contract system, taxs and co-operative charges, production and consumption, income and housekeeping・・・Through these researches, we accomplished two things, outlines of which were introduced in our newsletters Thong tin Bach Coc (No. 1-4) : First, we have collected more than ten thousands pages of historical documents on Bach Coc and neighboring villages, besides other materials such as stone inscriptions, ancestoral tablets・・・ Second, many aspects of village society and agriculture in modern times were elucidated in detail. Concerning the village history itself, however, we still have some points to make clear : for example, the making and its role of major clans such as Bui Huy, whose importance we realized for the first time in 1994/1995. Therefore, we intend to continue "Historical study on the dong ho in the Red River Dalta" in 1996-1998 with a new grant-in-aid.