water in mainland southeast asia-bourdeaux-2005

8/14/2019 Water in Mainland Southeast Asia-Bourdeaux-2005

1/17


2/17

2

Introduction.

Le livre Vit-lun prtend que leau est lorigine du ciel et de laterre : cest elle qui les a constitus tous deux ; cest elle aussiqui est lorigine de tout lment ; delle ont t forms le

soleil et la lune, ainsi que les toiles .(Aubaret G.,Histoire et description de la Basse Cochinchine ,Traduction deGia nh Thnh Thng Ch de Tr nh Hoic,Paris, Imp. Impriale, 1863, p. 116).

Water, which is anessential element of the nature, precedes the appearance of all kinds of biological life. This is an evidence which is also applicable to the appearance of the main humanactivities in social, economical and cultural domains. From the interaction between nature and culture,the first places of community life - nomads or settled populations appeared. These places changedand some of them created glorious civilisations which preserved a consubstantial link with its water

sources, especially with rivers, and defined their identity. Among the rivers from South-East Asia, Ifocus my interest on its biggest one, the Mekong, to study how it created in its deltaic part, soessentially in Vietnam1, an original and dynamic agrarian society, as a multi-faceted culture due toregular contacts and exchanges during historical periods of war and peace.

The way we think about the Mekong delta (ng b ng sng C u Long ), from a Regional or a National perspective, can change its geographical, historical and cultural significance.

From a Regional perspective, the Low-Mekong plain is a crossroad where Siamese, Malay,Chinese, Khmer, Cham and Vietnamese people met each other. Some of these populations transited inthis area by coasting and following the rivers deep in the plain. Others settled temporality or definitively in hamlets and little seaports located in advantageous places (river and canal crossroads, places protected by floods, where there is alternation of the tide, soil with few alum) or under the political decisions of Vietnamese emperors who, from the 17th century, were looking for controlling

the space (military or penitentiary colonies, more flexible land management, digging canals).From a National perspective, this region became a Marge of the Cambodian space and a frontier for the Vietnamese people. In spite of a glorious but mysterious past during the Funanesekingdom, and although some cluster of Cambodian people were located in different parts of theregion, the delta really took off thanks to dynamic Vietnamese Pioneers who left one way or the other the provinces of actual Central Vietnam ( Ng Qung ) from the 17th century to clear woodlandsinfested by diseases and genies, to drain marshy plains, to settle hamlets, and lastly to build up adiversified economy and an hybrid society which moved away from the schema of the Vietnamesetradition. So they have created a pioneer culture, a riverine civilisation by adapting to ecology and by managing it, by emancipating themselves from socio-political constraints which came fromConfucianism and the Village organization, and on the contrary by integrating different exogenouscultural elements. From these two points of view, the Mekong delta, considered as a naturalenvironment and as social space isde facto defined differently.

To contribute to this general debate, I will base my speech on a monographic survey2 whichaims to write the history of a founding village ( Nam Thi S n, ex Sc S n) in the coastal province of R ch Ga (now Kin Giang) during the French colonial period (1920-1945). To go back to the rootsof the village of Nam Thi S n gives us the opportunity not only to study the causal relations between founding the village and digging the R ch Ga - H Tin canal in 1930 but also to understandhow the development of Nam Thi S n is nowadays directly linked to the public management of

1 According to the geographers, a big south delta is constituted by a flooding plain stretched over Cambodiaand Vietnam, from Kompong Cham to Bin Ha if we include theng Nai delta to the Mekong delta stricto

sensu (Koninck de, R., LAsie du Sud-Est , Paris, Masson, pp. 282-283).2 During three weekly surveys (may 2004-february 2005) in Nam Thi S n and villages around, I have collectedabout 30 interviews with L Vn Nam, researcher to the Academy of Social Sciences in HCh Minh city.


3/17

3

farming hydraulics3. In others words, this management depends on the efficiency of the struggleagainst flooding in the Long Xuyn quadrangle (T gac Long Xuyn ). By studying the founding of thevillage, we can analyse furthermore how waterways, as in the case of the Tri Tn canal and its junction with the R ch Ga - H Tin canal, is a structuring element for the local society and anessential vector of the development too.

The second interest of this study is that the village has been created by the settlement of NorthVietnamese migrants arrived there in 1942. In addition to the accounts given by southerner peasantswho came from different parts of Mekong delta, I have recorded the stories of families who came fromthe Red River plain ( sng H ng ). Thanks to these interviews, we can analyse the original aspects of this migrating movement, and above all detail the creation of the hydraulic rack, the adaptation of these migrants to a new agrarian society and, vice-versa, the contribution of these migrants to thematerial and spiritual southern Vietnamese culture.

I will just focus on three different points: at first, I will consider hydraulic farming as a vector of migration, then I will present the Tri Tn canal as a meeting and exchanging point between pioneerswho came from different regions. At Last, I will present different ways to define the Mekong delta as anatural and a social space.

Hydraulic farming, a migration vector 4.

First, lets remind the successive steps and reasons that motivated the hydraulic planning of the Mekong delta in order to understand how digging canal is a driving force behind agrariandevelopment, population expansion and assertiveness of local socio-cultural characters.

During the 18th and the 19th centuries, the delta plain suffered from lots of trouble. The eventsexplain how the development and the multi-ethnic composition of this region were oriented. Therivalry between the Siamese and Vietnamese courts led new military intrusions and fights in the regionas well as stired up dissensions within the Cambodian royal family. In view of their decline of authority on these margin regions, the Nguyn princes sustained at the same time the settlement of peasant pioneers and an alliance policy with exiled Chinese communities who took refuge in theng

Trong. Thus the Nguyn authorized one of them (Mc Cu or Mo Jiu) to settle in the Deep South, tocreate an autonomous principality around H Tin in order to control through this outpost the westernmarch5. The inner situation deteriorated again during the Ty S n revolt until Nguyn nh accededto the throne, found the new Nguyn dynasty and insure the countrys stability. It is paradoxicallyduring this civil war period that the most southern area integrated administratively and symbolicallythe Empire6.

From then on, the Hucourt engaged an ambitious project to transform the marshes parts of the Gia nh Thnh by promoting new colonization hamlets and citadels7, by digging a hydraulic

3 Government Decision n 99/TTg in 1998 (L Quc S, Nh ng kha c nh kinh t ca V n Minh Knh R ch Nam B, Nxb KHXH, H Ni, 1999, pp. 296-321).4

For more details, see: Study of a migratory confluence in the Mekong delta during the colonial period (1920-1945): First steps towards the History of ThS n and Sc S n villages (Hnt district, Kin Giang province (paper presented at the Second International Conference on Vietnamese Studies, HCh Minh City, July 14-162004, to be published).5 Boudet, P., La conqute de la Cochinchine par les Nguyn et le rle des migrs chinois , BEFEO XLII,1942, pp. 115-132 ; Li Tana : Nguyn Cochinchina, Southern Vietnam in the seventeenth and eighteens century ,SEAP, Cornell University, 1998 ; Sellers, N.,The Princes of H Tin (1682-1867) , Etudes Orientales n11,Thanh Long, Bruxelles, 1983. 6 Le Sud fut pour les Nguyn une base de reconqute du pouvoir face aux Ty S n dans le dernier quart duXVIIIe sicle (1771-1802). La victoire finale de Nguyn nh et son accession au trne en 1802 avait sacralislespace. (The South was for the Nguyn a base of power reconquest against the Ty S n during the lastquarter of the XIXth century (1771-1802). The Nguyn nhs final victory and his accession to the throne in1802 made the space sacred). (Thanh Tm Langlet, Situations de guerre et de paix dans le Sud du Vietnamactuel au XIX

mesicle , dans : Nguyn ThAnh et Alain Forest (d.),Guerre et Paix en Asie du Sud-Est ,lHarmattan, Paris, 1998, p. 262).

7 Kresser P., La commune annamite en Cochinchine, Domat Montchrestien, 1935.


4/17

4

network for commercial and above all strategic aims. The Thai H canal linking Long Xuyn to R chGi (1818) and the V nh Tcanal linking Chuc to H Tin (1824) allowed the control of thequadrangle of Long Xuyn, to install troops along thislinear frontier. But if these canals flank themarshes plain, they cant drain it, they cant penetrate it8, and they cant allow to expand an irrigateagriculture except on the hills ( ging ) and along riverbanks, arroyos (r ch, vm) and new canals9.

Sc S ns village is located inside the quadrangle, 15 km away from the gulf of Siam. At the beginning of the 19th, a few thousand inhabitants were settled the area. As rice was only cultivated inthe highlands, most activities were dependant from the sea (fishing, coastal shipping) and from theextraction of the forest natural products. In 1821, during his long peregrination in the Mekong delta,Tr nh Haic noticies as soon as he leaves the littoral the nomadic trend of local people10. Theinhabitants are a mixture of Chinese people who founded 7 coastal villages11, Cambodians who livedon the hillside and Vietnamese who settled after Siamese incursions and began to manage this militarymarch. But Hnt district12 is still a marshy zone covered withtrm trees and rushes and few hills(seven mountains or Th t S n, littoral hills between H Tin et Hnt). The acidity of the soil, theendemic diseases, the beliefs in genies, the lack of natural water r oads, explain why this region was asrepulsive the Junk Plain (ng thp m i) was at the same time13.

At the beginning of the French conquest, the clearance of the forest made little progress. In

R ch Gi, the population trebled in 30 years (from 35.000 to 90.000) exclusively inthe city port andthe villages around14. In 1921, the population census proves an exponential increase15. This growth islocated in the eastern part of the province because of the intensification of the hydraulic planning in

8 Lets mention how catholic missionnaries tried to enter in Cochinchina from Kampot and transit in the region : Jespre cependant lui faire passer la douane dans une barque charge de coton et si je ne puis le suivre de prs, jattendrai la saison du dbordement du fleuve en voyageant travers la fort (Lets hope I will be able tomake him cross the border in a boat heavy with cotton ; if I cant closely follow him, I will wait the overflowingriver season by travelling through the forest) [Lettre de Miche Albrand du 24 mars 1849 n45 (MEP, vol.755)].9 Nguyn Vn Hu, Thoi Ng c H u v nh ng cuc khai ph Mi n H u Giang , TpHCM, Nxb Tr , 1999 ; S n Nam , Lch s An Giang , Long Xuyn, Nxb An Giang, 1986 ; for a cambodian interpretation of the V nh t canals digging, see : Khinh Sok, Lannexion du Cambodge par les Vietnamiens au XIXme sicle daprs lesdeux pomes du vnrable Btum Baramey Pich , You Feng, Paris, 2002.10 Aubaret G.,Histoire et description de la Basse Cochinchine , Traduction deGia nh Thnh Thng Ch deTr nh Hoic, Paris, Imp. Impriale, 1863.11 S n Nam,Tm hi u t H u Giang , Ph Sa, Saigon, 1959, p. 36. 12 When theGia nh Thnh was divided in Six Provinces (Lc Tnh), Sc S n belonged to Kin Giang under- prefecture (huyn) in the H Tin province. Under the French colonial administration (division in 21 provinces),the village belonged to Chu Thnh district, Kin Ho canton (t ng) in the R ch Gi province. Nowadays, ScS n, renamed Nam Thi S n belongs to Hnt district (huyn), Kin Giang province. For more details onadministrative boundaries evolution, see: Langlet Ph., Quach Thanh Tm, Atlas historique des Six provinces duSud du Vietnam: du milieu du XIXe sicle au dbut du XXe sicle , Paris, Les Indes Savantes, 2001; NguynQuang n,Vit Nam, nh ng thay i a danh v a gi i cc n v hnh chnh 1945-19997 , H Ni, Nxb Vnha thng tin, 1997.13 Brbion A.,Croyances et superstitions cochinchinoises , Revue Indochinoise, Hanoi, 1916 ; L B Tho, al ng b ng sng C u Long , Nxb tng h p ng Thp, 1986 ; Biggs D., Problematic Progress : ReadingEnvironmental and Social Change in the Mekong Delta , JSEAS , 34(1), pp. 77-96, february 2003.14 According to Baurac, there were some rice fields in ThS n village at the foot of the Hnt hill ; it provesa little evolution from the Tr nh Haics inquiry. La Cochinchine et ses habitants (provinces de louest) ,Saigon, imprimerie commerciale Rey, Curiol et cie, 1894. 15 Monographie de la province de R ch Gi, Le moniteur dIndochine , n272-273, 1924.Recensement de la population de la province de R ch Ga en 1926 (ANVN-II, SL-313).Summary table of demographic growth in R ch Ga province:

Years Population Annamese non Cochinchinese1878 35.000 --1893 90.000 --1901 102.389 --1921 233.987 6111926 244.399 273 (195 men and 31 women, 47children).


5/17

5

Cn Th and Sc Tr ng provinces. Motivated by commercial reasons, the digging of the canals andthe clearing of the land speed up the appearance of an extensive monoculture system by recruiting poor peasants (t i n) on large rice domains16.In the canton of Kin Ho, the take-off is effective with the diggings prospecting of the R ch Gi - HTin canal in 1924. The project is approved in 1926 and the canal (composed by 4 deferens canal and4 drop pipes17) is inaugurated on the 15th September 1930. The real impulsion is given and the cantonreally begins to attract new settlements18.

Then, the methodical constitution of hydraulic racks in the quadrangle of Long Xuyn begins in 1934. The two delimited racks in Kin Hos canton present two specificities: firstly each of them covers the area of one village (ThS n and Sc S n are also qualified as colonization villagesor lng kh n hoang 19) ; secondly the rack covers a technical definition and at the same time a spacereserved for thepeasant migration experiment20 : the hydraulic rack is replaced by the Tonkineserack in Sc S n21 and by the rack reserve in ThS n.

16 Brocheux P., The Delta Mekong, Ecology, Economy and Revolution 1860-1960 , University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1995; For a presentation of the Cambodian situation, see: Penny Edwards,Cambodge: TheCultivation of a Nation 1860-1945 , PhD, Monash University, Melbourne, 1999, 431 p. Chapter I: MappingCambodge, Charting a Khmer Nation through Communication routes, Geography and Cartography (pp. 24-60).17 Gouvernement Gnral de lIndochine, Inspection gnrale des Travaux Publics, Dragages de Cochinchine,le canal de Rachgia Hatin , 1930.Technical data of the R ch Ga - H Tin canal:Canal Year Length

in kilometersDepthin meters

Width atmouth inmeters

Excavatedsoil inmillions m 3

R ch Ga - H Tin 1926-1930

49,725 (provincial part)81 (max. length)

3,5 to 3,8 26 7,2

Tri TnLinking the 7 mountainsand R ch Ga-H Tin

canals

Beginningof 1928


2,5 to 3,1 26 2,3

Ba Th Beginningof 1930


2,5 to 3,1 26 2,9

Ging Ring - Bn Nht 1930-1931

10,176 2,5 to 3,1 26

canal n1linking the R ch Ga - HTin and V nh Tcanals

1930-1931

8,000 2,5 to 3,1 267,2(both canals)

Coupure Vm R ng 1927 3,650 3,8 28Coupure Cy Me 1928 8,950 3,8 28Coupure Vm R y 1930 6,400 3,8 28Extend of Qun LCanhin

1929 5,365 3,8

2,7 (4 canals)

Nguyn Thy D ng, Kinh t H Tin R ch Ga th i Php thu c (1867-1939), Lun n ph tin s khoa hc lch

s, Vin khoa hc x hi ti Thnh phHCh Minh, 1997.18 Causal relations between farming hydraulic and migration can also be reversed : En Cochinchine, lesquestions dhydraulique agricole, sans avoir t compltement ngliges, sont loin davoir atteint la mmeimportance quau Tonkin Cest seulement depuis quelques annes quen prsence de la lente augmentation dela population, on a song la possibilit de cultiver les tendues plates de la plaine des joncs et des autres terresde louest cochinchinois (In Cochinchina, hydraulic farming questions have not been completely neglected butthey dont reach yet the same importance as in Tonkin It is only since few years, with the slow progress of population that we began thinking about the interest of cultivating the large areas of the Junk Plain and others inWestern Cochinchina); Delahaye, V., La plaine des Joncs et sa mise en valeur , Rennes, Imp. Ouest clair, 1928. 19 Hunh La, Lch s khai ph vng t Nam B, NxbTpHCM, 1987, p. 179.20 In order to prevent new failures, from 1930, the tonkinese migration in Cochinchina was defined by two principles: the peasant colonization aimed for each migrant becomes owner of his plot; themassive colonization guaranteed adaptation of these families in a new natural and social environment. Therefore, the migrants had to be clearers, peasants and above all hamlets founders (di dn l p p).21 RST, Inspection du travail, procs verbal du 14 octobre 1935 de la Commission dtude du problme delimmigration tonkinoise en Cochinchine (ANVN-I, RST 76109).


6/17

6

But the French colonial authorities have to consider the spontaneous and individual migratorytrends from Cochinchinese peasants who decide to leave the eastern provinces to dig canal, build roadsand settle following the dredges on the new free lands of Transbassac (coolies clearing old marshesin the dry season, lumberjacks and coalmen exploiting tram forest, fishermen and peasants settling onriver and canal blanks)22. During the 1920s, the highest demographic growth in all Cochinchina is inthe R ch Ga province just af ter the Bc Liu one23. This trend, particularly visible between 1926 and1929 is confirmed afterwards24.

Thus the province administration is in need to set up this population, to regularize clearing freelands or, on the contrary, to prevent illegal occupation along Tri Tn and Ba Th canals25. To find asolution to this prickly problem26, just the Sc S n rack is maintained to cater exclusively for northerner families because it is less cleared and squatted. As a result the right bank of Tri Tn canal isequipped (planning secondary canal digging, dividing up land, establish an administrative centre). Atthe end of 1942, 750 families (around 3000 people of half of them were children) left the two provinces of Namnh et de Thi Bnh27. They travelled to Saigon by train and then they continuedtheir journey by junk along the Mekong River and other canals to Sc S n. As the writer Nguyn HinL who also left the Tonkin in 1935 (S n Ty) to work in Long Xuyn as hydraulic technician, thesefamilies were surely impressed by the tangle of rivers, canals, r ch and bridges28. Once arrived at

destination, each family lived in a temporary dwelling built in each plot, and perceived first necessitygoods and tools to finish to dig secondary canals (knh, m ng) and to clear the land.This new settlement area, the canton of Kin Ho, grows up under the joint effect of hydraulic

management and regulation of a migratory confluence concerning Vietnamese peasants coming fromthe two Vietnams deltas (Mekong, Red River).

22 When he launched the R ch Gi - H Tin canal (September the 15th 1930), the Governor of Cochinchinadeclared: Le canal Rachgia - Hatien a offert le spectacle impressionnant de cette rue vers la terre. Jai moi-mme, lan dernier, contempl, sur la limite mme de la zone de travail, les nombreuses barques indignescharges de familles annamites, de leurs animaux domestiques et de leur modeste bagage, attendant patiemment

lavancement de la drague pour sinstaller immdiatement sur les lieux, sous un abri prcaire, afin dutiliser lesressources naturelles de la rgion auxquelles sajoute le rendement de htives cultures vivrires entreprises sur les dblais mmes du nouveau canal. (The Rachia-Hatien canal has offered the impressive scene of a earthrush. Last year, I saw by myself on the working zone, several indigenous junks heavy with annamese families,animals, humble luggages who were patiently waiting the dredge progress to settle immediately under a precarious shelter in order to exploit the natural resources of the area. In addition to that, they cultivated on therubble of the new canal hasty subsistence crops.) Gouvernement Gnral de lIndochine, Inspection gnrale desTravaux Publics, Dragages de Cochinchine, le canal de Rachgia Hatin , 1930 ; Extrait du livre vert de laCochinchine 1933, 8p. (CAOM GGI-se 1612) ; Rapport de Carbon Ferrire communiqu aux administrateurschefs des provinces de Rachgia et de Baclieu, 2 mai 1939 : contestations foncires dans le Transbassac (CAOMINF 2502). 23 According to a comparison of Cochinchina before the conquest and in 1930 (ANVN-II GCD 3606, quoted by Nguyn Thy D ng, op. cit. , p. 94), the population in R ch Ga increased by 130.000 between 1920 and

1930. 24 This frontier accounts 13.000 people in 1928; in 1936, the population in Kin Ho accounts 50.864 people;Hunh La, op. cit. , p. 179; Population des cantons, densit de la population par province, superficie et nombrede subdivisions administratives des provinces de Cochinchine en 1936 (ANVN-II, TBCPNV E02-30).25 In 1935, around 2000 families settled along the Tri Tn and Ba Th canal banks [RST, Inspection du travail, procs verbal de la Commission dtude du problme de limmigration tonkinoise en Cochinchine, du 14 octobre1935 (ANVN-I, RST 76109)].26 Ng Thanh T ng (chbin), Nng dn Kin Giang truy n th ng u tranh cch m ng , Hi nng dn Vit Nam tnh Kin Giang, R ch Gi, 1992.27 Rapport dinspection de la province de R ch Ga, 1-3 juin 1943 (CAOM GGI 65262) ; According to the rapport conomique provincial du 29 juillet 1943 (ANVN-II, TBCPNV L4-5), there are 1573 adults and1515 children ; the article published in the newspaper d Indochine Hebdomadaire Illustr (n147) speaks about3450 people. Few weeks later, 14 other families (10 from Thi Bnh, 2 from Namnh and 2 from Ninh Bnh)came to settle by their own initiative.28 The author also quotes that from the lanscape to the people, all seems blazing, happy, easy . (Nguyn HinL, H i K, Nxb Vn NghTpHCM, TpHCM, 2001, p. 160).


7/17

7

The developing of the quadrangle of Long Xuyn and the settling in new colonization hamletsare so much interdependent that it is tempting to qualify this colonial policy as a migratoryhydraulic.

The Tri Tn canal, a place of confluence and exchanges.

Settled along the Tri Tn canal, more exactly along the ten canals which began to be dug at thesame time perpendicularly and regularly every 500 meters, the families take their bearings in this newenvironment. Private life and collective economical activities are organized. After few months,numbers of families built a new house according to their own technics and customs29. Then, during thefirst months, each head of the family achieved to dig secondary canals and received a salary for hiseffective work. The year after, they built a road on the bank of the canal, dug arterioles between eachallotment while women cultivated spices and vegetables. Finally they all planted rice with seeds, toolsand draught animals supplied by the racks supervisor and provincial administers.Around the Tonkinese rack, on the other side of the Tri Tn canal, all kind of activities rised. At the junction between R ch Ga - H Tin and Tri Tn canal (nga ba Tri Tn ), a hamlet and a floating

market appeared; the Tri Tn crossroad became also an administrative relay and a stopover for the junks and other ships running from H Tin to R ch Ga and over to Long Xuyn, Cn Th andSaigon. Local trade also appeared along the Tri Tn canal; thus it became the way to step up economiccontacts but also technical and cultural exchanges between Cochinchinese and Tonkinese peasantsleaving side by side and, less intensively, with Cambodian people settled on the hill side (Hnt,ni C T) and with few Chinese mobile merchants some of whom opened a bazaar at the junctioncanal.

At this time, lots of already perceived ideas spread on the adaptations capability of thenortherner migrants to the environment (climate, vegetation, amphibian environment) and therefore tothis new agrarian society ; as well as lots of a priori spread on the hospitality from the local peasantstowards these new residents. Far from explaining some outstanding characters of social psychology which is moreover a contestable notion -, these prejudices express first of all the fear that the projects

of the Colonial authorities (decongest overpopulated provinces in Tonkin and rationalize new ricefields exploitation in Transbassac) will fail again. Most of these arguments have generally sanitary,social, psychological and religious reasons. Some administrators considered that the Tonkinoisrefuses to adapt30; others think that differences between Cochinchinese and Tonkinese are tooimportant to predict the union of men and women who dont speak exactly the same language, who atthe beginning dont understand each other very well because of their habits, customs and standardliving differences31. It seems that if the Tonkinese, more than any other Vietnamese, refused to leave

29 Mai, from Nam Thi S n where he was born (his parents were native of Tr Vinh and Chuc) explains thatSoutherners press down marshes to erect houses, then they use trm wood as pillars. Northerners first made ahillock then made a wall with a mixed of earth, junk and rice straw (interview, may 18th 2004, Nam Thi S n).

L, Sino Vietnamese, was born in Tri Tn in 1933. He completes by explaining that southerner use palm (dung )to build the walls and the roof of their house. As they dont raise the height of the house, they make the floor with trm wood (interview, may 20th 2004, Th tr n Hnt). S n, migrant from Gio Thy district (Namnh)confirms that his father built a house divided in three pieces, erected on a earths hillock, with a palm roof andearth walls (interview, may 20th 2004, Th tr n Hnt). Nowadays, we can see again along the banks of thecanals some narrow houses made by wood or earth which were certainly built, at different periods, byVietnamese northerners.30 Hors de son pays, de son village, des disciplines qui lui sont familires, le Tonkinois perd ses qualitsnatives et, vite atteint de nostalgie, revient vers son foyer natal. Dailleurs, les meilleurs restent chez eux. (Outside his country, his village, familiar disciplines, the Tonkinese looses all his native qualities and touched bynostalgia, he quickly comes back. Besides the best people stay home. [RST, Inspection du travail n12607,lettre du Rsident suprieur du Tonkin au Gouverneur gnral de lIndochine, 14 aot 1935 (CAOM GGI-se1614).31

Note du Gouverneur de Cochinchine n308 sur la colonisation des terres incultes de la cochinchine par la mainduvre tonkinoise, 15 octobre 1907 (ANVNI, RND 3175) ; Note de linspecteur gnral des Travaux Publics, 4 juillet 1935 sur le problme de lImmigration tonkinoise en Cochinchine (CAOM GGI-se 1614).


8/17

8

his native village (qu h ng ) above all because he didnt want to break out the village solidarityslinks, to extract himself from the reallocation system of communal land (cng i n) and lastly to preserve the ritual links with his ancestors and the sacrality of their land32.

More than a so-called ill-will, it is the economical and political choices which can also explainanterior refusal and mistakes. The rich landowners who form the largest part of the Cochinchinese public opinion, were actually hostiles to the migration of colonists who were often physically weak,recalcitrant rice farmers, or even turbulent and rebellious33. In this case, these prejudices reveal theweaknesses of a migration project which didnt imply the settlement of the pioneer-peasants andtherefore the access to ownership. On the contrary, this project only encouraged marginalized peopleto leave their land34 in order to sustain the exploitation modus with new labour without having toworry about social repercussions.

As for Cochinchinese peasants, they formed their own ideasa bout the adaptation capabilitiesand the contribution of these migrants to the material and spiritual life35.

Thus the Tri Tn canal became the meeting point for intercultural relations between peasantsand clearers who came from different parts of Vietnam. Spurred on by a pioneer soul, they foundedtogether a new society blending various agrarian traditions. Lets briefly describe few examples

concerning the control and the utilization of water for domestic and economical activities.As for each clearer arriving in western Cochinchina, the first element that Northerners had todomesticate was water, in order to protect housing against recurrent floods, to control access andstorage of drinking water, to regulate irrigate rice fields on allotments before hand drained. Thecompletion of hydraulic network followed the ten-year Indochinas equipment plan defined in 1931. Inthe casier tonkinois, an organization was rapidly set up to dig secondary canals36, in order to extend

32 Le sentiment religieux est ce point vivace au pays annamite, quil a toujours t le plus srieux obstacle ce dplacement des populations. Le sentiment religieux fait prfrer cette humanit grouillante, la viemisrable sur une terre exigu, labandon pour une existence plus large, de la terre des anctres. (Thereligious feeling is so vital in Annam that it has always been the most serious obstacle to the populationdisplacement. This religious feeling makes that this swarming humanity prefers a miserable life on a cramped

plot of land than forsake the ancestor earth for a more comfortable existence.) Grivaz, R., A spects sociaux et conomiques du sentiment religieux en pays annamite , Paris, Montchrtien, 1942, pp. 118-124 ; Khrian, G., Esquisse dune politique dmographique en Indochine , Revue indochinoise juridique et conomique , 1937n2, pp. 5-44.Talking about another migration attempt in H Tin, the Inspector Eutrope wrote : Les difficults qui ont tprouves et les raisons qui ont empch les Tonkinois de se fixer en Cochinchine relvent entirement de leur mentalit et de leur inaptitude au travail soutenu qui est indispensable chez un colonCet chec ne fait queconfirmer linsuccs de tentatives de mme nature effectus en Cochinchine et qui se sont heurtes auxdifficults dadaptation morale et physique des indignes du delta tonkinois au climat et aux conditions spcialesde la mise en valeur des terres en Cochinchine. (The difficulties we met and the reasons that have preventedthe Tonkinese to settle in Cochinchina come under their mentality and their unfitness to a sustained labourThis failure confirms other equal attempts in Cochinchina that failed for physical and moral unfitness from theTonkinese delta indigenous to the Cochinchinese climate and specific agricultural conditions ) [Lettre n1495/it

du Gouverneur de Cochinchine au Gouverneur Gnral de lIndochine, Saigon le 9 novembre 1932 (ANVN-IGGI 254)].33 Lettre de Maillard administrateur de Hatin n103 au Gouverneur de Cochinchine, 16 novembre 1931(ANVN-II dom 7924) ; Lotzer, L.E, et Wormser, G., La surpopulation du Tonkin et du Nord Annam : sesrapports avec la colonisation de la pninsule indochinoise , Hanoi, IDEO, 1941. 34 Nhiu, native from Phm X (Namnh) explains that during the 1930s, some villagers went to work in theSouth. When they came back, they told that it was very easy to find a job there. To grow land, people only plowand sow rice. At this time, life in Namnh was on the contrary really difficult (interview, may 20th 2004, Th tr n Hnt).35 Studying temples in general ( nh, mi u, n, cha ) lining the Tri Tn canal throws light on this relationship.Indeed, we find local cults (for examples B Cha X, Nguyn Trung Tr c, little pagodas built by someng owho studied in theTh t S n mountains, presence of neak ta ), imported cults ( nh of the Namnh migrantsdedicated to Tr n Hng o, nh to the Thi Bnh migrants dedicated to c thnh Ph genie, relic of chapeland catholic gravestones), and other temples that create a strange symbiosis of all these cults.36 Tlgramme dEtat, cabinet du Gouverneur Gnral, Saigon, 29 dcembre 1942, Gouverneur Gnral Colonies, n1556 1562 (SHM fonds Decoux).


9/17

9

the ten canals perpendicular to the Tri Tn canal where families (selected according to their native province37) were temporarily settled at the mouth. They also had to dig a supply canal parallel to theTri Tn canal which had to be 3 km away from it (this canal dalimentation was renamedknh bangn ); lastly they had to achieve the network by arteriole (m ng, m ng phn) between each plot.Before their arrival, some cadastre inspectors had marked the layout of the future canals so that peoplehad only to follow the milestones. With this aim in mind, the head of the families were gatheredtogether to form working teams. According to the remembrance of our informants, these teams werenot uniform: their composition varied between 6 and 30 people (or families) and the number of teams by canal varied between 2 and 638.

However, they all agreed on the staffs supervision who was responsible either for the groupor for the digging of a canal as a whole39. These supervisors, who were also migrants, were in generalmore educated and some of them spoke French. They were actually chosen by the families who hadsettled along a canal to hand on the daily work which was imposed by the general administrator of therack (Belot). During three years, these men organized in teams, were responsible for order and security but also controlled the good progrss of the excavation40. They also carried out the distribution of theequipment, salaries and occasionally food products (salt,n c m m).

If, in the Red River delta, these migrants were used to confine waterways, on the contrary in

the Mekong delta, they discovered a new hydraulic technique to drain stagnant rainy water and tofavour the circulation of sweet water by using the flood tide and ebb tide.Once the regulation of irrigation system had been settled, they had to sort out the problem of

supplying and stocking drinking water during the dry season. Tr nh Hoic had already mentionedthat digging wells was not an appropriate solution because the nearest sea made the water unusable for cooking and drinking. Consequently, each year, from the 10th lunar month which ends the rainyseason, until the 4th month when rains have not strated yet, it was a very complicated task to fill in the boats (which had been beforehand very well cleaned up) with sweet water and then carry it to thevillages where water was missing 41. As the canals water was brackish and ferruginous, theinhabitants had to dig ponds on individual plots or had to find natural ponds in the forest and thenstock this drinking water in local earth pots42.

Lastly, lets sketch out the emergence of economical activities around the Tri Tn canal. TheCochinchinese peasants continued cultivating rice with rudimentary tools and methods: they sewshapeless glades and earth hollows located in the trm forests. In order to fertilize the earth, each year they were burning grass, junks, and stumps; the more the coats ash was thick, the more the harvestwas fruitful43. Peasants were picking up carbonised wood to sell it, were levelling soil and simplysewing rice. Only the richest peasants who owned ox or buffalos were using harrows. They knew byexperience that a strong flood was repeated on average every three years; this year, they were sowinga kind of floating rice (n ng ty ) which was sold in R ch Gi. The other years, they were sowing other regular varieties of rice. During the harvest, work force was coming, especially from Long Xuyn.

37

The Namnhs families settled along the canals 1 to 5, the Thi Bnhs families in the following canals untilthe 10th canal. The administrative center was located between the canals n 5 and 6.38 Thc quoted that his team on the canal n2 was composed by 12 families, the Tngs one on the canal n 4 by22 people, Tr ngs one on the canal n8 by 6, Huns one, on the same canal by 15 families.39 The Tonkinese peasants named these two different supervisors xep phin (or xep kip ) and xep cup (or xep rup ). Although some informants made the confusion, it seems that the first one was in charge of oneteam and the second was controlling the digging of one canal. These names are certainly the phonetictranscription of the two French expressions chef dquipe and chef de groupe .40 Hun adds that the canal was 2 meters width at the bottom, 4 meters width at the bank level, 1,5 meters depth.41 Aubaret,op. cit. , p. 94 (my translation).42 Hai, inhabitant in Bnh S n village (before ThS n village that extended on the opposite bank of the Tri Tncanal) adds that during the dry season, people were going to the forest, to a place calledC Tr ng to finddrinking water. Another well ( gi ng ) was located between the Vm Ry bridge and the sea (interview, may 19th

2004, Bnh S n). 43 Burning grass and sowing rice under a double coat of ash and earth is named s tro bay (interview with Tm,Bnh S n, may 19th 2004).


10/17

10

Thus, they were withdrawing from 25 to 30 g a (about 40 litres) bycng without using manure or fertilizer 44.

In the Tonkinese rack, cultivate fields really started to take place in 1944. At first, familiesreceived individually seeds and ploughing tools, and collectively draught animals to plough their owntwo hectares plot. To help these newcomers to cultivate following the local practices, the generaladministrator Belot asked some Cochinchinese peasants to come to the rack and show how to sow, toexplain the specificities of different seeds (especially the unknown floating rice or la n i), and todescribe the agrarian cycle. Despite all these recommendations, some people, more laborious andmore attached to the tonkinese techniques continued to weed, to manure and above all to transplantrice where it was not growing45.

In addition, they had to use the southerners plough pulled by a couple of ox or buffalos.Some migrants tried to modify it in using only one animal and by the way succeeded in improve it.Easier to handle, the plough was more suited to the spongy soil. So, the highest yields were in theTonkinese plot, as all the neighbours were pointing out.

Some peasants who didnt own any land were finally offering their services as daily labourersto harvest and to husk paddy in the Tonkinese rack. The northerners migrants noticed that these farmlabourers (southerner peasants) were not using a sickle (li m) but a kind of wishbone (l i hi ) much

more efficiently so that they also adopted it afterwards. For husking, they also adopted the southerner handy pestle and the woody mortar which is more suitable than the northerner foot pestle and thestone or clay mortar.

Outside these few examples of local rice culture adaptation, migrants jointly diversifiedactivities by following provincial customs. During an inspection round in the Transbassac on February1944, the General Governor Decoux noticed:

A Rch Gi, au casier tonkinois, jai constat que lexprience entreprise se poursuit dune manire entirement satisfaisante -stop- le dfrichement des peuplements de trm et le creusement du rseau dirrigation sont pratiquement achevs -stop- Enattendant que les terres alunes aient t laves et ainsi prpares porter des rizires,les familles tonkinoises ont entrepris les premires cultures vivrires, et mis en train

plusieurs activits artisanales

(To R ch Gi, in the tonkinese rack , I have noticed thatthe experiment in progress is giving us satisfaction -stop- the clearance of trm trees anddigging the irrigation network are practically accomplished -stop- in the meantime thesoil will be washed and good enough for rice culture, the Tonkinese families have plantedthe first subsistence crops and started some handicraft activities)46.

Indeed, R ch Gi is not only well known for the exploitation of forest resources, extraction of honey and wax47 but also for hunting (snakes, precious feathers birds) and various fishing activities.Salterns,n c m m factories, pepper plantations appeared again around the Hnt hill (literally theearths hill ), as wickerwork (junk) and pottery (earth) handicrafts48.

During the dry season or between sowing and harvesting, inhabitants were practicing thesecomplementary activities. They were carrying on building wood (this activity is called:lm cy ) and bundles of fire wood (lm ci). The northerner migrants initiated this activity on their plot and thenaround the rack. But if the southerners managed to sell49 this wood to intermediates who were comingfrom Chuc, Long Xuyn or Cn Th by overstepping the colonial rules, inhabitants of the rack

44 Interviews with Land Ln, Th tr n Hnt, may 2004, with Quang, Nam Thi S n, january 18th 2005.45 Hiu remembers that their local instructor was called Tam Thu.46 Tlgramme dEtat, cabinet du Gouverneur Gnral Colonies, Saigon, 2 mars 1944, n10218-10224 (SHMfonds Decoux).47 The Cambodian name of R ch Gi,krmu an s means precisely white wax ; the Vietnamese name refers toan arroyo (r ch) around which grew in abundance a tree specie ( gi ).48 Baurac,op. cit. ; Nguyn Thy D ng, op. cit., p. 33 ; on the special Hnts pottery (c rng ), see :Tr ng Thanh Hng, Nghnn ni t Hnt, Kin Giang , in : Phan Th Yn Tuyt (chbin), Xmngh thcng truy n Nam B , TpHCM, Nxb Tr , 2002, tr. 110-118. 49 Ln quotes that wood was also exchanged against fruit and vegetables cultivated by Khmer people on thehillside.


11/17

11

had not other possibility than sell it to the general administrator. They were anyway withdrawing goodallowances.

As canal and rice fields were abounding in fish (c bng; c r ), fishing with keep net or angling was another important activity. A local technique was to dig large ponds in the forest andcatch fishes at the end of the dry season when the major part of water had been evaporated. Migrantsalso learned from southerners new ways to preserve and to transform fish. They began to make fat bydissolving fish innards (c b ng, c s t ) to feed oil lamp. More than drying the fish, they above alldiscovered them m, an unknown culinary product that they first calledc ngm (soaking fish). Theystudied how to preserve fishes mixed with salt in earth pots and learned to appreciate new flavours50.

Thanks to the southerners peasants, they also learned how to collect honey, how to build ovensto bake pottery and how to identify edible vegetables and medicinal plants. On the other hand, theydeveloped and diversified market garden produces (notably sweet potato, beans, marrow) thatCochinchinese peasants had neglected so far. All these agricultural methods and activities allowed theexpansion of a flourishing local trade and economy along the Tri Tn canal and its junction.

Brief comments on the difficulty in defining the environmental and social space of the Mekong

Delta.At last, lets attempt to determine the contribution of this monograph on the knowledge of

history and culture of a region that shows visible particularities which are difficult to categorize withscientific criteria. First of all, what does the expressionMekong delta mean? This common name isindeed complex because of it is generic and polysemous. This expression can be interpreted as a trans-national geographical space determined by physical, natural or agrarian environment (river system,climate, hydrology, relief, trm forests, mangrove swamp; orchards, industrial cultures), or more specifically, by the different ways of flooded rice culture : the rice culture, which is the main andsomehow the unique cultural activity, directly depends on hydrographical systems and networks51. Inthis case, the Mekong delta is defined by agronomy. It also can be considered from various angles of ethnicity, past and recent administrative boundaries, religious beliefs and practices, historical events,

ways of life etc Talking about the Mekong delta is talking about all these aspects at the same time.Far from being a gloomy and uniform plain, the Mekong delta is, on the contrary, a really variedspace52.

Others appellations dating from the French colonial period dont give more explanation on this problem of semantic. New administrative expressions appeared to redefine the colonial territory of Cochinchina. When talking about the Mekong delta, the administrators were generally referring toLow Cochinchina ( Basse Cochinchine ), Western Cochinchina (Cochinchine occidentale ),Transbassac , Cisbassac , or to talk about a provincial space, they were using the name of theadministrative centres (Cn Th , Bc Liu).

50 Tr ng, native from Thi Bnh, recognizes that them m produced in the rack was more tasteless than the one

produced all around (interviews with Hiu, Th tr n Hnt, may 18th

2004, Tr ng, Nam Thi S n, October 4th 2004).51 When the country was still divided in two states, a technical study was dividing the Vietnam Republicterritory into 5 hydraulic zones:Zone A: One transplanting rice zone, including the most old provinces (Gianh, Long An,inh T ng,Kin Ha, V nh Bin, Ba Xuyn, An Xuyn), affected by salty water.Zone B: double transplanting rice zone, including the V nh Long, Sac, Cn Th provinces, touched by thecombined action of sea tide and Mekong floods.Zone C: floating rice and direct sowing zone (An Giang, Kin Giang) yearly flooded by the Mekong.Zone D : Eastern and Central Vietnam provinces with irrigation problems and floods.Zone E: Highlands zone with irrigation and soil conservation problems.(Secrtariat dEtat lagriculture, Rpublique du Vit Nam, Les travaux dhydraulique agricole au Viet Nam ,Saigon, An Quan, 1960, p. 9).52

I noticed that the South was not uniform, monotonous, morose as we can imagine when we see a card in ageography book There is only the min ty [Mekong delta] where there are so many differences from onezone to another (Nguyn Hin L, H i K, Nxb Vn NghTpHCM, TpHCM, 2001, p. 171).


12/17

12

As for the Vietnamese expressions, they refer to other space conceptions. If the termng b ng sng C u Long is unanimously used to talk about theMekong delta , its origin and its popularisation are still unclear 53. The other term used by Southerners ismi n ty nam b (south-western region) or mi n ty in short54. As for the inhabitants of the Mekong delta, they use a lot of different local idioms that prove precisely the variety of the region and of the conception of their land.We can thus hear in the discussions the terms of Lc t nh (historical term of the Six Provinces at theimperial period), H u giang (name of the Posterior River named Bassac in the past),mit d i (under region) or mit trn (upper region) to define the region on either sides of the Anterior River (Ti n

giang ), mit v n to talk about the orchards region. The examples increase of course when weconsider the localities popular definitions that often refer to river and canal names. These -sometimes-dialectal idioms and sayings allow defining the deltaic space with symbolic boundary markings, whichcome from a vital popular culture.

One man of the Mekong delta has devoted himself to this popular culture and to all kind of oral traditions so much that he decided to preserve them by writing them down which became theheart of his literacy creation. The writer S n Nam, native from Kin Giang, from a locality namedmit th (Region of the 4th canal, near the U Minh forest) tried and succeeded to describe andunderstand the popular soul (his own terms) of the region and of its inhabitants55. Thus his dozens of

books give to the lecturer a deep and precise look onthe local history and society and, at the sametime, a synthetic view on his native land, ( H u giang 56), more generally on the Mekong delta (ng b ng sng C u long ) and on Southern Vietnam. For instance, its one of his books that vulgarised the expressionmit v n and that created the neologism of Orchard civilisation (V n minh mi t v n)57 to talk about the V nh Long and Bn Tre agrarian specificities.

He also proposed to qualify the Mekong delta as a riverine civilisation (V n minh sng n c) to describe the central function of waterways (river, canal, coastal sea) in daily life, economy, popular beliefs but also in relation and exchange with other Vietnamese region and with SoutheastAsian countries (Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore). This expression allows his author todifferentiate in a very colourful way the large cultural regions of Vietnam: according to hisconception, the northern Vietnam is, until Thanh Ha, a continental civilisation; then from Hi An

53 Usinghn nm to name the river (C u long , Nine dragons) and its delta (ng b ng sng c u long, literallythe plain of the nine dragons river instead of chu th sng C u long technically more correct) needsclarifications. My hypothesis is that usinghn nm signifies redefine and sacralize the space with confucianistand daoist references. Toponomy and historical geography still need more improvement studies.54 Since the August Revolution (1945), B c b, Trung b and Nam b terms were replaced with B c k , Trung k et Nam k to speak about North, Centre and South Vietnam. Themi n ng Nam b covers the region located atthe North of HCh Minh City to Phan Thit, themi n ty Nam B covers the all area located at the South of theCity, the big Mekong delta.55 S n Nam is a prolix author well known and appreciated since a half century by a large part of the Vietnamese.

His writings have been republished several times and recently by Nh xut bn Tr (HCh Minh City) in their entirety. Historians also estimate his books: Nguyn ThAnh has described him as the usual painter of the dailylife [] in the Mekong delta ( le peintre habituel de la vie quotidienne [] dans le delta du Mkong , reviewof the book Mi n Nam u th k XX. Thin a H i v cu c Minh Tn , BSEI, 1973-1, p. 761) ; Pierre Brocheuxquotes his large empirical knowledge sustained by a rich erudition ( grande connaissance empirique, soutenue par une riche rudition (personnal correspondance, december 2004), Nguyn inh u recognizes the qualityof his writings based not only on historical documents but also on intuitions and feelings that influence more people ( intuitions et des sentiments qui influencent davantage les gens de la socit , interview, HChMinh City, december 1st 2004) ; Hunh Ngc Tr ng, in particular expert on popular literature explains that S n Nam bases his writings mainly on his remembrances which are supported by documentation. His appreciations prove a bright intelligence, a real knowledge of the southerners specificities. He suggests to the lecturer a wayof looking at things. Moreover, he writes with a very southern style (r t nam b ), in a very realistic way; hehas created a very personnal prose style (interview, HCh Minh City, january 2005).56

Tm hi u t H u giang , Ph sa, Saigon, 1959. S n Nam is the founder of this publishing house ( ph sa meansalluvia ) that published his first writings on author accounts.57 ng b ng sng C u long hay l v n minh mi t v n, An Tim, Saigon, 1970.


13/17


14/17

14

Abbreviation List

ANVN-I Archives Nationales du Vietnam, centre n1 (Hanoi)ANVN-II Archives Nationales du Vietnam, centre n2 (H Chi Minh Ville)

art.cit. Articulum citatumCAOM Centre des Archives dOutre-Mer (Aix-en-Provence, France)Dom Domaines (fonds darchives, ANVN-II)EFEO Ecole Franaise dExtrme-OrientGCD Gouvernement de Cochinchine Divers (fonds darchives ANVN-II)GGI Gouvernement Gnral de lIndochine (fonds darchives)GGI-SE Gouvernement Gnral de lIndochine, services conomiquesHCI-CS Haut Commissariat en Indochine, conseiller social (fonds darchives)IDEO Imprimerie dExtrme-OrientImp ImprimerieINF Indochine Nouveau Fonds (fonds darchives CAOM)

JSEAS Journal of South East Asian StudiesMEP Missions Etrangres de Paris (service des archives) NCLS Nghin C u Lch S ( Historical Studies, Review ) Nxb Nh xut bn (Publishing House) Nxbkhxh Nh xut bn Khoa hc x hi (Social Sciences Publishing House)OIR Office Indochinois du RizONS Ouvriers Non Spcialissop. cit. Opus citatumRND Rsidence de Namnh (fonds darchives)RST Rsidence Suprieure du Tonkin (fonds darchives)RSTNF Rsidence Suprieure du Tonkin, nouveau fonds (archives CAOM)SHM Servie Historique de la Marine (fonds darchives, Vincennes, France)SL Services Locaux (fonds darchives ANVN-II)TpHCM Thnh PhHCh Minh (H Chi Minh City)TBCPNV To i biu chnh ph Nam Vit (fonds des reprsentants du

gouvernement au Sud Vietnam, fonds darchives ANVN-II)


15/17

15

Short Bibliography

- Anhc, Hn t , tiu thuyt [ Hn t, novel], S vn ha thng tin Kin Giang, Nxb Vn Hc,H Ni, 1966. - Aubaret, G.,Histoire et description de la Basse Cochinchine , Traduction deGia nh Thnh Thng Ch de Tr nh Haic [ History and description of the Low Cocinchina, translation of the Tr nh Hai cs Gia nh Thnh Thng Ch ], Paris, Imp. Impriale, 1863.- Ban Nghin cu lch s ng tnh Kin Giang,Tm hi u Kin Giang [Understanding Kin Giang ],1986.- Baurac, La Cochinchine et ses habitants (provinces de louest) [Cochinchina and its inhabitants(western provinces) ], Saigon, imprimerie commerciale Rey, Curiol et cie, 1894.- Bernard, P., Le problme conomique indochinois [The Indochinese Economical Problem ], Nouvelles ditions latines, 1934.- Biggs, D., Problematic Progress : Reading Environmental and Social Change in the MekongDelta , JSEAS , 34(1), pp. 77-96, february 2003.- Bourdeaux, P., Emergence et constitution de la communaut du Bouddhisme Ha H o : unecontribution lhistoire sociale du delta du Mkong (1935-1955) [ Emergence and Constitution of the

Ha H o Buddhist Community : a Contribution to the Social History of the Mekong Delta (1935-1955) ] ; thse de doctorat sous la direction du professeur Nguyn ThAnh, EPHE, Paris Sorbonne, juin 2003, 3 tomes, vii+737 p.-------------------, Study of a migratory confluence in the Mekong delta during the colonial period(1920-1945) : First steps towards the History of ThS n and Sc S n villages (Hnt district, KinGiang province) (paper presented at the Second International Conference on Vietnamese Studies, HChi Minh City, july 14-16 2004, paratre).- Brocheux, P.,The Delta Mekong, Ecology, Economy and Revolution 1860-1960 , University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1995.- Delahaye, V., La plaine des Joncs et sa mise en valeur [The Plain of Junks and its Development ],Rennes, Imp. Ouest clair, 1928.- a ph ng ch Kin Giang [ Provincial Monograph of Kin Giang ], Cc qun ty tan hnh chnh

Kin Giang san tho, 1958.- Duras, Marguerite,Un barrage contre le Pacifique [ Dam against the Pacific ], Paris, Gallimard,1950.- Estbe, Monographie de la province de Rachgia [ Provincial Monograph of Rachgia , Lemoniteur dIndochine , n272-273, 1924.- Fontenelle, J.P et Tessier, O., Lappropriation paysanne de lhydraulique agricole du delta dufleuve rouge : processus et limites [ The Red River Delta Peasant taking over Farming Hydraulic :Process and limits , Autrepart/ Cahiers des sciences humaines n3, 1997, pp. 25-43.Fraisse, A., Notes de gographie humaine sur la province de Long Xuyn [ Comments on HumanGeography in the Long Xuyn Province ], IIEH, 1942, pp. 139-143.- Gaury, C., Note sur les travaux excuts au village de colonisation tonkinoise de Hatin en mars-avril-mai 1932 [ Comments on works made on the Tonkinese colonisation village of Htin,march-april-may 1932 ,Office Indochinois du Riz, archives de la riziculture , pp. 1-8.- Hardy, A., Red Hills. Migrants and the State in the Highlands of Vietnam , NIAS Press, Singapore,2003.- Henri, Y., Economie agricole de lIndochine [ Indochinese Farming Economy ], Hanoi, 1932.- Hunh La, Lch s khai ph vng t Nam B [ History of the Clearance of the South Region ], NxbTpHCM, 1987.- Hunh Ngc Tr ng, Tng quan vvn ha Nam B [Survey on Southern Culture, Khoa h c x hi, 1992, s11, tr. 59-70.- Huynh Van Chinh, Le casier tonkinois de Rach Gia [ The Tonkinese Rack in Rach Gia ,

Indochine hebdomadaire illustr , 1943, n158, pp. 11-12.- Inspection Gnrale des Travaux Publics, Dragages de Cochinchine, le canal de Rachgia Hatin[ Dredgings in Cochinchina, The Rachgia-Hatin Canal ], Hanoi, 1930.


16/17

16

- Khrian, G., Le problme dmographique en Indochine : esquisse dune politique dmographiqueen Indochine [ The Demographic Problem in Indochina : Outline of a Demographic Policy inIndochina , Revue indochinoise juridique et conomique , 1937 n1-2.- Khinh, Sok, Lannexion du Cambodge par les Vietnamiens au XIXme sicle daprs les deux

pomes du vnrable Btum Baramey Pich [The Annexion of Cambodia by Vietnamese during the 19 thCentury from two poems of the Venerable Btum Baramey Pich ], You Feng, Paris, 2002.- Kresser, P., La commune annamite en Cochinchine [The Annamese Village in Cochinchina ] , DomatMontchrestien, 1935.- Langlet Ph., Quach Thanh Tm, Atlas historique des Six provinces du sud du Vietnam: du milieu du

XIXe sicle au dbut du XXe sicle [ Historical Atlas of the Six Provinces in the South of Vietnam : from the Middle of the 19 th Century to the Beginning of the 20 th Century ], Paris, Les Indes Savantes,2001.- L B Tho, a l ng b ng sng C u Long [Geography of the Mekong Delta ], Nxb tng h png Thp, 1986.- L Quc S, Nh ng kha c nh kinh t ca V n Minh Knh R ch Nam B [ Economic Aspects of theCanal Civilisation in the South Region ], Nxb KHXH, H Ni, 1999.- L Sm,Th y nng ng b ng sng C u Long [ Farming Hydraulic in the Mekong Delta ], Nxb

Nng Nghi p, TpHCM, 1996.- Li Tana, Nguyn Cochinchina, Southern Vietnam in the seventeenth and eighteens century , SEAP,Cornelle University, 1998, 194 p.- Lotzer et Wormser, La surpopulation du Tonkin et du Nord Annam : ses rapports avec lacolonisation de la pninsule indochinoise [Overpopulation in Tonkin and North Annam : its relationswith the Colonisation of the Indochinese Peninsula ], Hanoi, IDEO, 1941.- Mc ng, Nh ng c i m ca sinh thi v m i quan h ca sinh thi v i c i m dn t c

Kin Giang [The Characteristics of Ecology and their Relations with Population in Kin Giang ], VinKHXH TpHCM, 1987.----------------, (ch bin),V n dn t c ng B ng Sng C u Long [The Question of Population inthe Mekong Delta ], TpHCM, Nxbkhxh, 1991.- Malleret L., Archologie du delta du Mkong [The Mekong Delta Archeology ]. Pub. EFEO XLIII,

1959-1963, 4 vol.- M.P., Les travaux dhydraulique agricole en Cochinchine [The Works on Farming Hydraulic incochinchina], Indochine hebdomadaire illustr 1943 n141, pp. 6-9.- Ng Thanh T ng (ch bin), Nng dn Kin Giang truy n th ng u tranh cch m ng [TheTradition of the Revolution Struggle by the Peasants in Kin Giang ], Hi nng dn Vit Nam tnhKin Giang, R ch Gi, 1992.- Nguyn Cng Bnh, L Xun Dim, Mc ng, V n Ha v c dn ng b ng sng C u Long [Culture and Population in the Mekong Delta ], NxbKHXH, TpHCM, 1990.- Nguyn Cng Bnh, ng b ng sng C u Long nghin c u pht tri n [ Research on the Mekong

Delta Development ], Nxbkhxh, H Ni, 1995.- Nguyn ng Thc, Nam Tin Vit Nam [The Vietnamese Nam Tin, S a, s19-20, 1970,tr. 25-43.- Nguyn nh u, T ng k t nghin c u a bNam K Lc T nh [Summary of the Cadastre in theSix Southern Provinces ], Nxb TpHCM, 1994.------------------------,Ti u gio trnh a l Nam K , (traduction de : Tr ng V nh K,Petit cours de

gographie de la Basse Cochinchine ) [ Lesson on the Geography of the Low Cochinchina , Translationof Tr ng V nh K , Petit cours de gographie de la Basse Cochinchine ] , TpHCM, Nxb Tr , 1997.- Nguyn Hin L, H i K [Memoirs ], Nxb Vn NghTpHCM, TpHCM, 2001.--------------------, B y ngy trong ng Thp M i [Seven days in the Plain of Junks ], Nxb Vn HaThng Tin, 2002.- Nguyn Kin, Le Sud Vietnam depuis Din Bin Phu [South Vietnam until Din Bin Phu ], cahierslibres n46-47, d. F. Maspro, 1963, 322 p.- Nguyn Ph ng Tho, V n Ha dn gian Nam B , nh ng phc th o [Outlines of the Southern

Popular Culture ], Nxb Gio dc, H Ni, 1997.- Nguyn ThAnh, Quelques remarques sur ltat des tudes historiques sur le Vietnam [Somecomments on the Vietnam Historical Studies], Approches Asie, n15, 1997, pp. 1-15.


17/17

17

- Nguyn Thy D ng, Kinh t H Tin R ch Ga th i Php thu c (1867-1939) [ Economy in H Tin Rch Ga Region during the French Colonisation ] , Lun n ph tin s khoa hc lch s, Vin khoahc x hi ti Thnh phHCh Minh, 1997.- Nguyn Vn Hu, Thoi Ng c H u v nh ng cuc khai ph Mi n H u Giang [Thoi Ng c H u and the Clearances of the Transbassac ], TpHCM, Nxb Tr , 1999.- Phm Xuni, Khnng ha nh p v mc n nh ca cc cng ng di dn ti ng NamB [Integration Capacities and State Stability of the Migrants Communities in the south EasternRegion, X H i H c, s12(4), 1985, tr.85-90.- Pouyanne, A., Etude sur les voies deau de la Cochinchine [Study on the Waterways inCochinchina ], Saigon, imp. Commerciale Marcellin Rey, 1908.- Rflexions sur luvre franaise dans louest cochinchinois [Reflections on the French Work inWestern Cochinchina], LAsie Nouvelle n55, 31 octobre 1937, pp. 17-22.- Secrtariat dEtat lagriculture, Rpublique du Vit Nam, Les travaux dhydraulique agricole auVit Nam [The Farming Hydraulic Works in Vit Nam ], Saigon, An Quan, 1960.- S n Nam,Tm hi u t H u Giang [Understanding the Transbassac ], Ph Sa, Saigon, 1959.-------------, Vic khn hoang vng R ch Ga [Clearance in the R ch Ga Region,S a , 1970n19, pp. 169-190.

-------------, ng b ng sng C u Long hay l V n minh mi t v n [The Mekong Delta or the Orchard Civilisation ], An Tim, 1970.-------------, Lch s An Giang [ History of An Giang ], Long Xuyn, Nxb An Giang, 1986.-------------, Lch s kh n hoang Mi n Nam [The History of Clearance in the South Region ], Nxb Vn Ngh, 1994.- T.H., Le casier tonkinois dans le sud-ouest de la Cochinchine [The Tonkinese Rack inSouthwest Cochinchina, Indochine hebdomadaire illustr , 1943, n147, pp. 4-6.- Thanh Tm Langlet, Situations de guerre et de paix dans le Sud du Vietnam actuel au XIXme sicle [War and Peace States in the South of Current Vietnam in the 19th century], dans : NguynThAnh et Alain Forest (d.),Guerre et Paix en Asie du Sud-Est [War and Peace in Southeast Asia ],lHarmattan, Paris, 1998, pp. 259-293.- T Ph ng, H ng trm (vi t v Anh hng L c l ng v trang nhn dn Th Phc t c M G m, dn qun x Nam Thi S n, huyn Hn t, t nh kin Giang) [The Trm Forest (Writings on the Popular Armed Forces Heroin Th Phc - Mother G m- Popular Militia of Nam Thi S n, Hn t District, Kin Giang Province ], Nxb TpHCM, TpHCM, 1986.- Tr ng Thanh Hng, Nghnn ni t Hn t, Kin Giang [The earth Pot Handicraft inHnt, Kin Giang], in : Phan Th Yn Tuyt (chbin), Xm ngh thcng truy n Nam B [TheTraditional Hand craft Hamlets in the South Region ] , TpHCM, Nxb Tr , 2002, tr. 110-118.- Vivis, A., Lme de la Cochinchine [The Soul of Cochinchina ] , Saigon, Portail, 1924.

water in mainland southeast asia-bourdeaux-2005

Documents