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Land & Water: a History of Fifteenth-Century Vietnam

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Land & Water: a History of Fifteenth-Century Vietnam LAND & WATER: A HISTORY OF FIFTEENTH-CENTURY VIETNAM FROM AN ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY May 2017 By Hieu M. Phung Dissertation Committee: Liam C. Kelley, Chairperson Barbara Watson Andaya Edward L. Davis Matthew P. Romaniello Wensheng Wang David R. McCraw ABSTRACT Debates and concerns about contemporary environmental problems have challenged historians to examine the human past from a perspective that explores the role of the natural environment in the historical development of individual societies. This dissertation examines how premodern Vietnamese rulers, officials, and scholars perceived “the environment” in the fifteenth century and how they documented the human-environment interaction. The fifteenth century, especially the long reign of King Thanh Tong of the Le dynasty (1460-97), was one of the most prosperous eras in Vietnam’s pre-twentieth-century history, and the aim of this study is to shed new light on this historical period. Rather than focusing on court politics, intellectual developments, or warfare, this dissertation uses the Vietnamese primary sources in classical Chinese as a basis for understanding how the environment was conceptualized. A recurring theme in these sources concerns the attitudes towards land and water, which were fundamental in facilitating human- nature interactions in fifteenth-century Vietnam. The evidence shows that when the Le rulers established their dynasty in northern Vietnam, they focused on understanding how the landscape should be conceptually “mapped” and on recording the natural resources that different regions within this land could provide. Their emphasis on land resources reveals a deeper environmental goal: how to transform the land into an environment that would be eminently suited to wet rice farming. This goal is also illustrated in the Vietnamese state’s efforts to build dikes and to develop strategies to cope with water-related natural disasters such as droughts and floods. Overall, the environmental analysis in this dissertation posits that “geographical considerations” can have some application in certain contexts, like fifteenth-century Vietnam. However, it was through a long historical development that the Vietnamese people came to self-identify as inhabitants of a society where rice-growing lay at the cultural core. In this history, both the particular environmental conditions of northern Vietnam and the historical conjunctures of the fifteenth century lent impetus to a Vietnamese self-perception of themselves as quintessential wet rice producers. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible if not for the help I received from many people. It therefore behooves me to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who assisted me with this project, for their outstanding contributions to my thinking and academic growth, and for the emotional support they provided me, without which I could not have succeeded. I would like to first thank my supervisor, Professor Liam Kelley, for his guidance and support from the very first days I decided to undertake my graduate study in the United States. After I came to the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in 2010, he consistently helped me adapt to the curriculums and learn to conduct research in American universities. Dr. Kelley also provided a generous amount of his time to provide me with feedback and to correct my dissertation draft cover to cover. Most importantly, I believe that working with him has engendered in me the value of possessing freedom and independence in my journey to become a scholar. This is the best gift my supervisor could have given to me. My sincerest thanks also go to professors Edward Davis, Matthew Romaniello, Wensheng Wang, and David McCraw not only for their constructive feedback to my dissertation but also for their wonderful seminars, which helped “bend” my mind in ways previously unknown to me. I would also like to express my respect to the late professor Jerry Bentley for his thought-provoking seminar in World History. This was one of the first classes in my graduate school and it opened up an entirely new terrain of knowledge for me. This dissertation would have never come in life without the precious help and inspirations that I received from professor Barbara Watson Andaya. Her teaching uncovered a nascent interest I had in the environmental history of Vietnam. I am particularly grateful for her willingness to read my incomplete chapter drafts, for the insightful comments that helped me iii keep track of my main ideas, and for her timely advice whenever I needed. Her diligence, wisdom, and modesty have enabled me to grow both as a better scholar and as a person. A great number of people, both of whom I have known for many years and some I have never met, generously provided me with countless materials for my research. In addition to my advisor, who first introduced me to the microfilm archive of premodern Vietnamese texts here at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, particular thanks go to Dr. Niu Junkai at Sun Yat-Sen University (China) and Dr. Ueda Shinya at Osaka University (Japan) for their provision of the copies of many Han-Nom texts from libraries in France and Japan. In Hanoi, I received help from various librarians at the Library of the Institute of Han-Nom studies, especially from anh Nguyễn Văn Thanh. Many friends outside of the United States have never failed to share with me the information and materials that have utility to my research. They are Dr. Alexei Volkov (National Tsing-Hua University, Taiwan), Dr. Yufen Chang (Academia Sinica, Taiwan), Law Lok Yin (Nanyang University, Singapore), and in Vietnam: Nguyễn Thanh Tùng, Quách Hiền, Phạm Văn Hưng, Trần Văn Quyến, Nguyễn Ngọc Phúc, Vũ Đường Luân, to name but a few. I ask forbearance of all those whom I cannot mention here but my gratitude extends to them. My seven-year doctoral study was only possible with the generous funding I received from many organizations and individuals. The Harvard Yenching Institute provided me with a three-year fully funded scholarship to cover my entire coursework (2010- 2013). The Department of History at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa provided me with a three-year graduate assistantship (2013-2016). I was honored to have received the Idus Newby Award for my dissertation research in Summer 2013. The Richard H. and Hester V. Cox Fellowship of the East-West Center, the private Faith C. Ai Memorial Scholarship Fund, and the June Chun Naughton International Student Services Fund provided me necessary financial support in the iv last phase of my doctoral study (2015-2016). I would like to thank all of these institutions and individuals for their support and inspiration. Throughout my academic sojourn, the support and encouragement given to me by my friends and my family are ineffable. Susan Carlson, our department graduate secretary, not only helped my study with countless paperwork but has also been my great friend during these years. Despite that we were both very busy with graduate life, Tomoko Fukushima was always a great ally in our perpetual academic struggle and it was with her that I shared a great deal about my life and study. My high-school friend Mỹ Hòa and many friends both in Vietnam and at the East- West Center in Hawaii helped me come to understand that writing a dissertation did not have to be a lonely experience. Sharing nearly thirty years of friendship together, Nhung Walsh has never failed to support me at any moment of hardship or to celebrate with me during times of happiness. And, of course, my dear teacher, cô Trần Thành, was always there for me, helping me to know that people in Vietnam like her gleefully anticipated my graduation. I wish to give particular thanks to my parents and my sister’s family in Vietnam as well as to my family here in the United States. My parents have provided me the unrestricted freedom necessary to pursue what I want, and my dear sister, chị Thảo, and her family, anh Đăng, Gấu and Thỏ, have given me tremendous love and care, despite that we are separated by thousands of miles of the Pacific Ocean. In Hawaii, Cindy Corsi encouraged me a great deal in the last months of my dissertation. And finally, my special thanks go to my best friend and beloved husband, Michael Corsi, for staying with me during those periods of greatest hardship until my today’s accomplishment. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ iii LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1 Environmental History as a New Approach to the Study Vietnamese History ............................ 3 Fifteenth Century in Vietnamese Environmental History ........................................................... 9 Thinking about Regions in the Premodern History of Vietnam ...............................................
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