(Philip Taylor) (PDF 3.1MB) - ANU

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104 PHILIP TAYLOR 28 Ibid., p.349. 29 Ibid., p.352. Nguyn Khac Vien's treatment of the colonial era made this even clearer. The "socio-historical" impact of French colonization was reduced to two consequences-the exacerbation of rural class divisions and the colonial cultivation of a Chinese compradore class. 28 Even so, as he observed, these developments were negated by the Communist Party's land reforms, the societal modernization which he conceded occurred in the late RVN period and the anticompradore campaigns of the socialist regime. 29 Therefore, the French colonial impact in southern Vietnam, in his view, was both limited and reversible. The regional characteristics that had endured were of pre-colonial origin. Such a view, emerging as it did in the early eighties may be linked to the policy adjustments of that time, but it remained more or less undeveloped until the end of the decade. Nguyn Khac Vien's essay had broached the issue of southern regional difference as an indigenous phenomenon; by 1989 the concept had become a widespread staple in published discussion. .. :/. f,!. j ... j:.. .i.. I !f a ·tt tJ f • .iL. j t ':¥- ..;- . i}iL JJi. $v t- ;.of · ... r -:i'fl 71' ,b lJt ftKI !L ,I). -;i-L. L fo Jj/o « ... 1:- *- 1:1 ;fX d. .;t 1. J.e. 1: .:t. '- .it' Figure 3 Opening page of Gia Dinh Thanh Tong Chi, a report on the region of Southern Vietnam, presented to the Minh Mang Emperor in the early years of his reign by its author, a Sino-Vietnamese scholar and native to the region, Trinh Hoai Ditc (Saigon: Nha Van H6a Phil Quoc Vu Khanh Dac Trach Van H6a, 1972) -{.(. t .M 14-' aJ.. Jib tL f .. Jj' !L ." .:r ttl tm- :lI. ...., )1 .tl Ax... !J1. ;:J..l w ,}- .J
INDIGENIZING COLONIAL MODERNITY IN NAM EQ 105 The greatest achievement, serving as the motor of economic, social and cultural development in South Vietnam32 was the development of a commodity economy. The rice market stretched from Gia Dinh to Thun H6a. Quite a large stratum of merchants was formed. Along with this were many famous entrepots: Cli Lao Ph6 (Bien Hoa), mii Xau (My Xuyen, S6c Trang), Ha Tien, My Tho town market and Saigon-a commercial hub "unparalleled throughout the entire country" (Cia D{nh Thanh Tong Chi). , ,33 Trinh Hoai Dvc's report was submitted to the monarch of the Nguyn Dynasty who had been most instrumental in the establishment of centralized administrative control over southern Vietnam. Nguyn Cong Blnh included this dynasty "among those former regimes" which had: paid attention to exploiting the unique natural features of this new region, with policies towards it of benefit to the regime, while at the same time further accentuating the particular socio-economic features of this region, above all its characteristics of an agricultural commodity economy.3 4 Clearly Blnh placed the existence of a commodity economy prior to the founding of the Nguyn dynasty (in 1802), whose economic contribution was therefore merely one of "further accentuating" what he deemed to be a preexisting trait of the region. This entailed quite significant departures from prevailing official notions on pre-colonial Vietnam. The first of these notions might be glossed as the accusation that the French conquest of Vietnam had been abetted by the impotence of the "feudal" Nguyn dynasty. That regime's Neo-Confucian ideology, formalism, adherence to "outmoded traditions" and rejection of new ideas and practices had supposedly prevented a clear assessment of and effective response to, the emergent threat of European expansion. The country had become feeble and vulnerable to conquest.35 Arguably, the enervating effects of this court ideology implied strong and unified control over the country, otherwise such effects could not have been realized. Accusing the Nguyn dynasty of sinking the country into stagnation entailed a possibly unintended compliment, that it possessed the capacity to do so. Yet Blnh's comments involved a substantial revision of this view. He described socio-economic traits such as the commodity economy as having predated, continued in tandem with and outlasted the Nguyn regime. The commodity economy was depicted as existing independently of any one regime, acting as "motor of economic, social and cultural development."36 He thus dissented from the view that the commodity economy was a "modern" imposition of French colonialism, much less an "anti-modern" or "enslaving" effect of US neo-colonialism. Placing its evolution in pre-colonial times, he furthermore maintained its independence of the Nguyn court. In doing so he was rather less complimentary about the Nguyn court's relevance to precolonial Vietnam than some of its previous critics, for he argued that the commodity economy had formed a parallel and independent locus of social development, which had continued to act dynamically throughout its reign. Having questioned the homogeneity of pre-colonial Vietnam, arguing for 30 Nguyn C6ng Blnh, "Some starting points of the South on its way to socialism," p.22. 31 Guy Gran, Vietnam and the capitalist route to modernity: village Cochinchina 1880-1940; Samuel Popkin, The rational peasant (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1979); James C. Scott, The moral economy of the peasant: rebellion and subsistence in Southeast Asia (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1976); Martin Murray, The development of capitalism in colonialIndochina 1870-1940(Berkeley, Calif. : University of California Press, 1980). 32 At this point, Blnh used the term 'Mi€n Nam' which I have translated as 'South Vietnam'. However, as the content and the context show, he was referring to the more limited region which he referred to elsewhere as NamBQ. 33 Nguyn C6ng Blnh, "Some starting points of the South on its way to socialism," p.23 . 34 Ibid. (emphases in the original). 35 Tr'an Van Giau, Hq y thuc phong kiifn. va sl;l thdt bqi cUa n6 trU6c cac nhiqm Vlf Itch sU[Feudal ideology and its failure in the face of historical responsibilities] (H6 Chi Minh City: Nha Xu:!t Ban Thanh Pho H6 Chi Minh, 1993). 36 Nguyn C6ng Blnh, "Some starting points of the South on its way to socialism," p.23.
Page 1 and 2: East Asian History NUMBERS 15/16·
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS 1 Stopping, Seeing and Lan
Page 5 and 6: INDIGENIZING COLONIAL MODERNITY IN
Page 11: INDIGENIZING COLONIAL MODERNITY IN
Page 25 and 26: 124 PHILIP TAYLOR 111 Nguyn Kh:ic V
Page 27 and 28: 122 PHILIP TAYLOR 102 Tr'an Hoang K
Page 29 and 30: 120 PHILIP TAYLOR 94 By "South Viet
Page 31 and 32: 118 PHILIP TAYLOR 80 Le Xuan Dim, "

(Philip Taylor) (PDF 3.1MB) - ANU

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