Some early Nguyễn titles in Gia Định and Hà Tiên

From: Hiep Duc <Hiep.Duc@environment.nsw.gov.au>
Sent: Saturday, May 6, 2023 4:18 PM
To: Mike High <mikebiking@yahoo.com>; Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>; Hue-Tam <huetamtai@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Some early Nguyễn titles in Gia Định and Hà Tiên

Dear Mike, prof. Tam et al.,

Robert Antony accounts of the scourge of piracy in Gulf of Tonkin and South China Sea are horrendous with killing sprees and even cannibalism of victims.

Yang Yandi (Dương Ngạn Địch) was one of the prominent pirates in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Trần Thượng Xuyên was also a pirate but not so notorious as Yang Yandi (and his brothers). This is probably the reason why Trân Thượng Xuyên was venerated in Minh Hương temples (Tân Lân and Minh Hương Gia Thạnh). Dương Ngạn Địch in Mỹ Tho area was too notorious and even engaged in piracy rather settled down.

Mike is correct in stating that in the history of the early settlement in the south, the role of Trần Thượng Xuyên and the Chinese is not adequately considered. The legacy is still in evident. Chinese settlement in Bien Hoa, Cu Lao phố had stimulated commerce and manufacturing in Gia Định. The pottery industry is still thriving in this area of Bien Hoa, Bình Dương and Đồng Nai and is dominated by Chinese-descended people. Gốm Biên Hòa (Biên Hòa ceramic) and its distinct styles were famous in the 19th century in ceramic trade and still remains a collector choice. The Art Gallery of HCM City had a room showing the best of Bien Hoa ceramics. Chị Nguyễn Thị Hâu (former deputy director of southern Archaeology Institute and a former student of Prof. Trần Quốc Vượng) is an expert on the Bien Hoa ceramic style.

Some notes on the attempt to end piracy in Gulf of Tonkin and Cochinchina coast by the French

A vivid description of the warship Bourayne engaging with pirates in October 1872 in the Gulf of Tonkin:

“

Từ Sài Gòn, tàu hộ tống Bourayne, được lệnh vào tháng 10 năm 1872 tuần tiễu và dẹp các tàu hải tặc ở bờ biển Bắc kỳ đang hoành hành ở đấy.

Ngày 21/10/1872, ở gần đảo Honseu, tàu Bourayne bắt gặp hai tàu khả nghi và đã rượt đuổi, khi tới gần hai tàu hải tặc nổ súng và ngay

lập tức tàu Bourayne bắn trả. Hai tàu hải tặc chìm và không ai sống sót.

Ngày 27/10, chạm trán với 4 tàu hải tặc. Hai tàu trốn vào đảo Honseu và hai tàu tẩu thoát nhưng bị bắt lại và bị bắn chìm không ai sống sót.

Ngày 28/10, một tàu hải tặc lớn đến chạm trán với tàu Bourayne, một trận hải chiến dữ dội xảy ra, bên Pháp một vài người bị thương vong

trong khi tàu hải tặc bị bắn chìm.

“

Honseu island here is probably one of the islands near the big pirate-based island of Weichou in Robert Antony map of pirate strongholds in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Below are some engravings of the public execution of captured pirates in Vinh Long and the Bourayne warship engagement and sinking of pirate ships

Best

Hiep

EPA, NSW, Australia

From: Hiep Duc <Hiep.Duc@environment.nsw.gov.au>
Sent: Friday, May 5, 2023 4:04 PM
To: Mike High <mikebiking@yahoo.com>; Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>; Hue-Tam <huetamtai@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Some early Nguyễn titles in Gia Định and Hà Tiên

Dear Mike and Prof. Tam et al,

Thank you for your informative emails. Very interesting research you have done, Mike. Much appreciated for the information.

Indeed, piracy was a big problem along the southern China coast, Tonkin Gulf and along the Champa coast to Cochinchina. The Nguyen Lords and early Nguyen dynasty tried to suppress and they promulgated the death penalty for anyone committed piracy but without much success.

After the French conquest of Cochinchina, the French conducted a vigorous policy of suppressing piracy for a safe trade route to China. The gunboats and naval ships conducted regular surveillance and inspection. All detected pirate ships were sunk and any captured pirates suffered public execution in Annam and Cochinchina. Since then piracy was no longer a big threat to commercial ships (see “Sài-Gòn và Nam Kỳ trong thời kỳ Canh Tân, 1875-1925”, Nxb Văn-Hóa Văn Nghệ 2020).

My previous post  seems to discourage reading too much into title. But it is not the case. Reading deeply into titles or text can result in insightful knowledge. Prof. Tran Quoc Vuong is the point case. In his study of early Vietnam history, and with his deep knowegle on ethnology, archaeology, history, ancient customs,.. his reading into “Hùng” in “Hùng Vương” and interpretation have resulted in much understanding of ancient and early history of Vietnam, a theme which was subsequently taken by Keith Taylor in his Ph.D thesis on the foundation of Vietnam.  Illustrous men of the past from Finot, Coedes, Parmentier, Oliver Wolsters, Boisselier, Stein and to recently Tạ Chí Đại Trường, Trần Kỳ Phương had look deeply into scripts, text fragments, stones, sculptures and provided much insightful knowledge and filled gaps in the understanding lost histories. So reading deeply into some symbols or text should and must be encouraged.

Unlike Lê Quí Đôn, who was known to be an irate, petty and corrupted person, on the personal note, Trần Quốc Vượng was a carefree, inquisitive and generous sometimes outspoken person. In late May and early June 1980, he stopped over in Sydney for a day on his way to Australian National University in Canberra as invited by ANU. His first overseas trip to Australia. He gave a talk at International House at Sydney University where I stayed as a postgraduate student in engineering. The topic of his talk was on the Dong Son bronze drums and early history of Vietnam during the Hung Vuong period. Very interesting talk and later I offered to take him to the Art Gallery of NSW and the museum where there were 2 or 3 Dong Son drums on display. He gladly accepted.

At the museum, I was impressed by his interpretation of the motif and his knowledge in explaining to me the technology of making the bronze drums by the ancient Viets. I was literally sold that day on his ideas of using multi-discipline approaches to study history or any subject of investigation for that matter, of seeing both the tree and the forest, the detail and the perspective at the same time with ease. I later took him to the airport to go to Canberra. He carried little belongings. That time the climate was cold as winter approaching especially in Canberra. He had only 2 or 3 sets of clothes and no warm clothes (probably just left Hanoi in hot summer). I took my jumper and jacket and gave them to him to go to Canberra. Prof. Trần Quốc Vượng was truly a Renaissance man, very rare indeed. His deep reading into things that few people noticed and until now is still an inspiration to me.

Best

Hiệp

EPA, NSW, Australia

From: Mike High <mikebiking@yahoo.com>
Sent: Friday, May 5, 2023 10:25 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>; Hiep.Duc@environment.nsw.gov.au; Hue-Tam <huetamtai@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Some early Nguyễn titles in Gia Định and Hà Tiên

Many thanks, Hiep, for the translations from the Phủ biên tạp lục. Though the application of Tổng Binh may be vague, I think it has some significance in this context, especially when compared to the relatively unimpressive titles used for the Nguyễn commanders and administrators. 

I agree that Mạc Cửu was pretty much on his own in the early days of Hà Tiên. And the missionary accounts make it clear that Mạc Thiên Tứ was following his own rules on the Bassac in the 1750s-1760s, even as he was collaborating closely with Nguyễn Cư Trinh in both political and military matters. (Nguyễn Cửu Đàm is noteworthy here, since he forced Taksin to relinquish Hà Tiên after the Siamese had seized it.)

The situation was different for Trần Thượng Xuyên, as he and his son had to work closely with Nguyễn officials from 1698-1731. But the record strongly suggests that Trần Thượng Xuyên was really the supremo on the southern frontier, both on the Mekong and in Gia Định’s center. (The Vietnamese officials appear to have kept their headquarters at the garrison town of Mô Xoài in the first decades of “Gia Định.”)

So I do think it’s sad that Trần Thượng Xuyên (and his son) have been mostly ignored in the great narrative of Gia Định and the “nam tiến.” I have been to the Đình Tân Lân and the Minh Hương temple, but only recently learned about the rediscovered tomb. 

:: Mike

PS. As Hue Tam pointed out,  Dương Ngạn Địch and Trần Thượng Xuyên were not “Ming loyalists.” Robert Antony’s article is a hair-raising account of pillaging, violence, and kidnapping in the Tonkin Gulf region. The Nguyễn court was certainly aware of this when the two outlaws showed up in 1679, but it suited their purpose to maintain the polite fiction that they were acting out of loyalty to the fallen dynasty. The tosen ship reports from the 1680s indicate that Dương Ngạn Địch was continuing similar activities on the Mekong, up until his assassination in 1688. Trần Thượng Xuyên’s career ended up quite differently.   

PS 2. Side note on “nam tiến": the Japanese used the same term “Southern Advance” when planning their 1941-1942 campaign in Southeast Asia—Nanshin 南進—a campaign that really began with the occupation of Saigon in the summer of 1941. 

From: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, May 5, 2023 7:39 AM
To: Hiep.Duc@environment.nsw.gov.au; mikebiking@yahoo.com; vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Some early Nguyễn titles in Gia Định and Hà Tiên

Dear Hiep et al

I agree that the importance of "tong binh" is quite vague, as was "lanh binh". Given the  numerical vagueness of terms such as " van" which, instead of meaning ten thousands, actually means anything from many to a few thousands, the meaning of tong binhvwould  similarly be vague.

Thank you also for your article. I should point out that neither Tran Thuong Xuyen nor Duong Ngan Dich should be
described as "Tuong nha Minh".  They were pirates who had operated under both Ming and early Qing and fled after the Three Feudatories were suppressed and the Qing established control of the coast.. See Robert Antony's article on Yang Yangdi  "Righteous Yang" in Cross Currents, June 2014.

Hue Tam Ho Tai
Harvard University emerita

From: Hiep Duc <Hiep.Duc@environment.nsw.gov.au>
Sent: Friday, May 5, 2023 7:11 AM
To: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>; mikebiking@yahoo.com; vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Some early Nguyễn titles in Gia Định and Hà Tiên

Maybe we should not read too much about the title “tổng binh” bestowed on Trần Thượng Xuyên or Mạc Cửu. The Nguyen Lord did not help them much. They had to create their own militia. They were useful to the Nguyen Lord in the frontier lands adjacent to Khmer people.

The Chinese and Viets were close in culture (Sinitic) and the Nguyen Lords were more comfortable to have them settled down in the newly settled territories to pacify the border areas.

Lê Quí Đôn wrote in 1776 “Phủ biên tạp lục” 撫邊雜錄 (Miscellaneous writings on the Pacification of the Border Areas) about many things on the boerder areas including the administration structure of the Nguyen Lords.

He was sent by the Le-Trinh of Đàng Ngoài to the newly conquered Thuận Hóa and Quảng Nam to administer the area as a Hiệp Trấn. He had an exceptional knowledge and observation skill and described the situation from the late 16th century to the time he was a Hiệp Trấn. This is what he wrote in “Phủ biên tạp lục” on the southern border areas (Phiên Trấn, Trấn Biên, Long Hồ) covering roughly Saigon, Biên Hòa, Vĩnh Long areas

“Dinh Phiên-trấn ở huyện Tân-bình phủ Gia-định có quan Ký-lục, Cai-án, Tri-bạ đứng đầu, thuộc viên là ty Tướng-thần-lại có hai câu-kê, ba cai-hợp, bảy thủ-hợp và muời tu lại.

Dinh Trấn-biên ở huyện Phúc-long, phủ Gia-định có một Ký-lục, một Cai-án, một Tri-bạ đứng đầu, đặt ty Xá-sai có một cai-hợp, hai Bản-ty-lại và ty Tướng thần-lại, có một câu-kê, hai cai-hợp, hai thủ-hợp và mười Bản-ty-lại.

Dinh Long-hồ có môt Ký-lục, một Cai-án, một Tri-bạ đứng đầu, dưới quyền có ty Xá-sai, ty Tướng-thần-lại số nhân viên và chức việc cũng như trên.

..

“

The Navy rather than the infantry was the strength of the Nguyen Lord military. Note the yellow-highlighted text on “Tổng binh”, “Cai bạ” and “Tri bạ” in trấn Hà Tiên. Extract from Phủ Biên tạp lục, book 3, part C. which has detail description of military and titles

“ Dinh Phiên-trấn có Trung cơ, thuộc vào cơ ấy có 7 thuyền là Nhung bính, Thắng súng, Hậu súng, Tiểu bính, Tiểu súng, Nội súng và một đội lính kỵ mã (Giám quân cai đội coi 4 thuyền, Ký lục, Cai án và Cai bạ đều coi 1 thuyền).

Có đội Tân nhung, thuộc vào đội ấy có 3 thuyền là Tiệp nhật, Tiệp nhị, Tiệp tam.

Có đội Tả long, thuộc vào đội ấy có 3 thuyền là Thanh nhất, Thanh nhị, Thanh tam.

Có đội Tả tiệp, thuộc vào đội ấy có 3 thuyền là Tráng nhất, Tráng nhị, Tráng tam.

Có đội Hữu tiệp, thuộc vào đội ấy có 3 thuyền là Cuờng nhất, Cuờng nhị, Cuờng tam, cùng giữ xứ Cổ-chanh.

Có đội Tiền tiệp, thuộc vào đội ấy có 3 thuyền là Hùng nhất, Hùng nhị, Hùng tam.

Có đội Hậu tiệp, thuộc vào đội ấy có 3 thuyền là Kiên nhất, Kiên nhị, Kiên tam, cùng giữ cửa sông Ba-thắc và xứ Cần-thơ. 4 đội ấy có 12 thuyền, mỗi thuyền 50 người, đều lấy thổ dân, miễn không phải đóng tiền gạo. Chức Chánh, Thứ Đội trưởng đều cho tiện nghi điền

bổ, được miễn không phải đóng tiền gạo.

…

Về trấn dinh Hà-tiên có 8 thuyền là Kiên nhất, Kiên nhị, Kiên đao, Kiên nhung, Nghia thắng, Kiên phong, Long kỳ, Tráng súng (Tổng binh coi 6 thuyền, Cai bạ, Tri bạ đều coi 1 thuyền).

Có đội Thủy thắng, thuộc vào đội ấy có 3 thuyền. Có đội Hùng bộ 3 thuyền và các đội Tả thủy, Hữu thủy. Các ngạch binh ở cơ, đội và thuyền kể trên đây, trừ thổ binh được miễn gạo

sưu xuất thì không được cấp lương, còn thì lĩnh lương ở kho.

“

From what I know, the title “Tổng binh” is no big deal (not a general or commander in chief of the Army or Navy). I visited Tran Thựơng Xuyên tomb in Tân Uyên, Bình Dương (not far from Cù Lao Phố, Biên Hòa, where he  settled with a large Chinese community, subsequently destroyed by Tay Son Army). It is a very simple humble tomb not a kind of elaborated one signifying an important person worthy of his rank as an army  general. He was venerated only in the Chinese temples in “Đình Tân Lân”, Cu lao Phố, Biên Hòa and in “Minh hương gia Thạnh” temple in Saigon (Trần Hưng Đạo street, District 5). See my article on Tran Thượng Xuyên tomb which was discovered not long ago

https://www.vanchuongviet.org/index.php?comp=tacpham&action=detail&id=5985

Hiep

EPA, NSW Australia

From: Mike High <mikebiking@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 4, 2023 8:34 AM
To: Oscar Salemink <o.salemink@anthro.ku.dk>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Some early Nguyễn titles in Gia Định and Hà Tiên

Oscar,

I’ve always been amazed by that book, and wondered why Sellers never wrote anything more about Vietnam. It’s a bit hagiographic and romantic in parts, but quite informative. He must have had some help from a nhà nho, because it includes information from the Mạc family genealogy, along with other Vietnamese sources. I did a little checking online, and it seems that he wrote a monograph as a member of the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, but that’s it.

I was able to find a copy at Catholic Univesity, and scanned it into a PDF file.  I’d be happy to share that with anyone who needs it for scholarly purposes. I also have two or three pages of notes from the book, if that would be usefu to any listmembers.

By the way, Hà Tiên and the Mạc family are also the subjects of a more recent book Poetic Transformations: Eighteenth-Century Cultural Projects on the Mekong Plains, by Claudine Ang. She examines the “Ten Lyrics of Hà Tiên” in detail in that book. 

Hà Tiên is one of my favorite places in the south, and I have endeavored to find each of the ten “landscapes” that Mạc Thiên Tứ celebrated. These are not identified locally, so it was a bit of an adventure. One of the places mentioned is a long-vanished creek which turned out to be on the grounds of a military installation (as we were politely informed by a soldier with an automatic weapon).

:: Mike 

From: Oscar Salemink <o.salemink@anthro.ku.dk>
Sent: Thursday, May 4, 2023 3:31 AM
To: Mike High <mikebiking@yahoo.com>; Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Some early Nguyễn titles in Gia Định and Hà Tiên

Dear Mike,

In 1983 Nicholas Sellers, an American veteran of the Vietnamese-American war, published his UMich (master?) thesis The Princes of Hà-tiên (1682-1867) with a rather obscure Brussels bookstore annex publisher Thanh-Long. I remember buying it for Phan Huy Le in the late 1980s when I was in Brussels, but the bookstore closed not long after. According to Google books it was digitalized in 2008, but I am not aware of any publicly accessible copy. I believe that I have a hard copy somewhere, but it would take me some time to look for it; anyway, I did not scan it myself. Below is the bibliographic info from Google.

Titel

The Princes of Hà-tiên (1682-1867)

Publication no. 11 of Etudes orientales

Author

Nicholas Sellers

Publisher

Thanh-Long, 1983

Original from

University of Michigan

Digitalized

4 September 2008

ISBN

0960764216, 9780960764211

Length

186 pages

Oscar Salemink

Professor

Department of Anthropology

From: Mike High <mikebiking@yahoo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 3, 2023 10:18 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Some early Nguyễn titles in Gia Định and Hà Tiên

Thanks for these responses. I had searched the Đại Nam Thực Lục for references to "tổng binh” and confirmed that the Nguyễn were not in the habit of using this title.

But I overlooked something in the entry for 1679—both Dương Ngạn Địch and Trần Thượng Xuyên are referenced as "tổng binh” upon arrival. So the term may have been introduced in Đàng Trong by these two expatriates from Ming China.

I’m still a bit puzzled as to why the title was given to Mạc Cửu, since he was not known as a military man, and the Mạc and the Nguyễn wouldn’t be collaborating on military campaigns until much later. But the 1708 entry refers to Hà Tiên as a “trấn,” which also has a military connotation.

:: Mike High

From: Davis,Bradley C.(History) <davisbrad@easternct.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 2, 2023 1:05 PM
To: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>; mikebiking@yahoo.com; vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Some early Nguyễn titles in Gia Định and Hà Tiên

Hi Mike,

 Đỗ Văn Ninh has a very informative entry for tổng binh in the _Từ Điển Chức Quan Việt Nam_. Its usage in Vietnam dates to the 15th century, likely lifted from Ming political vocabulary. As you suggest, it was probably intended to be provisional, especially considering the offices that were instituted during later the nineteenth century occupation of Cambodia, which, from sources I have read, do not include the term “tổng binh.”

Bradley Camp Davis (he/him)

Associate Professor                                        

Department of History

Webb Hall 333 - Spring 2023 Office Hours: MF2-4, W2-3

Eastern Connecticut State University 

83 Windham Street

Willimantic, CT 06226

US

Reviews Editor, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society

Series Co-Editor, HdO Section 3 - Southeast Asia, Brill 

https://brill.com/view/serial/HO3

From: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 2, 2023 12:53 PM
To: mikebiking@yahoo.com; vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Some early Nguyễn titles in Gia Định and Hà Tiên

Hi, Mike,
Nice to see you are pursuing your researches into southern history.
A tong binh would be a military title, higher than a lanh binh.
Interesting that it was bestowed on Mac Cuu, suggesting that he probably had to defend Ha Tien against Siamese  attempts to take it back for Cambodia.
The 1898 Genibrel Dictionnaire annamite-francais  has:
tong binh:  chef des troupes, general, m. commandant superieur des troupes

Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Harvard Uiversity emerita.

From: Mike High <mikebiking@yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 2, 2023 12:19 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Vsg] Some early Nguyễn titles in Gia Định and Hà Tiên

Dear List,

The recent discussion of provincial titles has stimulated me to tap into the list’s expertise regarding some questions that I have about titles, albeit from “olden times.”  

In parsing the Đại Nam Thực Lục for the early development of Gia Định, I have come across the title "Tổng Binh,” which the Nguyễn lords bestowed upon Mo Jiu (Mạc Cửu) and Chen Shangchuan (Trần Thượng Xuyên) the heads of the emerging city states of Hà Tiên and Đại Phổ. (I gather that this is a title used in the Ming-Qing periods in China, 總兵).

The title Tổng Binh was given to Mạc Cửu in 1708, at the time that he submitted himself to the Nguyễn court. The same title was given to Trần Thượng Xuyên in 1711. I’m a little uncertain as to its connotation, as Mạc Cửu was head of an autonomous city-state in 1708, while Trần Thượng Xuyên’s colony fell within the jurisdiction of Gia Định. In truth, Trần Thượng Xuyên seems to have operated almost as freely as Mạc Cửu at this time; the Vietnamese appointees to Trấn Biên came and went, holding lesser titles. 

So, I wonder if Tổng Binh referred specifically to Trần Thượng Xuyên’s role as commander in the continuing wars with the Khmer and the Siamese on the Mekong. Or does it imply a broader role, similar to that of Mạc Cửu, who was acting (in the eyes of the Nguyễn court) more in the role of vassal lord than as a military commander?       

:: Mike High

Author | Researcher

Great Falls, Virginia

USA 

PS. BTW, Trần Thượng Xuyên ís also referred to as "Đô đốc Phiên Trấn” in 1714. I'm familiar with this title only in its military context, which would make sense given Trần Thượng Xuyên’s frequent appearances in regional conflicts. (There is no mention of civilian administrators in Phiên Trấn in this period—I suspect that Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh never got around to actually setting up a “dinh Phiên Trấn” during his very brief residency.) 

On Apr 6, 2023, at 6:29 PM, Dien Nguyen <nguyendien519@gmail.com> wrote:

The 3 top mandarins in a province pre-1945 were tổng đốc or  tuần phủ (depending on the importance and size of the province), bố chánh and án sát.

Mr Tạ Chương Phùng could have been either bố chánh or án sát in Bình Định.

Nguyễn Điền

Canberra