Economy of Nam Dan district, Nghe An province under the Nguyen dynasty in the period 1802 - 1884

country, have respect for the king and the king, and know etiquette and integrity. The pure and honest customs have never been interrupted" [106, p.223]. The relationship in the village, in the residents, in each family, has the specific characteristic that the classes often blend together, stick together without clear distinction. In the occupation of the residents, it is very difficult to find a purely scholar family as well as a family that only does handicrafts or trade in the countryside. Therefore, besides the classification of residents according to the above "four people" standard, in the villages in Nam Dan during the Nguyen Dynasty, there was another way of classification based on political status, social rank and age to determine the rank in the village. Some researchers call this "vertical village social relations whose prominent features are the distinction between mandarins and white-collar workers, between old and young, between superiors and inferiors, between men and women, between official residents and temporary residents" [122, p.122].

In daily life, the majority of residents in 6 cantons and 65 communes and villages in Nam Dan during the period of 1802 - 1884 still settled and lived together in traditional village units according to regional relations (associated with specific spaces), combined with blood relations (family, clan) and other relations such as occupation, age, social status, religious beliefs. Under the Nguyen Dynasty, from Gia Long to Minh Mang, many policies were issued to bring the scattered people back to their hometowns for production, to establish land registers to redistribute land, continue to control water, do irrigation work, clear up abandoned land, rectify customs in villages, reform the administrative apparatus of villages and communes to "close the autonomy of villages" to enhance the centralized power of the feudal state. Although there were many experiences of the Quang Trung Dynasty, the problem was not simple and persisted throughout the 19th century. In Nghe An in general, Nam Dan in particular is also in that general situation [71, p.176].

For each family, the house is the place where all activities between members take place in daily life, it is a symbol of the physical facilities showing the living conditions of a household in the general area of all residents in a residential area. The houses of Nam Dan people have both common architectural features of Vietnamese village residents but at the same time also have their own unique features to suit the living conditions and the harshness of natural conditions.

In terms of structure, the common house types of people in Nam Dan are the "lower cupboard house" and the four-pillar house [78, p.255]. The four-pillar house usually has four roofs, the structure of the rafters

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The rafters and main pillars are usually low, especially in the main room of the house, the number of main pillars is greater than in other types of houses. The house is built of wood or brick walls, has few windows, and is often surrounded by side porches and a roof behind the porch to avoid storms and winds in the rainy season and to cool the house in the summer. The "lower cupboard house" is an improved house from the stilt house of the ethnic minorities in the mountainous region, which is very popular with the people of Nam Dan in the left and right banks of the Lam River. The house is often cut down from the floor compared to the traditional stilt house, then the builder chisels and nails the rafters, the ends are tilted down to the ground for stability, then the house is built, and when the house is finished, a cupboard is added. For the lower-level house, the horizontal line running through the entire roof makes the viewer feel heavy and rough, but increases the sturdiness of the entire house to help the house withstand the stormy winds of the rainy season, and is also a place to store property or take shelter for family members during the frequent floods that occur in the lower Lam River [78, p.256].

In addition to the two types of houses mentioned above, there is another type of house that is very popular among poor households in the village, which is the house made of bamboo and reed. These houses are not elaborate in the main pillars, crossbars or windbreaks but are minimalist in the materials used to build the house. Surrounding the house are walls made of woven bamboo or the walls are plastered with mud mixed with chopped straw, inside there is a frame made of bamboo and reed to reinforce the walls of the house to make them more solid.

In short, no matter what type, the most common structure must have a main room and auxiliary rooms. The main room, the center of the house, is used to place the family altar. Depending on the homeowner's conditions, the main room has a set of sofas, wooden horses or a set of tables and chairs, and a bamboo bed to receive guests. The inner room (auxiliary room) is the living and resting place of family members, and is also the place to store material wealth and important items. In addition, it is also the place to arrange the cupboard.

With the population density concentrated in small, narrow plains, cut off, interspersed with lakes, hills and agricultural areas, the residential area of households is often not as spacious as in other districts. However, the space of each household does not lack a garden, drying yard or airy walkway convenient for living, traveling and production. House architecture and structure

of the village, commune bearing the traditional cultural features of the community of the entire population in the lower Lam River, and the autonomy of each village, each house in the village and commune. All of these values reflect the simplicity in the cultural life of the agricultural residents of Nam Dan.

Due to economic difficulties, the way the villagers of Nam Dan village dressed remained almost unchanged compared to previous centuries. The majority of villagers still only had clothes and skirts (man) made from cheap, coarse fabrics sold at village and district markets. To keep them durable, they dyed them brown (in Sa Nam market, Chua market, Rong market, Huu Biet market... there were fabric dyeing stalls). Wealthy families had to go to Vinh market to "Khach street" (the street of Chinese merchants) to buy good velvet and silk to make clothes. When they were sick, like their ancestors centuries ago, traditional medicine, herbal pots and steaming water... were popular methods of treatment. Only when they were seriously ill did they ask a traditional doctor to check their pulse, then prescribe a prescription, then go to the Chinese medicine stall in the market to get the medicine to bring home and boil to drink. From generation to generation, the lifestyle in the countryside remained unchanged.

The village structure in Nam Dan district has many similarities with the villages in the Northern region, but has a more "open" structure. If the Northern village is the village gate, brick wall, bamboo fence and symbols such as communal house, pagoda, shrine, banyan tree, water ferry, village well... have become highlights containing the solidarity of the community, closed with interwoven relationships, then the village in Nam Dan in particular those elements are somewhat faded. The explanation for the above characteristics is that the habitat that residents choose as the place to build villages and hamlets is that people here have to rely on mountains, facing the sea, rivers and water to survive. In Nam Dan district, in the village there are only one or two dug wells, built of laterite or mountain stone for all members of the village to use. Currently, in the hamlets in the district, there are still village wells from centuries ago such as Ho hamlet, Dong Nam hamlet, Leo village (Dien Lam commune), each hamlet has 1 well; Tu Tri village, Kim Lien village, Chung Tinh village, Xuan La village, Huu Biet village in Xuan Lam commune each village has 2 wells; Cong Lao village (Thanh Thuy) has 1 well; Khoa Truong village, Phu Tho village, Tam Tang village, in Bich Trieu commune; Hoanh Son village, Trung Can village in Nam Kim commune also have only 1 well [72], [80]. The road to the village is made of dirt, only 2 - 3 m wide, winding from the beginning of the village to the end of the village, serving the travel and production needs of the residents. Each village usually has 1 well.

guarded by villagers from evening to dawn. According to our survey, out of 65 villages and communes in Nam Dan, only 38 villages and communes have built communal houses, accounting for more than 58%, of which the most famous are: Duong Lieu communal house, Nam Kim communal house, Trung Can communal house, Hoanh Son communal house, Khoa Truong communal house, Phu Tho communal house, Trung Hoa communal house, Thanh Thuy communal house, Yen Lac communal house, Yen Ho communal house, Thinh Lac communal house, Kim Lien communal house, Huu Biet communal house, Chung Cu communal house, Kha Lam communal house [77], [75]. All the big and small tasks in the village from taxes, military service, corvee, corvee, marriage, funerals, to maintaining security and order, preventing fires, welcoming successful candidates to return home to honor their ancestors or worshiping the village god, resolving conflicts between households in the village are all undertaken by the village bureaucracy. The projection angle between the communal house clearly reflects the status and position of each household, clan, family, resident or immigrant. "The land and customs of the village" all work in the village still takes place according to that seemingly immutable order, "the king's law is weaker than the village's customs" is considered the standard in all social relations taking place in the village.

Regarding religious life, villages and communes often have from 2 to 5 temples and shrines worshiping Human and Natural gods. For example: Kha Lam village has Tram Mot temple (worshiping river gods, mountain gods), and King Mai temple; Huong Lam commune (Dien Lam) has mausoleums and temples worshiping King Mai, Duc Ong temple, Mau temple, and Huong Lam Hau Nguyen Van Menh temple; Thanh Thuy commune has Nghe temple (worshiping famous Tay Son generals), Mau temple, Nguyen Canh Hoan temple (Mo); Phu Tho village has Cao Son Cao Cac temple, Minister of Education Bui Duy Nhuong temple, Tong Tat Thang temple... Besides the system of communal houses, temples, and shrines, in Nam Dan there is also a system of pagodas built from the 7th century to the Tay Son period and even during the Nguyen period. Typical examples include Nhan Thap Pagoda (built in the 7th century), Phuc Linh Pagoda (Ha Pagoda), An Lac Pagoda, Vinh Phuc Pagoda, Dai Tue Pagoda, Ba Danh Pagoda, Vien Quang Pagoda, Loi Pagoda, Phu Tho Pagoda [77]... Besides the existence of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, in the religious life of residents in Nam Dan district, there are also a number of Catholic followers living in Van Loc, Trang Cat, Chung Thap, Nhat Quang, Quy Chinh, and Trang Den [206]. During the period of 1802 - 1884, the policy of banning and killing religions maintained by the Nguyen Dynasty pushed all Catholics in Nam Dan into a situation of always living in anxiety and fear.

In each village and commune, there is a large, high area of land that is less prone to flooding during the rainy season.

rain to make a cemetery (cemetery) - a place to bury the deceased, according to folk experience, the cemetery is usually in the West or Northwest of the village. The customs and practices of ancestor worship, the tradition of filial piety to grandparents and parents are highly valued by the residents of Nam Dan village. In addition to the relationship between subjects and the king (Royal power - Subjects), the residents of Nam Dan village also have blood relationships between grandparents, parents, clans, and lineages. Besides, the unwritten relationship "within the family outside the village", "selling distant brothers and buying close neighbors", always binds and connects all members of the village. The residents of Nam Dan village only leave the land of their ancestors when they wander to new lands to reclaim, build villages, establish hamlets or in case of avoiding war, or due to natural disasters, storms, floods, epidemics, crop failures and famine, they have to leave their homeland to seek a living in a foreign land.

During the period 1802 - 1884, the stagnation of the agricultural economy made poverty and bankruptcy of farmers an urgent problem. Along with the increase in population, the surplus labor force (without land for production) in rural areas increased. To take advantage of the local labor force, it was necessary to rely on handicraft and commercial activities. However, this field was not considered by the Nguyen Dynasty as a profession, and was also hindered by state policies, leading to a situation where among the people, the spirit of competition and the concept of progress could not develop. In that context, Nghe An in general, Nam Dan in particular, the outdated and backward self-sufficient small-scale agricultural economy continued to be maintained, people's lives were difficult, always facing many dangers due to war, natural disasters, and poverty. The material and spiritual cultural life of village residents in Nam Dan district did not change much during the period 1802 - 1884.

5.5. The restrictions that the Nguyen Dynasty implemented in the economic, political, cultural and social fields were the underlying causes that pushed the farmers of Nam Dan village into a situation of crop failure, famine, displacement and even uprising against the royal court.

As soon as he ascended the throne and took power to rule the country, King Gia Long (1802 - 1819) implemented a policy of harshly suppressing those who participated in supporting the Tay Son peasant movement and the Tay Son dynasty (1771 - 1801). According to author Do Bang, in the book New Discoveries about Emperor Quang Trung [9], Nghe An is the ancestral land of

Tay Son brothers, under the Gia Long dynasty, some descendants of the Ho family in Thai Lao village (Hung Nguyen) and Xuan Ho village (Nam Dan) became victims of that tragic massacre [9, pp. 7 - 9]. Those who had distant relatives with the Tay Son family and had supported the Tay Son dynasty in some villages in Non Lieu, Non Ho, Xuan Lam, Kim Lien, Chung Thap, Tu Tri... were forced by Gia Long to live at the foot of Dai Hue mountain, establishing Huu Biet camp (in present-day Nam Giang commune) for easy control. In addition, the constructions built on Nghe An land under the Tay Son dynasty, especially those related to the Tay Son family, were all dug up, dismantled, and erased. At the beginning of the Nguyen dynasty, King Gia Long ordered the destruction of the remaining vestiges of the Tay Son period in this land such as Phuong Hoang Trung Do citadel at the foot of Dung Quyet mountain (in Trung Do ward, Vinh city today), Sung Chinh library (Nam Kim) with La Son Phu Tu Nguyen Thiep as the Director.

In order to take control of land management throughout our country, from Gia Long to Tu Duc, the measurement, classification of land, establishment of land registers, and determination of land tax rates were carried out quite thoroughly throughout Vietnam. The Nguyen Dynasty expressed its attitude towards the land issue, which was to restore public land, even though the socio-economic conditions in the first half of the 19th century had changed a lot [170, p.54]. However, this policy affected the interests of classes and strata in the localities. For farmers, the redistribution of land in the condition that the private ownership process had become popular, public land was narrowed, there was not enough land to divide among farmers, or if divided, it was not equal, as King Gia Long commented at the end of his life, "The people have not been equal for a long time, how can everyone be equal?" [170, p.53]. The landlord class and the local mandarin class, especially the civil service apparatus from the Chief of the village, the Village Chief, the Deputy Village Chief, the Village Inspector, were not paid by the state and the illegal occupation, occupation, and trading of land had been going on for centuries. Now, the redistribution of land and the collection of private land into public land have made the "confrontation" between the State and the landlord class for control of the countryside a reality that has taken place, with land being the key issue.

Based on statistics in 40 commune and village land registers in Nam Dan district from 1802 to 1884, it shows that the phenomenon of owners of more than 50 acres in Nam Dan is very rare (only 1 owner), the class of owners from 1 to 5 acres is the main one. Based on the above ownership status, it shows that

The conflict between the State and the owners was not as fierce as in many other localities in the country. In Anh Do district in particular, and Nghe An in general, in the early 19th century, the policy of conscription, forced labor, and miscellaneous labor implemented by Gia Long, Minh Mang... directly affected every family in the village. Besides, in society there was still a class of Confucian intellectuals who were indebted to the Later Le dynasty and the Tay Son dynasty, and did not easily accept the dominant position of the Nguyen Phuc family.

In particular, the policy of not building dikes to prevent rising tides along coastal villages and on both sides of the La and Lam rivers that the Nguyen Dynasty maintained throughout the period of 1802 - 1884 pushed the majority of the people of Nghe An and Anh Do district into a situation where they were always facing the risk of losing their rice, crops, and even their houses. According to the records of the National History Institute of the Nguyen Dynasty in the years 1807, 1811, 1823, 1825, 1842, 1853, 1867, 1873 [170, pp.105 - 109]...

Nghe An suffered from floods, droughts, and crop failures, and the Nguyen Dynasty had to exempt taxes and open granaries to distribute food to the people. Accessing 40 land registers also revealed that the situation of encroachment on land ownership in Nam Dan was quite complicated, and the situation of occupying public land for private land in the second half of the 19th century by mandarins, landlords, and officials was common, pushing Nam Dan farmers into a situation where they had no land to cultivate. In addition, the policy of "emphasizing agriculture" and "suppressing trade" caused most industries and handicrafts in Nghe An and Nam Dan to always be fragmented and small-scale, unable to escape the agricultural economy of small-scale farming deeply rooted in the villages. Domestic trade activities were mainly buying and selling, exchanging goods of a regional nature in the traditional way, binding craftsmen and traders to the villages.

The characteristics of the economic situation in the rural villages of Nam Dan under the Nguyen Dynasty in the period of 1802 - 1884 mentioned above were the underlying causes leading to the consecutive outbreaks of peasant uprisings in the district. In 1811, the uprising led by Nguyen Tuan took place right in the area of two districts of Anh Do prefecture, Thanh Chuong district and Nam Dan district. King Gia Long had to order the governor of An Tinh to mobilize soldiers from Nghe An citadel, joining forces with the army mobilized from Hue to suppress the uprising. In 1813, peasants in Nam Dan, Thanh Chuong, La Son, Dong Thanh, and Quynh Luu rose up in revolt. In 1818, the uprising led by Le Huu Tao broke out again in the area of Anh Do prefecture.

In 1823, the people of Nam Dan and Thanh Chuong rose up in revolt again, capturing the Sa Nam citadel, and taking control of a large area in the lower Lam River. Minh Mang was forced to send soldiers from Hue to Nghe An, along with the garrison there, to organize repression and terror to quell the uprising. However, the policy of harshly suppressing those who participated in and supported the uprising that the Nguyen Dynasty implemented made the conflict between the majority of farmers in Nghe An and Nam Dan and the royal court increasingly deeper.

Notably, during the period of 1802 - 1884, the policy of banning and killing religion that Gia Long, Minh Mang, Thieu Tri, and Tu Duc continued to maintain pushed all Catholics in the Dai Nam kingdom in general, and Nghe An and Nam Dan provinces in particular, into an urgent situation, forcing them to rise up against the court. In 1874, Tran Tan and Dang Nhu Mai raised the flag of uprising with the slogan "Fight both the court and the West". The headquarters of Thanh village, in Thanh Thuy commune, became the center of this large-scale uprising. Unfortunately, in that uprising, Catholics of Nam Dan, Thanh Chuong, Quynh Luu, Yen Thanh, Nghi Loc, and Hung Nguyen became the target of elimination. The Hue court mobilized Ton That Thuyet to bring troops from the Northern Delta to Nghe An to join forces with the court army commanded by Hoang Ta Viem to suppress the uprising [98].

The brutal massacre of those who participated in and supported the Giáp Tuất uprising in 1874 in Nam Đàn, Thanh Chương... continued to push the conflict between the majority of villagers in the Lam River basin and the Tự Đức court to rise. Along with that, from 1858 to 1884, in the face of the French colonialist attack, the Tự Đức court struggled to find a way to defend the country, then successively signed the Treaty of severing the three Eastern provinces (1862), the Six Southern provinces (1874), the Harmand Treaty (1883), and the Patenotre Treaty (1884) recognizing the French rule over the entire territory of Vietnam, causing further resentment among the Confucian intellectual class and the majority of the people. That mass of overlapping contradictions was one of the underlying causes that pushed the majority of patriotic scholars and the majority of village residents in Nghe An, Ha Tinh in general, and Nam Dan in particular, to rise up in response to the Can Vuong movement from 1885 to 1896, which we will not present here.

Economy of Nam Dan district, Nghe An province under the Nguyen dynasty in the period 1802 - 1884 - 19

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