Maritime Foreign Trade Policy of the Nguyễn Dynasty In the Period of

Transcription

1 Maritime Foreign Trade Policy of the Nguyễn Dynasty In the Period of DINH Thi Hai Duong 1 1 Institute of History, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam Abstract: The maritime foreign trade policy of the Nguyễn dynasty between 1802 and 1858 included different rules to different situations and underwent certain adaptations. It drew clear distinctions between maritime foreign commerce activities of the Nguyễn court and those of Vietnamese citizens and foreign merchants. Maritime foreign trade activities of the Nguyễn court were operated in different ways, including as a subordinate channel of political missions and operated directly by the Nguyễn court s diplomatic corps, taxing foreign merchants commodity by ordering foreign merchants commodity in advance to be shipped to Đại Nam for the Nguyễn court. However, those activities of Vietnamese citizens and foreign merchants were restricted by complicated and strict policies of the Nguyễn dynasty relating to maritime foreign commerce, including tax policies, forbidden regulations on those activities in certain periods, regulations on Vietnamese merchants ship sizes. Those policies had a partly negative impact on contributions of Vietnamese citizens and foreign merchants maritime trade activities to Đại Nam s economy under the Nguyễn dynasty. Although there were many disadvantages of the policy, to some extent it positively contributed to an increase of the Nguyễn dynasty s national income and security of food and goods for the Nguyễn State s treasuries and storehouses in the period. Keywords: the Nguyễn dynasty, maritime foreign trade policy, maritime trade, Đại Nam, Vietnam. 1. Introduction Đại Nam in the 19 th century (present-day Vietnam) had a long coastline with many seaports. Its East Sea was located in an intersection of various maritime trade routes within Southeast Asia as well as between the Southeast and the East Asia. Hence, the geographical location of Đại Nam impacted on Nguyễn dynasty s policies on economic management and development, especially on maritime foreign trade. The policies mainly focused on management of commercial activities and development of relationships between Đại Nam and major foreign trade partners such as Chinese, Siamese, Singaporean, Indonesian merchants, as well as European merchants in specific times. They included many rules imposed on specific situations and drew clear distinctions between maritime foreign commerce activities of the Nguyễn court and those of Vietnamese citizens and foreign merchants. This paper focuses on examining the policies of the Nguyễn dynasty from 1802 to 1858 before the strong impact of French colonial s invasion on those policies. 2. Establishing Authorities in Maritime Foreign Trade Management Under the Nguyễn s court, Emperor of Gia Long (r ) established Six Boards (Lục Bộ) at the central level of administration. They were the Board of Personnel (or the Board of Appointments; Bộ Lại), the Board of Finance (Bộ Hộ), the Board of Rites (Bộ Lễ), the Board of War (or the Board of Warfare; Bộ Binh), the Board of Justice (Bộ Hình), and the Board of Public Works (or the Board of Construction; Bộ Công). Among those, the Board of Public Works, the Board of Finance and the Board of Justice were more responsible for managing commercial activities, including maritime foreign trade activities. Accordingly, taxes on maritime trade activities were controlled by the Board of Finance. The Board of Public Works managed shipbuilding and the Board of Justice was in charge of imposing sanctions against illegal maritime trade activities. Along with those Boards, the Nguyễn dynasty also established other institutions to manage maritime trade activities better such as the Merchant Superintendency (Nha Thương bạc/ty Thương bạc), the Transport Administration (Ty Tào chính), the Office of Travelling Deputies (Ty Hành nhân) at the central level, and military posts (especially Tấn) at sea mouth areas and islands mainly at a local level. 2.1 Establishing Authorities at the Central Level The Office of Travelling Deputies (Ty Hành nhân) The Office of Travelling Deputies was founded by the Nguyễn Emperor of Gia Long at both the capital of Huế and other provinces. In provinces, the Office of Travelling Deputies originated as the Team of Interpreters and Translators (Đội Thông ngôn) which was responsible for translation (Nội các triều Nguyễn 2005, Vol. 5: 170, 171; Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn 2007, Vol. 2: 532). The Office of Travelling Deputies was in charge of managing prices and volumes of imported and exported goods in order to prevent and detect frauds and illegal activities of merchants. In addition, it was also responsible for translation and participation in the State s maritime foreign trade and diplomatic activities both in Đại Nam and overseas (Nội các triều Nguyễn, 2005, Vol. 2: 82; Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn, 2007, Vol. 3: 920). Personnel resource of the Office of Travelling Deputies included one mandarin called Quản lãnh and officers (Hành nhân). The mandarin was the Head of the Office appointed directly by the Nguyễn Emperor. He was also a mandarin of another bureau and being in charge of the Head of the Office of Travelling Deputies as his second duty. For example, the mandarin of the Department of Imperial Tea Service (Viện Thượng trà) called Viện sứ Thượng trà viện (naming Nguyễn Văn Lộc) was appointed to manage the Office of Travelling Deputies in November 1823 and a military mandarin called 10

2 Phó vệ uý (naming Nguyễn Đắc Suý) was appointed in 1827 (Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn, 2007, Vol. 2: 323, 633). Hành nhân was directly under the management of Quản lãnh, the 8 th or the 9 th rank officer in the bureaucratic nine-rank system. The bureaucratic nine-rank system was from rank 1 (Nhất phẩm) to rank 9 (Cửu phẩm); each rank included Grade A (Chánh) and Grade B (Tòng), the highest Grade-rank was 1A (Chánh Nhất phẩm), and the lowest one was 9B (Tòng Cửu phẩm) right after of 9A. Among the officers, there were many translators/interpreters (Thông ngôn) who were Hành nhân being in charge of translations of foreign languages such as Western languages, Chinese, Siamese, etc. (according to the regulations in December 1833 and 1834). They learnt foreign languages in Đại Nam or overseas such as in China, Singapore, etc. (Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn Vol. 4: 764; Vol. 5: 424). Under the Minh Mệnh reign (r ), a translator being good at a specific foreign language was in charge of translation in maritime foreign trade and diplomatic activities between the Nguyễn dynasty and a country using that language (according to regulations in 1834) (Nội các triều Nguyễn Vol. 2: 82). Furthermore, some officers (Thông ngôn/hành nhân) were foreign merchants and European missionaries in Đại Nam recruited by the Nguyễn court such as Europeans, named in Vietnamese by the Nguyễn Emperor as Phú Hoài Nhân (rank 7A), Tây Hoài Hoa and Tây Hoài Hoá (rank 7B), were responsible for European - Vietnamese translations in maritime trade and diplomatic activities in The salary per month paid for each of those translators was 20 quan (strings of cash), 4 phương of rice paid for salary, 1 phương of good rice 2 (Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn Vol. 2: 649; Vol. 3: 835). Another example can be concerned as Lý Thái, who was a Chinese merchant in Đại Nam and a Thông ngôn (rank 8) under Thiệu Trị reign (r ), efficiently bought and shipped goods from China to Đại Nam for the Nguyễn court for many times (Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn, 2007, Vol. 6: 961) he Transport Administration (Ty Tào chính) Ty Tào chính was originally named Trường đà, established in 1802 and renamed Ty Tào chính (or Ty Thanh Cần Tào chính) in In 1853, it was subordinated to the Board of Finance and became a subordinate office at centre level (Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn Vol. 2: 124, 217; Nội các triều Nguyễn Vol. 8: 493; Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn Vol. 1: 72; Đỗ Bang (ed.,), Nguyễn Danh Phiệt, Nguyễn Quang Ngọc, Vũ Văn Quân 1997: 81) 3. It was in charge of managing State s waterway transportation (especially maritime transportation), as well as waterway trade (especially taxes on ships) under the regulations in December 1833) (Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn Vol. 3: 919). 2 Metric units of capacity to measure cereals regulated by the Nguyễn court included hộc, phương (vuông), thăng (thưng), cáp, bát, uyển as followings: 1 hộc = 2 phương (vuông) = litres; 1 phương = 13 thăng (thưng) = litres; 1 thăng = 10 cáp = litres; 1 cáp = litres; 1 bát = 2.54 litres ; 1 uyển = 1.27 litres. (Đỗ Bang, 1997: 20). 3 According to the record of Đại Nam nhất thống chí, the Transport Administration was established in 1821 (Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn, 2006, Vol. 1: 72) However, the most important duty of the Transport Administration was to manage and implement State s waterway transportation and manage the issues relating to ships. The Transport Administration was located at Huế capital in the Centre of Đại Nam (Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn Vol. 1: 72). The officers of the Transport Administration were responsible for management of examining and taxing foreign trade ships arriving at seaports in the Huế capital and Quảng Nam province. In other provinces, local governments were in charge of management of taxing and overseeing trade ships at seaports. Records on the State s maritime transportation, maritime trade activities, and maritime trade taxes at seaports at the Huế capital and provinces were annually submitted to the Transport Administration in order to submit to the Nguyễn Emperor to get his approval and stamp. In terms of personnel resource, the Transport Administration included the Head of the Transport Administration and many subordinate mandarins in a downward order comprising one Tào chính sứ mandarin, one Tào phó sứ mandarin, one Chủ sự mandarin with rank 6A, one Tư vụ official (rank 7A), two documentary Clerks (Thư lại) (rank 8 or 9), and fifteen unranked clerical officials (or lower officials; Vị nhập lưu Thư lại) divided into two boards. The Head of the Transport Administration was a high ranking mandarin of the Nguyễn court, being in charge of concurrent position. He held the 2 nd rank and Grade A on and was appointed directly by the Nguyễn Emperor annually. In the junior positions, one Tào chính sứ mandarin (rank 4) was a mandarin of another Board except for the Board of Finance being concurrent position. He was responsible for managing ships (controlling ships and urging ships to weigh anchor). One Tào phó sứ mandarin (rank 5A) was in charge of supervision of maritime transportation of rice-paid tax shipped by Tào ships. In terms of structure, the Transport Administration was divided into Nam tào (South tào) and Bắc tào (North tào). Nam tào was responsible for the State s maritime transportation service in provinces from Thừa Thiên Huế to the South. Bắc tào was in charge of that in provinces from Quảng Trị to the North. Nam tào (or Bắc tào) had one Quản lĩnh mandarin who was the Chief of Nam tào (or Bắc tào) with rank 5A. He was in charge of managing and protecting maritime transportation ships of Nam tào (or Bắc tào). Assistants of Quản lĩnh mandarin of Nam tào (or Bắc tào) were one Phó Quản lĩnh mandarin (the Vice Chief of Nam tào (or Bắc tào)) with rank 5B, one Đốc vận mandarin with rank 6A, one Lĩnh vận Thiên tổng mandarin with rank 7B. Those supported Quản lĩnh mandarin in operating the State s waterway transportation such as supervising and urging ships of the Transport Administration. Nam tào (or Bắc tào) also had one document Clerk (Thư lại) with rank 9A who was responsible for recording and protecting the records of Nam tào (or Bắc tào) (Nội các triều Nguyễn Vol. 8: 472; Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn Vol. 3: 919) The Merchant Superintendency (Nha Thương bạc) The Merchant Superintendency was established in June 1822 (Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn Vol. 2: 124, 217). Personnel resource of the Merchant Superintendency as 11

3 regulated in 1823 included one mandarin called Quản lý Thương bạc sự vụ who was the Head of the Merchant Superintendency (rank 3A); one mandarin called Thương bạc ty đại sứ (the Envoy of the Merchant Superintendency) with rank 4B; one mandarin called Thương bạc ty phó sứ (the Assistant Envoy of the Merchant Superintendency, rank 5A); two officers called Tri bạ (rank 6A); three officers called Tư vụ (rank 7A); four documentary Clerks (Thư lại) (rank 8 or 9); thirty unranked clerical officials (Vị nhập lưu thư lại) (Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn Vol. 2: 26). The Merchant Superintendency was in charge of managing the Nguyễn Dynasty s foreign trade, especially trade and diplomatic activities between the Nguyễn court and Westerners arriving in Đại Nam. Under Minh Mệnh reign, Western trade ships were only allowed to operate their trade activities at Đà Nẵng harbour (named Tourane harbour in records of French) in Quảng Nam province, which was an ideally large and deep harbour for the anchorage of large Western ships. When Western ships arrived at Đà Nẵng harbour to petition the Nguyễn court for approving their trade activities, the Nguyễn Emperor decided whether to give them the permission or not. After having made the decision, the Nguyễn Emperor empowered the Merchant Superintendency to make his response in the document and send it to the Western ships. For instance, an American envoy sent by the US President to present the credentials to set up a trade relationship with Đại Nam in November 1832 and the Merchant Superintendency sent the Nguyễn Emperor s response in text to him. In the case that the Nguyễn Emperor allowed trade with Western ships, the Merchant Superintendency was in charge of management of taxing trade activities of Western ships. Fig. 1. Coastline Defence System at Đà Nẵng under the Nguyễn Dynasty (Source: Lưu Trang 2004: 43). 2.2 Establishing Military Posts at Estuary Areas and Islands at a Local Level Military posts established at estuary areas and islands and along coastline provinces were mainly under local management, except for some forts to defend Huế capital such as Trấn Hải fort and Hòa Duân fort (see Fig. 3). They were categorised into different types of forts and citadels such as Tấn, Bảo, Sở, Pháo đài/thành (see Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3, Fig. 4). Their duties mainly focused on directly supervising and controlling human activities on water (including trading) at estuary areas and sea. In more details, they directly supervised and controlled ships arriving at or departing from the estuaries by controlling the number of arrival or departure merchants, soldiers, passengers, etc., supervising transported-only or commercial goods, preventing illegal goods such as opium, leading arrival ships in the right direction to enter estuary, securing or directly relieving the domestic and foreign ships having accidents at sea, guarding estuary and island areas, and patrolling at sea with navy to guarantee maritime security and defence, especially to suppress pirates. In addition, Tấn was solely responsible for directly impose tax levies on arrival and departure trade ships through estuaries. Fig. 2. Military Posts at Thừa Thiên Huế Coastline Area under the Nguyễn Dynasty (Source: Prepared by the author, based on data from Quốc Sử Quán triều Nguyễn Vol.1). 12

4 lục), Phòng thủ úy was an authority position awarded to Tấn thủ achieving a feat in the case of Tấn thủ Trần Bá Mao when he defeated pirates to protect trade ships at Cam Ranh bay in Khánh Hòa province in 1857 (Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn Vol. 7: 486). 3. The Policy for the Internal Royal Usage Fig. 3. Military Posts at Thuận An Estuary Area in Thừa Thiên Huế under the Nguyễn Dynasty (Source: Prepared by the author, based on data from Quốc Sử Quán triều Nguyễn Vol. 1). Fig. 4. Military Posts at Tư Hiền - Hải Vân Estuary Areas in Thừa Thiên Huế under the Nguyễn Dynasty (Source: Prepared by the author, based on data from Quốc Sử Quán triều Nguyễn Vol. 1). Mandarins worked at these posts were called Tấn thủ, Thủ ngự, Thủ úy, Thành thủ úy, and Phòng thủ úy. Among them, Tấn thủ was the Chief of Tấn or Bảo being responsible for the duties of Tấn or Bảo, especially levying trade ship as foresaid. Before 1847, Tấn thủ (rank 4B) and Thủ ngự (rank 6A) were assigned from Suất đội or Cai đội (military team leader). In 1847, Thủ ngự was abolished, Tấn thủ was demoted to rank 5B, and the duty of managing Tấn was belong to Tấn thủ or Phòng thủ úy (Nội các triều Nguyễn, Vol. 5: 79-80). Those officers of Tấn located at more important estuaries were recruited by the Board of War while those of less significant ones (Tấn) were recruited by local governments (Thượng ty địa phương) (according to regulations in 1850) (Nội các triều Nguyễn Vol. 5: 80). Thành thủ úy (rank 4B as regulated in 1826 (Nội các triều Nguyễn Vol. 5: 73)) was assigned to Tấn or Pháo đài (Thành) and in charge of guarding and closing the citadel s gate (Pháo đài or Thành), overseeing militia taking part in the patrol at estuary areas and sea, as well as operating the works handed over by the General Governor (Tổng đốc) and Junior Governor (Tuần phủ) who were the highest ranking officials of local management (Nội các triều Nguyễn Vol. 5: 72-74). Phòng thủ úy was rank 4A as regulated in As recorded in the Veritable Records of Đại Nam (Đại Nam thực Maritime foreign trade activities of the Nguyễn court were mainly performed in two different ways. In the first place, those activities were considered as an extra task to official leaves for bureaucrats diplomatic overseas voyages. On the other hand, the Nguyễn court conducted their foreign trade activities by ordering foreign merchants commodities in advance to be shipped to Đại Nam. In the first manner, bureaucrats diplomatic overseas voyages officially operated main missions such as diplomatic and reconnaissance missions, practising maritime manoeuvres, and acquired knowledge on foreign countries customs. In some cases, foreign trade activities were the main purpose of the voyages. In most cases, however, they were performed as an extra job in accordance with foresaid missions. In general, foreign trade activities of the Nguyễn court were not performed in a professional manner. Therefore, overseas missions were mainly performed by military personnel (for instances, mandarins called Vệ uý, Cai đội and Cai cơ were from military team leader on) and high-ranking mandarins of the Nguyễn court (such as Phan Thanh Giản, Nguyễn Tri Phương, Đào Trí Phú, and Trần Tú Dĩnh) on the military ships. Although authorities were established in maritime foreign trade management, especially the Merchant Superintendency, the court did not organise a large-scale maritime trade agency of State merchants (if we compare to VOC (Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie), CIO (La Compagnie Française des Indes Orientales) or EIC (East India Company) in history of the world trade). In terms of policy, maritime trade activities of the Nguyễn court were a supplemental mission only in almost cases. However, in reality, as indicated by Choi Byung Wook and Li Tana that the Nguyễn was showing its great interest in foreign trade activities among Southeast Asian countries in the first half of the 19th century (Choi Byung Wook, 2008: 51; Li Tana, 2002). Under regulations in 1836, every overseas business fleet had to submit the list of intended commodities to the court before their departure. When purchasing or selling the goods, the missions had to obtain the receipts of imported and exported commodities stamped by overseas partners. These receipts included lists and value of imported or exported commodities. After the trip, the receipts had to be submitted to the court. Then the imported goods were stored in State storehouses to prevent procurement of private or forbidden goods during the business. However, those regulations were not strictly followed in reality. In several cases, mandarins of the missions still bought goods for their private purpose illegally or even illegal goods such as opium and books on Catholicism. The mission ships departed for overseas countries from Thuận An estuary and landed at final destinations of Thuận An estuary at Huế capital or Đà Nẵng harbour when they returned to homeland. However, when arriving back to Đại Nam, the ships were allowed to 13

5 temporarily land at any Tấn before arriving at Đà Nẵng harbour. In 1835, Trần Hưng Hoà and Nguyễn Lương Huy, the mandarins responsible for the official voyage to Singapore, illegally carried prohibited goods including opium and books on Catholicism when they returned. They were punished by the court. After this case, the regulations on the State s foreign trade missions were much tightened as regulated in Since then, when returning mission ships temporarily landed at any Tấn of Đại Nam before arriving at Đà Nẵng harbour, Tấn thủ on the one hand had to send the ranks working at the harbour to the ships to examine the missions. On the other hand, they had to submit the diary records on those to the court. If there were any forbidden activities by officials, the officials would be punished. If the ships directly arrived at Đà Nẵng harbour or got into Thuận An estuary, Tấn thủ immediately had to send the ranks working at the Tấn supervised by the Tấn thủ to those harbours to not allow the missions to go ashore, then had to submit the records to the court. After receiving the records, the Board of Finance, the Board of Public Works, the Censorate (Viện Đô sát) and Thị vệ sent one official of each office to the Đà Nẵng harbour waiting for the ships landing the harbour to examine the missions (Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn Vol. 4: 770, ). Commodities bought by the court were mainly for military demands and Western vessels. Those also included consumer goods for royals and mandarins. Among four reigns of the Nguyễn dynasty in the first half of the 19 th century, the maritime foreign trade activities under Minh Mệnh s reign developed the most. There were more than 40 dispatches to foreign countries (as can be counted from the data of the Veritable Records of Đại Nam) including many trade mission dispatches. Many of those were highly operated in 1838 and 1839, including the voyage to Europe. However, under Thiệu Trị s reign (r ) and early Tự Đức s reign (r ), political intrigues of Western countries to invade Eastern countries, including Đại Nam, had been clearly exposing. Due to those foreign threats, the Nguyễn court adopted some strong solutions to close its doors to Western merchants via maritime routes. In the early Tự Đức s reign, the commodities of E Đoa (named in Vietnamese), an European merchant, were ordered to ship to the Nguyễn court. However, those goods valued 166,267 thuẫn (1 thuẫn equalled 1 shilling 7 penny) shipped to Đại Nam in August 1848 were rejected by the court due to fear of European threats (Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn Vol. 7: 87-88). In 1848, Emperor of Tự Đức proclaimed to prohibit foreign trade activities including business fleets overseas and commodity orders with Western merchants forever. However, the court implemented the closed country policy to Western merchants, but not to Western goods. It even opened the door widely to Qing merchants for selling Western goods in Đại Nam. It could be seen that it was not a completely closed country policy on foreign trading by the Nguyễn court. On the other way of ordering commodities from foreign merchants when they came to Đại Nam, the court took advantage of trading needs of foreign merchants so that it usually ordered at the lower price rather than a market price of the same goods. In comparison with the first way, those orders brought the court not only being active in ordering goods but also more convenience, economy and effectiveness. For foreign merchants, although they might obtain less profit, they still agreed for compensation of going through Đại Nam s harbours. The Nguyễn dynasty also specified commodity shiploads to Đại Nam depending on sizes of ships. Foreign merchants who shipped as required goods as those in court orders would be discounted or exempted from harbour tax (thuế cảng) and proprieties money (tiền các lễ) to mandarins supervising trade ships including service proprieties money and commission/thankfulness proprieties money ( tiền các lễ cơm nước, xem xét, sai phái and tiền lễ quan cai tàu, respectively). Particularly, they were awarded to buy exclusive commodities for ships serving the court s orders only. It would be notable that, among foreign merchants, it was the Chinese who were the most effective to ship commodities based on orders of the Nguyễn court associated with bills of trade goods. 4. The Policy on Vietnamese Merchants 4.1 Regulations on trade ships to the countries in Southeast Asia Under Gia Long s reign (r ), Vietnamese merchants were legally allowed to trade with countries in maritime Southeast Asia such as Indonesia, Malaysia and especially Singapore provided they obeyed court rules. According to the rules in 1819, the Governor General of Gia Định was responsible for issuing one trading certificate to merchant ships to those countries annually. Merchants who would like to do business in those countries, especially Singapore, had to fulfil required procedures including submitting an application form to the Governor General and paying full taxes in advance to obtain a trading certificate with his stamp. Notably, tax levels levied on Vietnamese merchants were usually lower than those on foreign merchants to Đại Nam at the same size of a ship (more details of those will be examined in the next contents). The taxes imposed on trade ships and precious commodities. The Nguyễn levied the trade ships to those countries in different levels basing on ship measurement (usually by width of the hull) until thước and tấc which were the units of length measurement (The units of length measurement regulated under Nguyễn dynasty as following: 1 trượng equalled 10 thước (yard), 1 thước equalled 10 tấc; 1 trượng equalled m; 1 tấc equalled m). It levied a half in cash and the rest in silver taels. The ships measured 9 thước had to pay the tax level of 20 quan (strings of cash) per thước, the tax level of 30 quan per thước for 10 thước and more. Besides that, Vietnamese merchants to those countries also had to pay the tax rate of 5% for commodity tax, but only for precious goods (the tax rate was 5% of every 10 quan of trade goods value). Salt and other low value goods (items of miscellaneous goods) were tax-free. Gold, silver, copper coins, copper and rice were prohibited to trade (Nội các triều Nguyễn Vol.8: 509). Vietnamese merchants were allowed to carry food (such as rice) for maximum of five months and weapons to protect themselves if there was an application from them. Amount of 14

6 food and the number of weapons were identified in accordance with the number of merchants on the ships. At the end of the year, Gia Định Government located in the southern region (the southern region of Đại Nam was called Gia Định Thành) had to submit three versions of the records on the trade ships to the countries and the harbour tax on those to Trường đà. Those then were submitted to the Nguyễn Emperor to be stamped. After that, one version would be handed over to Trường đà, another one to the Board of Finance, the last to Gia Định Government (according to the regulation in 1819) (Nội các triều Nguyễn Vol. 8: 502). However, in 1828, Emperor of Minh Mệnh prohibited Vietnamese merchants from shipping goods to those countries. The main reasons were to prevent the penetration of opium into Đại Nam through maritime trade activities between Vietnamese and Western merchants, as well as to prevent Western influences on Vietnam and the arrival of Western merchants to Đại Nam due to trade benefits. Those might lead to further harmful issues to Đại Nam. Since then, maritime foreign trade activities of Vietnamese merchants with overseas countries were forbidden. The Nguyễn dynasty, therefore, played an exclusive role in foreign trade with overseas countries. 4.2 Regulations on maritime trade ban Maritime trade activities of Vietnamese citizens (cư dân Đại Nam) to foreign merchants on the sea or foreign countries were banned to not only restrict trade activities of Vietnamese merchants but also prevent the threats of sovereignty from European. These forbidden regulations were issued in the Gia Long Code (Hoàng Việt luật lệ/luật Gia Long) and put into practice in However, the regulations under Gia Long s reign seemed to be more flexible than other reigns in the first half of the 19 th century because Vietnamese merchants were still allowed to ship goods to trade in the countries in the south sea area of Southeast Asia in the period of the reign as foresaid. 4.3 Regulations on the ship sizes Vietnamese merchants ships such as public duty ships (dịch thuyền) including đại dịch ships and miễn dịch ships, trade ships made by wooden boards and trade ships made by bamboo were regulated in various sizes. Among those, đại dịch and miễn dịch ships were the biggest ones due to their measurement levels regulated from 7 thước to 17 thước 9 tấc. Trade ships made by bamboo were not exceeded 10 thước 9 tấc. Trade ships made by wooden boards were smaller than 6 thước 9 tấc (Nội các triều Nguyễn Vol. 8: ). The measurement levels of those ships were much smaller than many trade ships of foreign merchants to Đại Nam. For example, Chinese and Western merchants ships to Đại Nam were up to 36 thước in Gia Định harbour (the information of the regulation on harbour tax regulated to these ships in 1831 showed that) (Nội các triều Nguyễn Vol. 3: 252). 5. The Policy on Foreign Merchants 5.1 Tax Policies The Nguyễn dynasty levied various taxes on foreign trade ships at harbours when they arrived in Đại Nam, including harbour tax and proprieties money ( proprieties money to the Nguyễn Emperor (tiền lễ dâng vua), proprieties money to mandarins supervising trade ships consisting of service proprieties money and commission). In 1803, these tax and proprieties money varied depending on three criteria: a kind of landing-harbour; a ship s origin; and a ship measurement (usually a width of the hull). In terms of landing-harbour, the Nguyễn dynasty divided the tax rates into six groups based on harbour areas as followings: Group 1: Harbours in Gia Định; Group 2: Harbours in Thừa Thiên, and Quảng Trị, Quảng Bình provinces; Group 3: Harbours in Quảng Nam, Bình Định, Phú Yên, Bình Hoà, Bình Thuận provinces, and Bắc Thành (the northern region of Đại Nam was called Bắc Thành); Group 4: Harbours in Quảng Ngãi, Nghệ An, Thanh Hoá provinces; Group 5: Harbours in Hà Tiên province; Group 6: Harbours in Quảng Yên provinces (Vạn Ninh district). Table 1. Harbour tax and proprieties money levels. Harbour group Harbour tax Regulation and in 1802 "proprieties money" level per ship Discounted rate from Gia Định group Guangdong, Fujian, S hanghai, Macau, European countries Gia Định Thừa Thiên, Quảng Trị, Quảng Bình Regulations in 1803 for Thừa Thiên, in 1820 for Quảng Trị, Quảng Bình Quảng Nam, Bình Định, Phú Yên, Bình Hoà, Bình Thuận, Bắc Thành Regulation in 1803 Quảng Ngãi, Nghệ An, Thanh Hoá Regulations in Regulation 1803 for Nghệ in 1825 An, Thanh Hoá, in 1820 for Quảng Ngãi Hà Tiên Quảng Yên (Vạn Ninh district) Regulation in /10 2/10 3/10 3/10 5/ quan 2400 quan 3200 quan 2800 quan Chaozhou 3000 quan 1800 quan 2400 quan 2100 quan Hainan 724 quan 434 quan 579 quan 2 tiền 506 quan 8 tiền (Source: Prepared by the author, based on data from Nội các triều Nguyễn Vol. 3: ) Table 1 shows that among those, harbour of Gia Định had the highest rate of tax. Other taxes set at the rest harbours were lower and accounted for a certain rate of tax levels of Gia Định. Those in group 2 obtained a discount by 4/10 while the discount rates were 2/10 and 5/10 for those in group 3 and group 6 respectively. 3/10 was the discount rate for both group 4 and group 5. According to those, there was the second highest tax rate regulated for the harbours in Quảng Nam, Bình Định, Phú Yên, Bình Hoà, Bình Thuận provinces and Bắc Thành, as well as the lowest rate regulated for those in Quảng Yên. For a ship s origin, Chinese trade ships from Guangdong, Fujian, Shanghai, Macau and Europe were taxed at the same highest tax rate while those from Hainan Island got the lowest rate and exempted proprieties money to the Nguyễn Emperor, but the commission was the highest (ratio of 24 % of the tax). For a ship measurement, it was calculated by the formula as following: the ship size level multiplied by the tax per thước (yard) regulated by the Nguyễn dynasty (1 thước equalled m) makes the tax. In addition, the tax per thước was fluctuated depending on the different ship size levels. Wider the ship size (level), higher the tax per thước. 15

7 Therefore, there were different tax rates depending on the different levels. When the foreign ships left Đại Nam, they had to pay goods tax (thuế hàng hóa) based on value of the commodities bought in Đại Nam. For popular goods in total valued at least 100 quan, goods tax rate was 5%. For those less than 100 quan, the tax was 5 tiền (cash) per 10 quan (1 quan equalled 10 tiền). For products of ship parts (mast, rudder, anchor and plank) broken or lost during the trip, after applying their request for buying those and receiving the approval from local mandarins, they had to pay the tax rate of 10%. 5.2 Policies on Foreign Trade Merchants In order to prevent the illegal activities from foreign trade merchants and the threats of sovereignty from European, the Nguyễn dynasty issued various regulations to manage the activities of foreign merchants, crews as well as passengers on the ships. As regulated in 1805, the identity information on those people (full name, nationality/homeland) and the information on trade goods had to be registered and submitted to provincial mandarins as soon as the ships were landed at harbours. People who would like to stay in Đại Nam when their ships left Đại Nam after trade or those who were in Đại Nam before the arrival of the ships but would like to leave Đại Nam on the ships had to be recorded to submit to authorities of the Nguyễn dynasty. Besides that, there were many other procedures that ships had to follow to land at the harbours. Forbidden regulations on ships, trade and merchant activities were also issued. The provisions of that were more restricted to Western ships. The Nguyễn rejected official proposals of trade conventions between Đại Nam and some Western Governments offered by Western missions, and only allowed the trade activities of private Western merchants in accordance with strongly strict legal requirements, especially under Minh Mệnh s reign. In regulations issued by Emperor of Minh Mệnh, private Western trade ships were only allowed to trade in Đà Nẵng port, but the merchants were forbidden to go ashore to trade (Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn Vol. 5: 829). 6. Impacts of the Policies on Đại Nam s Maritime Foreign Trade Although analysing the impacts of the policies on Đại Nam s maritime foreign trade is not the major intended subject of this research, it is essential to evaluate the policies by assessing the results of Đại Nam s maritime foreign trade activities. The data from the Vermilion Records of the Nguyễn dynasty (Châu bản triều Nguyễn), the Veritable Records of Đại Nam (Đại Nam thực lục), the Official Compendium of Institutions and Usages of Imperial Đại Nam (Khâm định Đại Nam hội điển sự lệ), the official records of the Qing local governments or the Qing court, the records of foreign envoys, merchants, ambassadors such as Westerner, Singaporean, Chinese, etc. provided us a general idea on the results of Đại Nam s maritime foreign trade activities in the first half of the 19 th century. In spite of the foresaid policies, Đại Nam s maritime foreign trade activities achieved many positive outcomes. Li Tana suggests that there was a significant upward trend of Đại Nam s overseas exported commodity volume. According to Crawfurd s estimate in 1823, the total volume of Đại Nam s commercial goods in the early 1820s must be less than 30,000 tons per year, significantly increased in the next decades (Crawfurd 1830: ; Li Tana 2002: 68). 6.1 Maritime foreign trade exchanged between Đại Nam and Qing China Among foreign countries that the Nguyễn dynasty set up maritime foreign trade relationships, China was a traditional and the most important partner (see Fig. 5). Chinese merchants and State merchants of the Nguyễn court played an important role, especially Chinese merchants. Fig. 5. Maritime Foreign Trade Routes Connecting Đại Nam and China in the First Half of the 19 th Century (Source: Prepared by the author, based on data from Nội các triều Nguyễn Vol. 3; Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn Vol. 1, Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn Vol. 2-Vol. 7). In 1809, a large trade ship with 561 people from Amoy of China arrived in Đồng Nai (Gia Định) seemed to operate rice trade activities (Qing dai zhong yie xia men de hai shang mao yi, , referenced by Li Tana 2002: 69). Crawfurd estimated that exported goods from Đại Nam to China in 1823 were about 20,000 tons per year, five folded those to Singapore, remaining this rate during the 19 th century (Crawfurd 1830: 320; Li Tana 2002: 67). A report in 1828 by the Governor General of Guangdong and Guangxi impressively indicated that percent of the coins in circulation in Guangdong were cast in Đại Nam (Ming Qing Shi Liao. Geng Bian: Series G, (Taipei: Academic Sinica, 1960), vol. 3, reference by Li Tana 2002: 69). This might lead us to think that those could be the results of trade 16

8 activities between Đại Nam and China, including maritime foreign trade exchange (this is also the suggesting idea of Li Tana in her research (2002: 69)). However, in the preface of the Veritable Records of Đại Nam, from the Nguyễn dynasty, the interaction was obvious activities even not need to be recorded in these veritable records. Therefore, it is often difficult to find out the statistics of these activities in terms of cargo s volumes or types in many official records of the Nguyễn dynasty, especially in the Veritable Records of Đại Nam or the Official Compendium of Institutions and Usages of Imperial Đại Nam. 6.2 Maritime foreign trade exchanged between Đại Nam and Southeast Asia, especially Siam and Singapore In the exchange between Đại Nam and Southeast Asia, especially Singapore and Siam, harbours at Gia Định of Đại Nam were ideal harbours to foreign trade activities (see Fig. 6). Not only State merchants of the Nguyễn dynasty but also Gia Định Vietnamese merchants and Singapore Chinese merchants played an important role. As expressed in the research of Seng Lim How, in the 1830s, most likely the Singapore Chinese started gaining their role in Đại Nam and Singapore trade exchange (Lim How Seng 1995: 20-21). Englishman Edward Brown revealed the trade of Gia Định in his observation in 1856 that: The trade of city is considerable. Hundreds of Chinese junks come here annually, as well as many Siamese, and a few European-built vessels. But the latter are all owned by Chinese residents in Singapore, or the Straits. In usual trading cases between Đại Nam and Singapore, the profit earned from a single round trip could amount to percent over costs (Edward Brown 1971: 267, ). Despite the bans and restrictions of the Nguyễn s policies, Vietnamese merchants still did illegal trade activities with overseas partners, even after 1828, especially in rice trade. The statistics from The Singapore free press and mercantile advertiser (as indicated in the research of Choi Byung Wook (2008: 50)) showed that there were 117 trade voyages of Vietnamese private ships from Gia Định to Singapore in the period of ; 162 and 103 in the periods of and , respectively. Another example was the trade activities sometimes performed by a Vietnamese merchant named Gấm on overseas countries during 1840s (L.E Louvet, Cochinchine Religieuse, Tom Second, Paris: Missionnaire Apostolique de La Congrégation des Missions étrangères, 1885, p.164; Linh Mục Mattheu Duc, Hạnh cha Minh và lái Gấm tử đạo là hai vị á thánh Thứ nhứt địa phận Nam Kỳ (Father Cha and the trader Gam, first two second level saints who sacrificed for religion). Sài Gòn: Imprimerie de La Mission à Tan Dinh, 1902, pp.81;83;84;89;94, referenced by Choi Byung Wook 2008: 50). Fig. 6. Maritime Foreign Trade Routes Connecting Đại Nam and Southeast Asia in the 19 th Century (Source: Prepared by the author, based on data from Phan Huy Chú 1994; Phạm Phú Thứ 2005). Among commercial goods exchanged from Gia Định to overseas Southeast Asia, rice was more attractive and played a major role. Despite the Nguyễn dynasty s ban on rice sale to overseas markets, Gia Định rice was still illegally smuggled from Gia Định to southern China, Cambodia, and Siam. Especially, regions of insular Southeast Asia were the most popular destinations of Gia Định exported rice, due to much lower price, even only about half the price of rice available in foreign countries. The foreign commodities that attracted Vietnamese merchants were mainly knives, swords, muskets, metal tea pots, serge, flannel, broadcloth, calico, and linen lured traded with the Western colonies in insular Southeast Asia, especially Singapore (Choi Byung Wook 2004: 71). As observed by Crawfurd in his records, Gia Định was the second important trade partner of Singapore in 1822, right after Siam as the most important one (Crawfurd 1830: 365; Li Tana 2002: 70). Exported goods from Đại Nam to Singapore had been significantly increased in the first half of the 19 th century. For example, exported goods to Singapore were more than 4,000 tons in 1823 (1 ton equalled 604 kg), doubled in 1830 at around 11,000 tons, increased seven folds in 1857 at around 31,000 tons (Crawfurd 1830: 320; Li Tana 2002: 67; Wong Linken 1978: 61). 17

9 Đại Nam s exported commodity volume in general had significantly increased in the first half of the 19 th century, from six folds to seven folds. Moreover, trade between the southern Đại Nam and Singapore was only one quarter of this between Siam and Singapore in However, it impressively caught up trade between Siam and Singapore in 1845 (Li Tana 2002: 68). These impressive increases can be seen in the Fig. 7 and Table 2. Export volume in thousand metric tons Year Fig. 7. Vietnam s Trade with Singapore (Source: Li Tana 2002: 67). Table 2. Singapore s Trade with Mainland Southeast Asia, Percentage of Total ($ in billion) (%) (%) Myanmar Cambodia The Southern Đại Nam (Cochinchina) 1865 (%) Siam Total (Source: Li Tana 2002: 68) Sugar, salt and rice were main exported goods from Đại Nam to Singapore in the first half of the 19 th century and almost from the southern Đại Nam. Among those, sugar was dominated in the early 19 th century. However, then rice became the most important exported goods from Đại Nam to Singapore. The exported rice volume impressively increased ten folds from 1841 to 1845, and then doubled in It continuingly increased at 300,448 $ of Spain while sugar had not ever increased at 146,396 $ of Spain. Silk and cinnamon were the main exported products of the northern Đại Nam to Singapore, but not played an important role in trade activities between those countries (Li Tana 2002: 70-71). For Đại Nam, not only Vietnamese merchants took part in trade exchange between Đại Nam and the Southeast Asian countries legally or illegally but also State merchants of the Nguyễn court (overseas missions) played an important role by often operating many trade voyages to this region. Cane sugar seemed to be the popular exported product of the trade missions to Guangdong, Batavia and Singapore. About 1,300 piculs of sugar were exported to Singapore by the missions in 1830 (Li Tana 2002: 72). Cotton was on kind of imported goods from Singapore mostly to make the Nguyễn dynasty army s clothes. In the years of , cotton accounted for 22% of imported goods from Singapore, right after opium which was 59%. Opium also made up the highest percentage of imported goods from Singapore (Tabulated Statement of the Commerce and Shipping of Singapore during the years : 71, referenced by Li Tana 2002: 72). 6.3 Maritime foreign trade exchanged between Đại Nam and Western Countries In the first half of the 19 th century, many Western trade vessels operated trade activities in seaports of Đại Nam. Mainly exported goods to Western vessels were silk, raw silk, sugar, tea, etc. Mainly imported commodities from Western vessels were weapons (cannons, swords, etc.) and military materials (zinc, iron, copper, sulphur, saltpetre, etc.) that were sold directly to the Nguyễn court. Also, there were other consumer items such as cloth, watches, alcohol, mirrors, soaps, glassware and crystal, etc., anchors and machines like pumps, gunpowder grinders and copper presses, etc. The majority of those were luxuries that served the needs of courts and nobles. For examples, the court bought 10,177 guns from two French vessels named Henry and Larose arriving at Đại Nam in Those vessels were exempted a part of taxes and allowed to buy full vessels of Đại Nam s silk, raw silk, sugar (Thành Thế Vỹ 1961: 52). In 1830, a French vessel bought 45,000 kg with the price of 6.30 franc per kg (1 kg regulated by the Nguyễn dynasty equalled 604 gr) (according to the record of G.Taboulet, referenced by Nguyễn Phan Quang 2002: 87). The imported goods value of 166,267 thuẫn shipped to Đại Nam by E Đoa in 1848 as mentioned was another example. The totals in value of exported and imported goods from Western vessels in Đại Nam in 1830 were 1,882,423 franc and 2,906,317 franc in 1841 (Thành Thế Vỹ 1961: 55). Those were some examples of trade exchange between Đại Nam and Western countries in the first half of the 19 th century. Under Minh Mệnh s reign, the court not only ordered Western goods shipped to Đại Nam by Western merchants but also sent the mission consisting of mandarins named Trần Viết Xương and Tôn Thất Thường and two translators/interpreters to France and England in 1839 partly to give an offer of setting up the trade relationship with those countries (see Fig. 8). However, this good intention of Emperor of Minh Mệnh was refused by those countries (Nguyễn Phan Quang, 2002: 36). Fig. 8. Maritime Foreign Trade Routes Connecting Đại Nam and Europe in the 19 th Century (Source: Prepared by the author, based on data from Phan Huy Chú 1994; Phạm Phú Thứ 2005). 18

10 7. Conclusion The maritime foreign trade policy allowed foreign trade activities of the Nguyễn court to operate in different ways but restricted those of Vietnamese and foreign merchants. The policy had partly negative impacts on contributions of Vietnamese and foreign merchants trade activities to Đại Nam s economy in most given period. Despite those disadvantages, in reality, maritime foreign trade activities between Đại Nam and foreign countries were still operated in various different ways, both legally and illegally. To some extent it positively contributed to an increase of the Nguyễn dynasty s revenue and security of food and goods for the Nguyễn State s treasuries and storehouses. In addition, in terms of understanding the Nguyễn State s management and integration in the first half of the 19 th century the economic exchanges between Đại Nam, China and other parts of Southeast Asia play an important role. Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to Prof. Tsukasa Mizushima. He offered me the chance to participate in the 5 th Conference of ANGIS 2017 with the financial support from The Project on GIS-based Global History from Asian Perspectives, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. I learned a lot from his wonderful academic exchanges relating to Asian maritime trade network in the 19 th century. Secondly, I would like to genuinely thank Dr. Chiao- Ling Kuo (Lead Guest Editor), the other Editors as well as Reviewers of JANGIS Vol. 5 for their expertise and help in improving my manuscript. Thirdly, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mr. Tomotaka Kawamura for his productive academic exchanges, encouragements and supporting me to participate in the Conference as well as to Ms. Suling Chien and others participants at the Conference. Finally, I would like to express special thanks to my special supervisors, colleagues, friends and family for their endless supports and encouragements. References Alexander Barton Woodside Vietnam and the Chinese Model: A comparative Study of Vietnamese and Chinese Government in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century. USA: Harvard University. Choi Byung Wook Southern Vietnam under the Reign of Minh Mạng ( ): Central Policies and Local Response. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University. Choi Byung Wook Foreign Trade of Vietnam in the First Half of the 19 th Century - From the Hands of Chinese Settlers to those of Ethnic Vietnamese (Ngoại thương Việt Nam trong nửa đầu thế kỷ XIX từ tay người Hoa chuyển qua người Việt). Journal of Historical Studies. Vol.3 (383). Cục lưu trữ nhà nước - Đại học Huế - Trung tâm nghiên cứu Việt Nam và giao lưu văn hóa Summaries of Vermilion Records of the Nguyễn dynasty. 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