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RESEARCH ARTICLE KAZUKI YOSHIKAWA The Lê-Trịnh Government’s Documentary Practices and Relationship with the Qing during the Eighteenth Century: The Roles of Local Chieftains in Lạng Sơn Province D uring the eighteenth century, the Vietnamese government still relied largely on local chieftains to govern the northern uplands, including the Sino-Vietnamese border region In Lạng Sơn Province, the intermediary point for official documents traveling from the Lê-Trịnh government to the Qing court, the Lê-Trịnh state constructed a system to create and transmit official documents that relied heavily on local chieftains, who were granted the titles of frontier subject [phiên thần] or assistant leader [phụ đạo] This system gave local chieftains an important but understudied role in eighteenth-century Sino-Vietnamese relations: the local chieftains researched the titles and positions of Qing officials to know to whom administrative and diplomatic documents should be addressed, they purchased Qing calendars to know which date should be written on official documents, and they forwarded official documents to Qing officials This article analyzes the Lê-Trịnh government’s documentary practices in Lạng Sơn Province, the intermediary point for diplomatic documents traveling to Qing China Based on a close analysis of communications between the Lê-Trịnh government and the Qing before the former dispatched envoys, this article argues that local chieftains in Lạng Sơn Province were crucial to Journal of Vietnamese Studies, Vol , Issue , pps – ISSN -X, electronic - © by The Regents of the University of California All rights reserved Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’ Rights and Permissions website, at https://www.ucpress.edu/journals/reprintspermissions DOI: https://doi.org/./vs.... YOSHIKAWA helping the Lê-Trịnh state manage its tributary relationship with the Qing As such, this article contributes to a growing literature that stresses the variegated and multiethnic character of administrative practices in precolonial Vietnamese states. The Lê Dynasty was established in in northern Vietnam following northern Vietnam’s independence from Chinese occupation in the early fifteenth century After being usurped by the Mạc Dynasty in , the Lê recovered the throne in and the Red River Delta in In the early seventeenth century, conflicts escalated within the Lê Dynasty—particularly between the Trịnh and Nguyễn families In northern Vietnam, the Trịnh family, referred to as Trịnh lords [chúa Trịnh], usurped the authority of the Lê emperor and established their own court In this article I refer to this court as the “Lê-Trịnh government.” By the late sixteenth century, the Nguyễn family had established its base in central Vietnam and established an independent kingdom Thereafter, the Lê Dynasty separated into two distinct territories and factions The highest administrative units in the Lê-Trịnh government were provinces. Those in the northern plains were called the inner provinces [nội trấn], consisting of Kinh Bắc, Sơn Nam, Hải Dương, and Sơn Tây Provinces in mountainous and coastal areas were called the outer provinces [ngoại trấn], consisting of Hưng Hóa, Tuyên Quang, Thái Nguyên, Yên Quảng, Cao Bằng, and Lạng Sơn In the inner provinces, the Lê court nominally dispatched officials to the lower administrative units—prefectures [phủ] and districts [huyện] However, officials of the Trịnh court were in charge of tax collection, and as a result, the function of the prefecture and district officials of the Lê court became merely symbolic. Yet provincial officials in the outer provinces governed through local chieftains who were granted the titles of native chief [thổ tù], frontier subject [phiên thần], or assistant leader [phụ đạo], similar to the tusi system, which existed in southwest China during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The local chieftains belonged to the ethnic groups known today as the Thái, Tày, and Mường peoples, who governed their lands and populations largely autonomously Because the government relied on these local chieftains to administer these provinces, they granted these chieftains certain titles and positions and permitted them a degree of political autonomy THE LÊ-TRỊNH GOVERNMENT’S DOCUMENTARY PRACTICES AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE QING DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY Many of the outer provinces were mountainous and were generally located in either the northwestern (such as Hưng Hóa Province) or northeastern (such as Cao Bằng and Lạng Sơn provinces) regions of the northern uplands According to scholars, northwestern chieftains maintained comparatively high levels of political autonomy from the Vietnamese dynasties, and northeastern chieftains had comparatively lesser autonomy. Although recent studies have emphasized the importance of local chieftains in provincial governance, scholars have not fully considered the roles of local chieftains in Sino-Vietnamese tributary relations This article will so by examining their role in helping create and transmit documents sent from the Trịnh lords or the Lê emperor to the Qing These documents were often classified according to their purpose For instance, khải were the type of document generally sent to the Trịnh lord, tấu were generally sent to the Lê emperor, lệnh and lệnh dụ were generally sent by the Trịnh lord, and sắc and sắc were generally sent by the Lê emperor. After regaining control of the Red River Delta in , the Lê-Trịnh government regularly dispatched tributary envoys to the Ming emperor, who in turn granted the title of Annam (literally “Pacifier of the South”) supervisor [Annan dutongshi / An nam đô thống sứ] to the Lê emperor After the Qing occupied Beijing in , the Lê-Trịnh government still dispatched envoys to the Southern Ming (–), and the Southern Ming granted the title of Annan king [annan guowang / an nam quốc vương] to the Lê emperor In the s, the Lê-Trịnh government dispatched envoys to the Qing for the first time; in , the Qing granted the Lê emperor the title of Annan king. In the same year, the Lê-Trịnh government requested that the Annan king send a tributary envoy every six years for two regular tributes After this, the Lê-Trịnh government dispatched twenty-five envoys to the Qing. Both the Ming and the Qing ruled that the rank of Annan king was equal to that of governor general [zongdu] in each region, so in communicating with the Qing, the Lê-Trịnh government sent official documents, which were called zi in Chinese or tư in Vietnamese These documents were used for correspondence between the governor general of Liangguang (a region comprising Guangdong and Guangxi) and officials of equal rank Most studies of the Lê-Trịnh government’s communication with the Qing have not focused on the period before it dispatched these envoys, with two YOSHIKAWA exceptions: Wang Chengguang’s study of documents that the Lê-Trịnh government sent to the Zuojiang circuit [Zuojiang dao], and Liam Kelley’s examination of interpreters, who were dispatched to deliver drafts of “official document[s] requesting approval to cross the border on a given day,” or to await the response of the Qing court. Below, this article discusses how Kelley’s argument is inaccurate because these interpreters delivered drafts of tributary memorials, not official documents, to Qing officials This is an important oversight to address because, as this article will show, the Lê-Trịnh government requested that Qing officials revise drafts of tributary memorials before it dispatched tributary envoys, a key aspect of how the Lê-Trịnh government managed its tributary relationship with the Qing This article examines the Bắc sứ thông lục (BSTL) [北使通録, A Complete Record of an Envoy to the North] in order to fill the gaps left by previous studies. The BSTL should be considered an important historical source for the following reasons: First, it includes over eighty official documents concerning preparations to dispatch tributary envoys—including its author, Lê Quý Đôn 黎貴惇 These documents enable us to analyze specific operations within the Lê-Trịnh government’s various documentary and administrative processes Second, these records include diplomatic documents exchanged between the Lê emperor, the governor general of Liangguang, and the Zuojiang circuit, which allow for a deeper investigation of the Lê-Trịnh government’s communications with the Qing before the Lê-Trịnh government dispatched its envoys The Documentary System in Lạng Sơn Province in the Eighteenth Century Lạng Sơn Province is in the eastern portion of northern Vietnam It borders China’s Guangxi Province Non-Việt ethnic groups, known today as the Tày and Nùng peoples, constituted most of the region’s population in the eighteenth century The Lê Dynasty relied on the hereditary chieftains of these peoples to administer this province. The mountainous border with Guangxi witnessed continual private traffic. The Kỳ Cùng River in Lạng Sơn Province connects to the Zuo Jiang (or Zuo River) in Guangxi and has historically played a key role in regional river traffic and trade. In addition, Lạng Sơn Province was on the tributary route to China during the THE LÊ-TRỊNH GOVERNMENT’S DOCUMENTARY PRACTICES AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE QING DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY Cao Bằng Thái Nguyên Thất Tuyền Trấn Nam Pass Thoát Văn Văn Lan Lãng Uyên Lạng Sơn Kinh Bắc FIGURE 1: Lộc Bình Kỳ Cùng River Map of the Sino-Vietnamese border area in the eighteenth century Ming-Qing period Tributary envoys to China passed through this region and entered Guangxi via Trấn Nam Pass (present-day Hữu Nghị Pass) In , a postal road from the Lê-Trịnh capital Thăng Long (modern-day Hà Nội) to Trấn Nam Pass was built along this route. This made the central area of the present-day city of Lạng Sơn, where river traffic and the postal road intersect, an important economic and diplomatic hub The first market town in the Lạng Sơn region was established in this area in the latter half of the seventeenth century, and Chinese merchants from Guangdong and Guangxi conducted commercial activities there This promoted an influx of Chinese miners into northeast Vietnam during the eighteenth century. The influence of the Vietnamese court at Thăng Long in the northern uplands declined during the early sixteenth century, when political disorder began in the Lê court, and continued to so as the Mạc Dynasty faced continuous conflict with the restored Lê throne Even after , when the restored Lê Dynasty regained Thăng Long from the Mạc, the Lê did not immediately gain control of the entire northern Vietnamese region In fact, a stronghold of Mạc clan members in Cao Bằng Province, adjacent to the northern YOSHIKAWA region of Lạng Sơn and supported by the Ming court, continued to resist the Lê Dynasty. The Lê-Trịnh government could not immediately subjugate the Mạc because of the conflict with the Nguyễn family in the south In , the Lê-Trịnh government finally expelled the remaining Mạc from Cao Bằng. After this, the government took no major military action in the Sino-Vietnamese borderlands In , the government ordered provincial officials (frequently identified as trấn quan in documentary sources) to occupy their respective upland provinces and govern directly. In , the government dispatched Đinh Phụ Ích 丁輔益, an official with the title of dispatched grand governor [đốc trấn], to Lạng Sơn. In , the government imposed taxation and military service upon the inhabitants of the outer provinces. These early eighteenth-century policies were the first phase of more far-reaching reforms that would appear during the Minh Mạng period (–), when the ruling Nguyễn Dynasty abolished the hereditary status of local chieftains. The Documentary System in Lạng Sơn Province As previous studies have not adequately touched upon local governance, this section will examine the roles of chieftains in local governance in Lạng Sơn by examining official documents sent between local chieftains and the Lê-Trịnh government Lạng Sơn tỉnh Văn Uyên châu Cao Trĩ nha Cao Lâu tổng xã cổ (CLTCXCC) [諒山省文淵州高峙衙高樓總各社古紙, Old Papers of Each Commune in Cao Lâu Canton, Văn Uyên District, Lạng Sơn Province] contains twenty-three official documents exchanged between the Lê-Trịnh government and the Vi family—local chieftains at the Suất Lễ Commune, Lộc Bình District. The structure of the documents is as follows: – Thị 示: Top-ranking officials sent this type of document to low-ranking officials These documents begin, “Sender + thị + receiver.” In Lạng Sơn, the dispatched grand governor sent these documents to local chieftains when he needed to forward an order or permit regarding certain affairs There are seven thị in the CLTCXCC – Phó 付: Top-ranking officials sent this kind of document to low-ranking officials This type of document begins, “Sender + kê: nhất, phụng phó + THE LÊ-TRỊNH GOVERNMENT’S DOCUMENTARY PRACTICES AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE QING DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY Khải Trịnh lord [chúa Trịnh ] Five commissions [ngũ phủ] Court officials [phủ liêu ] Phụng truyền ዊബ Provincial officials [đốc trấn ] in Lạng Sơn Province Thân ⏦ Lệnh Thị ♧ Phó Local chieftains FIGURE 2: The documentary system in Lạng Sơn Province in the eighteenth century receiver.” In Lạng Sơn, the dispatched grand governor sent these documents to local chieftains when he needed to send an order or permit regarding certain affairs There are three phó in the CLTCXCC. – Phụng truyền 奉傳: Court officials called the “five commissions” [Ngũ phủ, 五府] and “court officials” [Phủ liêu, 府僚], who were officials serving the Trịnh lord, sent this type of document to low-ranking officials to announce the Trịnh lord’s orders. This type of document begins, “Sender + phụng truyền + receiver.” This article uses the term phụng truyền because each textual source employs this one-noun terminology – Lệnh 令旨: The orders of the Trịnh lord – Thân 申: Low-ranking officials sent this type of document to top-ranking officials This type of document begins, “Sender + thân.” Although this type of document did not contain the name or title of the receivers, the BSTL includes a khải, which is a memorial generally sent to the Trịnh lord by the provincial official of Lạng Sơn, quoting a thân from local chieftains. This indicates that this is the type of document that local chieftains in Lạng Sơn sent to provincial officials There are three thân in the CLTCXCC Notably, because the documentary system in Lạng Sơn included local chieftains during this period, we can infer that these chieftains must have been able to read and write classical Chinese A diagram of the functioning of the eighteenth-century documentary system of Lạng Sơn Province can be found in Figure YOSHIKAWA Politics and Society in Eighteenth-Century Lạng Sơn At the end of the s, uprisings broke out throughout northern Vietnam, including in Lạng Sơn Ngơ Thì Sĩ 呉時仕 was appointed as dispatched grand governor of Lạng Sơn in According to a khải of his titled “Khải to Request Leaving Kinh [ethnically Vietnamese] Soldiers in the Province” [Thỉnh lưu Kinh binh phụ Trấn Khải], recorded in Ngô gia văn phái [呉家 文派, Literati Group of the Ngô Family], the provincial castle was captured three times: by a frontier subject named Toàn Cơ 鑽基, by a group of bandits named Đoan 端, and by another group of bandits named Hoàng Sĩ 黄歯. In addition, another khải of his, titled “Khải to Again Request Removing Provincial Castle” [Tái thính di Trấn Khải], describes how native inhabitants and sojourners (the Nùng people [Nùng nhân]) also participated in uprisings. In Chinese sources, Toàn Cơ was recorded as Weifuguan / Vi Phúc Quan 韋福琯, who began to disturb the Sino-Vietnamese border region around , occupied the provincial castle of Lạng Sơn in , and was captured in . According to Chinese sources, Yezhen 葉蓁, from Chongshan District, Guangdong Province, and Zhoulaoliu 周老六 belonged to Toàn Cơ’s group (the latter as instructor of arms), which indicates that his group absorbed sojourners from China. Vietnamese sources record that the Hoàng Sĩ bandits proclaimed themselves as the Mạc remnants. According to Niu Junkai, though the Mạc remnants fled to Guangxi Province in China during this period, they returned to Bảo Lạc District in Cao Bằng as uprisings broke out throughout northern Vietnam The Hoàng Sĩ exploited this situation, recruiting Chinese mine laborers in the northern uplands to participate in their groups. Lê Quý Đôn’s Kiến văn tiểu lục [見聞小録, Small Chronicle of Things Seen and Heard] records that in Tuyên Quang Province, the Hoàng Sĩ people were constituted by people from Xiangwu Subprefecture in Guangxi Province. This indicates that either remnants of the Mạc Dynasty led the Xiangwu people or the Xiangwu people speciously proclaimed themselves to be the descendants of the Mạc Either way, there is no doubt that the Hoàng Sĩ came to the northern uplands of Vietnam from Guangxi Thus, from the late s through the s, Lạng Sơn experienced frequent uprisings As Sakurai Yumio points out, large numbers of people THE LÊ-TRỊNH GOVERNMENT’S DOCUMENTARY PRACTICES AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE QING DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY wandered throughout northern Vietnam during the eighteenth century as a result of frequent natural disasters, which caused uprisings and the displacement of large numbers of villagers in Lạng Sơn in particular. Thus, frequent natural disasters, uprisings, and inland traffic between southern China and northern Vietnam in Lạng Sơn created a great deal of social fluidity The Role of Local Chieftains in the Governance of Lạng Sơn As mentioned above, Lạng Sơn was a site of considerable social and economic unrest when the Lê-Trịnh government began dispatching provincial officials there in the early eighteenth century This was the principal reason for the government’s reliance on local chieftains in day-to-day governance, a key characteristic of the dynasty’s presence in Lạng Sơn at that time In some documents—such as the thị, phó, and lệnh recorded in the CLTCXCC—provincial officials or the Trịnh lord requested that local chieftains administer tax collection and military service in each commune For example, lệnh addressed to members of the Vi family, Vi Trọng Dung 韋仲容 and Vi Đình Trinh 韋廷偵, in the eleventh year of Cảnh Hưng () enumerated the level of taxation and the number of soldiers at each commune [xã]: Because Vi Trọng Dung and Vi Đình Trinh led familial soldiers in frequent endeavors to suppress bandits when the uprisings happened, the government rewarded them with positions and titles, and provincial officials granted them control of soldiers [quân] and inhabitants [dân] at each commune Now, provincial officials, sending a khải to the Trịnh lord, wish you to receive hereditary control of these soldiers and inhabitants Provincial officials have already determined that such facts are true and agreed to your inheritance of the titles of assistant leader [phụ đạo] and frontier subject [phiên thần] According to provincial officials, you must control five communes and forty-three soldiers and obey the dispatched grand governor’s and the assistant grand governor’s orders to subjugate bandits and make the region tranquil Every year, during the summer and winter seasons, you must collect the land tax [tô] and head tax [dung] at these communes, equaling quan bác văn phân If you fulfill this quota, you can gain quan per soldier as salary [ngẫu lộc], equaling a total of quan, and you must deliver 10 YOSHIKAWA the remaining quan văn phân to the official storehouse You can gain tree tiles [mộc bài], rewards [thị phái], brushes, ink [bút mặc], pigs [trư], betel [lang], coins [tiền], and rice [phạn], conforming to established precedents and not collected illegally You can lead soldiers from five communes, totaling forty-three people, as dictated below: Five communes in Lộc Bình District Cao Lâu Commune: soldiers, yearly land tax and head tax, quan bác văn phân Suất Lễ Commune: soldiers, yearly land tax and head tax, quan bác văn phân Lộc An Commune: soldiers, yearly land tax and head tax, quan bác văn Bình Tây Commune: soldiers, yearly land tax and head tax, quan bác văn phân Hải An Commune: soldiers, yearly land tax and head tax, quan bác văn Second day of the seventh month of the eleventh year of Cảnh Hưng. This lệnh enumerates the taxes to be collected and the number of soldiers in each commune and thus implies that it was the duty of the local chieftains to administer tax collection and military service The phrase “to control soldiers and inhabitants at each commune” also refers to these duties In addition, if local chieftains fulfilled their quotas, they could “gain a salary of quan per soldier,” which indicates that local chieftains gained a percentage of tax income as salary Furthermore, they were permitted to collect “tree tiles, rewards, brushes, ink, pigs, betel, coins, and rice.” They probably collected these items as fees at each commune, because in the northern plains villagers often used items such as brushes, ink, coins, and rice to pay officials who administered tax collection. It is also clear that the Lê-Trịnh government required the cooperation of local chieftains to suppress the uprisings that frequently broke out in the region The LêTrịnh government sometimes awarded titles and positions to local chieftains who made military contributions Thus, these documents indicate that the Lê-Trịnh government depended on local chieftains to administer tax collection and military service at each commune and that it arranged for the chieftains to benefit from fulfilling these duties Local chieftains, in turn, THE LÊ-TRỊNH GOVERNMENT’S DOCUMENTARY PRACTICES AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE QING DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 15 thủ ải research the positions and names of internal [nội địa, namely the Qing] officials regarding regular tribute such as the governor general [zongdu / tổng đốc], governor [xunfu / tuần phủ], provincial administration commission [buzheng / bố chính], provincial surveillance commission [ancha / án sát], Zuojiang circuit, and officials in prefectures, subprefectures, and districts, and purchase one northern calendar [bắc lịch] of the year of Kỷ Sửu, and immediately deliver them to the court in fifteen days, not delay Here the five commissions and court officials send phụng truyền Twenty-second day of the twelfth month of the nineteenth year of Cảnh Hưng. This description indicates that local chieftains with the title of thủ ải were called upon to research the titles and positions of Qing officials and to purchase a Qing calendar Such information was necessary for the Lê-Trịnh government to prepare diplomatic documents for Qing officials because these documents needed to include Qing calendar dates and the title and position of the Qing officials to whom the documents were addressed Furthermore, Qing officials were frequently appointed to new posts, so the Lê-Trịnh government often needed thủ ải to research Qing officials’ present positions and titles to keep their documents and records up to date On the twenty-eighth day of the second month of the twentieth year of Cảnh Hưng, two provincial officials in Lạng Sơn sent this information to the government. On the second day of the third month of the same year, the Trịnh lord agreed to the contents of the zi/tư and ordered officials to write its formal version. On the fifth day of the third month of the same year, court officials ordered the provincial officials of Lạng Sơn Province to have a thủ ải forward it to the Qing The Trịnh lord agreed the next day, and the government sent the document through the postal service. It is likely that the Lê court did not participate in this process and did not even have nominal permission to participate in it In other words, the Trịnh court prepared the official document on its own under the name of the Lê emperor Thus, the local chieftains with the title of thủ ải were responsible for researching the title and position of Qing officials, purchasing Qing calendars, and forwarding documents Given their aforementioned responsibility for administering some elements of local governance, it is clear that these chieftains played important roles in helping the Lê-Trịnh government 16 YOSHIKAWA maintain its tributary relationship with the Qing This reflected longstanding cultural and economic ties, and personal relationships, that spanned the border: native inhabitants of Lạng Sơn Province, such as the present-day Tày and Nùng peoples, had ethnic and linguistic connections with inhabitants of the Qing Dynasty’s Guangxi Province, and they intermarried and engaged in cross-border trade. The first zi/tư of the Lê-Trịnh government sent to the Qing recorded in the BSTL announced the Lê-Trịnh government’s sending of tributary envoys to the Qing According to the BSTL, this zi/tư was dated the twentyfourth day of the second month of the twenty-fourth year of Qianlong (). The Zuojiang circuit, replying to it, sent a zi/tư to the Lê-Trịnh government, which was dated the twenty-ninth day of the fourth month of the twenty-fourth year of Qianlong (), and the Lê-Trịnh government received it on the twenty-seventh day of the fifth month of that year. The next zi/tư of the Lê-Trịnh government recorded in the BSTL also announced the sending of envoys While the Lê-Trịnh government was preparing to send envoys for regular tribute, the retired Lê emperor, Lê Ý Tông 黎懿宗 (r –), who was still nominally the king of Annam, died (on the eighth day of the intercalary sixth month of the twentieth year of Cảnh Hưng). Usually, after foreign kings who were granted titles by the Qing emperor died, tributary states sent special envoys to announce the death and request the Qing to grant the title to his successor In this case, the Lê-Trịnh government sent two zi/tư—one to the Zuojiang circuit and one to the governor general of Liangguang Through these zi/tư, the LêTrịnh government announced the death of Lê Ý Tông and requested them to permit the Lê-Trịnh government to send envoys who would both announce the death of Lê Ý Tông and participate in regular tributes Both zi/tư are dated the twenty-seventh day of the intercalary sixth month of the twenty-fourth year of Qianlong. As in previous zi/tư, court officials ordered provincial officials of Lạng Sơn Province to have the thủ ải forward it to the Qing on the third day of the seventh month of the twentieth year of Cảnh Hưng The next day, the Trịnh lord allowed officials to use his seal for these two zi/tư, and ordered them to carefully inspect words in this zi/tư so as not to mistake wu/ô [烏, crow] for niao/điểu [鳥, bird] in the “formertime tributary memorial” [biaowen / biểu văn]. THE LÊ-TRỊNH GOVERNMENT’S DOCUMENTARY PRACTICES AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE QING DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 17 Sending Drafts of Tributary Memorials Next, the Lê-Trịnh government sent the Qing drafts of tributary memorials and dispatched interpreters ahead of these drafts The Lịch Triều Hiến chương loại chí (LTHCLC) [歴朝憲章類誌, Cataloged Record of the Institution of Successive Dynasties] by Phan Huy Chú describes this process as follows: In the season when dispatching tributary envoys, the government will report to the Zuojiang circuit by sending official documents to the defenders of the Longping brigade informing them of which month envoys will depart If the Qing permitted envoys traveling to the Qing through official documents, then the government will dispatch two interpreters [tiền lộ thông sự] and two reconnoiterers [thám nhi] with documents and drafts of tributary memorials to deliver to the defenders of the Longping brigade at Trấn Nam Pass and to have them receive and forward these documents and drafts. According to this description, the Lê-Trịnh government delivered drafts of tributary memorials to the Qing by dispatching interpreters and reconnoiterers. The BSTL records the phụng truyền sent to interpreters and reconnoiterers on the third day of the ninth month of the twentieth year of Cảnh Hưng: The five commissions and court officials send phụng truyền to interpreters, Nguyễn Quốc Hành 阮國珩 and Nguyễn Đình Bối 阮廷□, and reconnoiterers, Nguyễn Thế Tích 阮勢錫, Nguyễn Đình Hân 阮廷昕, and Quách Đăng Dao 郭登瑶 In this season we received a total of six drafts of tributary memorials, twenty-one official documents, and one official document intended for those awaiting orders Interpreters and reconnoiterers must travel to Trấn Nam Pass, and together with thủ ải, Khoái Nham Earl [Khoái Nham bác], Vi Phúc Hồng, and Đế Trung Marquis, Nguyễn Đình Duệ, announce to the thủ ải of Longping, and wait for the thủ ải of Longping to open the gate of Trấn Nam Pass, to receive those official documents, and to deliver [those documents] to each official of the Qing Subsequently, after waiting for the Qing Officials to revise drafts and send them back, you must immediately receive and deliver them to the court to complete official affairs If the interpreters or reconnoiterers were disrespectful, the court will punish them according to the official law Here the five commissions and court officials send phụng truyền Third day of the ninth month of the twentieth year of Cảnh Hưng. 18 YOSHIKAWA According to this description, the Lê-Trịnh government dispatched interpreters, reconnoiterers, and local chieftains with the title of thủ ải to deliver drafts of tributary memorials to the Qing and return with drafts that had been revised by current Qing officials This description also indicates that the Lê-Trịnh government dispatched two interpreters and three reconnoiterers The memorial of court officials sent to the Trịnh lord in the eighth month of the same year describes their native places. According to the BSTL, on or around the twentieth day (the first digit of the date is empty in the original text) of the eighth month of the twentieth year of Cảnh Hưng, in the Lê-Trịnh government the director of astronomy [ty thiên giám] reported that the date of departure of the interpreters would be the eighth day of the ninth month of that year. On the third day of the ninth month of the same year, the Lê-Trịnh government wrote down these twenty-eight documents and drafts. Before this, in phụng truyền sent on the sixth day of the seventh month, court officials again ordered provincial officials of Lạng Sơn Province to have thủ ải research the titles and positions of the Qing officials. At this time, the Lê-Trịnh government probably ordered additional research regarding the titles and positions of these officials because several months had passed since this had been done Two weeks later, provincial officials of Lạng Sơn Province reported this information. The BSTL records some of the official documents which these interpreters and reconnoiterers delivered to the Qing, including the entire contents of zi/tư sent to the governor general of Liangguang dated around the twentieth day of the eighth month of the twenty-fourth year of Qianlong, and the whole contents of zi/tư sent to the magistrate of Chongshan District on the third day of the ninth month of the same year According to the BSTL, the author omitted the zi/tư sent to the governor, the provincial administration commission, and the provincial surveillance commission of Zuojiang circuit because these zi/tư had the same contents as zi/tư sent to the governor general of Liangguang These zi/tư requested that the governor general revise drafts of tributary memorials, determine the date that the gate of Trấn Nam Pass would open, and report the contents of tributes and envoy members. THE LÊ-TRỊNH GOVERNMENT’S DOCUMENTARY PRACTICES AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE QING DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 19 It is noteworthy that the Lê-Trịnh government requested either the governor general of Liangguang or his offices to revise the drafts of these tributary memorials As mentioned above, the Lê-Trịnh government was likely to miswrite wu/ô for niao/điểu, which implies that tributary states sometimes imperfectly wrote or miswrote classical Chinese characters For this reason, the Lê-Trịnh government’s request of the governor general of Liangguang was probably a routine check, which sought to avoid the kinds of errors that could affect diplomacy between the Lê-Trịnh government and the Qing The governor general of Liangguang finished revising these drafts by the twentieth day of the tenth month of the twenty-fourth year of Qianlong () and sent zi/tư with this date to the Lê-Trịnh government The Zuojiang circuit forwarded these zi/tư and drafts and also wrote its own zi/tư to the Lê-Trịnh government on the nineteenth day of the eleventh month of that same year. The Lê-Trịnh government received all of these documents on the sixth day of the next month. To what degree did the governor general of Liangguang revise these drafts? On this matter, fortunately, the BSTL records drafts of two tributary memorials for regular tributes of the twenty-first year () and twentyfourth year () of Qianlong, which are dated to certain days of the ninth month of By contrast, Geng’s volume of Ming Qing Shiliao [明清史 料, Sources of the Ming and the Qing] records the final versions of these documents, dated the second day of the second month of the twenty-fifth year of Qianlong (). There are only minor differences between the drafts and the final versions Besides the differences between complicated and simple characters, or probable errors caused by copiers of the BSTL from the French colonial period, the governor general of Liangguang probably revised cử/ju [擧, held] to tiến/jin [進, proceed] and thánh/sheng [聖, sacred] to đức/de [德, virtue] in these two tributary memorials. Such minor revisions indicate that the contents of tributary memorials were likely routinized, and that Lê-Trịnh government officials had sufficient knowledge of classical Chinese to make such minor corrections Although there is no information on when the governor general of Liangguang started revising these drafts, it is likely that the Lê-Trịnh government could compose these documents in classical Chinese rhetorical style without major errors by the mid-eighteenth century 20 YOSHIKAWA Conclusion To accomplish its tribute to the Qing without complications or errors, the Lê-Trịnh government needed to send an announcement to Qing officials before it dispatched its tributary envoys, and to dispatch interpreters and local chieftains to Trấn Nam Pass to exchange drafts of tributary memorials Local chieftains in Lạng Sơn were responsible for researching the titles and positions of Qing officials and purchasing Qing calendars to ensure the accuracy of drafts and documents, and for forwarding official documents The Sino-Vietnamese border is mountainous, and the influences of various Chinese and Vietnamese authorities did not reach many parts of this area until the eighteenth century At that time, the Vietnamese government still relied on local chieftains to govern its northern uplands These chieftains thus played important roles in Sino-Vietnamese relations Lạng Sơn was important to Vietnam’s northern uplands because it was located on both tributary and commercial routes; therefore, the Lê-Trịnh government constructed an administrative system which integrated local chieftains into the processes of local governance They probably did so earlier there than in other mountainous provinces, although there is no definitive evidence for this assertion After delivering drafts of tributary memorials through interpreters, the Lê-Trịnh government also dispatched—in addition to formal envoys—waiters of orders [hầu mệnh quan], who had the role to await a response from the Qing court, as well as protectors of tributes [hộ cống], who were expected to guard tributes against theft. The Lê-Trịnh government probably had to take such trouble to send tributary memorials and tributes to the Qing because governance in the area bordering Qing territory was still unstable The Nguyễn Dynasty continued both to send drafts of tributary memorials to the Qing and to request Qing officials to revise these drafts before they dispatched tributary envoys According to Lạng Sơn Đoàn thành đồ, in dispatching envoys celebrating the sixtieth birthday of the Qing Emperor in , “in the first month of the year of Kỷ Sửu (), our state replied on the date of departure, delivered drafts of a tributary memorial, requested the governor of Guangxi to revise them, and announced dispatching Nguyễn Xuân Thanh 阮春晴 and tributes.” This description only describes how the Nguyễn Dynasty sent drafts of tributary memorial to the THE LÊ-TRỊNH GOVERNMENT’S DOCUMENTARY PRACTICES AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE QING DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 21 governor of Guangxi and requested him to revise them; therefore, we cannot know from this source whether the Nguyễn Dynasty still dispatched interpreters or reconnoiterers at that time The Khâm định Đại Nam Hội điển lệ [欽定大南會典事例, Official Compendium of Institution and Usages of Imperial Vietnam] also mentions that the court sent diplomatic documents [quốc thư] to the governor of Guangxi for revision, but it does not refer to interpreters or reconnoiterers. The Nguyễn Dynasty continued to request that Qing officials revise drafts of tributary memorials This indicates that this custom was routinized in order to easily maintain the Sino-Vietnamese tributary relationship During the early Nguyễn period, local chieftains in Lạng Sơn continued to play important roles in documentary exchanges with the Qing According to Châu Triều Nguyễn [阮朝硃本, Vermilion Records of the Nguyễn Dynasty], in the eleventh month of the first year of Minh Mạng (), thủ ải Nguyễn Đình Minh forwarded an official document to a provincial official. Furthermore, in the twentieth month of same year, provincial officials in Lạng Sơn had Nguyễn Đình Minh forward official documents to the Ministry of Rites, the governor of Guangxi Province, and Taiping Prefecture. During the Minh Mạng period, the Nguyễn court abolished the hereditary status of local chieftains and also began dispatching Vietnamese bureaucrats However, governance in the northern uplands remained unstable In the s, Nông Văn Vân 農文雲, the tribal chieftain of Bảo Lạc Prefecture in Tuyên Quang Province revolted against the Nguyễn court, and from the s onward disturbances were caused by Taiping remnants from China. At that time, a number of chieftains from Lạng Sơn Province participated in Nông Văn Vân’s group, and provincial officials barely withstood this group’s challenge by mobilizing other local chieftains for their defense During the s and s, when Chinese bandits also disturbed Lạng Sơn Province, Vi Văn Lý, an influential member of the Vi family of Lộc Bình District, played a decisive role in the defense of the border against their incursions On documentary exchanges with the Qing, even in the early Thiệu Trị period, a local chieftain named Nguyễn Đình Tây 阮廷西—who was a squad commander defending Văn Uyên Pass [thủ Văn Uyên đội trường] and a member of the Nguyễn Đình family 22 YOSHIKAWA at Uyên Cốt Commune in Văn Uyên District—continued forwarding official documents from the Qing to the court. In short, well into the midnineteenth century, local chieftains continued to maintain some degree of influence in the history of Vietnam and its relationship with the Qing KAZUKI YOSHIKAWA is an Assistant Professor at Kansai University This article was originally presented at the international conference “ Zhongyang yanjiuyuan Ming-Qing yanjiu guoji xueshu yantaohui” at Academia Sinica, Taipei, August , The author would like to thank the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) for financial support and Editage (www.editage.com) for English language editing ABSTRACT During the eighteenth century, the Vietnamese government relied on local chieftains to govern its northern uplands, including the Sino-Vietnamese border region In Lạng Sơn Province—an intermediary point for diplomatic documents traveling from the Lê-Trịnh government to the Qing—the government constructed a documentary system that gave local chieftains considerable political responsibility Under this system, local chieftains were responsible for administering tax collection and some forms of military service, researching the titles and positions of Qing officials, purchasing Qing calendars, and forwarding official documents Thus, these local chieftains played important roles in eighteenth-century Sino-Vietnamese relations and politics KEYWORDS: Lê-Trịnh government, Lạng Sơn Province, local chieftains, official documents, Sino-Vietnamese relations Notes For example, Vũ Đường Luân has considered local politics and the influence of local chieftains regarding territorial conflicts in the Sino-Vietnamese borderlands between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, and other scholars have indicated that even after the Minh Mạng period, when the Nguyễn court abolished the hereditary status of local chieftains and also dispatched Vietnamese bureaucrats, local chieftains still maintained their influence in upland society See Vũ Đường Luân, “Contested Sovereignty: Local Politics and State THE LÊ-TRỊNH GOVERNMENT’S DOCUMENTARY PRACTICES AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE QING DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 23 Power in Territorial Conflicts on the Vietnam-China Border, s–s,” Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review (): –; Emmanuel Poisson, Mandarins et subalternes au nord du Viêt Nam: Une bureaucratie l’epreuve (–) [Mandarin and Subordinate in Northern Vietnam: A Bureaucracy to the Test] (Paris: Maisonneuve and Larose, ); and Emmanuel Poisson, “Unhealthy Air of the Mountains: Kinh and Ethnic Minority Rule on the Sino-Vietnamese Frontier from the Fifteenth to the Twentieth Century,” in On the Borders of State Power: Frontiers in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, ed Martin Gainsborough (New York: Routledge, ), – Provinces were called trấn, thừa tuyên, đạo, or xứ (hereafter, province or trấn) in textual sources Ueda Shin’ya, Kinsei Betonamu no Seiji to Syakai [Administration and Society in Early Modern Vietnam] (Osaka: Osaka University Press, ), chapters and This article refers to those who had these titles as “local chieftains.” Furuta Motoo, “Betonamu jin no ‘seihou kanyo’ no shiteki kousatsu: Indoshina no nakano Betonamu” [Historical Consideration on “Western Movements” of Vietnamese: Vietnam in Indochina], in Kokusai-kankei no Furontia : Tōnanajia no Seiji to Bunka [Frontier of International Relations : Politics and Cultures of Southeast Asia], ed Tsuchiya Kenji and Shiraishi Takashi (Tokyo: Tokyo University Press, ), –; Furuta Motoo, Betonamu-jin Kyōsansyugisya no Minzoku-seisaku shi [History of Vietnamese Communists’ Policies: Ethnicity in Revolution] (Tokyo: Ōtsuki-syoten, ) Lê Kim Ngân, Chế độ trị Việt Nam kỷ XVII XVIII [Administrative Systems in Vietnam during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries] (Sài Gòn: Phân Khoa Khoa Học Xã Hội, Viện Đại Học Vạn Hạnh, ), –; Ueda Shin’ya, Kinsei Betonamu no Seiji to Syakai Niu Junkai, Huangshi Houyi yu Panluanzhe: Yuenan Moshi yu Zhongguo guanxi yanjiu [Royal Descendants and Rebels: Relations between the Mạc of Vietnam and China] (Guangzhou: World Publishing Group, ), – Sun Hongnian, Qingdai ZhongYue zongfan guanxi yenjiu [Study of SuzerainVassal Relationships between China and Vietnam During the Qing Period] (Harbin: Heilongjiang Jiaoyu Chubanshe [Heilongjiang Education Press], ), – Wang Chenguang, Ming-Qing Zhong Yue jiaotong yu Yueshi zhaogong wenti yanjiu [Study on Sino-Vietnamese Traffic and Vietnamese Tributary Envoys during the Ming and Qing Periods], (Chengdu: Bashushushe, ), –; Liam C Kelley, Beyond the Bronze Pillars: Envoy Poetry and the SinoVietnamese Relationship (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, ), Shelf number: A , Hà Nội: Hán Nôm Institute [Viện Nghiên cứu Hán Nôm] 24 YOSHIKAWA Ito Masako, Esunisiti “Sousei” to Kokuminkokka Betonamu: Chū-etsu kokkyouchiiki Tai-zoku, Nun-zoku no Kindai [The “Creation” of Ethnicity and the National State in Vietnam: The Modern Era of the Tày and the Nùng in the Border Region Between China and Vietnam] (Tokyo: Sangensya, ), –; Nguyễn Quang Huynh, ed., Thổ ty Lạng Sơn Lịch sử [Local Chieftains of Lạng Sơn Province in History] (Hà Nội: Văn Hóa Dân Tộc [Ethnic Culture Publishing House], ) Hasuda Takashi, “‘Kajin no Seiki’ to Kinsei Hokubu Betonamu: nen no Ekkyōjiken wo Sozai toshite” [“Chinese Century” and Early Modern Vietnam: Through a Border Transgression Affair in ], Ajia Minsyushi Kenkyu [Journal of the Study of Popular History in Asia] (): – According to Lạng Sơn Đoàn thành đồ [諒山團城圖, Figure of Lạng Sơn Castle; shelf number: A., Hà Nội: Hán Nôm Institute], which has a preface, it took only four days to travel from Lạng Sơn Castle to China via the Kỳ Cùng River (Lạng Sơn Đoàn thành đồ, b) Chen Ching-ho, ed., Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư [The Complete Annals of Đại Việt], vol (Tokyo: Toyo Bunka Kenkyujo, ), Yoshikawa Kazuki, “Giao thương nội địa khu vực Đông Bắc Việt Nam Quảng Tây – Trung Quốc vào nửa sau kỷ XVII” [Internal Trade between the Northeast Region of Vietnam and Guangxi: China in the Second Half of the Seventeenth Century], Tạp chí Nghiên cứu Phát triển [The Magazine for Research and Development] (): – Niu Junkai, Huangshi Houyi yu Panluanzhe, – Niu Junkai, Huangshi Houyi yu Panluanzhe, – According to Chen Ching-ho, ed., Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư tục biên [大越史記 全書續編, The Continued Complete Annals of Đại Việt] (Tokyo: Tōyō Bunka Kenkyūjo, ), , Nguyễn Quý Đức and Nguyễn Thế Phan demanded this matter and the Trịnh lord approved Chen Ching-ho, ed., Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, Chen Ching-ho, ed., Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, Nguyễn Minh Tường, Cải cách hành triều Minh Mệnh [Administrative Reforms during the Minh Mệnh Period] (Hà Nội: Khoa Học Xã Hội, ); Poisson, Mandarins et subalternes au nord du Viêt Nam; Poisson, “Unhealthy Air of the Mountains,” – Shelf number: AH a./, Hà Nội: Hán Nôm Institute Yoshikawa Kazuki, “ seiki no Betonamu Rei-Tei Seiken to Hokubu-sanchi: Ranson-chiiki no zaichi-syucho no doukou wo chushin ni” [The Lê–Trịnh Government and Native Chieftains in the Northern Uplands in EighteenthCentury Vietnam: Focusing on the Lạng Sơn Region], Tōnan-ajia kenkyū [Southeast Asian Studies] , no (): – The difference between thị and phó is not clear THE LÊ-TRỊNH GOVERNMENT’S DOCUMENTARY PRACTICES AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE QING DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 25 The five commissions comprised members of the Trịnh family, and court officials comprised the vice ministers [bồi tụng] of court and the ministers of the Trịnh court [tham tụng] See Ueda Shin’ya, Kinsei Betonamu no Seiji to Syakai, –; Ueda Shin’ya, “On the Financial Structure and Personnel Organisation of the Trịnh Lords in Seventeenth to Eighteenth-Century North Vietnam,” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , no (): – The senders of the khải were the dispatched grand governor and the assistant grand governor of Lạng Sơn province, and the senders of the thân were the six local chieftains (BSTL, vol , b–a) Shelf number: A /, Hà Nội: Hán Nôm Institute The original text, written in classical Chinese, is as follows: 昔者基・端・黄歯 之變，團城三次失守。七州之民，陥於塗炭。朝廷命將出帥，厪一番籌 画，屈數年財力。(Ngô gia văn phái, b) The original text is as follows: 昔逆基以藩目唱亂圍城，儂人相率影附。温 州之民，導逆端從京北上。文闌［蘭］・七泉之民，導黄歯從太原來。 團城屢次失守，動勞廟算。(Ngô gia văn phái, a) Suzuki Chūsei, “Reichō-kōki no Shin tono Kankei (– nen)” [Relationships between the Late Lê Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty: –], in Betonamu Cyūgoku Kankei-shi: Kyoku-shi no Taitō kara Shinfutsu-sensō made [History of Relations Between Vietnam and China: From the Rise of the Khuc to Sino-French War], ed Yamamoto Tatsurou, (Tokyo: Yamakawa Syuppansya, ), Chen Ching-ho, ed., Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, , Shiliao xunkan 史料旬刊, vol , Annan tuguan Weifuguan zirao Liangshan an 安南土官韋福琯滋擾諒山案, Tanxingyi zhe (Taipei: Guofeng Chubanshe, ), The original text is as follows: 黄歯。莫氏遺孼。號黄齒賊。是年寇高平， 督鎭廷伯率兵進勦，大破之。(Khâm định Việt sử thông giám cương mục, vol , a–b [Taipei: National Central Library]) Niu Junkai, Huangshi Houyi yu Panluanzhe, – Shelf number: VHv , Hà Nội: Hán Nôm Institute The original text is as follows: 宣光處有諸種人。 （中略） 一曰黄齒。多向武州人，好染 歯。穿山渉水，甚捷，性悍無類，不治生業，只好漂掠。(Kiến văn tiểu lục, vol , a–b) Sakurai Yumio, Betonamu sonraku no keisei: Sonraku kyouyūden=kondien-sei no shiteki tenkai [Formation of Vietnamese Villages: Historical Transition of the System of Công Điền] (Tokyo: Sobunsya, ), , Thị phái are probably thừa thị and thừa phái, both of which refer to the reward that villages must pay to officials who control tax collection there See Sakurai Yumio, Betonamu sonraku no keisei, – 26 YOSHIKAWA The original text is as follows (CLTCXCC, a–b): 大元帥總国政尚師明王令 旨。諒山處祿平州率禮社藩臣・防禦使・條忠伯韋仲容，親男輔導・珣武 韋廷偵等係爾祖父繼襲藩臣已經世代。頒因地方有警，乃能傳率家丁討 賊，累効勤勞，預賞職爵，經本鎭官給該管兵民各社［各社兵民？］。茲 有啓，乞仍繼襲。經附査寔，應許爲繼襲輔導・藩臣。照鎭官所給，共五 社，兵率共四十三人，准許同該管，随管督鎭・督同官，差撥討賊，以靖 地方。其内該等社，仝年祖［租］税庸兵［共？］錢壹百捌拾貮貫參陌參 拾文捌分，分爲夏冬二務，差收足例，除取寓祿毎率古錢壹貫，共古錢肆 拾參貫，止存古錢壹百五拾玖貫參拾文捌分，遞將進納官庫。其木牌・示 派・筆墨・猪榔・錢飯等，遵依準定例内，毋得索濫［濫索］。其管兵亦 当申厳把［紀？］律，操練精熟，以備差行。倘或差行，若煩擾方民，有 公法在。茲令。 一，応准給該管兵，共五社，兵率共四拾參人。 祿平州五社 高樓社＜兵率十一人＞仝年祖［租］・庸，古錢參拾五貫壹陌五拾貮文捌 率禮社＜兵率二十人＞仝年祖［租］・庸，古錢七拾捌貫參陌拾陸文捌分 祿安社＜兵率六人＞仝年祖［租］・庸，古錢參拾貫陸陌貮拾陸文 平西社＜兵率三人＞仝年祖［租］・庸，古錢貮拾壹貫五陌肆拾文貮分 海晏社＜兵率三人＞仝年祖［租］・庸，古錢拾五貫陸陌拾五文 景興十一年七月初二日 Sakurai Yumio, Betonamu sonraku no keisei, – Yoshikawa Kazuki, “ seiki no Betonamu Rei-Tei Seiken to Hokubu-sanchi.” The original text is as follows: 五府・府僚等官。計。一，奉傳諒山處督鎭 官香嶺侯枚世準。係茲期有公文一套，内開咨報朝貢，投遞左江道官等 因。如見遞到，即刻附與守隘，謹將夾板公文，與内地龍憑守隘接領馳 遞，以濟公務。茲奉傳。景興二十年三月初五日。(BSTL, vol , a–b) Guangxi tongzhi 廣西通志, vol , zhiguan, guozhao (edited in Yongzheng period, included in Sikuquanshu 四庫全書, vol –, Taiwan: Shangwuyinshuguan [The Commercial Press], –) The original text is as follows: 置諒山隘目。諒山南關及油村隘＜凡使部往 返者，由南關。解送人犯及風難者，由油村隘。均属文淵州＞，故黎置 守隘左右二號＜正副首號各二印，刻文淵州廣尉使司之印。凡接領清人 公文，押用爲信＞。至是，諒山鎭臣請以旧守隘阮廷銘・阮廷□爲之。 乃授廷銘爲正首號守南關，廷□爲副首號守油村隘，給之銅印＜篆刻文 淵州首號之章＞(ĐNTL, vol , q , Eighth month of first year of Gia Long []) The parentheses in the translation show inserted notes in the original text, and square brackets indicate my supplementation Suzuki Chūsei, “Reichō-kōki no Shin tono Kankei,” Nguyễn Quang Huynh, ed., Thổ ty Lạng Sơn Lịch sử THE LÊ-TRỊNH GOVERNMENT’S DOCUMENTARY PRACTICES AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE QING DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 27 The original text is as follows: 諒山處藩臣中一號首號・宣慰使・幹壽侯韋 世藩，正前號首號・宣慰大使・鵬武侯阮克臺，正左號首號・宣慰大 使・環壽侯黄廷逞，正右號首號・宣慰使・姜寶侯阮廷祿，正後號首 號・防禦使・傳基伯何國纉，守隘號副號・招討同知・瑅仲侯阮廷璿， 仝本處等申 (BSTL, vol , b–a) Shelf number: AH a./, Hà Nội: Hán Nôm Institute The original text is as follows: 奉差諒山處督鎭諸衙門官示守隘・提忠侯阮 廷璿。係爾於年前累奉攻破賊徒，頗有勳勞。茲督鎭官申乞許伊員爲内 屬正號。累奉差行，竝無過失，且又武藝諳通。因應給許爲本號正號， 協隨與首號官，唱率該内屬員幷兵，隷屬衙門應務。若懈怠不勤，及遇 事退縮，有公法在。茲示。景興元年三月初三日。(HTTHTXCC, a–b) This inscription is now located at today’s Nhị Thanh Cave, Tam Thanh District, Lạng Sơn City, Lạng Sơn Province Hán Nôm Institute in Hà Nội owns a rubbed copy (shelf number: ) On the translation in Vietnamese, see Nguyễn Thị Thảo, “Một bia Ngơ Thì Sĩ phát hiện” [One Recently Discovered Inscription of Ngơ Thì Sĩ], Thơng báo Hán Nơm học năm (): – BSTL, vol , a–b See note Nguyễn Quang Huynh, ed., Thổ ty Lạng Sơn Lịch sử This genealogy is now preserved by the Lạng Sơn Provincial Museum The original text is as follows: 五府・府僚等官。計。一，奉傳諒山處督鎭 官香嶺侯枚世准。係茲期歳貢，例有咨文投報天朝上司各衙門。應傳守 隘詳査内地總督・巡撫・布政・按察・左江道，及各府縣州官，有預歳 貢事者，官衘姓氏，幷買取己卯年北歴［暦］壹本，限十五日内，迅即 遞納，愼毋遅緩。茲奉傳。景興十九年十二月二十二日。(BSTL, a–b) BSTL, vol , a The original text is as follows: 三月初二日，出納官遞柬請旨御允，附寫詳 考訖。(BSTL, vol , b) The original text is as follows: 初六日，再遞入請旨用璽，即置入夾投附驛 發行。(BSTL, vol , b) Tsukada Shigeyuki, Souzoku Syakai-shi kenkyuu: Min-Shin jidai wo chūshin to shite [Social History of the Zhuang During the Ming-Qing Period] (Suita: Kokuritsu-minzokugaku-hakubutsukan [National Museum of Ethnology], ) The original text of this tư/zi was recorded in BSTL, vol , a–b BSTL, vol , b–b BSTL, vol , a; Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư tục biên also records this incident (Chen Ching-ho, ed., Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, ) The original text of these tư/zi was recorded in BSTL, vol , b–a The original text is as follows: 七月初四日，僉知兵番珠壽侯待令，用璽柬 文二道，奉御允。仍奉旨傳參陪等官，即刻竝就公店，再三攷閲加詳， 免致舛謬。如前年貢部表文烏字爲鳥字。有關國体。(BSTL, vol , a–b) 28 YOSHIKAWA Shelf number: X.-, Tokyo: Tōyō-bunko The original text is as follows: 凡貢期，預有柬文遞付龍憑守備，報左江道 官，内言某月起程。柬報准如清期，仍差前路通事二名・探兒二名，遞 將柬文各套幷表本藁，就關上，投與龍憑兵備接領遞達。(LTHCLC, vol , “Bang giao chí,” “Cống sính chi lễ”) The meaning of the term “reconnoiterers” [thám nhi] is not clear In addition to delivering drafts of tributary memorials, they might have had other roles in bordering areas with the Qing, but it is unclear The original text is as follows: 五府・府僚等官。計。一，奉傳前路通事阮 國珩・阮廷□（王＋輦） ，探兒阮勢錫・阮廷昕・郭登瑶等。係茲期應領 奉表・奏本稿共陸册，幷公文貮拾壹套，與候命官柬文壹套，往就關 上，同守隘快岩伯韋福洪・瑅忠侯阮廷璿等，通報與龍憑守隘，侯開關 接領公文，投遞納内地官列位，待得看正各稿繳回，即接領遞納，以濟 公務。若奉行不虔，有公法在。茲奉傳。景興二十年九月初三日。 (BSTL, vol , a–b) BSTL, vol , a–b The original text is as follows: 司天監入侍内司天令・承政使司承政使・順 嶺伯丁公暐等謹啓。計。一，奉擇穀日，前路官起程用九月初八日乙卯 乙時起程上吉。茲謹啓。景興二十年八月二十日(BSTL, vol , b) The original text is as follows: 本月九月初三日，僉知兵番珠壽侯，遞表・ 奏・咨・移・呈文共二十八道，令奏準允。再奉旨，判傳中監精寫，朱 及 。(BSTL, vol , a) BSTL, vol , a The original text is as follows: 二十日，諒山處督鎭遞納所抄内地官衘姓氏 一張 (BSTL, vol , b) The first digit of the date was empty in the original text BSTL, vol , b–b BSTL, vol , a–a BSTL, vol , b Ming Qing shiliao, Geng, first section, b–a (Ming Qing shiliao [Taipei: Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, –]) The original text of tributary memorials for regular tributes of the twenty-first year () of Qianlong is as follows: 安南國王嗣臣黎維褍誠惶誠恐稽首頓 首，謹上言。乾隆 年歳貢方物，臣先叔臣黎維褘謹已繕理投文叩 年閏 月初 日，臣先叔違世，遺命以 請，望達天庭。詎意，於乾隆 國事囑之於臣。今正値貢儀竝 之期，臣欽奉聖德旁敷皇恩遠播。臣謹守 常儀，以 臣職。曷勝敬天仰 之至，謹奉表上進者，伏以得天久照，兩 作開日月之光，任土正供，六朝效共球之欵，旅儀毫忽，渙渥 山，欽惟 皇帝陛下，乾健保和，恒貞成化，廣運之堯功巍煥，孚就望於帝臣，建 用之周，道蕩平鼓訓行於王會，撫臨無外，怙冒攸同。臣景仰爲旒，久 THE LÊ-TRỊNH GOVERNMENT’S DOCUMENTARY PRACTICES AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE QING DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 29 蒙賜履。臣子百年之義，倍切瞻依，國家萬世之休，永 祝頌，臣下情無 任瞻天仰聖激切屏營之至，所有奉貢方物，另具本差陪臣陳輝淧・黎貴 惇・鄭春澍等，齎捧赴京外，臣謹奉表上進以聞。(BSTL, vol , a–b) The original text of tributary memorials for regular tributes of the twentyfourth year () of Qianlong is as follows: 安南國王嗣臣黎維褍誠惶誠恐稽 首頓首，謹上言。乾隆 年歳貢方物，臣先叔臣黎維褘謹已繕理投文 叩請，望達天庭。詎意，於乾隆 年閏 月初 日，臣先叔違世，遺命 以國事囑之於臣。今正値貢儀竝 之期，臣欽奉聖德昭融皇恩溥洽。臣謹 浩蕩，孚 守常儀，以 臣職。曷勝敬天仰 之至，謹奉表上進者， 以 萬方就日之忱，遠服輸將，遵九牧貢金之式，香修炎徼誠達紫微。欽 惟 , 行，帝勲光被，酌時宜于三德，平康昭正直之施，弘國 道于九經，嘉矜顯柔懷之 大小咸孚，安勸邇遐共效尊親。臣逖處午維， 澄瞻辰所，禹貢曰浮曰達，迢迢寸欵之遙， 天保如升如恒，永永億年之 媚祝。臣下情無任瞻天仰聖激切屏營之至，所有奉貢方物，另具本差陪 臣陳輝淧・黎貴惇・鄭春澍等，齎捧赴京外，臣謹奉表上進以 。(BSTL, vol , a–a) Based on drafts recorded in the BSTL, when any words differ from formal versions recorded in Ming Qing Shiliao, I show the latter on top of each word LTHCLC, vol , Bang giao chí, Cống sính chi lễ The original text is as follows: 一，己卯年賀壽課。戊寅八月日，本國咨呈 廣西巡撫部院趙，内開「來年恭遇皇帝六旬壽誕，遣使祝嘏。定於何日 賜進」。是年十月日，撫部院照會報，於明年己卯年潤四月初三日啓 關。己卯年正月日，本國呈覆遞表草祈閲，内敍使臣阮春晴等與賀儀品 物。 (Lạng Sơn Đoàn Thành Đồ, b–a) Khâm định Đại Nam Hội điển lệ (Zhongqing: Xinan shifan daxue chubanshe [Southwest China Normal University Press], ) Khâm định Đại Nam Hội điển lệ, vol , Bang giao, a Vietnam National Archives [Trung tâm lưu trữ Quốc gia một], Hà Nội, Vietnam Châu Triều Nguyễn, Minh Mạng, first collection, Châu Triều Nguyễn, Minh Mạng, first collection, Nguyễn Phan Quang, Phong trào nông dân Việt Nam nửa đầu kỷ XIX [Peasant Movement in Vietnam in the Former Half of the Nineteenth Century] (Hà Nội: Khoa Học Xã Hội, ); Vũ Đường Luân, “The Politics of Frontier Mining: Local Chieftains, Chinese Miners, and Upland Society in the Nông Văn Vân Uprising in the Sino-Vietnamese Border Area (–),” CrossCurrents: East Asian History and Culture Review (): – Bradley Davis, Imperial Bandits: Outlaws and Rebels in the China-Vietnam Borderlands (Seattle: University of Washington Press, ) Châu Triều Nguyễn, Thiệu Trị, second collection, ... people THE LÊ-TRỊNH GOVERNMENT’S DOCUMENTARY PRACTICES AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE QING DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY wandered throughout northern Vietnam during the eighteenth century as a result... Lạng Sơn Province was on the tributary route to China during the THE LÊ-TRỊNH GOVERNMENT’S DOCUMENTARY PRACTICES AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE QING DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY Cao Bằng Thái Nguyên... authorities in the Heavenly Court [Thiên Triều, namely, the Qing] Mai Thế Chuẩn must have THE LÊ-TRỊNH GOVERNMENT’S DOCUMENTARY PRACTICES AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE QING DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
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