2020 Volume 2020 Issue 49 Pages 85-105
The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries witnessed an inflow of large numbers of Chinese laborers, and the proliferation of inland traffic profoundly influenced highland society in Northern continental Southeast Asia. Although previous studies have discussed social fluctuation in areas where states have maintained a comparatively high level of autonomy from lowland polities, few have investigated areas such as the Northeast region of Vietnam, where inhabitants have been closely tied to lowland polities. This article focuses on the Lạng Sơn province―one of the provinces in northeastern Vietnam―and investigates the survival strategies of local chieftains, and the degree of influence exercised by provincial officials by considering the Vietnamese Lê-Trịnh military government in Lang Son province during the eighteenth century.
During the mid-eighteenth century, the Lạng Sơn region experienced extensive disturbances, as did other provinces in the Red River delta area. To suppress these uprisings, provincial officials organized local chieftains into military units by providing titles named hiệu, which provincial officials used as a tool to encourage chieftains to draft and command soldiers. An investigation of archives of interactions between provincial officials and chieftains reveals that when chieftains contributed to suppression of uprisings, provincial officials granted or upgraded their title. By 1780, provincial officials had arranged titles into three ranks: principal director [thủ hiệu], vice director [phó hiệu], and subordinate director [thuộc hiệu]. Furthermore, in the late eighteenth century, provincial officials directly mobilized and commanded one hundred soldiers, who were originally drafted and mobilized by chieftains. This indicates an increasing influence of provincial officials over local chieftains.
