The purpose of this article is to criticize the view of ancient Vietnamese agriculture held by some Japanese historians of Vietnam that 'Lạc Điẽn, ' or ricefields of Lạc, described in the 'Giao Châu Ngoại Vực Ký' quoted in the 'Thủy Kinh Chú, ' a Chinese geography in the 6th century can be identified with the tidal irrigation system presently used in 'Thái Bình' province in the Red River Delta.
  Part 1. From a comparison of this view with other opinions held by Vietnamese and French historians or geographers, and an analysis of the geographical situation and historical background of the tidal irrigation system in 'Thái Bình' province, it is evident that the basis of this view is a misinterpretation of French geographer P. Gourou's information on that irrigation system, and it is impossible to conclude that this system was used in the ancient Red River Delta.
 Part 2. With identification of the Red River's names in the 'Thủy Kinh Chú' with present Red River Delta geography, indicates that 'Giao Chỉ' province in the 'Hán' Dynasty, which was composed of 10 or 12 counties, was bounded by the mountain area of 'Vinh Yên' and 'Bắc Giang' provinces in the west, the 'Phủ Lý' River-'Khoái Châu'-Sept Pagodes line on the south and the 'Đông Triẽu' mountains in the east. Counties were not established in the lower delta or the 'Thái Bình' Delta.
  Part 3. Analysis of ethnographical and archeological data suggests that the reclamation in Red River Delta was accomplished by the introduction of the planting complex of fifth-month rice, tenthmonth rice and Aus-type rice, the first and last planted in lower-lying ricefields, for example in the backswamp, before the flood season, and the second planted mostly at higher places, such as hillsides, terraces and natural levees to avoid flooding. Furthermore, in the eastern part of 'Bắc Ninh' province, where until the 19th century, the lower ricefields were frequently influenced by tidal movement, rice varieties highly resistant to salt were probably introduced on the mud flat of the river beach. The cultivation of these tidal areas might have attracted the attention of Chinese travellers.
  Part 4. A comparison of the description of 'Lạc Điẽn' and the tidal areas in 'Giao Châu Ngọai Vực Ký' with the 'Nam Việt Chí' quoted in 'Tháì Binh Quảng Ký' suggests that the identification of 'Lạc Điẽn' with the tidal areas is a forced analogy to explain the meaning of 'Lạc' as the ethnic name of old Vietnamese.
 In conclusion, the cultivation of the ancient Red River Delta involved not engineering method, but agronomic farming, so that basis of the ancient 'Lạc Tướng' or Generals of 'Lạc' and 'Lạc Vướng' or king of 'Lạc' must lie in other factors than the control of a tidal irrigation system.

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Out of the many words meaning a village throughout medieval Vietnam, the use of xa draws the author's attention. While comparing hitherto unused Vietnamese manuscripts with other basic source materials, he makes the following points.
First, he believes that the term xa came into use prior to the fifteenth century after the villages termed hu'o'ng dong and trai had gone through the process of rearrangement. Second, he points out that where as the villages termed dông sách were furnished with greater autonomy, those termed xa fell under the direct rule by the Later Lê dynasty founded in 1418. Third, the decrease in number of xa villages corresponded with the appearance of the laws and ordinances for the purpose of controlling the constituent members of these villages in the hands of the central government. Fourth, in parallel with the decline of power toward the middle of the dynasty the number of xa villages either recovered or even surpassed its initial standard. Fifth and last, he asserts that during the later stage of the dynasty the newly established villages tended to be termed thôn and phu'ong instead of other names.
Although the author still thinks it premature to draw a simple conclusion from the above, he suggests that xa should not be regarded merely as a geographical term, but as one with an historical connotation, and that the governmental control over xa villages was not only reflected in its nature as the administrative villages, but also in their structure and the process of their formation. Provided that these statements prove reasonable, the author argues, the village community began achieving ever greater autonomy since the latter phase of the dynasty only through resisting the control on the part of the authorities. This process, he states, may serve as a key to the understanding of the cohesiveness and the solidarity peculiar to the Vietnamese village community. His task at hand, therefore, is to demonstrate these hypotheses by analyzing the change of other systems of village administration, especially that of the system of Công diên. Upon closing his remarks, he makes his acknowledgement with thanks to l'École Erançais d'Extrême Orient for authorizing him to use its invaluable manuscripts in the form of microfilms which have been sent to and are now preserved in the Toyo Bunko.

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