Reviving the mulberry-growing region of Quang Nam during the Tay Son dynasty.

More than two centuries ago, the silk farming industry in Quang Nam province faced a period of hardship and difficulty. The revival of this traditional craft only came about thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the people and timely support policies from the Tay Son dynasty…

This place was once a vast mulberry field in Truong An village (Ha Nha commune, Da Nang ). Photo: VT

Battlefield

From the 17th century, with the formation and development of Thanh Chiem Citadel, Quang Nam became the "kingdom" of silkworm farming in Dang Trong, with famous villages such as Ma Chau, Giao Thuy, Dong Yen, Phu Bong... where "men planted mulberry trees, women wove silk".

According to researcher Nguyen Phuoc Tuong, during the Nguyen dynasty, farmers in Quang Nam province combined the experiences of their ancestors from the North with the mulberry cultivation and silkworm rearing techniques of the Champa people, along with the silk weaving secrets of the Minh Huong people. As a result, Quang Nam's silk products were no less superior than those of China at that time.

However, at the end of the 18th century, Quang Nam province became a battleground, a fiercely contested area between the Nguyen, Trinh, and Tay Son dynasties. After the war ended, the socio -economic situation was chaotic and complex. The people, already suffering from high taxes and levies under the Nguyen lords' rule, were further burdened by the consequences of war, disease, and natural disasters. Mulberry fields were abandoned, partly due to the displacement of people and partly because wild animals (such as elephants, tigers, and wolves) descended from the mountains into the plains and destroyed them.

The mulberry-growing area of ​​Truong An village (now part of Ha Nha commune, Da Nang city) also faced a similar situation. Once renowned for its fertility along the Vu Gia River, within just six years, all the mulberry fields had transformed into a dangerous, semi-mountainous wilderness, a truly dire situation.

Policies to revive the mulberry growing region.

Faced with agricultural instability, the Tay Son government under King Thai Duc (Nguyen Nhac) promptly issued many positive policies to encourage farmers to reclaim and restore land, and quickly resume production.

In his article "The Imprint of the Tay Son Dynasty through Some Documents of Villages and Clans in Quang Nam Province," Dr. Tran Dinh Hang states that the State implemented a "land reclamation" mechanism. This allowed people to register to cultivate barren land, receiving temporary preferential treatment: no taxes were payable for three years of land reclamation. Only after the land yielded a stable harvest could they proceed with land registration and tax payment. Alongside this, there was also a "first-claim" mechanism, meaning whoever cleared the barren land first had the right to cultivate it.

The state also urgently re-established land registers, prioritizing the re-measurement and re-declaration of every square meter of abandoned land to put it into production. Mulberry fields were managed extremely strictly: if someone made false declarations or omitted even "one square meter," the person would have all their property confiscated and face the death penalty. There was even a separate tax system for mulberry cultivation, called the "mulberry cultivation tax." Mulberry fields were taxed based on the actual declared area, with some places charging 1 quan per acre.

Giao Thuy (Dai Loc, Quang Nam) was featured in an advertisement promoting the L. Delignon silk brand in the magazine Le Courrier Colonial illustré, issue dated December 15, 1928. Photo: Archival material.

The agricultural promotion policies of the Tay Son dynasty were an important leverage, encouraging some dedicated and capable farmers in Quang Nam to boldly apply for investment in the reconstruction of mulberry-growing areas.

The aforementioned article by Dr. Tran Dinh Hang provides very interesting information: According to the Mai family genealogy register compiled in the 7th year of Thanh Thai (1895), Mai The Nghi, from Truong An village, who once held the position of Cai Hop, in the 4th year of Thai Duc (1781), submitted a petition to reclaim land. With the approval of the Tay Son government, he gathered manpower, consolidating the remaining villagers of Truong An or those who had recently returned to organize the systematic and fundamental reclamation and cultivation of the mulberry-growing area.

Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Mr. Mai Thế Nghị and the villagers, combined with the positive agricultural policies of the Tây Sơn dynasty, the Trường An mulberry plantation, which had been abandoned for only 3 acres, gradually transformed into a vast, lush green expanse on the alluvial plains along the Vu Gia River. Silkworm farming also experienced a spectacular revival, returning to its pre-war state. This achievement served as a cornerstone for the recovery and stable economic development of the downstream Vu Gia River region at that time.

Notably, from its foundation during the Tay Son dynasty, the area of ​​mulberry cultivation in Truong An expanded to over 107 acres during the reign of Gia Long (according to the Nguyen Dynasty land register compiled in 1812). Not only in Truong An, but the silk industry in Quang Nam province flourished, with a poetic image still preserved in the folk song: “The silkworms of Dai Loc spin their silk / The mulberry fields of Dai Loc are dimly visible by the river / Oh, the girl selling persimmons and roses / Passing through Dai Loc, seeing the silkworms makes you yearn.”

When the French colonialists imposed their rule on Vietnam, the silkworms of Quang Nam province quickly caught the attention of foreign capitalists. In 1903, the Delignon Company, owned by Lucien Delignon and Camille Paris, which had a silk reeling and weaving factory in Phu Phong (Binh Dinh), sought out Giao Thuy village (Dai Loc, Quang Nam) – located on the north bank of the Thu Bon River, the center of the vast mulberry-growing and silkworm-raising triangle: Dai Loc - Dien Ban - Duy Xuyen – to purchase land, build a factory, install modern machinery, and establish a silk reeling and cocoon processing facility, popularly known by the people of Quang Nam as the "Giao Thuy Silk Reeling Shop". The company also built a road connecting Giao Thuy to neighboring areas for transporting goods.

With 100 silk reeling pans and over 300 workers, the "Giao Thuy Silk Reeling Workshop" applies machine-based silk reeling (mechanical reeling) instead of the traditional manual method used by the local people. This ensures that the silk threads from Quang Nam are uniform, glossy, and meet export standards to France, supplying raw materials to Lyon - the "silk capital" of Europe.

Not stopping at silk reeling, on May 1, 1929, the Delignon Company also inaugurated the Giao Thuy spinning mill with the participation of the Resident Commissioner of Central Vietnam, Jabouille, and the Resident Commissioner of Quang Nam, Colombo.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/hoi-sinh-vung-dau-tam-xu-quang-thoi-tay-son-3337823.html