"The rice paddies are full of shrimp" and "a skill in hand"

The Vietnamese language king asked the contestant to fill in the blank: "A rice field with mangroves is not as good as... in hand." The contestant couldn't fill it in, so they "skipped," and the program's answer was "A rice field with mangroves is not as good as a skill in hand."

Meanwhile, the LM advisor gave a lecture:

“There are some sentences you overlooked that I find a bit hasty. [...]. For example, “A vast rice field is not as good as a skill in hand.” And here, our ancestors wanted to emphasize the diligence and hard work of people. If we observe, we see that most craft villages, especially those around Hanoi , usually have very little rice field, but because of that, they develop their small-scale handicrafts very successfully. Congratulations.”

If the above teaching is true, then does that mean only people in areas with "little arable land" and "small-scale handicrafts" are "hardworking," while those in rural areas with "abundant fields" are not "hardworking"?

In fact, even in areas with abundant aquaculture farms, small-scale handicrafts still thrive. For example:

- Oh girl with the green sash/ If you want to come to Ke Buoi with me, then come/ My village has rice fields all around/ There's a cool bathing lake, and a silk spinning trade (Folk song).

- An Phu has rice fields all around / It has a cool bathing pond and a candy-making trade / Making candy for retail and wholesale / Selling all over Hanoi and even to Hai Phong ... (Folk poem).

So, how should we understand the saying, "A field is not as good as a skill in hand"?

The proverb in question has many variations: Abundant wealth is not as good as a skill in hand; Abundant wealth is not as good as a skill in hand; Abundant fields are not as good as a skill in hand; Ten thousand acres of fertile land are not as good as a skill to carry with you; Ten thousand acres of fertile land are not as good as a skill to carry with you.

"Possessions" here include both hidden and visible assets. Hidden assets are money, gold, silver, and jewels (things that can be hidden and are not visible); visible assets are houses, fields, cattle, pigs, chickens, etc., which everyone can see.

In the past, besides houses and money, people measured wealth by the number of acres of good farmland (luong dien, thuc dien). Cultivated land was converted into wealth – a type of asset that could be exchanged and bought and sold just like money (One plot of land can pass through the hands of thousands or tens of thousands of owners). Therefore, "wealth everywhere" or "farm everywhere" (four sides; three sides, four sides), and "ten thousand acres of good farmland" in the proverb all mean wealth and money in general.

In reality, many people inherit vast amounts of property and land from their ancestors. But then they become complacent! If they don't work and just sit around spending, they eventually end up bankrupt.

The practice of selling land to squander on gambling and extravagance was so common in the past that it is depicted in the folk tale "The Origin of the Cry of the Heron, the Stork, the Dove, the Dove, and the Mouse." In it, all these animals originally owned vast fields and gardens. Because they gambled together, borrowed money, and were cheated (by signing false agreements), they lost all their land to the Stork. The Heron, having lost everything, had to wait until nightfall, when the Stork had gone home to sleep, to sneak out and steal shrimp and small fish from the Stork's land ("The Heron sold its land to the Stork / Therefore, the Heron has to scavenge all night; Why doesn't the Heron know how to worry? / It sold its land to the Stork, and now it has to eat at night" - Folk song).

"The fields are covered with mantis shrimp," "mantis shrimp's bounty"—that's what it means.

So, how should we understand "a skill in hand" (or "a small skill in hand" - a hyperbolic way of saying "a skill in hand")? It refers to professions in general, not "small-scale crafts" or "craft villages" as understood by the LM advisor. Having a skill in hand means not fearing poverty: "Selling goods and weaving are ways to make a living, / One must keep a skill in hand / If you don't manage it now, you'll be left behind / Later, when you're poor, you won't have a skill to earn a living" (Folk poem).

Thus, "field" here is synonymous with wealth and money. Money, wealth, and land, no matter how much ("vast fields," "vast wealth," "ten thousand acres of farmland," "ten thousand acres of farmland"), are merely external possessions; they are spent and then gone; they come and go. Only a "skill in one's hands" (even a minor skill), belonging to oneself, is truly an invaluable form of self-made wealth that never disappears; on the contrary, it can create material wealth, making that wealth grow and ensuring a stable and sustainable life (Mastering one skill brings honor and prosperity - Proverb).

Hoang Tuan Cong

Reference: Some might argue that "a vast field is not as good as a skill in hand" means that even with a lot of land and farming, the economic value of rice and potatoes cannot compare to that of a craftsman or someone working in a different agricultural profession. However, if that's the case, it's just a modern interpretation, not the original meaning of the proverb. In the past, "Agriculture is the foundation, when agriculture declines, all other trades fail," "First scholar, second farmer, when rice runs out, one wanders aimlessly," "First farmer, second scholar," "Careful tending is not as good as a small field." Having many fields to cultivate always meant abundance and prosperity.

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/ruong-be-be-nbsp-va-nghe-trong-tay-279107.htm