越南使者对下洲或南方国家的观察(1830~1844)

The Ha chau or Southern Countries as Observed by Vietnamese Emissaries(1830-1844)

尽管越南和东印度群岛之间的商业联系可以追溯到很早之前,但越南文人却鲜少对他们的南方邻居表示好奇。从现有的资料来看,甚至可以说是一种漠不关心。事实上,《大越史记全书》只是提供了一个基本的"历代帝王本纪",即按照时间顺序记录所发生的历史事件,其中偶尔提及来自邻国的侵略、针对侵略进行的远征、外国使者的朝贡或单纯的贸易活动等记录。

Although commercial relations between Vietnam and Insulinde go back to the remote past,the Vietnamese has shown very little curiosity about their Southern neighbours;this explains why travel accounts are so scarce.Here we intend to reflect on the reports and travel impressions written by demoted civil servants who were sent to the Hachau or"Southern Countries"to redeem their faults when the Nguyen court became interested in obtaining reports on the conditions and views of the European based in Bengal,the Straits,Java,and Luzon.The original versions of these reports have apparently not survived,but several copies are kept in various public libraries in H?noi.The first was Ly Van Phuc(1785-1849)demoted in 1829 and dispatched to Calcutta in early 1830 via Singapore,Malacca and Penang.He wrote three texts of which a record in prose and a brief account in verse and prose more or less arranged in chronological order have survived.Cao BaQuat(1809-1854)who in 1844 accomplished a mission to Singapore and Batavia was apparently the last demoted civil servant sent to the Hachau(after the arrival of the French in Vietnam the Nguyen court developed its relations with Hong Kong).He was the first to realise that the Europeans were a particular danger to the region.In order to perceive the political situation in the Malay world the emissaries had to rely on the Chinese merchants who shared the same culture and who were the only people with whom they could communicate at least by mean of the brush.