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Two Lives of a Text

Fri, April 1, 12:45 to 2:45pm, Washington State Convention Center, Floor: 3rd Floor, Room 304

Abstract

In 1874, a Nôm text entitled Sãi Vãi (Monk and Nun) was published via woodblock printing in Foshan, Guangdong. It is but one of many vernacular Vietnamese texts in the demotic script published there at this time. Although printed in Guangdong, it was first edited in Gia Định (Saigon); the published version was subsequently distributed by a bookstore located in Chợ Lớn (Saigon). The editor of the text used the penname Duy Minh Thị (A Man of the Uniquely Ming Clan), which identifies him as a Chinese Ming Loyalist. The Sãi Vãi was first composed in 1750, more than a hundred years prior to its publication in Guangdong. Its author, Nguyễn Cư Trinh, was an important official of the southern Vietnamese Đàng Trong court. The Vietnamese chronicles record that he composed the Sãi Vãi to persuade the Việt inhabitants of the frontier region of Quảng Ngãi to band together and fight against the indigenous uplanders. The text records a frontier official’s attempt to draw a distinct civilizational boundary between the Việt migrants and the local uplanders in a bid to ensure a stable Việt population on the lowland territories. The Sãi Vãi thus operates in two unrelated contexts. This paper examines the interest of the Sãi Vãi to its two audiences: its original audience in Đàng Trong in 1750, and its later appeal to Ming Loyalists in Gia Định and Guangdong.

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