Conclusion

in the foregoing pages I have tried to show how each of the States that arose in Indochina developed a civilization of its own. In most parts of the peninsula these civilizations were of Indian parentage. Viet-nam alone came under Chinese cultural influence from the very beginning of its history, and borrowed so many cultural traits from China that even when it achieved political independence it still remained an offshoot of Chinese civilization. One might expect to find that when the Vietnamese expanded southwards they became influenced by the Indianized culture of the peoples at whose expense their frontiers were enlarged; but nothing of the sort happened, because such was the dynamic force of the process of expansion they had embarked upon, that the already sinicized Vietnamese destroyed rather than assimilated cultures that differed from theirs. It is true that they have some cultural traits that seem to be of indigenous, non-Chinese origin. For instance, the dinh or temple of the village tutelary deity which serves as meeting place for the worthies who look after the affairs of the district is always built on piles – even if sometimes the piles are rudimentary – in the manner of the dwellings of South East Asian peoples. ¹ Again, in the legislation of the Le period provision is made for co-ownership of belongings between spouses; and there are many indications in Vietnamese customary law ² of the importance of woman’s role in the household, although this is something that is not mentioned in the code of Gia-long which is modelled on Chinese legislation. But repeated contacts with China, the temporary reconquest of the country by the Ming at the beginning of the fifteenth century, and the tendency to imitate the Court of Peking at the beginning of the nineteenth century, have all contributed towards keeping Viet-nam within the Chinese cultural zone.