ABSTRACT
While impossible to quantify, the trade in Vietnamese women and children, as revealed by the sources examined for this study, was both widespread and considerable. Although there are indications that it existed prior to the arrival of military gunboats in Viêt Nam, sources reveal that it was particularly active throughout the period of French domination, from the 1870s to the 1940s. Problematic as they are, if taken individually, these sources nonetheless corroborate one another and allow us a number of conclusions. It is clear that this trade existed in a number of crucial areas. First, land and river routes from Tonkin allowed the transport of Vietnamese women and children to a number of important market centres in China: Guangzhou, Longzhou, Beihai. Hong Kong, Macau, and Hoi Hao. Second, those trafficked by sea left from Indochinese port cities such as Nam Ðịnh, Hồn Gai, Hài Phòng, and Sài Gòn. By and large, the victims of this trade were women and children who, for various reasons, were vulnerable to attacks, kidnappings, and trickery. The raids on villages during the 1880s and 1890s by various armed groups were numerous. In Tonkin, villages were often at the mercy of groups such as the Black Flags who engaged in numerous illicit activities in order to finance their campaigns against French and colonial troops. These groups possessed more modern weapons than did the villages. It was difficult to defend villages against their attacks. Levels of poverty in Tonkin were also high. Women, who were responsible for the sale of their goods in market towns, were subject to ruse and trickery when they sought better prices and better venues to sell their goods. The same was true of those who lived close to the rivers and the sea and who lived on their harvest of fish and shellfish. In their small sampans, their proximity to larger pirate junks made them easy targets. We can also conclude that while this was a trade predominantly favoured by Chinese, there were also Vietnamese operators who collaborated with Chinese traffickers. The lucrative nature of the trade also made it difficult to curtail as traffickers were willing to take risks. In addition to the obvious effects of the trade on its victims (dislocation, forced marriages, work in brothels, servitude, etc.), the trade also undermined the French pretense of “protection” in Indochina and of France’s self-proclaimed prestige.
