植民地期北部ベトナムの度量衡統一議論とその背景

<p>In French Indochina, despite that the metric weights and measures system was introduced by the French colonial administration and provided by law, local indigenous systems were maintained in various regions even into the latter half of the colonial period. </p><p>The purpose of this paper is to clarify the phenomenon, along with its background, in which the individuality of local areas had been firmly prevalent in Vietnamese society, which was changing due to the colonial rule. I will discuss this issue through the French Indochina administration’s weights and measures standardization policy and the actual state of the northern provinces of Vietnam. </p><p>The following are given as the largest problems in the history of research on Vietnamese weights and measures: The systems that were used in each period and area are so diverse that the actual operation can only be assumed from fragmentary descriptions; there are not enough methodologies and historical materials to be systematically weighed against each other. In addition, Vietnamese translations of weights and measures terms in classic Chinese historical materials are not standardized, and weights and measures terms in studies conducted in European languages and Vietnamese are not standardized, and furthermore, the conversion of the amounts equivalent to each unit differ depending on the point of view of the researcher or investigation. That is, no standardized point of view has been established yet as to weights and measures. </p><p>The methodology required due to such issues in the history of research and the current state is to study by using not fragmentary, local cases but a host of systematic historical materials that allow for objective and rational comparisons. I worked on this issue by using as its homogeneous historical materials administrative documents related to weights and measures which were created all at once at the same time for the same purposes by the Résident Supérieur de Tonkin and the northern provinces. </p><p>The primary study results of this paper are as follows: Firstly, regarding the operation of weights and measures, it has been substantiated that while the metric system was prevalent in dealings with large-scale customers or foreign countries, old systems were remaining firmly on private levels. Secondly, it has become clear that the Governeur Général de Indochina and the Résident Supérieur de Tonkin were aiming to standardize weights and measures by repeated trial and error over 40 years, taking into perspective the implementation of policies tailored to local circumstances. Thirdly, a situation has also become concretely clear in which Vietnamese mandarin, who had been slighted even in previous historical studies, played a pivotal role in local administration. Meanwhile, it can also be pointed out that neither the government nor local administration actively took action throughout the colonial period. It could be said that I could also grasp a fragment of the French-style colonial management, which spent little money, and the bureaucracy, of which no one would take responsibility, from the aspects of weights and measures.</p>