Attitude towards sea of residents in Kim Son District, Ninh Binh Province = Ứng xử với biển của cư dân huyện Kim Sơn, tỉnh Ninh Bình

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES








BUI CAM PHUONG




ATTITUDE TOWARDS SEA OF RESIDENTS
IN KIM SON DISTRICT, NINH BINH PROVINCE

MASTER THESIS
MAJOR: VIETNAMESE STUDIES










HANOI, 2013
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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES







BUI CAM PHUONG






ATTITUDE TOWARDS SEA OF RESIDENTS
IN KIM SON DISTRICT, NINH BINH PROVINCE



Master thesis, major: Vietnamese studies
Code: 60 22 01 13






Supervisor: Prof.Dr. Pham Duc Duong

Hanoi, 2013
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis is the result of training process in Institute of Vietnamese
studies and Development sciences as well as my process of surveying and
researching last time.
First of all, my profound thanks are due to Prof.Dr. Pham Duc Duong
who guided me and spent valuable time to explain and make orientation for
my research. The thesis is successful thanks to his important help.
Secondly, I would like to give my sincere thanks to the teachers
presenting lectures at the sixth class of master’s degree as well to the teachers
in Management Board of the Institute and Training Department providing me
the best conditions in studying progress to complete this thesis.
Finally, I would like to give my thanks to my family, friends
encouraging me to study and research.

Sincerely!

Ha Noi, 01 November 2013
Student







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DECLARATION
I certify that no part of this thesis is copied or reproduced by me from
any other people’s work without acknowledgement and that the thesis is
originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor Prof.Dr.
Pham Duc Duong.

Ha Noi, 01 November 2013
Student





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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1
INTRODUCTION 8
1. Rationale for the research 8
2. Setting of the scene 9
3. Research subject and scope 11
3.1. Research subject 11
3.2. Research scope 11
4. Methodology 11

5. Contribution of the thesis 11
6. Structure of the thesis 12
CONTENT 13
CHAPTER 1: GENERAL OVERVIEW OF KIM SON DISTRICT,
NINH BINH PROVINCE 13
1.1. Natural conditions 13
1.2. Social, historical, economic and cultural elements of Kim Son
District, Ninh Binh Province 18
1.2.1. History of formation of Kim Son District, Ninh Binh Province 18
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1.2.2. Social, economic and cultural elements of Kim Son district 20
Sub-conclusion of Chapter 1 24
CHAPTER 2: HUMAN BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS THE SEA IN KIM
SON DISTRICT, NINH BINH PROVINCE 26
2.1. Definition of behaviour 26
2.2. Adaptation to the sea of habitants in Kim Son District, Ninh Binh
province 28
2.2.1. Process of establishment of production and living materials of

habitants in Kim Son District, Ninh Binh province 28
2.2.1.1. The process of constructing sea dykes and encroaching on the
sea 30
2.2.1.2. The occupations of Kim Son, Ninh Binh in relation to sea 63
2.2.2. Organization of social and cultural of Kim Son inhabitants in Ninh
Binh province 75
2.2.2.1. Social organization - the traditional culture of Kim Son
inhabitants in Ninh Binh province 76
2.2.2.2. Current social organization 92
Sub-conclusion of Chapter 2 94
CHAPTER 3: THE VALUE AND REAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE
BEHAVIOR TOWARDS THE SEA 97
3.1. The value and significance of constructing sea dykes and encroaching
on the sea 97
3.2. The value and significance of sidelines and trade villages 101
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3.3. Value and significance of organizing ways of social and cultural life
103

Sub-conclusion of Chapter 3 106
CONCLUSION 107
REFERENCES 110
APPENDIX 115


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INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the research
Vietnam is a country which has 330.991km
2
of land and 3260km of
coastline. There are about 20 million people who make livelihood closely to
the sea from long time ago. Thus, the sea takes an important role in economic,
political and cultural life in Vietnam.
Towards the sea, from ancient times, the Vietnamese often behave in
two ways: Firstly, dyking and sea encroaching for agricultural production;
secondly, understanding the sea to make livelihood in connection with

fishing… Both these kinds of behaviours are covered in our research on
human behaviour towards the sea in Kim Son District, Ninh Binh province.
The establishment of Kim Son district, Ninh Binh province in Nguyen
dynasty, during the reign of Minh Mang Emperor, adhered to Nguyen Cong
Tru, the Great Man of “doanh dien” - a kind of land which was used both for
civil and military purposes, is a proof of the first way of behaviour to improve
wild swamps or dry lands to fertile and productive places for growing wet rice
and developing wealthy villages.
Towards the sea, people understand enormous values of the sea,
therefore, they do not only make use of the sea in two mentioned ways but
also create specialities from sea food such as shrimps, crabs, fishes, clams,
cockles… to serve themselves. Those above –mentioned values are deeply
attached to each other. As a result of this, the research on the coastal area of
Kim Son, in nature, is exploring behaviours of the people living there towards
the sea in those two aspects.
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This research also aims to understanding the behaviour of resident
community developed by encroaching the sea - a typical feature of this area.

For more than 2 centuries since the formation, Kim Son area has changed
completely, the culture of local people like a cloth of which fabric - wet rice
culture has dyed with sea culture. To this point, the sea does not only bring
living resources to the people but also play an important role to cultural,
spiritual lives of local people (faiths, religions and beliefs).
2. Setting of the scene
In current years, there are many research on the sea, especially on sea
culture and people who living close to the sea. These works use many
different scientific approaches, from natural sciences such as ecology,
environmentology, pedology, climatology of coastal area to history,
culturology and anthropology… However, it is very few research on the area
of Kim Son, Ninh Binh. In order to make it clearer, from scientific
perspective, we would like to review some research relating to this research’
topic which is about local people and sea culture in Kim Son, Ninh Binh.
Amongst the works on Kim Son, first, the one focuses on the history of
this area and the process of breaking the area. In the book “The process of
breaking fresh land to form Kim Son district” (Ky Suu 1829), the author Dao
To Uyen - Nguyen Canh Minh wrote about the process of breaking fresh land
to establish villages, participating forces, techniques and the results of this
process in the area of Kim Son, and simultaneously helped us to understand
more on the kind of breaking land to form “doanh dien” under Nguyen
dynasty including the process of formation of Tien Hai District, Thai Binh
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Province and two “tong” - a kind of territorial unit, Hoanh Thu, Ninh Nhat (
now is in Thai Binh Province).
Emphasizing that the Vietnamese people did not only make use of
coastal location to trade, exchange culture but also expand their territory,
break the fresh lands by encroaching the sea and make the coastal area into
wet rice area, Prof. Tran Quoc Vuong, in his article “Viet Nam and the
Eastern Sea” (Folk culture magazine, No. 3, 2000) stated that under Ly, Tran,
Le Dynasty, the encroachment on the Eastern Sea attracted much attention.
According to him, in 1226, Tran Dynasty, the elites were allowed to collect
the poor who had little asset for encroachment. Under Le Dynasty, the poor
made Son Nam Dyke (Nam Dinh - Ninh Binh) to stop salty water and build
new land. Later, after replacing Le Dynasty, Mac Dynasty built the capital
Duong Kinh (today, is Kien An, Hai Phong) next to the sea shore. Under
Nguyen Dynasty, in 19
th
century, the most noticeable encroachment activity
was the one of Nguyen Cong Tru. He directed people to build salty-water-
preventing dykes to support wet rice growing, founded 2 districts Tien Hai
(Thai Binh) and Kim Son (Ninh Binh).
In the book “Transformation and economic development in coastal
area” of Le Cao Doan (National Politics Press, 1999), the author analyzed in
depth the economic transformation in the coastal area of brackish water in
Thai Binh province. Besides, on the basis of environmental, geographic,
natural analysis, the author mentioned the land breaking process of the
Vietnamese, deeply analyzed two encroachments of Nguyen Cong Tru to

establish Tien Hai district (1828) and Kim Son District (1829), as well as
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pointed out the historical lessons (success and failure) of these two
encroachments.
3. Research subject and scope
3.1. Research subject
The thesis’s research subject: Through the formation process of local
residents in Kim Son District, Ninh Binh area, the thesis provides an
overview of people’s behaviour towards natural and social environment, in
particular towards the sea.
3.2. Research scope
The research focuses on some villages, communes in Kim Son District,
Ninh Binh Province currently.
4. Methodology
In this thesis, we research on human behaviour towards the sea in Kim
Son District, Ninh Binh province by specialized and subsidiary methods. In
particular, the specialized method is an inter-sector method which
incorporates cultural anthropology, history, geography, sociology and

ethnology in the light of culturology. In addition, the subsidiary methods are
comparison, statistics, analysis and summary.
5. Contribution of the thesis
The thesis provides scientific conclusions on the moving- towards -the
sea process of the Vietnamese culture. On that basis, the thesis contributes to
understanding encroaching desire of the Vietnamese people in order to set the
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scientific ground for directions and policies on coastal areas of the
Communist Party and the Government.
The thesis is a trust-worthy reference document for people being
interested in Kim Son - Ninh Binh.
The thesis contributes to teaching and training in Vietnamology, sea
culture branch.
6. Structure of the thesis
Apart from the Introduction, Conclusion, Reference documents and
annex, the main content of the thesis includes 3 chapters:
Chapter 1: General overview of Kim Son, Ninh Binh
Chapter 2: Human behaviour towards the sea in Kim Son, Ninh Binh

Chapter 3: Values and practical meaning of the human behaviour towards
the sea
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CONTENT
CHAPTER 1: GENERAL OVERVIEW OF KIM SON DISTRICT,
NINH BINH PROVINCE
1.1. Natural conditions
Kim Son is a coastal district located at the farthest Southern point of
Ninh Binh province. Its center is Phat Diem town which is 27km far from
Ninh Binh city on the Southeast way of national road No. 10. Kim Son is
situated between latitudes of 19
0
26
’
40
’’
– 20
0

00
’
North and longitudes of
106
0
2’05
’’
– 106
0
05
’
20’’ East. To the East, it is bordered by Day River,
adjoining Nigh Hung district, Nam Dinh province; to the Southwest by Can
river adjoining Nga Son district, Thanh Hoa province; to the North and the
Northwest by Yen Khanh and Yen Mo district; and to the South next to the
sea, coastline more than 20km long.
Currently, Kim Son is a purely flat district, in general, its terrain is
approximately level, the average height of the main land is at altitude from
0,9 to 1.2 m. The terrain bevels gradually from the Northwest to the Southeast
and there is a basin at the Northeast of the district. Kim Son has a total area of
213,3 square km, including 2 towns namely Phat Diem, Binh Minh and 25
communes which are Hồi Ninh, Chất Bình, Yên Mật, Kim Đông, Lai Thành,
Yên Lộc, Tân Thành, Lưu Phương, Thượng Kiệm, Kim Chính, Đồng Hướng,
Quang Thiện, Như Hòa, Hùng Tiến, Ân Hòa, Kim Định, Chính Tâm, Định
Hóa, Văn Hải, Kim Tân, Kim Mĩ, Cồn Thoi, Kim Hải, Xuân Thiện, Kim
Trung. Amongst them, there are 5 coastal communes :Cồn Thoi, Kim Trung,
Kim Hải, Kim Đông, Kim Tân. This area is in the place where alluvium is
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deposited, therefore it is going to expand towards the sea, from 80m to 100 m
annually. The deposition is caused by 2 factors: river and sea, its trend is to
the South (this trend is affected by Day and Can River which streams direct
from the North to the South).
The climate has typical characteristics of the Northern part of Viet
Nam, monsoon – tropical, hot, humid and rainy in summer when the
dominant wind blows from the Southeast. It is cold, dry in winter when the
wind blows from the Northeast. The annual average air temperature is about
23
0
C, the average sunshine hours are about 1100 hours. The annual solar
radiation is 120,000 Kcal/cm
2
on average. Average humidity is 80% -85%.
The rainfall per year is about 1658 mm. It is rainy mainly in summer (more
than 85%), esp. in August and September. In winter, the rainfall is only about
150 to 400 mm.
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Table 1.1: Some typical characteristics of Kim Son’s climate
No.
Climatic characteristics
Unit
Amount
1
Wind velocity
On average
m/s
3,8
2

Rainfall
The highest
Mm
1658
Great amount
mm/month
347/August –
395/September

Small amount
mm/month
208/March –
November
3
Solar radiation
Total amount
Kcal/cm
2

120,000
4

Gross sunshine
hours
In wet seasons

Hour
1120
In July
217
In August
174
In September
168
(Source: Characteristics of climate and water in Ninh Binh province, General
Department of hydrometeorology, 1998)
This climatic characteristic has big impact on lives, production and
economic development of the area: the wet season lasts from June to October
every year, esp. storms (each year there is 1 or 2 storms directly sweep the

area and other 2 or 3 storms affect it), thus the fish, shrimp and other seafood
harvests are strongly influenced, the gross solar radiation in this area is also
rather high (120,000 Kcal/m
2
), the average surface temperature, the total
amount of evaporation in spring- summer crops are quite high (26
0
C and 487
mm)…, therefore, rice growing, fishing and raising sea products.
Kim Son with 20,5 km coastline, is the only coastal district of Ninh
Binh province. Originally, soil of the area formed by depositing alluvium of
Day river (30%) and Hong River (200 years ago Day mouth was the main
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mouth of Hong river) on the shallow seabed, pH on average is 5,0 – 6,0. In
the coastal area, average salinity reaches 0,15 – 0,25, the level of salinity
drops gradually from Binh Minh Dyke 1 to Binh Minh Dyke 3 whereas pH
tend to increase. Salt degree and pH of the soil obviously change seasonally.
Based on origin, soil in the coastal area is divided into groups as following:

- Salty soil on which Rhizophoraceae and Mangrove grow
- Very salty soil
- Normal salty soil
- Less salty soil
Table 1.2: Summary of classification of the coastal area’s soil
Unit: ha, %
No.
Type
Area
Proportion
1
Salty soil on which
Rhizophoraceae and
Mangrove grow
1409
41,67
2
Less salty soil
238,87
8,39
3
Normal salty soil
796,77
23,56
4
Very salty soil
829,36
26,38
Total
3382

100
(Source: the People’s Committee of Kim Son District, 2000)
Most of soil in the area is salty because it has recently deposited and it
needs improving; therefore, it is suitable for planting protection forest
(Rhizophoraceae), growing cyperus, raising rice for one growing season rice
and raising sea products.
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Kim Son has 3 chief rivers which are Day, Can and Vac Rivers. An
River joins Day and Can river. Moreover, there is a system of small rivers and
canals connecting villages, which also joins Day River. These rivers
importantly contribute to water control for serving production, as well as
major waterways of the area for transportation.
Kim Son has diverse and various kinds of plant and animal resources.
Apart from growing plants such as rice, corn, beans, fruits…, breeding
animals like ducks, sweet -water fish, cows, pigs, chickens…, there are many
types of typical plants in salty wetlands and 500 kinds of water plants and
animals which has high economic value like shrimps, crabs, fishes, oysters,
cockles, Gracilaria… Kim Son salty mangrove forest has been planted by the

Government of Viet Nam and the Government of Japan and the Management
Board of Ninh Binh protection forests since 1995 with 2 kinds of plants:
Rhizophoraceae and Mangrove. Thanks to the important role in natural
preservation and biological diversity, this area has been recognized as a world
biosphere reserves in Hong River Delta by UNESCO. Main types of trees in
Kim Son are Kandelia obovata, Sonneratia caseolaris, Rhizophoraceae,
Phragmites australis and Sonneratia alba j.e. smith The total forest area is
nearly 1300 ha, mainly in coastal alluvial plains. Kim Son plain has been
assessed as important wetlands in the Northern flat area of Vietnam and has
been suggested to be Ramsar zone by Birdlife organisation due to satisfaction
of criteria: consolidating many kinds of rather pristine wetland which are
exemplary of the Northern river mouth and coastal area, being a center of
water birds which has closely 28000 units. Amongst them, there are many
kinds in the world red book such as spoonbills, gulls, Calidris pygmeus,
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Egretta garzetta … These forests are compared to green walls to protect sea
dykes and villages from winds, storms, raising sea level and possible tsunami
disasters. [28]

1.2. Social, historical, economic and cultural elements of Kim Son
District, Ninh Binh Province
1.2.1. History of formation of Kim Son District, Ninh Binh Province
Civilization of the Vietnamese people is an agricultural civilization
adhered to wet rice which developed and achieved high level early.
Improvements in agriculture demand the first condition as farming land, thus
it is necessary to break the fresh land to make farming land. Land breaking is
the first step to set the foundation for agricultural development. In turn,
developed agriculture promotes land breaking continuously to spread the
growing land area. The mutual relationship between land breaking and
intensive farming is the indispensable development law of agriculture of
Vietnam. Understanding this, for generations, our ancestors had worked hard
by diverse ways like breaking land, founding villages of farmers or building
big gardens or farms of land lords or mandarins; that labour continuously
expanded farms and villages, as well as enhanced human living standard.
“Doanh dien” is a kind of land breaking suggested and implemented by
Nguyen Cong Tru – as Nguyen dynasty’s central government official named
“Doanh dien su”. Nguyen Cong Tru is a talented man in many fields: he is a
gifted general who won a great number battles in both the Northern and the
Southern areas of the country, he is also an outstanding poet and a successful
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writer, furthermore, he is a great economist with far fore-seeing view,
observant and sharp thinking alongside magnificent ability to organize.
Taking an important assignment from the central government of
Nguyen Dynasty and settling secure lives for the poor, in 1828, he broke the
fresh land and founded two districts Tien Hai district, Thai Binh province,
with area of 18.970 “mau” (= 8.729 ha) and 2530 men. In 1829, he
continued to break land and founded Kim Son district, Ninh Binh province.
As a result of this, Kim Son was established in 1829 (Ky Suu) by
Doanh dien su Nguyen Cong Tru. On the first days of land breaking, there
were only 1260 men coming from Giao Thủy, Yên Mô, Yên Khánh districts,
with simple tools, mainly based on human power, people of Kim Sơn had
made an incredible achievement. After one year, Kim Son transformed from a
wild and large alluvial plain to a wealthy village area, at the end of 1829, Kim
Son district was formed, it included 7 “tong”- smaller units, 1260 men, 14
600 “mau” of land and 60 “lý, ấp, trại, giáp”- small communes.
In 1829, Kim Sơn had only 1260 men, but in 2006, Kim Sơn
population was 172.339 people. The population increases and the area expand
fast. In the period of 184 years Kim Sơn’s people have encroached and
conquered alluvial plains 8 times to make the area bigger and expand the
farming land 4 times. The encroached dykes contain: An River Dyke in 1830,
in 1899, 50 Dyke, built in 1927, Hoành Trực Dyke, built in 1933 – 1934, Văn
Hải Dyke, built in1945, Cồn Thoi Dyke, and recently Bình Minh 1 Dyke, 10
km long, built immediately after the independent day of Ninh Bình province
in 1954, Bình Minh 2 dyke the principal dyke of the province, stretched
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in1981, 22,8 km long, Bình Minh 3 dyke, built since 2000 until now, 16 km
long, recently Bình Minh 4 Dyke, being finished.
In history, it was rarely a district which establishment process was
extremely difficult as Kim Son. Due to this, glorious days of land breaking
always stick in minds of Kim Son’s people and motivate them to struggle
against cruel oppression of French colonists and the US empire and improve
in building socialism to make the area of “golden land” become more
prosperous.
1.2.2. Social, economic and cultural elements of Kim Son district
Organization of the society
Like other villages of the Northern flat land of the country, Kim Sơn’s
society is organized in the common traditional ways of Viet Nam. However,
because the area’s natural condition has many rivers and streams,
arrangement of the villages is different with other places. In this area, villages
are arranged in the manner of “road first, then river” (“trên đường dưới
sông”), i.e. houses are set next to roads and roads adjoin river or canal. This
kind of arrangement is still used today in new coastal villages.
In Kim Sơn, although non-Christians and Christians are united and
consolidated to build their villages, the villages of non- Christians and of
Christians are usually separate, they are seldom live together in one village.

In the past, houses of people mostly were “nhà bổi” (made of cyperus),
roofed with “bổi” (a slang of “bỏ”-abandon) which is abandoned small
cyperus being disqualified for weaving, the roof was 50cm thick, the thick
walls was made of mud, so that in summer it could be cool and in winter it
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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI


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could be warm. Nowadays, “nha boi” almost are replaced by modern spacious
and well- equipped building with brick- roofed of cement ceiling.
Economic, social, cultural elements
Kim Son District was formed in 1829, 184 years ago, it is a rather large
district and an economic and political hub of Ninh Binh province. During
these years, municipal government of Kim Son District has always been
striving for promoting living standard of people by developing economy and
taking care of people’s lives. It is prescribed by this following table:
Table 1.3: Economic and social development indexes in 2012
No.
Index
Unit
Estimate

in 2011
Plan in
2012
1
Gross output (GO) calculated by
fixed price in 1994


billion
đồng
1455,4
1.632,5
Agriculture- Forestry- Fishery
429,4
454,5
Industries- Construction
651
798
Services
375
380
2
Rate of growth calculated by GO

%
13,52
12,5
Agriculture- Forestry- Fishery
5,2
2,9

Industries- Construction
16,6
17,4
Services
18,9
15,5
3
Structure of economy



Agriculture- Forestry- Fishery

%
35
34 - 35
Industries- Construction
39
41 - 42
Services
26
24 - 25
4
Cereals productivity (including
rice)

Ton
107.668
107.500
High quality rice

53.000
55.000
5
Fish productivity
Ton
16.911
20.300
ATTIDUTE TOWARDS SEA OF RESIDENTS
IN KIM SON DISTRICT, NINH BINH PROVINCE BUI CAM PHUONG
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INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI


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6
Splitted cyperus productivity
Ton
3.125
3.000
7
Production value/ 1ha farming land
M.đồng
84
90

8
Proportion of planting in winter
harvest season
%

20
9
Average income/ person (goods
price)
M.đồng
12
14,2
10
Governmental budget revenue of
the area (including income from
auction of land –use rights)
M.đồng

107.228
68.870
Auction of land –use rights
55.000
10.000
11
Rate of poor households (based on
criteria issued in 2010)
%
13,03
10
12

The number of communes which
are recognized as modern rural
communes

-
-
13
Proportion of concrete roads and
canals



Concrete roads
%
77
80
Concrete Type 1 and 2 canals
%
31
33
14
National standard schools (to the
end of this year)


schools

Kindergartens : the recognized/total
01;11/27
2;13;27
Primary schools: the
recognized/total
0;1/29
2;03/29
Secondary schools: the
recognized/total
1;11;27
2;13/27
15
Municipal cultural houses

houses


Municipal cultural houses of
communes
0;5/27
1;6/27
Municipal cultural houses of
villages or zones
10;120/298
15;135/298
ATTIDUTE TOWARDS SEA OF RESIDENTS
IN KIM SON DISTRICT, NINH BINH PROVINCE BUI CAM PHUONG
____________________________________

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INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI


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16
Index of health care



Birth rate decrease
‰
0,27
0,25
The number of doctors/ 10 000
people
doctor
2,7
2,7
Rate of under 5- year-old children
in malnutrition
%
17
16,5
17
Rate of households using hygienic
water

%
82,5
83
18
Building strong local government



Rate of strong local government
%
81,48
>80
(Source: The People’s Committee of Kim Son District, 2012)
Considering economic and social development of the district, we
realize that industries and construction takes the highest proportion in
economy of the district at 39%; group of agriculture- forestry- fishery take the
second place at 35% while service is the lowest, at 26%. In agriculture, rice
and cyperus still are major plants, rice area of 2 harvest seasons was 16.560
ha (2011), rice productivity was the highest one in Ninh Binh province in
both Winter- Spring harvest season and Summer- Autumn season, the gross
productivity in 2011 was 105.289 ton. Cyperus area in two harvest seasons is
348.3 ha, splitted dry cyperus productivity is 3.125 ton annually, cyperus is
the main commodity for traditional handicrafts in Kim Son. In these years,
sea economy has brought huge prospects, gross fish productivity in 2011 was
16991 ton.
The social indexes also show that systems of electricity, roads, schools,
institutions have developed step by step, satisfying daily needs of people. In
the field of education, there have been many schools meeting criteria of
national schools in all levels.
ATTIDUTE TOWARDS SEA OF RESIDENTS

IN KIM SON DISTRICT, NINH BINH PROVINCE BUI CAM PHUONG
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INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI


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Kim Son district has 46% of Christians, 6% of Buddhists, total number
is 52%. Kim Son is a district which has the highest number of Christians
comparing to other districts in Viet Nam, at 60% of Christians in Ninh Binh.
[28]
Sub-conclusion of Chapter 1
1. Kim Son has diverse environments, religions and beliefs. The history of
Kim Son pointed out that it was an alluvial plain deposited recently. Kim
Son’s people are unique and impressive. People of Kim Son have special
characteristics such as hard-working, creative, energetic and willing to
overcome difficulties, determined, daring, ready to sacrifice for community,
consolidated and humane. Kim Son is the place where people from many
other positions including land lords, Confucian scholars, defeated warriors in
farmer rise were concentrated, all aimed to break and broaden land for better
life and production. People in this area, even though they were of different
origins and religions, but they built history, society and culture of this area
together.
2. 184 years ago, under the direction and leadership of talented Doanh
dien su Nguyen Cong Tru, Kim Sơn area was established by dyking and

encroaching, people growing rice came to this area and strive for encroaching
to improve the farming land. They turned wild swamps to villages and rice
farms. Today, under the direction of the Communist party and the
Government, the people have 3 choices to behave the sea: firstly, traditional
way of Nguyen Cong Tru, encroaching the sea for farming, secondly,
encroaching the sea for fishery, i.e. turning swamps to fish raising lakes,
ATTIDUTE TOWARDS SEA OF RESIDENTS
IN KIM SON DISTRICT, NINH BINH PROVINCE BUI CAM PHUONG
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____________________________________

INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI


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thirdly, fishing on the sea. All three ways, in general, are the way people
affect the nature, in particular, exploit endless natural resources to serve their
lives. However, because the characteristics of the Vietnamese people seldom
changes, therefore agriculture is still the main economy, forestry is just
supplement economy.