Cattle-traded villages in the Northern midlands and Delta from the early modern to modern periods

Abstract

Among the traditional trading occupations of the Vietnamese in the midlands and delta of northern Vietnam, cattle trading has received relatively little scholarly attention. Existing studies have mostly discussed cattle trading as a traditional occupation, without providing a systematic perspective on its formation, practices, characteristics, decline, and transformation from the postwar period to the present, as well as the adaptability of villagers in this trade in current contexts. Based on field research combined with published historical and anthropological sources, this article introduces several villages engaged in cattle trading in the northern delta. It identifies both the historical characteristics of this occupation and its transformations amid economic and social changes, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of
the economic and village structures from tradition to the present day.