top of page
Search

Rice seasons of old

2 days ago
3 min read

Harrowing, pulling seedlings, transplanting, lifting water, harvesting, threshing, winnowing, storing and selling: how many hands did one rice season pass through? 🌾


To open "A thousand years of farming and healing", HAPRI's series for Vietnam's first Culture Day (24 Nov 2026), here is "Rice seasons of old": photographs and woodblock prints from 1896 to the 1930s, from different regions, arranged in the order of the rice year.


Rice seasons of old · Archives from the 1890s to the 1930s, and one photo from 2022


Preparing the field and transplanting


Buffalo harrowing a flooded paddy · Bắc Ninh · 1896
  • 2. Pulling up seedlings for transplanting, 1900s (place not recorded).
  • 3. Transplanting in Nam Kỳ (Cochinchina), 1909.

1. A buffalo harrowing near Bắc Ninh, 1896 (cover: harrowing at Chợ Lớn, 1930).

2. Pulling up seedlings for transplanting, 1900s (place not recorded).

3. Transplanting in Nam Kỳ (Cochinchina), 1909.



Bringing water to the fields


Lifting water with a tripod scoop · Gy-trach · 1897
  • 5. Four people working a foot-powered water lift in Trung Kỳ (Annam), 1900s.
  • 6. A water wheel for irrigation in Bắc Kỳ (Tonkin), early 20th century.

4. Lifting water with a tripod scoop (gầu sòng) at Gy-trach village near Hanoi, 1897.

5. Four people working a foot-powered water lift in Trung Kỳ (Annam), 1900s.

6. A water wheel for irrigation in Bắc Kỳ (Tonkin), early 20th century.



Harvest


Rice ripening before harvest · Hà Đông · 1926
  • 8–9. Carrying the cut rice and gathering the harvest: woodblock prints drawn by Hanoi artisans in 1908–09 for Henri Oger's "Technique du peuple annamite".
  • 8–9. Carrying the cut rice and gathering the harvest: woodblock prints drawn by Hanoi artisans in 1908–09 for Henri Oger's "Technique du peuple annamite".

7. Rice ripening at Hà Đông (now part of Hanoi), 1926.

8–9. Carrying the cut rice and gathering the harvest: woodblock prints drawn by Hanoi artisans in 1908–09 for Henri Oger's "Technique du peuple annamite".



Threshing


Threshing in the field · Cần Thơ · 1909
  • 11. A buffalo threshing rice on a threshing floor in Bắc Kỳ, 1909.
  • 12. Carrying a load of rice straw in Bắc Kỳ, early 20th century.

10. Threshing in the field at Cần Thơ, 1909.

11. A buffalo threshing rice on a threshing floor in Bắc Kỳ, 1909.

12. Carrying a load of rice straw in Bắc Kỳ, early 20th century.



Winnowing


  • 13. Winnowing with a hand-cranked fan (quạt hòm) in Thừa Thiên (now Huế city), 1927.
  • 14. Winnowing paddy in the wind in Bắc Kỳ, early 20th century.

13. Winnowing with a hand-cranked fan (quạt hòm) in Thừa Thiên (now Huế city), 1927.

14. Winnowing paddy in the wind in Bắc Kỳ, early 20th century.



Storing and selling


  • 15. Granaries in front of the village headman's house at Gy-trach, 1897; the house was also the village school.
  • 16. The rice market in Hanoi, early 20th century.

15. Granaries in front of the village headman's house at Gy-trach, 1897; the house was also the village school.

16. The rice market in Hanoi, early 20th century.



Harvest today


Harvest time today · Yên Nghiệp · 2022

17. Harvest time in Yên Nghiệp, 2022 (then in Hòa Bình province, now Phú Thọ).


Does anyone in your village still use a gầu sòng or a quạt hòm, or winnow rice in the wind? Tell us in the comments.

This Friday (6 Nov): King Lý Thái Tông, who took the plough himself in 1038.



See it on other platforms

  • Facebook (photo album): coming soon

  • Instagram (photo album): coming soon

  • Threads: coming soon

  • TikTok (photo album): coming soon

  • YouTube (community post): coming soon

  • Album video (YouTube Shorts, 12:00, Thursday 5 Nov 2026): coming soon

On the hapri.org events calendar: Album "Mùa lúa xưa", 21:30, Tuesday 3 Nov 2026



Image sources

Image sources · Rice seasons of old

All CIRAD / NumBA images below are public-domain items; NumBA's reuse terms are the Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0.

Bìa / Cover: "Hersage des rizières", Chợ Lớn, 1930. Cirad / NumBA, public domain (NumBA reuse: Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0). https://numba.cirad.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10103069g

1: André Salles, "Hersage de rizière près Bac-ninh", 1896. BnF Gallica, public domain. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b53198725r

2: "Arrachage du riz avant le repiquage", 1900s. Cirad / NumBA, public domain. https://numba.cirad.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10102954w

3: "Repiquage du riz 2", Cochinchine, 1909. Cirad / NumBA, public domain. https://numba.cirad.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10103060f

4: André Salles, "Irrigation d'une rizière, au village de Gy-trach", 1897. BnF Gallica, public domain. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b53198727n

5: "Irrigation des rizières en Annam", 1900s. Cirad / NumBA, public domain. https://numba.cirad.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10102750b

6: "Irrigation : noria simple (Tonkin)", early 20th century. Cirad / NumBA, public domain. https://numba.cirad.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b101235728

7: "La rizière un peu avant la moisson", Hà Đông, 1926. Cirad / NumBA, public domain. https://numba.cirad.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b101030736

8, 9: Henri Oger, "Technique du peuple annamite" (Hà Nội, 1909), pl. 62 and 108. National Library of Vietnam copy, Library of Congress / World Digital Library, public domain. Pl. 62: https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_14383/?sp=63 · pl. 108: https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_14383/?sp=109

10: "Battage du riz à la station rizicole de Comtho", 1909. Cirad / NumBA, public domain. https://numba.cirad.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10103070v

11: "Battage du riz par piétinage", Tonkin, 1909. Cirad / NumBA, public domain. https://numba.cirad.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10103063s

12: "Riz : Transport d'une charge de paille (Tonkin)", early 20th century. Cirad / NumBA, public domain. https://numba.cirad.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10123571t

13: "Vannage du paddy", Thừa Thiên, 1927. Cirad / NumBA, public domain. https://numba.cirad.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10103339c

14: "Riz : Ventilation du paddy (Tonkin)", early 20th century. Cirad / NumBA, public domain. https://numba.cirad.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10123570c

15: André Salles, "Greniers devant la maison du ly-truong de Gy-trach (servant d'école)", 1897. BnF Gallica, public domain. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b531724231

16: "Marché du riz (Hanoï, Tonkin)", early 20th century. Cirad / NumBA, public domain. https://numba.cirad.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b101235745

17: Chienol, "Gặt lúa tại xã Yên Nghiệp", 2022. Wikimedia Commons, CC0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gặt_lúa_tại_xã_Yên_Nghiệp.jpg

Chỉnh sửa / Edits: ảnh được cắt khung; ảnh 17 giảm 10% độ bão hòa màu; trên tranh 8 (pl. 62) đã xóa số thứ tự in. / Images cropped; photo 17's colour saturation reduced 10%; on print 8 (pl. 62) the printed index numerals were removed.

bottom of page