Hanoi, Hai-Phong and Nam-Dinh carry on cotton-spinning, and Hanoi and Nam-Dinh are well known for the manufacture of carved and inlaid furniture. The natives are skilful at enamelling and the chasing and ornamentation of gold and other metals. The manufacture of paper from the fibrous bark of the paper tree is a wide-spread industry and there are numerous distilleries of rice-spirit.
In 1926 the imports were valued at 1,700,758,00o francs, while the exports did not exceed 1,316,401,000 francs in value.
The transit trade via Tongking between Hongkong and Yun nan is entirely in the hands of Chinese houses, the tin of the Yun-nan mines and cotton yarns from Hongkong constituting its most important elements. The waterways of the delta are lined with embankments, the causeways along which form the chief means of land communication of the region. (For railways, see INDO-CHINA, FRENCH.) The protectorate of Tongking approaches nearer to direct administration than that of Annam, where the conditions of the protectorate are more closely observed. Till 1897 the emperor of Annam was represented in Tongking by a viceroy (kinh-luoc), but now the native officials are appointed by and are directly under the control of the resident-superior, who resides at Hanoi (pop. 120,509), the capital of Indo-China, presides over the protectorate council, and is the chief territorial representative of France. Tongking is divided into nineteen provinces, in each of which there is a resident or a vice-resident. In each province there is a council of native "notables," elected by natives and occupied with the discussion of the provincial budget and public works. There is also a deliberative council of natives for the whole of Tongking. The provincial administration, local government and educational system are analogous to those of Annam (q.v.). Two chambers of the court of appeal of Indo-China and a criminal court sit at Hanoi; there are tribunals of first instance and tribunals of com merce at Hanoi and Hai-Phong. When both parties to a suit are Annamese, it comes within the jurisdiction of the An-Sat or native judge of the province.
The local budget for 1927 balanced at 18,017,180 piastres. See also INDO-CHINA, FRENCH and ANNAM.
For the early history of Tongking, see ANNAM and INDO CHINA, FRENCH. Tongking was loosely united to Annam until 1801, when Gia-long, king of Annam, brought it definitely under his sway. Having, by the treaty of 1862 and the annexation of Cochin China, firmly established themselves in Annamese terri tory, the French began to turn their attention to Tongking, at tracted by the reported richness of its mineral wealth. The inva
sion of northern Tongking by the disbanded followers of the Taiping rebels offered a pretext for action. Hostilities were checked for a time by the Franco-Prussian War (187o-71), but in 1873 Gamier attacked Hanoi as a protest against the hin drances offered to Dupuis, a trader with military stores for Yun nan, and carried the citadel by assault. He then sent to Saigon for reinforcements and meanwhile attacked the five other impor tant fortresses in the delta (Hung-Yen, Phu-Ly, Hai-Duong, Ninh-Binh, and Nam-Dinh), and captured them all. This pro voked the Tongkingese to call in the help of Lu-Vinh-Phuoc, the leader of the "Black Flags" (bands of Chinese rebels infesting the mountainous region of Tongking), who at once marched with a large force to the scene of action. Within a few days he had recaptured several villages near Hanoi, and so threatening did his attitude appear that Gamier, who had hurried back after cap turing Nam-Dinh, made a sortie from the citadel, a move re sulting in his death and that of his second in command.
Meanwhile the news of Gamier's hostilities had alarmed the governor of Saigon, who, wishing to avoid war, sent Philastre, an inspector of native affairs, to offer apologies to the king of Annam. When, however, Philastre heard of Garnier's death, he took com mand of the French forces, and at once ordered the evacuation of Nam-Dinh, Ninh-Binh and Hai-Duong—a measure which resulted in a general massacre of native converts in the area. In pursuance of the same policy Philastre made a convention with the authorities (March 1874) by which he bound his countrymen to withdraw from the occupation of the country, retaining only the right to trade on the Song-Koi and at Hanoi and Hai-Phong. For a time affairs remained in statu quo, but in 1882 Le Myre de ViHers, the governor of Cochin-China, sent Henri Riviere with a small force to open up the route to Yunnan by the Song-Koi. With a curious similarity the events of Garnier's campaign were repeated. Finding the authorities intractable, Riviere stormed and carried the citadel of Hanoi, with very slight loss, recaptured Nam-Dinh, Hai-Duong, and other towns in the delta, and then, like Gamier, fell a victim to his own impetuosity (May 1883).