The Importance of Water in Vietnam

In "Spring-Watching Pavilion," Ho makes several references to water. In addition to their symbolic meanings, the many water references underscore Vietnam's water-based geography, climate, and lifestyle. Vietnam is a wet country, featuring many lakes, rivers, streams, and other bodies of water. This wet climate is ideal for growing rice, which has always been Vietnam's main agricultural product. Rice is planted in wet paddies, shallow basins that hold the rice seeds. During the summer rainy season, floods of water carry nutrients from upland down to the paddies, nurturing the rice seeds. However, this process requires a delicate balance of irrigation. If the paddies receive too much water, they can overflow, washing away the seeds. If the paddies receive too little water, they can experience droughts. Both extremes can be destructive to the rice crop, which most Vietnamese peasants rely upon to survive. Unfortunately...