現今，海運商業的議題仍然在國際議程中激烈地討論，尤其是關於國家統治權和海洋優勢。由於獨特的地理優勢，Thu Xà海港是越南和東南亞商業貿易體系中，特別在19世紀晚期，扮演著非常重要的角色。
根據歷史記載，因為商業經濟的需求，Thu Xà海港於19世紀建立、發展，然而，在1968年遭遇了炸彈襲擊，迫使當地居民搬遷。該事件無疑讓Thu Xà海港面臨一大挑戰。另一方面，在中越並沒有太多關於貿易的文件記錄或研究，尤其是針對與商業情勢相關的廣義省(Quảng Ngãi)和Thu Xà海港的資料更少。本研究採取質性田野調查法，對中越的許多省份進行調查，作為本研究的主要數據。研究者在2008年至2010年，於中越各省進行持續性地實地考察，每個省份花費二至五個月調查，在廣南(Quảng Nam)省考察三次、在廣義(Quảng Ngãi)省八次、在平定(Bình Định)省和富安(Phú Yên)省分別為兩次。
在越南與東南亞的研究中，越南的Kẻ Chợ、Phố Hiến、會安(Hội An) 、胡志明市(Sài Gòn)、麻六甲、爪哇、香港、澳門、台灣、沙烏地阿拉伯、印度，以及中國，這些地方或國家，在過去的經貿佔據著重要經濟實力的角色。然而，小海港的角色，如Thu Xà海港，對越南與東南亞的海運貿易，也是不可或缺的，仍需要後人進一步地研究。

Nowadays, maritime commercial issues are still heatedly debated in the international agenda, especially regarding national sovereignties and maritime power. With a special geographical position, Thu Xà port played as an important role in the commercial system of Vietnam and Southeast Asia, particularly in the late 19th century. However, there are very few studies which mentioned about the economic development in central Vietnam, even fewer refer to the commercial situation in Quảng Ngãi in general and Thu Xà in particular.
This study mentions about the commercial development of Thu Xà before it was destroyed by American bomb in 1968. The study uses qualitative fieldwork methods in the various provinces of Central Vietnam. Field trips are conducted in many provinces such as Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, and Phu Yen in 2008, 2009, and 2010.
Kẻ Chợ, Phố Hiến, Hội An, Sài Gòn, Malacca, Java, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, India, and China are the most mentioned names in research on the past commercial economy in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. However, the role of smaller ports was also very important in the maritime trade of Vietnam and Southeast Asia and, need to be studied carefully; Thu Xà is one of these ports

Contents
Thesis Validation/Approval…………………………………………….i
ACKNOWLEDGE ii
ABSTRACT iv
ABBREVIATIONS vii
GLOSSARY viii
NOTES ON VIETNAMESE MEASUREMENT AND NAME x
LIST OF TABLE xii
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 Background 1
1.1 Objective 5
Chapter 2 Literature Review 9
2.1 Definition 9
2.2 Research 14
Chapter 3 Methodology 22
3.1 Methodology and theory 22
1.1 Lay-out of the thesis 24
Chapter 4 Result research 26
4.1 Summary 26
4.2 The process of formation and development of Thu Xa from the early 19th century to the late 19th century 29
4.2.1 The trading economic relationship of Thu Xa commercial port in the 19th century 32
4.2.2 Trading relationship between Thu Xa commercial port and others in Southeast Asia 37
4.3 The Post-Champa Economic Model 54
4.3.1 The Nguon 57
4.3.2 The Nguon in the post-Champa economic model 61
4.4 The decline of Thu Xa commercial port of the second half of the 20th century 66
Chapter 5 Conclusion 71
Bibliography 77
Appendix 82

National Board. (1991). The International Workshop for Hoi An Ancient Town. Hanoi, Vietnam: Social Sciences .
(2006). Temporal State of the Kingdom of Cochin-China, chapter viii of the trade and ports oc Cochin-China. New York, U.S: Southeast Asia Program Cornell University.
Anh, N. T. (1968). Economy and Society of Vietnam under the Nguyen Dynasty Kings. Saigon: Saigon.
Bang, D. D. (2005). Dong Duong one the clue commerce transaction. Southeast Asia Research.
Bozeman, A. B. (1962). Politics and culture in international history. Science Society, 467-469.
Bronson, B. (1977). Economic exchange and social interation in Southeast Asia: Prespectives from Prehistory, history and Ethnography. Michigan: University of Michigan Centre.
Cady, J. F. (1964). Southeast Asia: its historical development. Ohio: Hill Book Company.
Coedes, G. (1967). The making of Southeast Asia. Los Angeles: University of California press.
Coedes, G. (1968). The Indianzied states of the Southeast Asia. Honolulu: East-West Center press.
Don, L. Q. (1973). Miscellaneous Border Records. Saigon: Co Van Bookcase.
Dournes, J. (1955). Les popupations montagnardes du Sub-Indochinois. Bulletin de l'Ecole francaise d'Extrême-Orient, 653-661.
Dournes, J. (1977). Pötao: Une théorie du pouvoir chez les Jörai sud-indochinois. Paris: Flammarion.
Duc, T. H. (2008). The Chinese people and South Vietnam in the first 19th century. Hanoi, Vietnam: Vietnam National Museum of History.
Eberhard, W. (1960). A history of China. New York: Cosimo Classics.
Glover, I. (1989). Early trade between India and Southeast Asia: A link in a world trading system. Kingston upon Hull, England: University of Hull press.
Gungwu, W. (1998). The Nanhai trade: A study of the early history of China trade in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Times Academic press.
Harday, A. (2003). Red Hill: Migrants and the State in the Highlands of Vietnam. Copenhagen-Honolulu: NIAS Press-Hawai University.
Hardy, A. (2003). Red Hill: Migrants and the State in the Highlands of Vietnam. Copenhagen-Honolulu: NIAS Press-Hawai University Press.
Hardy, A. (2008). Mountains and the sea in the economic history of Champa and Vietnam. In T. N. Thanh, Maritime culture of the Central region and maritime culture of the Southwest (pp. 88-102). Hanoi, Vietnam: The Word.
Hardy, A. (2009). A section of Central Vietnam's east-west historical trade route: the Ca Dong of Son Tay district. Son Tay, past and present, 53-54.
Hardy, A. (2009). Eaglewood and the Economic History of Champa and Central Vietnam. In M. C. Andrew Hardy, Champa and the archaeology of My Son (Vietnam) (pp. 107-126). Singapore: National University of Singapore.
Hardy, A. (n.d.). Culture of Migration and Impact of History in Wartime Indochine: A Game of Chance? Singapore: Asia Research Institute, 50-68.
Harrison, B. (1954). Southeast Asia A short history. New York: S. Martin' press.
Heng, D. T. (2006). Export commodity and regional currency: the role of Chinese copper coins in the Melaka straits, tenth to fourteenth century. Southeast Asian Studies, 37.
Historical, N. d. (2001). Veritable Records of Dai Nam. Hanoi, Vietnam: Institute of History.
Khoang, P. (2001). Vietnamese History in Cochinchina. Hà Nội: Literary.
Maitre, H. (1912). Les Jungles Moi. Paris: Larose.
Prurcell, V. (1965). The Chinese in Southeast Asia. London: Oxford University press.
Shiro, M. (2004). Đại Việt and the South China Sea trade: from the 10th to the 15th century. In East Asia - Southeast Asia: the problems in history and present. Hanoi, Vietnam: The World.
Simkin, C. (1968). The traditional trade of Asia. London: Oxford University press.
Tana, L. (1998). Nguyen Cochinchina, Southern Vietnam in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. New York: Ithaca.
Tana, L. (2006). A view from the sea: perpectives on the Northern and central Vietnamese coast. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 83-102.
Tana, N. C. (2004). Water Frontier: commerce and the Chinese in the Lower Mekong Region, 1750-1800. Singapore: Singgapore: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc.
Taylor, O. D. (2006). View of Seventeenth-century Vietnam: Christoforo Borri on CochinChina and Samuel Barron on Tonkin. New York: Cornell Southeast Asia program.
Villers, K. W. (1990). Southeast Asian port and policy rise and demise. Singapore: National University of Singapore press.
Vỹ, T. T. (1961). Vietnamese Foreign Trade in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth century. Hà Nội: Hisroty.
Whitmore, J. K. (2006). The rise of the coast: trade, state, culture in early Đại Việt. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 110.