Chinese Imperialism in Vietnam

[yuuteya]

China (through various imperial governments) had a very long history of imperialism and colonization in Vietnam. There was a policy of cultural assimilation. Even after Vietnam finally gained independence there were still continued Chinese aggression.

http://www.asia.msu.edu/seasia/Vietn...onization.html

Chinese Colonization (200BC - 938AD)

From 200 BC to 100AD, many changes took place throughout China, northern Vietnam, and Southeast Asia as peoples migrated, and bases of power shifted and expanded. In China, as the Qin Dynasty lost power to the Han Dynasty in 206 BC, deposed members of the military and government began to trickle into Vietnam's Tonkin or Red River Delta. The people who arrived in this area brought their technology, language, and culture, beginning the Sinicization of Northern Vietnam which continued into the 20th century.

Northern Vietnam was officially annexed and colonized in 111BC by the Han Dynasty. Chinese historians described the Vietnamese people they encountered as barbarian and uncivilized. The Chinese colonists set out to reform Vietnamese culture along Chinese lines but village life did not change substantially. At first, the Chinese only established trading centers so they could conduct business from the coast of Vietnam. In about 100BC two Chinese-run prefectures, Giao Chi and Cuu Chan, were established in the Au Lac Kingdom in the Tonkin Delta.

The aristocracy of the Au Lac kingdom, the Lac Lords, initially accepted the Chinese and worked with them. They looked to the Chinese to help them in maintaining power over their own kingdoms. Unfortunately, this resulted in a loss of respect for the Vietnamese lords by their own people. The Vietnamese peasants turned to their own extended families for protection against the excesses of the Chinese and their rulers. Chinese colonization and pressure increased with the collapse of the Western Han Dynasty in 9AD which caused a large migration of Chinese aristocrats into Southern China and later into Vietnam. There was a massive immigration of scholars, officers, and wealthy Chinese and many local rulers were replaced by Chinese officials. Some of these officials married into the Vietnamese aristocracy, creating what became a major force in Vietnam-an educated class of Sino-Vietnamese, or people of mixed Chinese and Vietnamese origin. Chinese immigrants built schools and temples, and ordered the construction of major networks of canals, dikes, road ways, and bridges to facilitate the production of rice and the movement of people and natural resources. Gradually the Chinese population of the Tonkin Delta grew, and the two original prefectures were divided into seven, with Chinese prefects appointed for each area. In addition, soldiers from the Han Dynasty were granted land by the Chinese government and began to take up farming in Vietnamese villages.

This led to much discontent on the part of the Vietnamese villagers who made up the majority of the population. This discontent periodically grew and shrunk over the next 700 years, frequently erupting into major rebellions as peasants found their land allotments shrinking and their taxes increasing Eager Chinese immigrants were happy to buy up land on which the Vietnamese peasants could no longer pay taxes. Poor government and natural disasters added to the peasant suffering.

In 39AD, one of the first uprisings against Chinese rule was begun by two daughters of a Vietnamese aristocrat. The aristocrats of the Au Lac kingdom realized they were losing power to the Chinese and that their land was, in effect, governed and controlled by outsiders. Corrupt Chinese prefects, excessive taxation, and ethnic discrimination provoked the Vietnamese throughout the Lac kingdom. Trung Trac and her sister Trung Nhi, two daughters of a local Vietnamese ruler, gathered forces, united the people, and launched a rebellion which the Chinese government. For three years, they ruled the kingdom. During this time, Trung Trac proclaimed herself queen, re-established the original tax system and took steps to alleviate the poverty of the peasants. In 42 AD the Chinese defeated the sisters and retook control of North Vietnam. According to Chinese history, the Trung sisters were killed by Chinese soldiers, but Vietnamese history contends that, rather than surrender, the women drowned themselves in a river. The Trung sisters are still venerated as Vietnamese national heroines and patriots and their statues can be found in many temples.

In 248AD, another woman tried unsuccessfully to fight off the Chinese colonizers. Trieu Au, enlisted the help of the Chams from central Vietnam, and, aided by elephants trained in warfare, led a short rebellion. She is reported to have said:

I want to ride the stormy sea, subdue its treacherous waves, kill the sharks of the ocean, drive out the aggressors and repossess our land, undo the ties of tyranny and never bend my back to be the concubine of any man

Thus she rebelled not only against the Chinese colonization, but also against the changing roles of women in society. Under Chinese Confucianism, the position of women declined in several ways, the most significant being the adoption of the Chinese tradition of concubinage. Unfortunately, this rebellion did not stem the impact of Chinese Confucian ideas and the independence of Vietnamese women continued to decline.

During the 6th century AD, Chinese supervision over Vietnam relaxed somewhat due to the peaceful nature of the Chinese Emperor Wu who was a devout Buddhist and a patron of the arts. His lenience led to high levels of political infighting in China while in Vietnam local Chinese leaders, who no longer worried about supervision from China, were able to accumulate power. The misuse of this power led to a revolt against the tyrannical Chinese governor by Ly Bon, of Sino-Vietnamese ancestry. In 542, Ly Bon defeated the Chinese and established his own kingdom which he ruled until the Chinese retook the areas in 546. His followers continued to oppose Chinese rule with sporadic guerilla tactics until 603 when the Sui Dynasty (589-618) gained control in China and Vietnam. At that time, a new Vietnamese capital was established in present-day Hanoi, then known as Tong-binh.

In 618 the Tang Dynasty gained control of China and of Northern Vietnam, changing the name of the country to Annam (Pacified South) in 679 to reflect its status as a part of Southern China. During the T'ang period, a number of individuals tried to revolt against this new and more intrusive government. In 687, Ly Tu Tien and Dinh Kien led an insurrection. In 722, Mai Thuc Loan, also known as the Black Emperor, attempted to become emperor of Vietnam. With the help of Vietnamese neighbors, the Khmers and Chams, he was able to capture the capital for a short time. Further rebellions were started by Phung Hung during the period from 767 to 791 and Duong Thanh in 819 to 820. These rebellions preceded a period of anarchy which occurred both in China and Vietnam in the 10th century with the collapse of the Tang dynasty.

The most successful of these many rebellions was that of Ngo Quyen, who defeated the Chinese army in 939, proclaimed himself king, and established the capital of Vietnam at Co Loa. At Ngo Quyen's untimely death in 944, anarchy and civil war broke out in Vietnam, but the Chinese army was neither strong enough nor quick enough to retake the country. During the following 900 years Vietnam enjoyed a measure of political independence although Chinese thought and culture continued to play an important role in Vietnamese lifestyle and politics. This produced a unique blend of Chinese and Vietnamese cultures which shaped both traditional and modern Vietnam

Vietnamese Independence (950 - 1859)

In 965, Dinh Bo Linh, a man of peasant background, proclaimed himself King of Northern Vietnam, taking the title of Emperor in 968. Dinh Bo Linh attempted to bring together Chinese and Vietnamese political theory by using both Vietnamese and Chinese titles and incorporating both Buddhist and Daoist rituals and priests into court life. His court facilitated the fusion of Buddhism with the animist and mystical teachings of Daoism, appealing to the people of the village. Dinh Bo Linh also established the 10 Circuit Army, an army of 100,000 men that is the predecessor of today's Vietnamese Army. The dynasty founded by Dinh Bo Linh survived only until 980 when Le Dai Hanh overthrew it and inaugurated the short-lived Early Le Dynasty (980-1009).

From the 11th to 13th centuries, the independence of the Vietnamese Kingdom (Dai Viet) was consolidated under the emperors of the Ly Dynasty, founded by Ly Thai To in 1009. The emperors of this dynasty reorganized the administrative system, founded the nation's first university (The Temple of Literature in Hanoi), promoted agriculture and built the first embankments for flood control along the Red River. During the Ly Dynasty, the Chinese, Khmers, and Chams repeatedly attacked Vietnam, but were repelled, most notably under the renowned strategist and tactician Ly Thuong Kiet (1030-1105), a military official of royal blood who is still revered as a national hero.

The Ly dynasty fought wars against the weakening Champa state and the eventual conquest of Cham territory greatly increased size of the emerging Vietnamese state. This conquest accompanied by an aggressive policy of colonization that imposed northern social and political structures onto the newly settled territories, destroying the Cham civilization. A chain of homogenous villages was built that stretched from the Chinese border to the Gulf of Thailand and consolidated the area under Ly dynasty rule.

By the 13th Century, the Ly dynasty was weakened and was overthrown by rebels who founded the Tran dynasty in 1226. By 1260, however, the Tran's found themselves fighting again against a far greater threat, Kublai Khan and the Mongols from China. Eventually, Kublai Khan was defeated and aggression between Champa and Vietnam resumed as the Chams took advantage of the turmoil brought by the mOngol invasions to revolt. By the end of the 1300s, the Tran Dynasty had succeeded in checking the advances of the now weakened Chams, only to face its own internal problems.

In 1400, Ho Qui Ly, the regent of the child king, usurped the throne and established the Ho Dynasty. In 1407, when the ousted Trans asked for assistance from the Ming Dynasty of China, the Chinese used this request as an excuse to invade the Red River Delta and set up a Chinese administration which lasted for 14 years. During this time, they destroyed all libraries and archives.

Le Lo, a member of the large and wealthy Le family organized the Lam Son uprising against Chinese rule in 1418 After his victory in 1428, Le Loi declared himself emperor beginning the Later Le Dynasty (1428-1788), which became the longest lived dynasty in Vietnamese history.

The latest Chinese invasion of Vietnam was in 1978, by Communist China. Vietnam tried to stop the Chinese-supported dictator Pol Pot of Cambodia who committed the horrible genocide. So Vietnam invaded Cambodia, but then China invaded Vietnam.

Cambodia and the Sino-Vietnamese War

In late 1978, following repeated raids by the Chinese-supported Pol Pot regime into Vietnamese territory and the massacre of ethnic Vietnamese and even Khmer people in Cambodia, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and installed a pro-Vietnamese government. In early 1979 China invaded Vietnam in retaliation. The Sino-Vietnamese War was brief, but casualties were high on both sides. In late 1989 Vietnam withdrew its troops from Cambodia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...m#Colonization

[yuuteya]

Here more recent news in 2000 and 2004, between China and Vietnam

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/patrick.guen...ews/island.htm
China, hosting Vietnam president, restates claim to disputed islands

BEIJING - China on Tuesday hailed an ongoing visit by Vietnam's president a "success," while also declaring itself the undisputed master of islands claimed by both countries. On Monday, the first day of a five-day visit by Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong, the two countries signed a series of agreements while steering clear of the issue of the disputed Spratley and Paracel islands in the South China Sea.

"China's position on the South China Sea is very clear, that China has indisputable sovereignty over the Spratley Islands and surrounding waters," foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said Tuesday at the ministry's regular press briefing. Not only China and Vietnam, but also Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines lay claim to the Spratleys. China seized the Paracels from Vietnam and now considers them part of the nearby island province of Hainan.

President Luong held talks with his Chinese counterpart on Monday, and on Tuesday went on to meet with Premier Zhu Rongji and Li Peng, chairman of China's national parliament, the Xinhua news agency said. The Chinese and Vietnamese foreign ministers on Monday signed a joint statement to demarcate their disputed Gulf of Tonkin sea border after years of bitter argument, and reached an agreement on fishery cooperation in the gulf.

"This shows that the two sides will approach their bilateral relations from a strategic perspective," foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang said. During the first day of Luong's visit, the two sides also signed pacts on the peaceful utilization of nuclear energy and cooperation between their national news agencies. But the Spratley and Paracel islands, potentially the most divisive issues between the two countries, were not on the agenda, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

"As far as I understand, the two sides have not touched upon the question of the South China Sea," Zhang said. Chinese and Vietnamese forces clashed in the South China Sea in 1988 and 1992, and on both occasions the Chinese emerged victorious. Both countries have fielded historical and archeological evidence to support their claims in the disputed waters, and China has produced historical records showing it sent naval expeditions to the Spratleys as early as in 110 A.D.

Luong's visit, his first to China as head of state and the second visit by a Vietnamese president since the two nations normalized relations in 1991, will also take him to the cities of Shanghai and Xiamen.

Agence France Presse - December 26, 2000.

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/patrick.guen...disputable.htm
Indisputable sovereignty over Spratley Islands

BEIJING - China has claimed that it had indisputable sovereignty over the Spratley Islands in the South China Sea and asked Vietnam to rescind its "unilateral" move to invite global firms to explore oil and natural gas in the area. China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands (Spratley) and the surrounding sea, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said yesterday while reacting to reports that Petrovietnam has invited tenders for oil and gas exploration in some disputed areas in the South China Sea.

Zhang said Vietnam's move infringed upon China's sovereignty and oceanic rights and interests. "China hopes Vietnam will correct the mistake as soon as possible and not take any unilateral actions that would complicate or enlarge disputes," she said. Zhang also cautioned international oil companies against taking part in the process initiated by Hanoi. China hopes international oil companies will respect China's firm stance on this issue, and not do anything to harm China's sovereignty over its marine territory, she said.

The Spratleys, considered rich in oil and minerals are claimed entirely or in part by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, The Philippines and Brunei. Chinese and Vietnamese Navies briefly clashed in the Spratlys in 1989. China, the largest claimant, has said the whole of the South China Sea has been a "Chinese lake" for centuries.

Though China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have signed a code of conduct in the South China Sea, the sensitive territorial dispute flares up sporadically between Beijing and Hanoi.

Press Trust of India - October 21, 2004

China seems very confident of its right to rule over all those areas, and even bringing its historical evidence to support its claim.

[phiota]

Almost every country that exists today (even most of small ones) resulted from conquest and "imperialism". In China at one time there was over one hundred "countries" or different groups. Then several "countries" defeated all the others then the several were over hundreds of years defeated by one. In this case the one is called China but it's the same I believe for Germany, England, Japan, Russia, India, America. (sort of different), Kenya, and most others. Only maybe fiji, and some a very few other very small countries started off with one group and stayed that way. Vietnam probably was created as a result of conflict & wars between many small groups which over time led to a country the world calls Vietnam.

John

[deez nuts]

i apologize to vietnam and vietnamese people for the sins of mother china.

[SunWuKong]

Originally Posted by yuuteya

Here more recent news in 2000 and 2004, between China and Vietnam

and here's a piece of news from today.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4391690.stm

actually i personally think it's ridiculous that China wants to claim the Spratlys. i say let the ASEAN members fight amongst themselves over those islands. then China can come in as an ally to help drill and export the oil to China.

[yoMAMA]

Originally Posted by deez nuts

i apologize to vietnam and vietnamese people for the sins of mother china.

TRAITOR!

[simayi]

This guy is such a nuisance.

[DragonKnight]

Originally Posted by simayi

This guy is such a nuisance.

Who?

[Napoleon Chynamite]

This is Yuuteya's attempt to balance out the discussion/situation, because it's unfair that only Japan is being crapped on for imperialism so it's time now for China to take it up the ass in a few threads~ Never mind the fact that the sins of one do not balance out or justify the sins of another, but perhaps another day...

I would also suggest we move away from all this talk of racism in the U.S. and move on over to how China discriminates against ethnic minorities and how South Korea treats parent-less babies, mixed children, and foreigners. And how much the Turks hated the Armenians and vice versa. And the color/hue-based social hierarchy and how it differs in Brazil from the social hierarchy present here.

[deez nuts]

Originally Posted by yoMAMA

TRAITOR!

sometimes we have to bear the sins of our fathers and atone for them, dickweed.

[Napoleon Chynamite]

^ I'm way ahead of you on this atonement business. Today I got a cute Vietnamese girl's digits and we plan to have lunch this weekend after I fail my midterm.

[hooligan]

Actually, there's a lot of Vietnamese legends about strong women who fight off invaders. Usually, a lot of Chinese invaders. It's quite a feat for a peoples to carve out a culture that is kind of like the imperialists, but uniquely their own.

[hooligan]

edit: did we really need some of these posts?

[kusojiji]

Originally Posted by Napoleon Chynamite

This is Yuuteya's attempt to balance out the discussion/situation, because it's unfair that only Japan is being crapped on for imperialism so it's time now for China to take it up the ass in a few threads~ Never mind the fact that the sins of one do not balance out or justify the sins of another, but perhaps another day...

I would also suggest we move away from all this talk of racism in the U.S. and move on over to how China discriminates against ethnic minorities and how South Korea treats parent-less babies, mixed children, and foreigners. And how much the Turks hated the Armenians and vice versa. And the color/hue-based social hierarchy and how it differs in Brazil from the social hierarchy present here.

How do some of these posts relate to the topic?

[ahsingjai]

The Vietnamese

Vietnam was historically restricted to today's northern Vietnam and parts of China's Guangxi-Yunnan Provinces. The word 'viet' means the same as 'Yue', while 'nam' means southern. It was called Jiaozhi in Chinese history. It fell under Chinese influence beginning from Qin Empire. Zhao Tuo's Nan-Yue Statelet took Jiaozhi as a prefecture. Today's Vietnamese belonged to the same group as Jing-zu minority in China's Guangxi Prov.

During the early conquest, Qin mobilized an army of 100 to 200 thousand people, mostly consisting of the so-called outcasts of then China, i.e., the men who lived in wives' homes after the marriage and the merchants whose occupation was deemed the lowest in then society. History recorded that altogether 500,000 people, again consisting of the disgraced men and the merchants, were relocated to southern China by Qin Shihuangdi. This explains the fact that today's Guangdong Province still possesses the most variety of ancient Chinese dialects.

The people of Vietnam was an interesting group. They differ from Burmese and Thai people who were descendants of the Nan-Zhao refugees. They have a good mixture of Chinese and Austro heritage. The reason I said Vietnam was restricted to the northern part of today's Vietnam is that there existed many statelets in today's southern and central Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Chinese history recorded that the people living to the south of Vietnamese, in both Linyi (Champa) and Funan, possessed curly hair, a Negroid characteristic that has more to do with Dravidians of India. History of Northern Dynasties mentioned that the people of Linyi possessed relatively deep-socket eyes and higher nose bridge, which further supported the previous claim that the ancient people of southern Vietnam were Indians. History of Sui Dynasty stated further that the people of Linyi (Champa) possessed dark skin and curly hair, and that after first Sui Emperor Yangdi conquered Southern Chen Dynasty in AD 589, Linyi sent in tributes. Linyi stopped tributes till Sui armies, led by General Liu Fang, attacked them in AD 604. (Sui Emperor, in addition to attacking Linyi, had invaded Ryukyu.) According to History of Sui Dynasty, further to the southwest of Linyi (Champa) would be a statelet called Zhenla (Chang-la or Chenla), a vassal of Funan. Zhenla (Chang-la) male population were recorded to be small in size but dark in skin, but some females were said to have lighter skin. Chang-la people all had curly hair. To the west of Zhenla (Chang-la) would be a statelet called Zhu-jiang, and to the south Che-qu. Numerous statelets existed further, with rulers carrying Indian names. It is no strange to see this phenomenon when we examined the history of southeast Asia as a whole to find that Indian influence had spread across the whole area much before the Chinese poked their nose in the same area.

In 110s BC, General Lu Bode (carrying the same title of 'Quelling Sea Waves' as the later General Ma Yuan) was ordered by Han Emperor Wudi to campaign in the south, and he first set up Rinan Commandary. The Linyi (Champa) Statelet would be where the Xianglin County of Rinan Commandary was. At the beginning of Later Han, Ma Yuan campaigned against the rebellion led by the Zheng (or Trung) sisters in the region of the Red River between 40 and 43 AD. General Ma Yuan erected two bronze pillars here as a demarcation line of Han China's boundary. History Of Liang Dynasty said that in the demise years of Han Dynasty, a county clerk, by the name of Qu Da, killed the county sheriff of Xianglin and declared himself a king. After several generations, the throne passed on to a nephew called Fan Xiong. By AD 337, someone called Nuwen usurped the Linyi Kingdom throne. Nuwen was originally a servant under Fan Zhi the county sheriff of Xijuan County of Rinan Commandary. Governor-general of Jiaozhi Prefecture was in charge of Rinan Commandaries. But Nuwen and his son and grandson kept attacking Rinan Commandary for generations. Nuwen killed Xiahou Lan (the chief of Rinan Commandary) in AD 347 and stayed put in the capital of Rinan Commandary for 3 years.

Vietnam hence began as two states, a northern statelet called Annam (Nam Viet or Dai Viet) under Chinese influence and a southern one called Champa that displayed strong Indian influences. The southern Vietnamese kings are simlar to Cambodian kings, like in the names of Rudravarman etc.


From www.uglychinese.org

Han's Conquest Of Southern Statelets

In 137 BC, Zhao Tuo passed away at the age of over 100. Grandson Zhao Hu succeeded him. In Aug of 135 BC, King Zou Ying attached Nan-yue. Zhao Hu reported to Han Emperor Wudi, and Han dispatched army against Min-yue. Brother Yu-shan killed King Zou Ying by short spear and surrendered the head to Han Emperor Wudi. Zho Hu then dispatched Prince Ying-qi to Chang'an the Han capital. Ying-qi did not return till 122 BC when Zho Hu fell ill. Ying-qi assumed the kingship till he passed away in 112 BC. Zhao Xing, a son born during the stay in Chang'an, would succeed Ying-qi.

Nan-Yue rebelled as a result of its prime minister killing the young king, Zhao Xing, the great grandson of Zhao Tuo. This had to do with the adultery of the Han emissary with the mother of Nan-Yue king. Zhao Xing's father was a hostage in Han court and he married a kind of 'singer' woman; however, this woman was an old mistress of the Han emissary who visited Nan-Yue later. Nan-Yue Prime Minister, with the backing of Zhao Guang (King of Cangwu of Nan-Yue, a place in today's Guangxi Province bordering Guangdong), rebelled against Han. Hen Emperor Wudi intended to call Zhao Xing to the capital. Wudi dispatched Anguo Shaoji [i.e., lover of Zhao Xing's mother] to Nan-yu as well as stationed Luo Bode's troops at Guiyang as a military detente. Prime minister Luu Jia barely escaped from the assassination attempt by Zhao Xing's mother. Wudi then dispatched Han Qianqiu and 2000 soldiers to the relief of Zhao Xing's mother. Luu Jia and his brother then took initiative, laid siege of the palace, and killed Zhao Xing, the dowager queen, and Han emissary. Luu Jia erected Zhao Jiande, a son born by Ying-qi with a southern Yue woman, as the new king. Han Qianqiu and 2000 soldiers were destroyed about 20 kilometers away from Fanyu [i.e., Canton]. Han Emperor Wudi sent Lu Bode and several columns of armies, about 100,000 strong, to campaign in southern China. A naval fleet arrived at Panyu, namely, today's Canton, at the mouth of Zhujiang Delta, to attack Nan-Yue from the sea. When the Nan-yue remnants fled to the sea, the fleet pursued them to the Gulf of Tongking in Vietnam. Lu Bode's army sacked Canton in the winter of 111 BC, and killed Luu Jia and Zhao Jiande. Nan-yue land, including central and northern parts of today's Vietnam, were made into commandaries of Nanhai, Cangwu, Yuelin [Guilin], Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen, Rinan, Zhuya and Dan'er. The kingdom of Nan-Yue, starting from 207 BC and lasting five generations, continued under Zhao Tuo and his successors for almost a hundred years until it was reconquered by the armies of Emperor Wudi in 111 BC.

Southern barbarians in Guizhou and Sichuan provinces were called upon as auxiliaries. But they killed Han emissary. Han armies killed the chief of southern barbarians and made the territory into Zangke (Yangke?) Commandary, namely, today's Guizhou Prov, in 111 BC. Four more commandaries were set up southwest of Sichuan, including Yuesui Commandary (today's southwestern Sichuan and northern Yunnan), Shenli Commandary (today's Daduhe River area in Sichuan Prov), Wenshan Commandary (today's Wenchuan and Songpan of western Sichuan Prov) and Wudu Commandary (today's southern Gansu and southern Shenxi Prov). Yelang Statelet was pacified and conferred kingship. Dian, aka Shoumi-guo, which Scholar Zhan Quanyou stated was built upon a Shoumi tribal statelet, was the next target. Two years later, Han Emperor mobolized armies of Ba and Shu (i.e., Sichuan) for a southern campaign, exterminated the tribal statelets of Laojin (i.e., today's Malong) and Mimo (today's Qujing) in eastern Yunnan Prov, and amassed forces onto Dian Kingdom and forced it into submission. In 109 BC, Dian Kingdom was conferred as a king, with a gold seal. (In Nov 1956, excavations of Shizhaishan Mountains tombs in Jinning produced a royal gold seal bearing Han Dynasty's conferred title of 'Seal Of King Dian' in addition to bronze musical instruments and swords with gold sheath.) Yizhou Commandary, with governor office at today's Jinning of Yunnan, was set up to control the domain. In western Yunnan, Buwei County, i.e., today's Baoshan, was setup, and in the south, Laiwei County (today's Laizhou Prov of Vietnam) was set up.

In southwestern China, local resistance to sinicization was occasionally successful. In Latter Han Dynasty, Han would have to re-assert its influence that was lost due to the intermittent dynastic substitution by Xin Dynasty. In 36 AD, one group of Li-ren barbarians, who were said to be affilaited with Lao-ren barbarian, sought suzerainty with Chinese court. However, in AD 40, Vietnamese women, i.e., Zheng (or Trung) sisters, rebelled with support from Li-ren barbarians from Jiuzhen, Rinan and Hepu. The non-Chinese people of Wuling commandery, especially the people in Wuqi ["Five Gorges"], on the upper reaches of the Yuan River, by the present-day Hunan-Guizhou border, defeated local Han army in 48 AD. General Ma Yuan would mount a full campaign in the south. General Ma Yuan erected bronze monuments in eulogy of his victories. He erected a kind of gate on the West River. Ma Yuan went further southward and he also set up some bronze monuments in Champa, today's central to southern Vietnam. "New History Of Tang Dynasty" recorded that there were ten households in the name of Ma dwelling in Champa area, and those people refused to return to China with General Ma. 500 years later, by Sui Dynasty, the ten families had multiplied into 300 households.

Wuling commandery had a major rebellion in the early 160s AD. In AD 178, Wuhu [Wuqi?] barbarians in Jiaozhi [northern Vietnam] and Hepu [Guangdong-Guangxi border], i.e., the land of Xi-ou and Luo-yue, rebelled. The Wuhu [Wuqi] barbarians, with a recorded cannibalism habit of eating first-born sons, continued rebellions during the Three Kingdoms period. During Three Kingdoms time period, Zhuge Liang, prime minister of Shu State, had once campaigned against southern barbarians led by someone called Meng Huo. Legends said that Zhuge Liang captured Meng Huo seven times and set him free for sake of captivating the hearts of southern barbarians.


The 'MAN' Barbarians

In the Prehistory section, we mentioned the terminology of 'Nan Man', namely, southern barbarians. The 'Man' designation is categorical. Chinese classics said the 'Man' barbarians were the descendants of Pan Hu. The Quanrong or Doggy Rong in northwestern China, i.e., ancestors of later Huns, were said to be descendants of Pan-hu, too.

The 'Man' people were not a group of passive people as they seemed. They had rebelled against the Chinese numerous times. They also expanded into Chinese territories frequently. In the valley of the Xiangjiang River, there was a major rebellion in AD 157, and rebellion was seen in the northern part of Changsha, Hunan Province. Disturbances were seen in Xiangjiang River basin and extended across the Nan Ling Mountains to the south. Rebellions were quelled in AD 164.

By the time of the Three Kingdoms, the 'Man' had migrated out of southwestern China and the Three Gorges areas. According to "History of The North Dynasties", the 'Man' people were scattered between the Yangtze River and the Huai River. They were seen as east as Shouchun of Anhui Province, as west as Sichuan Province, and as north as Henan Province. They were not a threat during Ts'ao Ts'ao Wei Dynasty of the Three Kingdoms time period. But they began to multiply by the end of Jinn Dynasty. As a result of devastation dealt by Hunnic Han & Zhao Dynasties, the central areas of China became vacant. Hence, the 'Man' people began to migrate northward.

In AD 386, Toba set up Wei Dynasty and controlled the areas around the Yellow River. In AD 423, a 'Man' king called Mei An led a column of a thousand people on a pilgrimage to Toba Wei's capital. They requested for their prince to be a hostage with Toba Wei. This 'Man' prince, Mei Bao, was later conferred the title of governor of Jiangzhou Prefecture and the Duke of Shunyang. Another 'Man' king, Wenwulong, surrendered to the Tobas and was conferred the title of governor of Southern Yongzhou Prefecture and Marquis of Luyang. One more 'Man' king, called 'Taiyang Man' or the sun 'Man', by the name of Heng Dan, surrendered his 80,000 households to the Toba, and they were located in the ancient Mian-Shui River areas (in today's Shaanxi-Hubei Provinces). Heng Dan was conferred the title of governor of Eastern Jingzhou Prefecture and King of Xiangyang. Heng Dan, however, was the son of ex-Jin general Heng Xuan (who had at one time deposed the Eastern Jinn emperor in an abortive rebellion). Heng Dan, still a boy, fled to the barbarians for asylum after Heng Xuan's failure in rebellion against Eastern Jinn Dynasty.

The 'Man' people were kind of sanwiched between Toba Wei and the southern dynasties of the Chinese. They rebelled against Toba Wei, and some fled to southern dynasties for protection. One group was relocated to Yangzhou Prefecture under Southern Liang Dynasty (AD 502-557). Li-ren barbarians, who supported Trung sisters in 1st century, were recorded to be active in Cangwu-Yuelin-Hepu-Ningpu-Gaoliang, and have rebelled against Yuelin [Guilin] and killed Xun Xiang the magistrate of Southern Liang Dynasty in AD 502.

When Toba Wei underwent Hunnic rebellions in the north, the 'Man' people around the Three Gorges and today's Hubei Province rebelled as well. In AD 566, Northern Zhou (AD 551-587) armies, under Lu Teng and Sima Yi, dealt the Three Gorges 'Man' a devastating defeat, and tens of thousands of skulls were piled up as a warning to the 'Man' people. "History of The North Dynasties" said that in AD 572, the 'Man' people stopped rebellion.



there are so much info, I already feel this is over posting their stuff. But if yall interested in history and prehistory stuff. This site is full of info.

www.uglychinese.org