My blog

For my second module, I decided to delve into an earlier time period and examine the Bai Yue people, specifically those residing in the southern Yue area (also known as Nan Yue). The information in this module is mainly pulled from Ancient China and the Yue by Erica Brindley, in which she examines the Yue and their relationship to the ancient Chinese nation and people. Brindley found that the term Bai Yue was mainly used by Chinese people to refer to the “dispersed and variegated groups thought somehow to be related to the peoples and cultures of the erstwhile state of Yue.” The location of these groups probably overlapped with the areas that the dispersed Yue ruling class settled, although later texts place it even further to the south and southwest.[1] It seems to have become shorthand for a much larger area than where the Yue fled, and eventually evolved into shorthand for most of modern-day southern China, including northern Vietnam (94-95).

The Bai Yue area seemed to be of special interest to various emperors throughout the years and the region was under attack/under the control of China quite regularly. Qin Shi Huang (the first Qin emperor) was one of the earliest attackers of the region, using troops to surround Bai Yue and building the Lingqu canal to transport them into the area. In 214 BC, the Qin led a massive campaign against the Western Ou area, which resulted in the colonization and defeat of the Lingnan area. However, the southern Yue area lasted during this period and held until the Han conquered the kingdom much later on.[2]
After the fall of the Qin empire, Zhao Tuo, a Qin general, conquered the lands of the southern Yue and established his own kingdom there, where he went on to rule successfully for quite some time. However, his relationship with the Han was often volatile. For example, the Empress Lu blocked off trade routes to the southern Yue and sent troops to attack the area due to a misunderstanding in her court.[3] Although lines of communication were reopened before any invasion actually occurred, this incident created distrust in Zhao Tuo. The next emperor, Emperor Wendi, took a much more conciliatory tone towards Zhao Tuo, although still demanding customary submission to the Han by the southern Yue. Apart from this submission, though, Zhao Tuo was essentially the emperor of the southern Yue, as he acted and was treated as such.[4]

After the death of Zhao Tuo in 137 BC and the accession of his grandson, Zhao Hu, to the throne (although the significance of this position remained unacknowledged by the Han), a neighboring nation attempted to attack the southern Yue and conquer the area. However, aid was sent by Han Emperor Wudi, signifying the close relationship between the southern Yue and the Han.[5] This Han-southern Yue relationship allowed Zhao Hu to keep his position as the Nan Yue ‘Emperor’, although Wudi gave him the title of “Civilizing King” and referred to him as a king rather than acknowledging him as an emperor or a royal of equal status.[6] The southern Yue continued in relative peace until the accession of Zhao Hu’s grandson, Zhao Xing in 113 BC. Zhao Xing’s young age allowed Prime Minister Lu Jia to essentially take control of the court and shape the kingdom to his whims. While the Dowager Queen wanted to submit to the Han as was customary, Lu Jia was opposed and rebelled, attempted a coup, killed the king and his mother, and established Zhao Xing’s stepbrother, Zhao Yingqi, as the new king. This incident, coupled with Lu Jia’s aggressive actions towards Han troops in the area, prompted the Han to declare war on the southern Yue in 111 BC. The Han defeated Lu Jia and the southern Yue area was colonized by the Han.[7]

After researching this information, it is once again striking to me how strong the Vietnamese identity is in this time period. Although Brindley did not focus much on the cultural differences between the southern Yue and the Han, it was still interesting to see the distinctness of the southern Yue and the Han in a political way. Even though the Han had control over the southern Yue area and its residents were forced to pay tribute to them, Zhao Tuo and his kingdom still remained strong and autonomous from the Han. This would be echoed decades later in a more culturally obvious way during the Han-Viet period in an even more significant way, since the Han-Viet people were not even native to the region, yet still adopted Viet lifestyles and traditions. The strength and longevity of Viet tradition and culture are truly amazing to see, especially after so many years of attempted suppression by various different invading nations.

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[1] Brindley, Erica. Ancient China and the Yue: Perceptions and Identities on the Southern Frontier, c.400 BCE – 50 CE. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2018, 92.

[2] Ibid., 95

[3] Ibid., 97

[4] Ibid., 98.

[5] Ibid., 99.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid., 100.

Bibliography

Brindley, Erica. Ancient China and the Yue: Perceptions and Identities on the Southern Frontier, c.400 BCE – 50 CE. First paperback edition. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Having done research on two distinct points in Vietnamese/Chinese history and drawn conclusions from both periods, this final module will be dedicated to finding commonalities and differences between the two, as well as my final remarks. I will start by summarizing my findings and then move into my analysis, which should provide the backbone of this module.

In module 1, I examined the emergence of the Han-Viet people in Nam Viet when Ma Yuan first entered the area in 43 A.D. The Han Viet people, despite originally being from Han China and living in a Han-controlled region, were able to develop and cling onto their own separate identity heavily influenced by the surrounding Vietnamese culture. Even the Lac lords of the area (lead by Shi Xie), despite being more intentionally Han in their traditions and educations than the average Han-Viet individual, still mainly held to many Vietnamese cultural practices and customs. This cultural independence was also present in my module 2 research, where I focused on the earlier Southern Yue kingdom led by the former Qin general Zhao Tuo. While the people of the Southern Yue were not immigrants to the area like the Han-Viet people were, the presence of the Han so close by made it rather surprising that the Southern Yue continued to have the amount of independence that it did. From 206 to 111 B.C., the kingdom of the Southern Yue was able to continue as a semi-autonomous vassal state with its own ’emperors’ and courts.

As illustrated, within both of these modules I found a strong throughline of Viet cultural independence and separation from the dominant Han culture. This was rather surprising to me, as the original point of my research was to find cultural exchanges and mixings between ancient Vietnam and ancient China. While I am certain that this occurred throughout history (and did even come up a bit in my findings), the two time periods I focused on seemed to create an image of a culturally autonomous Nam-Viet/Southern Yue rather than one that borrowed and exchanged with the Han as frequently as I thought.

However, upon further consideration, this finding does align with Vietnamese culture and identity as a whole. While I have not done extensive research into this area, it seems that Vietnam has had a long history of retaining its own distinct customs, traditions, and general way of life when faced with invading or colonizing forces. Therefore, it should not have been overly surprising to me that Han influence in the area was (relative to other regions) rather minimal during the historical periods that my research examined.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed researching the relationship between the Han and Yue people. While my research and its findings did not end up going in the direction I thought it would, I am still pleased with my findings and hope to revisit and expand upon them someday. I believe it would be interesting to examine Vietnam under the French occupation and perhaps draw parallels between the Vietnamese cultural response to the Han vs. the French. It would also be of interest to me to look at if/how Vietnamese culture made its way into Chinese spaces instead of the other way around. These two subjects could be the basis for interesting work in the future.

In terms of where my project (which explores the relationship between China and Vietnam during the Han dynasty) is thus far, I believe things are going fairly well. I am planning that this project will be a semester-long work, so I am still in the early stages of my research and project development. However, I have been able to locate a fair amount of sources that should be quite helpful for my work (which I will link to at the bottom of this page). While at first, it was a bit difficult to locate sources for this project since so many covered much later time periods, after a bit of searching and help from Jess and Kelly I was able to gather some books and articles that seem useful for my work.

In terms of what my project will be, I have moved away from the ideas that I listed in my previous project-related blog post. Instead, I will be doing some writing, but the main part of my project will be a timeline using the Knightlab tools that Tim showcased for us in class. I plan on creating a timeline to illustrate the main section of my research and use my writing to provide contextual information. Hopefully, I will be able to start working on my timeline once I have finished my research.

Possible Sources

Nguyen, Hoai Nhan. The Occupation of Viet-Nam by China (100 BC-900 AC): Chinese Civilization, the Fortuitous Affirmations. Collection “Cher Ami, Ne Te Degonfle Pas.” Sarthe, France: Edition “Tel qui rit vendredi, demanche pleurera,” 1977.

Backus, Charles. The Nan-Chao Kingdom and Tʻang China’s Southwestern Frontier. Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature, and Institutions. Cambridge Cambridgeshire ; Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Taylor, Keith Weller. “The Birth of Vietnam: Sino-Vietnamese Relations to the Tenth Century and the Origins of Vietnamese Nationhood.” University Microfilms, 1982.

Nguyên, Hoai Nhân. Chinese Civilization: Its Vietnamese Origin. Cher Ami, Ne Te Dégonfle Pas. Saint-Mars-d’Outille (72640): Tel qui rit vendredi, dimanche pleurera, 1979. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb351334689.

Brindley, Erica. Ancient China and the Yue: Perceptions and Identities on the Southern Frontier, c.400 BCE – 50 CE. First paperback edition. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2018.

I think the idea that struck me most in this week’s reading was how Di Cosmo emphasized the need to couch the Zhou worldview in its proper historical and cultural context. His example at the begining of the chapter regarding a statement that one of the ministers of the Zhou court (Fu Ch’en) made regarding the Ti people espically struck me, since without the culutral and historical context that Di Cosmo provides, I would have just viewed it as an ‘us-vs-them’ mentality that was being espoused. This example, paired with a quote from page 107 (“…such clashes were presented as the expression of a great chasm between civilization and barbarism. If we take this literally, this rhetorical veneer flattens and ultimately obscures an undoubtedly more complex picture. The Chou states dealt with their northern and western neighbors in a variety of ways…”), paints a picture of the Zhou worldview as being multi-layered and complex, even when seemingly straightforward terms such as ” civilization and barbarism” are being used. I found this to be especially fasinating due to my own misinterpratation of these terms prior to reading this chapter. When we talked in class about how the Zhou viewed groups as being (generally) worse the farther away they were from the ‘center’ of civilization, I assumed their dealings with outsiders must have been few in number and violent in nature. However, from the offset of the chapter, Di Cosmo refutes this mentality (with one example being his explanation of there being “two notions of geographic space” that were explored in ancient Chinese work) and retells interesting primary-source events along the way. Thus, after this reading, I feel like my view of the Zhou worldview has become more well-rounded, critical, and concerned with learning the proper historical and cultural context for words and events.

After conducting a bit more research into my chosen topic (China’s 1,000-year occupation of Vietnam, specifically the cultural relations in that period), I believe I have a somewhat clearer picture of the context of my topic and some possible routes of research that I could take. The first resource that I found to be helpful was the Encyclopedia Britannica. As Dr. D. mentioned, this resource can be a bit sluggish with updating, so it can be better to use Wikipedia in general. In this case, however, Wikipedia actually had a bit too much information for me that I had some trouble understanding, whereas the section of the Britannica entry that I focused on (“Vietnam under Chinese rule”) turned out to be an excellent primer for a complete newbie like me. Another resource that ended up providing a great overview of my topic was a section in the book “China and Vietnam: The politics of asymmetry,” which I found using Trexler Library’s database. Although this overview ended up being much briefer, I am hoping that the book will be a good starting point for me down the road, since later chapters provide a more detailed look into the history between the two nations. Aside from these introductory sources, I have been able to locate a few more books through the Trexler site, although I’m hoping to locate a few sources in the coming week.

In addition to finding sources, I have also been thinking over how I would like to convey and present my research by the end of the course. As of now, I am aiming for a more scholarly format than a creative one. While I would normally write a research paper, since that is what I am most comfortable with, I am hoping to push myself out of my comfort zone a bit. After looking over the linked resource that suggested alternatives to research papers, I am most drawn to writing an encyclopedia entry or a literature review or examing the current scholarly discussions taking place in this area, since Dr. D. mentioned that there was a fair amount of research on this topic.

My topic of interest for my research is (as of now) the relationship between China and Vietnam, specifically cultural exchanges that took place between the two nations during the Han dynasty’s 1,000-year occupation of the country. My interest in this topic was first sparked by a conversation I had with a friend, who mentioned that one way of saying teacher in Vietnamese (I believe she was referring to giáo sư) was similar to the Chinese word for teacher (老师 lǎo shī). When I asked why this was, she explained that China had actually inhabited Vietnam for a very long period of time, which resulted in quite a bit of cultural exchange and blending taking place.

This surprised and intrigued me quite a bit, since I had never known that Vietnam had been occupied for such a long time. I wanted to learn more about the history of it, but because none of the classes I was enrolled in at the time were about Chinese or Vietnamese history, I did not have the time to explore it any further. Thus, when I began to think about research topics for this course, I immediately remembered my interest in China-Vietnam relations and thought that it could be a good research project to undertake. Although I do not have any prior experience with or knowledge of this topic, I am excited to delve into it and learn more in the coming weeks.

One part of the reading this week that immediately caught my attention was Mao’s apparent concern with the issues of women in China. This piqued my interest because in my senior year of high school I wrote a research paper on the life of women in the U.S.S.R., with particular attention paid to women living in Soviet Russia. While doing my primary research for this project, I found out how invested Vladimir Lenin was in the rights of women living in Russia. He championed their right to work outside the home and created systems of public childcare so that they could have a family and do the work they loved. Although his plan did not work out, as it ended up creating an unbearable double shift for these mothers, Lenin’s attention to women’s rights remained me of the same attitudes that seem to be present in Mao.

Reading the information available in chapter 2 of the book The Gender of Memory: Rural Women and China’s Collective Past helped to place Mao’s concerns about women’s rights at the time in context. From what I read, women were treated absolutely terribly in China during this time. The book described their situation as being “feudal”, as there were various rules in place meant to keep women in line. From a young age girls were taught their place in society via foot binding, a practice whose only purpose was to show that a man could ‘afford’ a wife whose feet were essentially useless. Women were expected to marry quite young, serve their husband’s family, and stay quiet and content until their sons married and they could exercise some control over her. Thus, the vicious cycle started anew. In addition to all of this, women were often beaten by their husbands, both when their husbands were angry with them and when they became angry with their husbands. Either option would tend to result in some form of violence towards women. If all of this was not enough, women in China were thought of as being essentially nothing. According to the reading, if a person knocked on the door of a house and the only person inside was a woman, she would say “No one is home”. In my opinion, this perfectly illustrates just how insignificant women were in Chinese culture; if a man was not present in the home (or life) of a woman, then she did not exist.

Works Cited

Summary of Chapter 16

Hershatter, Gail. The Gender of Memory: Rural Women and China’s Collective Past. Asia Pacific Modern, 8. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011.