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Nanyue, Nam Việt, or Nam Yuet (, Quốc ngữ: Nam Việt) was an ancient kingdom that consisted of the modern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and much of modern northern Vietnam. It was established by the Chinese general Zhao Tuo (Chinese: 趙佗; Vietnamese: Triệu Đà) of the Qin dynasty who assimilated the customs of the Yue peoples and Central China in his territory. Its capital was near Panyu (番禺) in modern-day Guangzhou (Canton).
History
The history of Nan Yuet was written in Records of the Grand Historian by Han historian Sima Qian, between 109 BC to 91 BC.
After the first emperor Qin Shi Huang united China by conquering all six kingdoms in 219 BC, he ordered his generals to conquer the regions of present-day Guangdong and Guangxi. The conquest was completed in 214 BC. A new administrative unit, Nanhai Commandery (南海郡) was formed to rule the area corresponding approximately to present-day Guangdong. Zhao Tuo was appointed to manage a Long Chuan (龍川), a strategic place in the military. He asked Qin Shi Huang to send 500 thousand people from Central China to Nanhai to assimilate the culture of Central China and Yuet.
Establishment
After the death of Qin Shi Huang, a wave of anti-Qin riots swept across central China and the Qin Dynasty soon capitulated. In 208 BC, the head of Nanhai commandary, Ren Xiao (任囂), appointed Zhao Tuo to succeed his position and suggested that Zhao establish a country in the south and take advantage the mountainous boundary with northern China. Zhao soon reinforced the defenses in the mountain passes north and replaced the Qin officials with his own followers. In 203 BC, he conquered another two commanderies (郡), Guilin commandery (桂林郡, approximately Guangxi) and Xiang commandery (象郡, approximately Yunnan, north and central Vietnam), at the south of the mountain. The new kingdom of Nanyue was born, with Panyu as the capital; Zhao Tuo declared himself Wu Wang (武王, lit. martial king) of Nanyue.Liu Bang, after years of war with his rivals, established theHan dynasty and reunified Central China in 202 BC. Liu and his successors adapted a policy of peace for letting his empire to have time to regenerate. In 211 BC, the emperor Liu sent Luk Ka (陸賈) to Nanyue to appoint Zhao Tuo as the King of Nanyue. Trade relations were established at the border between Nanyue and the Han kingdom of Changsha. Although formally a Han subject state, Nanyue retained a large measure of effective autonomy.
After the death of Liu Bang in 195 BC, the government was in hand of his wife, the Empress of Lui (呂后). The king of Changsha asked Lui to block the trade between two kingdom and prepared to conquer the kingdom of Nanyue. Zhao Tuo was angry and felt alienated. In revenge, he then declared himself the emperor of Nanyue and attacked the kingdom of Changsha and returned. Lui sent general Chou (灶) to punish the Zhao Tuo. The hot and humid weather made soldiers fall ill and the army unable to go south of the mountain. The army withdrew. With the military success, Zhao Tuo bribed the surrounding kingdoms of Minyue (閩越) in the east and Yan Lok (甌雒) in the west to become her subject kingdoms. The empress thus killed Zhao's clan in Han and damaged his ancestors' tomb.
In 179 BC, Liu Heng ascended the Emperor of Han. He reversed the policy of the empress. He ordered officials to visit the family town Tsang Ting (真定), garrison the town and made offering to his ancestors regularly. His prime minister Chan Ping (陳平) suggested to send Luk Ka to Nanyue as they were familiar with each other. Zhao Tuo felt surprised on Luk's arrival. He then withdrew his title of emperor and nanyue became Han's subject state.
Chiu Wu
In 137 BC, Zhao Tuo died. His son Chiu Wu (趙胡) succeeded the king of Nanyue. Ying Hing (郢興), the king of Minyue, attacked Nanyue. Wu asked the Emperor Liu Che to send troops to halt the attack of Minyue. The emperor sent two generals to Minyue. Before Han's advancing to Minyue, Ying Hing's younger brother Yue Sin (餘善) killed Ying Hing and surrendered.The emperor Liu Che sent Chong Cho (莊助) to Nanyue. Wu thanked the Emperor and sent his son Chiu Ying Chai (趙嬰齊) to the capital of Han, Chang'an. He also wanted to go Chang'an but was stopped by his minister for fear that he could not return and it would be the end of the kingdom. He thus pretended to be sick and stayed in Nanyue. He really fell sick later for over 10 years and died. He got his posthumous name Man Tai (文帝).
Chiu Ying Chai
Chiu Ying Chai returned to Nanyue and succeeded the king. He married a woman of family Kau (樛) from Handan and born a son Chiu Hing (趙興) when he was in Chang'an. He asked the Emperor to appoint Kau as his Queen and Chiu Hing his prince consort. He sent his second son to Chang'an. Chiu died with posthumous name Ming Wong (明王).Chiu Hing
Chiu Hing succeeded Chiu Ying Chai as king. As the king was young, the King Mother Kau took control of the kingdom. In 113 BC, the Emperor sent An Kwok Siu Kwai (安國少季) to Nanyue ask the king and King mother to visit the Emperor. Siu Kwai was in fact Kau's lover when she was in Chang'an. They got in love again that made the subjects mistrusted the king mother. To secure their positions, the king mother and the king wanted Nanyue to be a kingdom within Han Empire. The king, the king mother, Siu Kwai tried to persuade Lui Ka (呂嘉) and other ministers to follow. Lui Ka stood and left. The king mother tried to kill him but stopped by the king.Lui Ka refused to meet the king and planned to revolt. As he knew the king with no intention to kill him, the plan was not carried out for months.
Chiu Kin Tak
The minister Lui Ka revolted and killed the king and the king's mother. He named Chiu Kin Tak (趙建德), the eldest son of Chiu Ying Chai, to be the king of Nanyue. In autumn 112 BC the emperor sent a navy of a hundred thousand strong to attack Nanyue. In winter 111 BC the capital Pun Yue fell and many surrendered. Lui Ka and Chiu Kin Tak escaped on the sea but was captured soon. Nanyue was official incorporated into Han.Kings
- Zhao Tuo (趙佗; Chiu To) (武帝; Mo Tai)
- (趙胡; Chiu Wu) (文帝; Man Tai)
- (趙嬰齊; Chiu Ying Chai) (明王; Ming Wong)
- (趙興; Chiu Hing)
- (趙建徳; Chiu Kin Tak)
Controversy
Among the Vietnamese, the Triệu Dynasty was a controversial one. Many consider it a period of Chinese domination since it was ruled by a Chinese general, while others consider it a period of independence because they believed that he adopted Yue customs and often ruled in defiance of the Han emperor.
Archaeological findings
In June of 1983, The tomb of Chiu Wu (Man Tai) was found in Guangzhou. Thousands of artifacts were found including bronze ritual utensils, musical instruments, weapons, farming utensils, lacquer, silk, and jewelery of jade, gold, silver and ivory. Others were also found buried with the king. In addition, the gold seal of Man Tai was unearthed.
Guangdong and Vietnam
Nam (南) means in the south and Yuet (越) means Yuet people and the place of Yuet people. Nam Yuet (南越) is a southern country in the place of Yuet people.
南 (nán, nam) means "south", and 越 (yuè, yuet, việt) is a variant of 粤 (yuè, yuet), the Chinese term that covers the languages and ethnicities of the southern Chinese province of Guangdong and surrounding areas.
After the Han Chinese controlled the Nanyue area for nearly 1000 years, people in northern Vietnam were partly sinicized while the areas of present-day Guangdong and Guangxi were largely sinicized.
The people in northern Vietnam broke away from Han China in 938 A.D. after their victory on the Bach Dang river. They formed their own kingdom and called it Dai Viet (The Great Yue State). This kingdom grew stronger; it expanded south and conquered the Champa kingdom (in central Vietnam) and most of the Khmer empire (in southern Vietnam), forcing the Khmer to migrate. In 1800s, Nguyen Anh, a Viet (Yuet, Yue) king, wanted to change his kingdom's name from Dai Viet to Nam Viet. But some people were afraid that it may be confused with the Nam Viet (NamYuet, NanYue) kingdom of Trieu Da (Zhao Tuo), so he reversed the word Nam Viet (NanYue) and made it Viet Nam (YueNan). The Kinh (Jing) people of the hundred tribes of Yue form the majority of the modern-day ethnic group of Vietnam.
Most of people in Guangdong and Guangxi areas were assimilated and became Han Chinese.
See also
External links
Former countries in Chinese history | Guangdong | Guangxi | History of Vietnam | Yunnan
Nan-Yue | Dynastie des Yue du Sud | 南越国 | Nhà Triệu | 南越国
"Nanyue"