The origin of the Vietnamese people is uncertain. Their language closely resembles the Mon-Khmer tongues, but there are also similarities with Thai and the Malay languages. The Vietnamese themselves claim one of China's first kings as their ancestor, and in fact there was a tribe that called itself "Viet" (Yue in Chinese) on the banks of the Yangtze River (in China's Zhejiang province) in the first millennium B.C. The theory now accepted is that the Viets migrated to the south after the Chinese absorbed their first homeland, in 334 B.C. Some Viets settled in Fujian province; their kingdom, called Man Viet (Min Yue in Chinese), was conquered by China in 110 B.C. The rest of the Viets continued to the Red River delta, intermarried with the peoples already living there, and formed the ethnic Vietnamese of today.

The first Vietnamese state along the Red River, Van Lang ("Land of the Tattooed Men"), is probably a myth--Vietnamese legends claim it was founded in 2879 B.C.! At best Van Lang is a vague memory of the Dongson culture that existed in the region before the Viets arrived. The last Van Lang king was overthrown in 258 B.C. by an immigrant named An Duong Vuong (the chief of the Viets?), who renamed the state Au Loc. Au Loc was in turn conquered by a Chinese general named Zhao To in 208 B.C. But even while the Chinese took over, the masters of China, the Qin dynasty, were overthrown. Instead of submitting to a new emperor, Zhao took for himself a Viet name, Trieu Da, adopted Viet customs, and declared the area under his control--the Red River valley plus Guangdong and Guangxi provinces--an independent kingdom called Nam Viet (Nan Yue in Chinese). At this point true history replaces legends.

For nearly a century Trieu Da's successors used diplomatic and military duels to keep the Chinese out. Then in 111 B.C. Nam Viet was conquered by the Chinese emperor Wu Di. At first the Chinese ruled leniently, introducing many things the Vietnamese welcomed, like writing, roads, canals, improved agriculture, and iron tools/weapons. But the Viets refused to become Chinese; as a result, from the first century A.D. onwards the Chinese attempted a program of total Sinicization. Thousands of Chinese administrators, soldiers and scholars came in, filling the government jobs previously held by Vietnamese. Confucianism, Daoism, and the Chinese language were taught; Chinese customs and fashions became mandatory. Despite all this only the educated elite were affected much, and even they preferred to speak only Vietnamese at home.

The first major rebellion against Chinese rule (39-42 A.D.) was led by Trung Trac, the wife of a noble executed by the Chinese, and her sister Trung Nhi. They gathered the tribal chiefs with their armed followers, attacked and destroyed the Chinese strongholds, and proclaimed themselves queens of an independent Vietnam. The Chinese returned, however, with a new army, re-imposed their rule, and tried harder than ever to assimilate the natives. Another woman, Trieu Au, led a second uprising in 248, but it was crushed in six months; like the Trung sisters, she drowned herself to avoid capture by the Chinese. Three more revolts took place in the sixth century, and the Chinese won every time. After the first uprising the Chinese general, Ma Yuan, erected two bronze pillars on the southern border of Vietnam, marking where the Chinese thought the civilized world came to an end. Beyond those pillars lived only demons, ghosts, subhuman savages--and the Chams.

*Posted by Berosus on Jan. 22, 2001