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In Search of the Origin of the Vietnamese People: Part 2 (Đi tìm nguồn gốc dân tộc Việt)

j050807 Culture, Histoire, Lịch sử, Văn Hóa, Vietnam février 6, 2018octobre 7, 2025culture, traditions, Vietnam

Đi tìm nguồn gốc dân tộc Việt (Phần 2)

In search of the Origin of the Vietnamese people

This remark has been confirmed by what was discovered in the tombs at the Guigi site of Jiangxi: The weapons found bore a symbolic characteristic because they were all made of wood. They did not have an important place in people’s life or after-live. This led to the conclusion that contrary to the society of the folks from the North, that of the Yue was rather more peaceful. That is why they were not able to resist better every time there was an encroachment by the neighbors from the North, the Yi did not stop at nibbling away their territory and pushing them a little farther south at each confrontation. The Yi themselves by their art of making bows and arrows. They were formidable warriors talented in arching and horse riding. Hardened by the roughness of nature, they were used to wrestling with wild animals and other tribes. That gave them at the start a gene of a conqueror and a fighter in their blood.

It was not the case of the folks from the South, the Bai Yue. The wise Confucius had the occasion to compare the forces that the folks from the North and from the South possessed respectively: Courage and power ( Dũng ) for the former and kindness and generosity ( Nhân từ ) for the latter. Again, the word Yi 夷 for origin the picture of a man 人 holding a bow 弓 gives us a pretty good idea on the particularity of the folks from the North. Under the direction of , Houang Di ( Hoàng Ðế ) they have succeeded in pushing back the first tribes of Bai Yue in the territory delimited by the yellow river Huang He and the YangTse river led by Chiyou ( Xi Vưu ) ( or Ðế Lai in Vietnamese ) in alliance with king Lôc Tục ( ou Kinh Dương Vương ) who reigned south of the blue River on a vast country of Xích Qủi ( Country of red demons ). According to a Chinese legend, this confrontation took place at Trác Lộc ( Zhuolu ) in the presently province of Hebei and has permitted the folks from the North to start progressively their expansion to the Blue River. The death of Chiyou marked the first victory of the folks from the North over the Bai Yue people some 3000 years B.C.

At the Shang period, none of the Chinese or Vietnamese historic documents talked about the relationship between the Bai Yue and the Shang besides the Vietnamese legend about « Phù Ðổng Thiên Vương » ( or the heavenly hero of Phù Ðổng village ) which reported a confrontation between the Shang and the Văn Lang kingdom of the Luo Yue. However it was noted that contact was established later between the Zhou dynasty and the king of the Luo Yue ( Hùng Vương ). A silver pheasant ( bach trĩ ) was offered by the latter to the king of Zhou according to the book Linh Nam Chích Quái. At the time of Spring and Autumn, a state of East Yue was known in the Mémoires Historiques by the historiographer of Han empire Si Ma Qian ( Tư Mã Thiên ) . It was the kingdom of the famous lord Gou Jian (Câu Tiễn). At the death of this one, his descendants did not succeed in maintaining hegemony. At the middle course of the Blue River, another kingdom, founded also by one of the Bai Yue tribes ( Bộc Lão ) and known as Chu ( Sở Quốc), took over at the time of Fighting Kingdoms and became one of the seven rival principalities ( Han, Zhao, Wei, Yan, Qi, Qin and Chu ).(Hàn, Triệu, Ngụy, Yên, Tề, Tần và Sỡ).

Terracotta warrior of Qin Shi Huang Di

Before being defeated by the army of Qin, the Chu kingdom has indirectly brought its undeniable contribution in favor of the future formation and unity of the Chinese nation by eliminating in 332 the state of East Yue of Goujian and starting to give a new impulsion to the development of a large state with the reforms of Wu Qi (Ngô Khởi).

The Tong Yue (or the Yue of Gou Jian) began to take refuge in the southern territory of Bai Yue after the annexation of their land by the Chu kingdom. According to Léonnard Aurousseau, after their defeat, the Yue of Gou Jian (or Tong Yue ) found asylum in large number in the following regions: Foujian (Phúc Kiến ), Guangdon ( Quảng Ðông ), Guangxi ( Quảng Tây ) and Jiaozhi ( Giao Chỉ ) and thus became the Man Yue ( Foujian ), Nan Yue (Jiangsu, Jiangxi) and Luo Yue (Quangxi, Jiaozhi). All were « sinisized » as centuries went by except the Luo Yue who were the legitime descendants of the Yue belonging to the Ngeou branch and were known often as Tây Âu (Xi Ngeou).

« There was no doubts on the origin of the Luo Yue », wrote the French scholar Leonard Aurousseau in his work « Notes sur les origines du peuple annamite ( Ghi chép nguồn gốc dân tộc An Nam ) » ( BEFEO, T XXIII, 1923, p.254 ). The other Yue peoples, particularly those living in the Chu kingdom were fast to follow them at the unification of China by Qin Shi Huang Di. This one did not hesitate to banish whoever dare resist his policy of assimilation, particularly the Yue and the Miao to forced labor on the construction of the Great Wall, to burn not only all the works of learned confucianists but also those of other unsubdued people and to maintain his policy of aggression against the Bai Yue as far as Ling Nan ( Linh Nam ). The conquest of the Xi Ou and Luo Yue (Tay Au) territory of Thục An Dương Vương that marked the second confrontation between the Chinese and the Bai Yue, was achieved in 207 with the nomination of two famous governors to the conquered territory: Nhâm Hiếu (Jen Hiao) and his assistant Triệu Ðà (Zhao Tuo).

In spite of the policy of terror and pacification, the Yue continued to run their resistance heroically. They hid in the bush and lived with the animals. No one agreed to become slave of the Chinese. The Yue picked their chiefs among their men of value. Then they attacked the Chinese at night and inflicted them with a great defeat…, that was reported in the translation of Huainan zi (Hoài nam tử) of L. Aurousseau, B.E.F.E.O. XXIII, 1923, p. 176.

At the death of Nhâm Hiếu, taking advantage of consecutive troubles following the fall of the Qin empire in 207, Triệu Ðà. ( Zhao Tuo ) became allied with other Yue to declare independence fo the Nan Yue kingdom for which he took control of Guilin and Xiang then in 184 B.C., he attacked the Chang Sha region ( Hunan ( Hồ Nam )) . This kingdom was short-lived and fell back in the hands of the folks from the North, the Han in 111 B.C. despite the heroic resistance of Prime Minister Lục Gia. This confrontation, the third one with the people of Bai Yue took away not only their land but also their cultural identity. The sinization began its full steam on the conquered territory ( Foujian (Phuc Kien), Guizhou ( Qui Chau ), Guangdong ( Quảng Ðông ), Guangxi ( Quảng Tây ), Yunnan ( Vân Nam ), Tonkin ( Giao Chỉ ). Many revolts and insurrections broke out during this long period of Chinese domination. But the most dazzling revolt remained the one run heroically by the sisters Trưng Trắc, Trưng Nhị. On appeal of the sisters in 39 A.D., the Yue living in the South of China and a large part of Tonkin joined them. That helped them to stand up with the Han army until 43 A.D. But they were finally defeated by Ma Yuan ( Mã Viện ) a great Chinese marshal at the time. Ma Yuan ( Mã Viện ) assigned by the Han emperor, Guang Wu (Quang Võ) decided to destroy all bronze drums found on the land of the Luo Yue because he knew at the confrontation that those objects had the value as an emblem of power for them. According to what people said, to move back the frontier down to the Nam Quan border gate, he did not hesitate to erect a pillar several meters high made of bronze collected from the drums and bearing this sign:

Ðồng trụ triệt , Giao Chỉ diệt
Ðồng trụ ngã, Giao Chỉ bị diệt.
Bronze pillar falls, Giao Chi disappears

But that did not upset the will and ardor for independence of the Luo Yue ( the Viet ). They decided to consolidate the pillar by throwing a piece of earth around it when they went by, which progressively helped in building up a mound and made disappear the mythical pillar. To deal with any eventuality of revolt, there was also an order from empress Kao (Lữ Hậu) in 179 B.C. providing a ban on delivery of not only plowing and metal instruments but also horses, oxen and sheep to the Barbarians and the Yue. This has been reported by E. Gaspardone in his work titled » Matériaux pour servir à l’histoire de l’Annam » ( BEFEO, 1929 ). Because of this policy, it is not surprising to discover recently a large number of bronze drums burried in Vietnam and in neighboring areas ( Yunnan, Hunan ). The Ðồng Sơn civilization came to an end during the Chinese occupation.

Forced enlistment of the Yue into the army of the conquerors and the contacts they had with the Chinese as the years went by allowed them to know more about warfare technique (Sunzi (Tôn Tử) for example) and to improve their weapons in the struggle against the invaders in the years to come. On the other hand, the Chinese appropriated what belonged to the Yue during their long occupation. The Yue continued to be treated as barbarians despite their undeniable contribution to the radiance of Chinese culture. Those folks from the North could pretend from then on to be the legitimate holders of the Writing of Luo, the theory of Ying and Yang and the 5 elements, even though there exists a large number of incoherence in their mythical made up stories.

Reconstructed model found at the Banpo site

They modified the dragon, the preferred mythical animal of the Bai Yue, which had a start with an alligator’s head and a snake’s body, to fit their temperament of a warrior and their taste by giving it the wings and a horse’s trunk and definitely adopted it as their own symbolic animal even though they had the white tiger in their Turco – Mongol traditions. Their round form house whose model has been reconstructed and found at the Banpo site has been replaced by a spacious house with a roof largely « hollow-back » and overflowing in canopy, that of the Bai Yue. In the turmoil of history, there was no more room for the Bai Yue.

Except the Luo Yue, other peoples of Bai Yue continued to be « sinized » in a way that at the end of 10th century, on their land there were only two peoples face to face, a conquering people (the Han) and the rebellious people ( the Viet ) looking for independence. The states of Gou Yue, Nan Yue, Man Yue etc…thereafter took part in Southern China. Taking advantage of the breaking up of the Tang empire, the Luo Yue declared independence with Ngô Quyền. The Vietnamese nation began to see the day. One should not believe that everything went really smoothly and harmoniously. It cost such sacrifices in order for the folks from the North to accept the reality. That is how the history page of the Bai Yue was mixed up with that of the Luo Yue.

Have recent scientific discoveries radically changed the view about the Bai Yue and particularly their history? They have called into question he idea of cultural diffusionism originated from the North. More ancient vestiges than those at Hemudu have been discovered recently in the middle Blue river at Pentoushan ( Hunan ) . Could one continue to consider the Miao 苖, the Bai Yue as « barbarian » folks? Nevertheless the word Miao (or Miêu in Vietnamese) which is made of a ricefield picture ( Ðiền 田) added on its top the pictogram « Thảo » (cỏ) 艹( herb ) provides evidence how the Chinese depict in their language people knowing how to grow rice. Could we continue to maintain a traditional and obsolete version written by the conquerors to the detriment of the search for historic truth? It turns out indispensable to put the train back on the tracks knowing for sure that the Chinese civilization does not need made up stories because it deserved to appear for a long time among the great civilizations of humanity. It is the ancestors of the Luo Yue that taught the folks from the North the culture of rice and not the other way around as has been written in a large number of Chinese and Vietnamese historic documents. The time has come to give the homage to our ancestors, the Yue, who because of their peaceful nature were forced to be wiped off in front of the use of force in the turmoil of history.

Inheriting a glorious past, embroiled in successive fratricidal and colonial wars and mired in corruption, Luo Yue’s Vietnam needs to pull itself together because it does not deserve to be one of the poorest countries in the world. It is time for it to follow in the footsteps of its ancestors and do better than them.

In Search of the Origin of the Vietnamese People: Part 1 (Đi tìm nguồn gốc dân tộc Việt)

j050807 Culture, Histoire, Lịch sử, Traditions, Văn Hóa février 6, 2018octobre 7, 2025culture, Histoire, Vietnam

Version française

The discovery of the Hemudu site ( Zhejiang ) in 1973 was a great event for Chinese archaelologists because the site traced back to more than 5000 years the most ancient civilization of rice found on earth. Also found there were remnants of lacustrine wooden housing built on piles, the type of construction quite different from the earthen houses in Northern China. The people who lived there possessed traits characterized Mongoloid as well as Australo-Negroid. Because Zhejiang is part of the most beautiful provinces in Southern China for a long time, that famous civilization has been attributed to the Chinese people even though the cradle of their civilization was known to be narrowly tied to the basin of the Yellow River ( or Huang He ) ( Hoàng Hà ) where Anyang is its ancient heart. One cannot deny that their civilization has found all its quintessence in the neolithic cultures of Yang-Shao ( Henan Province ) ( 5000 years BC) and Longshan ( Shandong Province ) ( 2500 years BC ) respectively identified by the Swedish Johan G. Andersson in 1921 and the father of Chinese archaeology Li Ji a few years later. Thanks to phylogenetic works done by the American team led by professor J.Y.Chu of the University of Texas, which was published in the American Review of Sciences Academy under the title « Genetic Relationship of Population in China » (1), an accurate idea about the origin of the Chinese people began to emerge. Three points were raised from these works:

1) It is clear that genetic evidence does not support that Homo-sapiens in China has an independent origin. The ancestors of the populations presently living in the East of China came from South East Asia.
2) Thereafter, it is probably safe to conclude that « modern » folks native of Africa constitute largely the genetic capital found presently in East Asia.

In his conclusion, professor J.Y. Chu recognized that it is probable the ancestors of the populations speaking Altaic languages ( or the Han ) were issues of the population of South East Asia and the tribes coming from Central Asia and Europe.

That discovery did not call into question what has been proposed some few years before by anthropology professor Wilhelm G. Solheim II of the University of Hawaii in his book « A New Light in a Forgotten Past » (2). For this anthropologist, there is no doubts that the Hoa Binh culture (15,000 years B.C.) discovered in 1922 by the French archaeologist Madeleine Colani in a village near Hoà Bình province in Vietnam was the birth place of future evolution of Neolithic cultures of Yang Shao and Longshan found in Northern China. British physicist Stephen Oppenheimer has gone far beyond what was thought at that time by showing in logical and scientific processes that the cradle of civilization of humanity was in South-East Asia in his work « Eden in the East: the Drowned Continent of South-East Asia« .(4) He concluded basing on geological evidence found at the bottom of the East sea (Biển Đông) and carbon-14 dating methods on foodstuff (yam, taro, rice, cereals etc…) found in South-East Asia ( Non Sok Tha, Sakai ( Thailand ) , Phùng Nguyên, Ðồng Ðậu ( Vietnam ), Indonesia ), that a huge flood took place and forced the people in the region who, unlike what western archaeologists had described as folks living on fishing, hunting and gathering, were the first to know how to perfectly master rice growing and farming to migrate all over the place ( either southward in Oceania, or eastward in the Pacific, or westward in India, or northward in China ) for their survival. Those folks had become the seeds of great and brilliant civilizations found later in India, Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Mediterranean.

From those archaeological and scientific findings, one is led to pose questions on what has been reported and falsified by history in this region of the world and taught until then to the Vietnamese. Could one ignore any longer those scientific discoveries? Could one continue to believe any longer in Chinese writings ( Hậu Hán Thư for example ) where Chinese prefects such as Tích Quang ( Si Kouang ) and Nhâm Diên were imputed the care of teaching the ancestors of the Vietnamese how to dress and use the plow that they did not know at the first century of our era?. How could they not know rice growing, the legitimate descendants of king Shennong ( Thần Nông )(3), when one knows that the latter was a specialist in agrarian domain? No one dares to pick out this contradiction.

Shennong (Thần Nông)

One does not even raise questions on what the people from the North have given to this devine hero the nickname Yandi ( Viêm Ðế )( king of hot country of Bai Yue ). Is it about the way to refer to the king of the region of the South, because at the Zhou era, the Yue territory was known as Viêm Bang? Is it possible for nomad folks from the North whose origin is Turco-Mongol, the ancestors of the Han and of the Southern folks, the Yue to have the same ancestors? Is it the matter of a pure making up stories at the glory of the conquerors in order to justify their policy of assimilation?

All the traces of the other peoples, the « Barbarians » have been wiped off at the time of their passage. The conquest of the Chinese continent began at the borders of the loess and the Great Plain and hard to please for almost four millennia. That has been noted by the French scholar René Grousset in his work « History of China » when speaking of the expansion of a Chinese rude pioneer race of the Great Plain.

Facing their brilliant civilization, very few people including the Europeans when they first arrived in Asia dared to raise any doubts about what has been said in Chinese and Vietnamese annals and think of the existence of even another civilization that the dominators succeeded in monopolizing and erasing on the submissive land of the Bai Yue people. The name Indochina has already reflected a great deal this attitude because for a large number of folks, there are only two civilizations in the world worth mentioning in Asia: That of India and of China. It is also regrettable to note the same mistake made by some Vietnamese historians influenced by by the Chinese culture in their history works. By dint of being indoctrinated by the Northern folks’ policy of colonization, a certain number of Vietnamese continue to forget our origin and to think nowadays that we are issues of the Chinese who will not hesitate to set going their policy of assimilation and annexation in territories they have succeeded in conquering since the creation of their nation. The success of « Sinisation » of the Han was visible as the centuries went by at the time of contact with other « barbarian » peoples. The process would not be different from the one that marked their footsteps on the Mongolian « land of grass » in 19th century and in the Manchurian forest in 20th century.

One does not refute their brilliant civilization having an undeniable impact on the development of the Vietnamese culture during their long domination, but one cannot forget to recognize that the ancestors of the Vietnamese, the Luo Yue ( ou Lạc Việt ) have had their own culture, that of Bai Yue. The Vietnamese were the sole survivors of this people for not to be « sinised » in the turmoil of history. They were the legitimate heirs of the Bai Yue people and of their agricultural civilization. The bronze drums of Ðồng Sơn have witnessed their legitimacy because on these objects were found patterns of decoration recounting their agricultural and maritime activities of this brilliant era before the arrival of the Chinese on their territory ( Kiao Tche or Giao Chỉ in Vietnamese).

Now we know that the agricultural civilization of Hemudu has given birth to the culture of Bai Yue (or Bách Việt in Vietnamese). The term Bai Yue literary meaning One hundred Yue, has been used by the Chinese to call all the tribes thought to belong to one group, the Yue. According to Bình Nguyên Lộc, a Vietnamese writer, the tool frequently used by the Yue is the axe ( cái rìu in Vietnamese) found in several forms and made of different materials ( stone, iron or bronze ). For this reason that at the moment of contact with the nomad folks from the North of Turco-Mongol origin, the ancestors of the Han ( or Chinese ) called them by the name of « Yue », the folks who use the axe, which at that time looked like this :

and served as the model of representation in Chinese writing by the pictogram . This pictogram also appears in the word Yue to which is added the radical mễ (米) (or rice or gạo in Vietnamese ) to mean the folks who practice farming at the era of Confucius.

Nowadays, in the word Yue (越), besides the radical (走) pass or vượt in Vietnamese), the picture of the axe continues to be represented by the pictogram 戉 endlessly modified as time goes by. Perhaps the word Yue phonetically comes from the sound Yit used by the Muong tribe to call the axe. It is important to remember that the Muong tribe has the same origins as the Luo Yue ( ou Lạc Việt ) tribe whose the Vietnamese are issues. ( The famous Vietnamese kings Lê Ðại Hành , Lê Lợi being Muong people). Recently, archaeologist and researcher of CNRS Corinne Debaine-Francfort has talked about the use of the ceremonial axes by the Chinese in the sacrifice of humans or animals in her work titled « The Rediscovery of Ancient China » ( Editeur Gallimard, 1998 ). The sage Confucius had the opportunity to talk about the Bai Yue people in conversations with his disciples.

The Bai Yue people living south of the Yang Tse river ( Dương Tử Giang ) has a life style, a language, traditions, moral standards and a specific foodstuff… They devote themselves to rice growing, which makes them different from our people who grow millet and wheat. They drink water coming from a kind of plant plucked from the forest known as « tea ». They like dancing, working while singing and alternate their reply in the songs. They often disguise themselves in the dance with leaves and plants. We should not imitate them ( Xướng ca vô loại ).

Confucian influence is not unfamiliar to the bias that Vietnamese parents still hold today when their children devote themselves a bit too much to musical or theatrical activities. it is in this spirit that they are seen with a negative view. But it is also the attitude adopted by Chinese governors in forbidding the Vietnamese to manifest musical expressions in their ceremonies and festivities during their long domination.

Historian Si Ma Qian ( Tư Mã Thiên ) had the opportunity to talk about the Yue in his Memoires historiques ( Sử Ký Tư Mã Thiên ) when he recounts the life of the famous lord, Gou Jian ( Câu Tiễn ),prince of the Yue for his incommensurable patience facing the ennemy governor Fu Chai ( Phù Sai ), king of principality Wu ( Ngô ) at the war time of Srpings and Autumns. After his death, his kingdom was absorbed completely in 332 B.C. by the kingdom of Chu ( Sở Quốc ) which was in its turn annexed later by Qin Shi Huang Di during the unification of China. It is important to stress that the Hemudu site is located in the kingdom Yue of Gou Jian.( Zhejiang ).

As for the groups sharing the same culture of Bai Yue, one finds the Yang Yue, Nan Yue ( Nam Việt ), Lu Yue, Xi Ou, Ou Yue, Luo Yue ( Lạc Việt ), Gan Yue, Min Yue ( Mân Việt ), Yi Yue, Yue Shang etc. They lived north of the basin of the blue river, from Zhejiang ( Triết Giang ) to Jiaozhi ( Giao Chỉ ) ( the North of Vietnam today ). It is found in this area of distribution the current provinces of Southern China: Foujian ( Phúc Kiến ), Hunan ( Hồ Nam ), Guizhou ( Qúi Châu ), Guangdong ( Quảng Ðông ), Jiangxi, Guangxi ( Quảng Tây ) and Yunnan ( Vân Nam ).

The Bai yue were probably the heirs of the Hòa Bình culture. They were a people of skilled farmers: They grew rice on burned land and flooded fields and raised buffaloes and pigs. They lived also by hunting and fishing. They have the custom of tattooing their bodies to protect themselves from attacks of water dragons (con thuồng luồng). Relying on the support of Si Ma Qian’s Memoires Historiques the scholar Léonard Aurousseau evoked the Goujian (king of the East Yue) ancestors’ custom to paint their bodies with dragons or other aquatic beasts similar to the ones found on the South Yue.

They wore long hair in chignon held by a turban. According to some Vietnamese texts, they cut their hair short to facilitate their walk in the mountain forests. Their clothes were made of vegetal fibers. Their houses were elevated to avoid being attacked by wild animals. They used bronze drums as ritual objects in their ceremonies for invocation of rain or as an emblem of power in case there is the need to call warriors for combat. The Giao Chi possessed a sacred instrument: The bronze drum. In listening to the drum, they were so enthusiastic during the war… », that is what we found in the first volume of Hậu Hán Thư (Late Hán Book). Their warriors wore a simple loincloth and armed with long spears decorated with feathers. They were also bold navigators who, in their long pirogues traveled all over East sea (Biển Đông) and beyond in part of southern seas. In spite of their high technicity and perfect mastering of farming and rice growing, they were a very peaceful people. More reading (Part 2)

À la recherche de l’origine du peuple vietnamien: 2ème partie

j050807 Culture, Histoire, Lịch sử, Văn Hóa février 6, 2018octobre 17, 2025culture, Histoire, Vietnam

Đi tìm nguồn gốc dân tộc Việt (Phần 2)

English version

Vietnamese version

Cette constatation a été confirmée par ce qu’on avait découvert dans les tombes du site Guiqi de Jiangxi : Les armes trouvées ont porté un caractère symbolique car elles étaient tout en bois. Elles n’ont pas eu une place importante dans leur vie ou leur après -vie. On a été amené à conclure que contrairement à la société des gens du Nord, celle des Yue était plutôt pacifique. C’est pourquoi cela ne leur permit pas de résister mieux à chaque empiétement de leurs voisins du Nord , les Yi qui ne cessèrent pas de grignoter leur territoire et de les refouler un peu plus au sud à chaque confrontation. Les Yi se distinguaient par leur art de fabriquer des arcs et des flèches. Ils étaient des guerriers redoutables et doués pour le tir à l’arc et l’équitation. Endurcis par la rudesse de la nature, ils étaient habitués à lutter contre les animaux sauvages et les autres tribus. Cela leur permit d’avoir au départ dans leur sang le gène d’un conquérant et d’un lutteur.

Ce n’était pas le cas des gens du Sud , les Bai Yue. Le sage Confucius a eu l’occasion de comparer les forces que possédaient respectivement les gens du Nord et du Sud: le courage et la puissance ( Dũng ) pour les premiers et la bienveillance et la générosité ( Nhân từ ) pour les seconds. Déjà le caractère « Yi » 夷 qui était à l’origine le dessin d’un homme 人 portant un arc 弓 nous a donné une idée précise sur la particularité des gens du Nord. Ceux-ci, sous la direction de Houang Di (Hoàng Ðế) , ont réussi à refouler les premières tribus de Baiyue vivant dans le territoire délimité par le fleuve jaune Huang He et le fleuve bleu Yangtsé et dirigées par Chiyou (Xi Vưu) (ou Ðế Lai en vietnamien) en alliance avec le roi Lôc Tục (ou Kinh Dương Vương) régnant au sud du Fleuve Bleu sur le vaste pays des Xích Qủi (Pays des démons rouges). Selon la légende chinoise, cette confrontation a eu lieu à Trác Lộc ( Zhuolu ) dans l’actuelle province de Hebei et a permis aux gens du Nord d’entamer progressivement leur expansion jusqu’au fleuve Bleu. Le décès de Chiyou a marqué la première victoire des gens du Nord sur le peuple Bai Yue il y a eu à peu près 3000 ans avant J.C.

À l’époque des Shang, aucun document historique chinois ou vietnamien ne parla des relations entre les Bai Yue et les Shang à part la légende vietnamienne de « Phù Ðổng Thiên Vương » (ou le héros céleste du village Phù Ðổng) qui a rapporté une confrontation entre les Shang et le royaume de Văn Lang des Luo Yue. Par contre, on nota le contact établi plus tard entre la dynastie des Zhou et le roi des Luo Yue ( Hùng Vương ) . Un faisan argenté ( chim trĩ ) avait été offert même par ce dernier au roi des Zhou selon l’ouvrage Linh Nam Chích Quái. A l’époque des Printemps et Automnes, un état des Yue de l’Est se fit connaître dans les Mémoires Historiques de l’historiographe de l’empire des Han Si Ma Qian (Tư Mã Thiên) . C’était le royaume du seigneur illustre Gou Jian (Câu Tiễn). À la mort de celui-ci, ses descendants ne réussirent pas à maintenir l’hégémonie. Sur le moyen cours du fleuve Bleu, un autre royaume fondé aussi par l’une des tribus de Bai Yue ( Bộc Lão ) et connu sous le nom de Chu ( Sở Quốc ) prit la relève à l’époque des Royaumes Combattants et devint l’ une des sept principautés rivales (Han , Zhao, Wei, Yan, Qi , Qin et Chu). (Hàn, Triệu, Ngụy, Yên, Tề, Tần và Sở).

L’armée de terre cuite des Qin

Avant d’être vaincu par la force des armes de l’armée des Qin, le royaume de Chu a apporté indirectement sa contribution indéniable en faveur de la future formation et de l’unité de la nation chinoise en éliminant en 332 l’état des Yue de l’Est de Goujian et en commençant à donner une nouvelle impulsion au développement d’un grand état avec les réformes de Wu Qi (Ngô Khởi).

Les Tong Ngeou (ou les Yue de Gou Jian) commencèrent à se réfugier dans le sud du territoire des Bai Yue après l’annexion de leur territoire par le royaume de Chu. Selon Léonard Aurousseau, après leur défaite, les Tong Ngeou ou les ( les Yue de Gou Jian ) trouvaient asile en grande nombre dans les régions suivantes: Foujian (Phúc Kiến), Guangdong (Quảng Ðông), Guangxi (Quảng Tây) et Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ) et y devenaient ainsi les Mân Yue (Foujian) , les Nan Yue (Jiangsu, Jiangxi) et les Luo Yue (Guangxi , Jiaozhi). Tous ont été sinisés au fil des siècles sauf les Luo Yue. Ces derniers étaient les descendants légitimes des Tong Ngeou car ils appartenaient comme les Yue de l’Est à la branche Ngeou et ils étaient connus souvent sous le nom Tây Âu (les Xi Ngeou).

Il n’y avait plus de doute sur l’origine des Luo Yue » , c’est ce que l’érudit français Léonnard Aurousseau a écrit dans son ouvrage « Notes sur les origines du peuple annamite (Ghi chép nguồn gốc dân tộc An Nam) » ( BEFEO, T XXIII, 1923 , p 254 ). D’autres Yue, en particulier ceux vivant dans le royaume de Chu ne tardèrent pas à les suivre lors de l’unification de la Chine par Qin Shi Huang Di. Celui-ci n’hésita pas à bannir tous ceux qui avaient osé résister à sa politique d’assimilation, en particulier les Yue et les Miao aux travaux forcés dans la construction de la Muraille de Chine, à brûler non seulement tous les ouvrages des lettrés confucianistes mais aussi ceux des autres peuples insoumis et à maintenir sa politique d’agression contre les Bai Yue jusqu’au Ling Nan (Linh Nam). La conquête du territoire des Xi Ou et des Luo Yue (Tây Âu) de Thục An Dương Vương qui a marqué la deuxième confrontation des Chinois avec les Bai Yue, fut achevée en 207 avec la nomination des deux gouverneurs célèbres du territoire conquis: Nhâm Hiếu ( Jen Hiao ) et son adjoint Triệu Ðà. (Zhao Tuo).

A la mort de Nhâm Hiếu, profitant des troubles consécutifs à la chute de l’empire des Qin en 207, Triệu Ðà. (Zhao Tuo) s’allia avec d’autres Yue pour déclarer l’indépendance du royaume de Nan Yue pour lequel il conquit les anciennes commanderies de Guilin et Xiang puis il attaqua en 184 avant J.C. la région de Chang Sha (Hunan (Hồ Nam)). Ce royaume resta éphémère et retomba dans le giron des gens du Nord, les Han en 111 avant J.C. malgré la résistance héroïque du premier ministre Lục Gia. Cette confrontation, la troisième avec le peuple Bai Yue fit perdre à ce dernier non seulement son territoire mais aussi son identité culturelle. La sinisation commença à battre son plein sur le territoire conquis (Foujian (Phúc Kiến), Guizhou (Qúi Châu), Guangdong (Quảng Ðông), Guangxi (Quảng Tây) , Yunnan (Vân Nam), Tonkin (Giao Chỉ). Beaucoup de révoltes et d’insurrections ont éclaté durant cette longue période de domination chinoise. Mais la révolte la plus éclatante resta celle menée héroïquement par les deux sœurs Trưng Trắc, Trưng Nhị . A l’appel de ces dernières en 39 après J.C. , les Yue vivant dans le Sud de la Chine et dans la grande partie du Tonkin les joignirent. Cela leur permit de tenir tête à l’armée des Hán jusqu’en 43 après J.C. Mais elles furent battues finalement par un grand maréchal chinois de l’époque Ma Yuan (Mã Viện)(Phục Ba Tướng quân). Celui-ci, envoyé par l’empereur Guang Wu (Quang Vũ) des Han, décida de détruire tous les tambours en bronze trouvés sur le sol des Luo Yue car il sut reconnaître lors de la confrontation que ces objets ont eu la valeur d’un emblème de pouvoir pour ces derniers. Selon l’on-dit, pour reculer la frontière jusqu’au portail Nam Quan, il n’hésita pas à édifier un pilier haut de plusieurs mètres, fabriqué avec du bronze récupéré de ces tambours et portant l’écriteau suivant:

Ðồng trụ triệt , Giao Chỉ diệt
Ðồng trụ ngã, Giao Chỉ bị diệt.
Le Giao Chỉ disparaîtrait pour toujours avec la chute de ce pilier

Mais cela n’émoussa pas la volonté et l’ardeur indépendantiste des Luo Yue ( les Việt ). Ceux-ci décidèrent de le consolider en jetant, à chaque passage, un morceau de terre autour de cette colonne colossale, ce qui permit d’édifier progressivement un monticule faisant disparaître ainsi ce pilier mythique. Pour parer à toute éventualité de révolte, il y a eu même un édit de l’impératrice Kao (Lữ hậu) en 179 avant J.C. stipulant qu’il était interdit de livrer non seulement aux barbares et aux Yue des instruments aratoires et en métal mais aussi des chevaux, des bœufs et des moutons. Ce fait a été rapporté par E. Gaspardone dans son ouvrage intitulé « Matériaux pour servir à l’histoire de l’Annam » (BEFEO, 1929). A cause de cette politique, il n’est pas étonnant de découvrir récemment un grand nombre de tambours en bronze enterrés au Vietnam et dans les régions avoisinantes (Yunnan, Hunan ). La civilisation dongsonnienne prit fin durant l’occupation chinoise.

L’enrôlement forcé des Yue dans l’armée des conquérants et le contact qu’ils ont eu au fil des années avec les Chinois leur permit de connaître mieux les techniques de guerre (Sunzi (Tôn Tử) par exemple ) et de perfectionner leurs armes dans leur lutte contre les envahisseurs dans les années à venir. En revanche, les Chinois se sont appropriés tout ce qui leur appartenait durant leur longue occupation. Ces Yue continuaient à être traités comme des peuples barbares malgré leur contribution indéniable au rayonnement de la culture chinoise. Ces gens du Nord pouvaient prétendre être désormais les détenteurs légitimes de l’Ecrit de Luo , de la théorie de Yin -Yang et de 5 éléments (Âm Dương ngũ hành) bien qu’un grand nombre d’incohérences fussent trouvées dans leur affabulation mythique.

Modèle reconstitué et retrouvé sur le site du Banpo.

Ils remodelaient le dragon, l’animal aquatique mythique préféré des Bai Yue, qui avait au départ une tête d’alligator et un corps de serpent, à leur tempérament de guerrier et à leur goût en lui donnant des ailes et un tronc de cheval et l’adoptaient définitivement comme leur animal symbolique bien qu’ils eussent le tigre blanc dans leurs traditions turco-mongoles. Leur maison de forme ronde dont le modèle a été reconstitué et retrouvé sur le site du Banpo a été remplacée par la maison spacieuse au toit largement ensellé et débordant en auvent, celle des Bai Yue. Dans les tourbillons de l’histoire, il n’y avait plus de place pour les Bai Yue.

Exceptés les Luo Yue, les autres peuples de Bai Yue continuaient à être sinisés de manière qu’à la fin du Xème siècle, sur leur territoire, il ne resta que deux peuples face à face, un peuple conquérant ( les Han ) et un peuple insoumis (Les Luo Yue ou les Vietnamiens) en quête d’indépendance. Les états des Gou Yue, des Nan Yue, des Man Yue etc. firent partie désormais de la Chine du Sud. Profitant de la dislocation de l’empire des Tang (nhà Đường), les Luo Yue déclarèrent leur indépendance avec Ngô Quyền.

La nation vietnamienne commença à voir le jour. Il ne faut pourtant pas croire que tout se passe réellement dans la douceur et dans l’harmonie. Il faut tant de sacrifices pour que les gens du Nord acceptent cette réalité. C’est ainsi que la page de l’histoire des Bai Yue était confondue désormais avec celle des Luo Yue .

Les découvertes scientifiques récentes ont changé radicalement la vision qu’on a des gens de Bai Yue et particulièrement de leur histoire.? Elles ont remis en cause l’idée d’un diffusionnisme culturel originaire du Nord. Des vestiges plus anciens encore que ceux de Hemudu ont été découverts récemment dans le moyen fleuve Bleu à Pentoushan (Hunan (Hồ Nam)). Peut-on continuer à considérer les Miao, les Bai Yue comme des gens « barbares » ? Pourtant le caractère Miao 苖(ou Miêu en vietnamien ) qui porte à l’origine le dessin d’une rizière (Ðiền) 田 au dessus duquel est ajouté le pictogramme « Thảo » (cỏ) 艹( herbe) montre à l’évidence la façon des Chinois de s’adresser à des gens sachant faire la riziculture avec leur langage. Peut-on continuer à maintenir une version traditionnelle et obsolète écrite par les conquérants au détriment de la recherche de vérité historique? Il s’avère indispensable de remettre le train de l’histoire sur les rails tout en sachant que la civilisation chinoise n’a pas besoin de ces affabulations car elle a mérité de figurer depuis longtemps parmi les grandes civilisations de l’humanité. Ce sont les ancêtres des Luo Yue qui ont appris aux gens du Nord la culture du riz mais non pas inversement comme cela a été écrit dans un grand nombre de documents historiques chinois et vietnamiens. Il est temps de rendre hommage à nos ancêtres, les Yue, qui à cause de leur tempérament pacifique, étaient obligés de s’effacer devant l’usage de la force dans les tourbillons de l’histoire.

Héritant d’un passé glorieux, empêtré successivement dans des guerres fratricides et coloniales et plongé dans la corruption, le Vietnam des Luo Yue a besoin de se ressaisir car il ne mérite pas de faire partie des pays les plus pauvres du monde. Il est temps pour lui de suivre la voie tracée par ses ancêtres et de faire mieux qu’eux.

Joyaux de la Nation (Bảo vật Quốc Gia)

j050807 Art, Lịch sử, Văn Hóa février 1, 2018octobre 17, 2025Art, civilisation, Histoire, Vietnam

English version

French version

Là mảnh đất của các nền văn minh, Việt Nam sau một thế kỷ khai quật khảo cổ do các nhà khảo cổ người Pháp rồi người Việt tiến hành, đã phát hiện ra rất nhiều hiện vật, trong đó có những hiện vật nổi bật bởi vẻ đẹp vô giá và sự độc đáo hiếm có. Một số mẫu vật trở thành những viên ngọc quý của quốc gia và đại diện cho một trong ba nền văn minh được phát hiện tại Việt Nam. Chúng ta có thể chiêm ngưỡng chúng tại các bảo tàng lịch sử Việt Nam (Hà Nội, Đà Nẵng, Sài Gòn, An Giang). Trong số các hiện vật khai quật được, có thể kể đến trống đồng Ngọc Lũ nổi tiếng, biểu tượng của nền văn hóa Đông Sơn. Tiếp theo là:

1°) Đèn đứng của mộ số 3 tại Lạch Trương, Đồng Sơn, bằng đồng, cao 0,33m. Bảo tàng lịch sử Hà Nội.

2°) Bình đựng nước Đào Thịnh ở Yên Bái, văn hóa Đông Sơn, bằng đồng, cao 81cm. Bảo tàng lịch sử Hà Nội. Chiếc bình này gợi nhắc đến tín ngưỡng thờ phồn thực (Văn hóa phồn thực).

3°) Bình gốm trang trí cảnh quan vẽ màu xanh trắng lấy từ xác tàu đắm ở đảo Cù Lao Chàm (Quảng Nam). Qua hình ảnh thiên nga trên bình, ta thấy được nét tâm hồn Việt Nam. Bảo tàng lịch sử Hà Nội.

4°) Tượng Bồ tát Tara (văn hóa Chăm), bằng đồng khảm vàng, bạc và đá quý bán quý. Cao 1,15m. Phong cách Đông Dương (giữa thế kỷ IX). Bảo tàng Đà Nẵng.

5°) Tượng Phật, Đồng Dương, Quảng Nam (thế kỷ VIII-IX). Đồng thau Cao: 119cm, Rộng: 38cm. Tượng đồng này, đúc bằng phương pháp đúc mất sáp, được tìm thấy gần như nguyên vẹn khi phát hiện. Phong cách của nó vẫn còn bí ẩn. Bảo tàng Lịch sử (Saïgon).

6°) Tượng Phật ngồi trong tư thế chạm đất chứng minh (bắt ấn địa xúc) (bhūmisparśa-mudrā). Văn hóa Óc Eo. Bảo tàng An Giang.

Etant la terre des civilisations, le Vietnam recèle au bout d’un siècle de fouilles archéologiques entamées d’abord par les archéologues français puis par ceux du Vietnam, un grand nombre de trouvailles dont certaines se distinguent par leur beauté incommensurable et par leur originalité exceptionnelle. Certains spécimens deviennent les joyaux de la nation et représentent l’une des trois civilisations découvertes au Vietnam. On peut les admirer dans les musées de l’histoire du Vietnam (Hanoï, Đà Nẵng, Saïgon, An Giang). Parmi ces objets exhumés, on peut citer le célèbre tambour de bronze Ngọc Lũ, symbole de la civilisation dongsonienne. Il est suivi ensuite par

1°) Le lampadaire de la tombe n°3 de Lạch Trương, Đồng Sơn, Bronze, Hauteur: 0,33m. Musée de l’histoire de Hànội

2°) La situle Đào Thịnh de Yên Bái, Đồng Sơn, Bronze, Hauteur: 81cm. Musée de l’histoire de Hanoï. Cette situle évoque le culte de la fertilité. (Văn hóa phồn thực)

3°) Le vase en céramique (gốm) à décor de paysage peint en couleur « bleu et blanc » provenant de l’épave de l’île Cù Lao Chàm (Quảng Nam). On y trouve à travers le motif du cygne les traits de l’âme vietnamienne. Musée de l’histoire de Hànội.

4°) La statue de la bodhisattva Tara (culture chame), bronze incrusté d’or, d’argent et de pierres semi-précieuses. Hauteur: 1,15m. Style Đông Dương (Milieu du du IXème siècle). Musée de Đà Nẵng.

5°) Statue de bouddha, Đồng Dương, Quảng Nam (VIIIème-IXème siècle) . Bronze H:119cm, L:38cm. Cette statue en bronze, fondue à cire perdue a été retrouvée presque intacte au moment de sa découverte. Son style reste énigmatique. Musée de l’histoire (Saigon).

6°) La statue du Bouddha assis dans la position de la prise de la terre à témoin (bắt ấn địa xúc) (bhūmisparśa-mudrā). Civilisation Óc Eo. Musée de An Giang.

Galerie des photos

Bảo vật Quốc Gia

English version

During a century of archaeological excavations initially started by French archaeologists and then by those of Vietnam, the land of civizilations Vietnam holds a large number of archeological finds, some of which are distinguished by their incommensurable beauty and their exceptional originality. Some specimens become the jewels of the nation and represent one of the three civilizations discovered in Vietnam. One can admire them in the history museums of Vietnam (Hanoï, Đà Nẵng, Sàigon, An Giang). Among these objects exhumed, one can cite the famous bronze drum Ngọc Lũ, symbol of Đồng Sơn civilization. It is followed by

1°) The floor lamp found in the tomb n°3 of Lạch Trương, Đồng Sơn, Bronze, Heigth: 0,33m. Museum of Hanoï

2°) The situla Đào Thịnh of Yên Bái, Đồng Sơn, Bronze, Heigth: 81cm. Museum of Hanoï. This situla evoke the cult of fertility. (Văn hóa phồn thực)

3°) The ceramic vase (gốm) with an attractive decoration of landscape painted in color « blue and white » . It was retrieved from the wreck of Cù Lao Chàm island (Quảng Nam). Thanks to the swan motif, one discovers the traits of Vietnamese soul. History museum of Hanoï.

4°) The statue of Tara bodhisattva (Cham culture), in bronze overlaid with or, silver and semi-precious stones. Heigth: 1,15m. Đông Dương style (Middle of 9th century). Museum of Đà Nẵng.

5°) Buddha statue, Đồng Dương, Quảng Nam (8th-9th century) . Bronze H:119cm, L:38cm. This bronze statue in molten wax was found almost intact at the discovery time. Its style remains enigmatic. History museum of Saigon.

6°) The statue of Buddha making the mudra of taking the earth as witness with the right hand (bắt ấn địa xúc) (bhūmisparśa-mudrā) . Óc Eo civilization. Museum of An Giang.

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Dâu pagoda (Chùa Dâu)

j050807 Culture, Histoire, Religion, Văn Hóa janvier 30, 2018janvier 30, 2018Histoire, religion, Vietnam

Version française

Version vietnamienne

Pagode Dâu,Vietnamese buddhism cradle

Dâu pagoda visible from its porch

About 30 kilometers from Hanoï, Dâu pagoda is the most religious building in Vietnam because it was constructed in early Christian times in Dâu region known frequently during this period under the name “Luy Lâu”. In Chinese times, Luy Lâu was considered as the capital of Giao Châu (Giao Chi) from 111 B.C. until 106 B.C. At that time, according to Vietnamese researcher Hà Văn Tấn , the buddhist influence coming from India was accepted very early until the 5th century. Chinese governor Si Xie ( Sĩ Nhiếp in vietnamese) (177-266) also was accompagnied in town by clerics coming from India (người Hồi) or Central asia (Trung Á) for each trip. At the end of the second century, Luy Lâu becames the first vietnamese buddhist centre with 5 old pagodas: Dâu pagoda devoted to cloud genius Pháp Vân (“thần mây”), pagoda Đậu to rain genius Pháp Vũ ( “thần mưa”), Tướng pagoda to thunder genius Pháp Lôi (“thần sấm”), Dàn pagoda to thunderbold genius Pháp Điện ( “thần chớp”) and main pagoda belonging to the mother Man Nương of that 4 geniuses (or Tứ Pháp in vietnamese). The Sino-Vietnamese words Dâu, Đậu, Tướng, Dàn were preferred by the Vietnamese instead of using the names Mây, Mưa, Sấm , Chớp (Cloud, rain, thunder and thunderbold) in close relation with the natural force found in the agricultural environment. The system based on that 4 geniuses evokes the subtle association between the buddhism and popular beliefs coming from a primitive society in Vietnam.

Accordingly, a lot of Indian and foreign religious such as Ksudra (Khâu Đà Là), Ma Ha Kỳ Vực (Mahajivaca), Kang-Sen-Houci (Khương Tăng Hội), Dan Tian did not wait long to stay at Luy Lâu and to preach the Buddhist teaching. The number of monks is so important that Luy Lâu becames in just a few years later the translation centre for sutras among which was found the famous sutra Saddharmasamadhi (Pháp Hoa Tam Muội) translated by kouchan monk Cương Lương Lâu Chi (Kalasivi) in the 3th century. According to zen monk Thích Nhất Hạnh, one had the tendency to believe by mistake in the past that Indian monk Vinitaruci introduced the Vietnamese Dhyana buddhism (Thiền) at the end of 6th century. During its passage to Luy Lâu in 580, he lived in the Pháp Vân monastery belonging to the dhyana school. It was during this time that dhyana monk Quán Duyên was beginning to teach here the dhyana.

Pictures gallery

Other monks went in China for preaching the Buddhist law before the arrival of famous monk Bodhidharma known as the partriach of dhyana school and Chinese martial art. By now, it is known that Kang-Sen-Houci (Khương Tăng Hội) monk coming from Sogdiana, had the merit of introducing the dhyana buddhism in Vietnam. The Buddhism began to implant itself at Luy Lâu via Man Nương history and encountered no reluctance from the Vietnamese because it accepted the tolerance and the traditional paganism. Thích Quang Phật and and Man Nương Phật Mẫu legends attested the easyness to aggregate popular beliefs with the buddhism. One can say the marriage is successful between buddhism and popular beliefs (Mây, Mưa, Sấm, Chớp) found in the corner. The Buddha’s birthday also was that of 4 geniuses who became Buddhas. The mother Man Nương of these 4 geniuses was also venerated as Avalokiteśvara. One did not hesitate to install the Buddha altar in places where these 4 geniuses have been venerated. From now on, the buddhism began to propagate longer in other regions of Tonkin. The Vietnamese buddhism was the Mahayana and took two ways in its propagation: seaway from South Vietnam (Funan and Champa) and land way from North Vietnam via Yunan.

Vietnamese buddhism (Phật giáo Vietnam)

j050807 Culture, Histoire, Lịch sử, Religion, Văn Hóa janvier 28, 2018janvier 29, 2018culture, Histoire, religion, Vietnam

French version
We do not know exactly the date Buddhism was introduced into Vietnam but on the other hand, we are however certain that this new faith has come to Vietnam by maritime way by the strait of Malacca. Vietnamese Buddhism is above all Mayahana Buddhism( Great Vehicle or Ðài Thừa in Vietnamese ). It is less pure, often blended with philosophical concepts of Confucianism and Taoism. As Vietnam is situated on the big road of pilgrimage between China and India, the most part of Vietnamese scholars at that time were only Buddhist monks who knew Chinese and Sanskrit perfectly well.

When Vietnam was established as an independent state in 939 at the fall of the Tang dynasty, it was the Buddhist monks who, being the sole true holders of knowledge, helped the first dynasties to consolidate their power. Many among them held important political posts, such as Ngô Chấn Lưu and Ðặng Huyền Quang.

They also provided the first poets and prose writers of Vietnam. One can say that under the earlier Le and Ly dynasties, Vietnamese literature was constituted a great deal of learned poetry and of Buddhist inspiration composed by monks among whom were Lạc Thuận and Vạn Hạnh. Lạc Thuận was assigned by king Lê Ðại Hành to greet Chinese ambassador Li Jiao ( or Lý Giác ). To take the latter across the river, monk Lạc Thuận disguised himself as a sampan rower. When seeing two wild geese playing on the water crests, Li Jiao began to sing:

Ngỗng ngỗng hai con ngỗng
Ngữa mặt nhìn trời xa
Wild geese, look at the two wild geese!
They raise their heads and turn toward the horizon!

Monk Lac Thuân did not hesitate to finish the quatrain on the same rhymes while continuing to row:

Nước biếc phô lông trắng
Chèo hồng sóng xanh khua
Their white feathers stretch out on the blue-green water
Their pink feet, like rows, split the blue waves.

The parallelism of ideas and terms and especially the speed of improvisation of monk Lac Thuan struck the admiration of the Chinese ambassador. As for the second monk, Van Hanh helped king Lý Công Uẩn to get rid of the Ðinh decadents and found the Ly’ dynasty (1009-1225) that transferred the capital to Thăng Long (presently Hanôi). Van Hanh was not only a talented politician, he was also a poet. The Ly dynasty owed it rise to the influence and counsel of this monk, which explained the preeminence of Buddhism since that date. It thus became the state religion with a church run by a spiritual master of the kingdom (or Quốc Sự). Many of the sovereigns of this dynasty belonged to the sects Thiền (or Zen in Japanese or Tchan in Chinese).

Pictures gallery

They granted great favors to Buddhism, in particular Lý Thái Tôn, who, in 1031, after his victory over Champa, had over one hundred fifty monasteries built, not to include the construction of the famous one-pillar pagoda (Chùa Một Cột) following a dream. In spite of the beneficial influence of Buddhism, for the needs of a methodical organization and an effective administration of the country, the Ly dynasty had to adopt the Chinese model at all echelons of administration: the reshuffle of the hierarchy of functionaries (1089), the creation of exams (1075), the establishment of a imperial college (1076) (or Quốc Tự Giám) intended to teaching the children of the nobles, the creation of the Imperial Academy (1086) etc…Thanks to the development of lay education, the learned men began to replace the monks. Likewise, the diffusion of knowlege allowed the opening of a more varied and rich literature.

Buddhism declined and yielded to Confucianism only at the end of 13th century. This was due to several reasons: the struggle against the Mongols gave birth to a new leading class more Confucian than Buddhist lead by general Hung Ðạo Vương Trần Quốc Tuấn, the appearance of a new bureaucracy constituted of scholars and that of historical works to the detriment of Buddhist collections.

The Proclamation to The Troops ( or Hịch Tướng Sĩ ) by Hưng Ðạo Vương Trần Quốc Tuấn or the Grand Victory of Chương Dương celebrated by his lieutenant Trần Quang Khải by means of the following four verses:

Chương Dương cướp giáo giặc,
Hàm tử bắt quân thù
Thái bình nên gắng sức,
Non nước ấy nghìn thu.

We have taken aggressors’ spears at the port of Chuong Duong,
And captured enemies at the dock of Ham Tu.
May peace be the object of our supreme effort
And this land last forever.

witnessed the opening of a literature richer, more national and historical. One continued to see the decline of Buddhism until 1963, the year when monk Thích Quảng Ðức immolated himself by fire to protest the regime of president Ngô Ðình Diệm of South Vietnam.

This sacrifice did not turn out to be useless because it permitted the hastening of the fall of Diệm four months later and showed the whole nation that Buddhism, in spite of its spirit of tolerance and non-violence, could constitute a notable counterbalance to combat any forms of dictatorship and totalitarianism whose aim is to undermine moral foundations and conceptions of truth and solidarity found in Vietnamese civilization.

Vietnamese Buddhism thus regains for some decades not only its political role but also the dominating place it has lost for so long.

Papyrus vietnamien (Giấy dó)

j050807 Art, Gallery, Traditions, Văn Hóa janvier 26, 2018octobre 19, 2025culture, traditions, Vietnam

Imageries populaires Đông Hồ

Version française

English version

Các bức tranh dân gian phổ biến nầy thường được trông thấy trưng bày ở các ki-ốt dành riêng cho các khách du lịch nước ngoài. Giấy dó (giấy rhamnomeuron) được sử dụng để in những hình ảnh này. Theo một số nhà nghiên cứu Việt Nam, giấy này được xuất hiện vào khoảng thế kỷ thứ 3 và đạt đến đỉnh cao từ thế kỷ thứ 8 đến thế kỷ 14. Hồ Qúi Ly đã sử dụng nó vào cuối thế kỷ 14 để in các tiền tệ pháp định.

Việc sản xuất giấy này đòi hỏi phải có sự chuẩn bị thật kỹ lưỡng. Giấy được làm bằng vỏ cây dó. Sau khi thu hoạch vào khoảng tháng 8 đến tháng 10 âm lịch, cần ngâm vỏ cây trong nước một hoặc hai ngày. Sau đó mới được xử lý bằng cách ngâm nó trong dung dịch vôi cô đặc trong 5 giờ. Sau đó mới đun sôi nó trong khoảng 20 giờ trước khi đem giã nó trong 5 giờ. Bột thu được bằng cách giã được pha loãng trong một chậu chứa đầy hỗn hợp nước và nhựa từ cây mò (clerodendron). Giấy thu được bằng cách sử dụng khuôn sau khi ép và sấy khô nó.

Cứ một trăm kí lô vỏ cây, chỉ thu được 5 hoặc 6 kg giấy. Điều này giải thích tại sao thị trường bán giấy nầy rất bị hạn chế. Ngoài ra, giấy dó Việt Nam chỉ mọc ở vùng cao miền Bắc. Nổi tiếng với nghề in vẽ hình trên giấy dó, dân làng Dương Ô và Đông Hồ cũng chịu cùng chung số phận.

Giá vốn sản xuất giấy được tái chế lại cao hơn so với giá bán giấy dó. Đây chính là lý do khiến ít người tiếp tục quan tâm đến nghề truyền thống nầy đang bị thất lạc đi qua năm tháng.

Les imageries populaires fréquemment visibles sont proposées dans les kiosques réservés aux touristes étrangers. Le papier dó (papier de rhamnomeuron) est utilisé dans l’impression de ces imageries. Selon certains chercheurs vietnamiens, ce papier fut apparu vers le IIIème siècle et connut son apogée du VIIIème au XIVème siècle. Hồ Qúi Ly s’en servit à la fin du XIVème siècle pour l’impression des monnaies fiduciaires.

La production de ce papier nécessite une préparation minutieuse. Il est fabriqué avec l’écorce de l’arbre do. Après la récolte de celle-ci entre les 8ème et 10ème mois lunaires, on a besoin de l’immerger dans l’eau pendant un ou deux jours. On la traite ensuite en la macérant dans une solution de chaux condensée durant 5 heures. Puis on la fait bouillir durant une vingtaine d’heures avant de la piler pendant 5 heures. La farine obtenue par le pilage est diluée dans une bassine remplie d’un mélange d’eau et de résine de la plante mò ( clerodendron ). Le papier est obtenu grâce à un moule après avoir été pressé et séché.

Papyrus vietnamien

Galerie des photos

Pour cent kilos d’écorce, on obtient seulement 5 ou 6 kilos de papier. Cela explique la raison pour laquelle le marché est très limité. De plus le papyrus vietnamien dó ne pousse que dans les hautes régions au Nord. Connus pour la fabrication des imageries populaires sur le papier dó, les villageois de Dương Ô et de Ðông Hồ ont subi le même sort.

Le prix de revient dans la production du papier recyclé est supérieur à celui de vente du papier dó. C’est pourquoi peu de gens continuent à s’intéresser encore à ce métier ancestral qui se perd au fil des années.

Version anglaise

Those are often proposed in the kiosks reserved to foreign tourists. Paper dó (rhamnomeuron paper) is used in the printing of these images. According to certain Vietnamese researchers, this paper had appeared around the 3rd century and knews its apogee from the 8th to the 14th century. Hồ Qúi Ly made use of it at the end of 14th century for the printing of fiduciary currencies. The production of this paper requires a meticulous preparation.

It is manufactured with the bark of the tree dó. After the harvest of this one between the 8th and 10th lunar months, one needs to immerse it in water during one or two days. After one treats it by macerating it in a lime solution condensed during 5 hours. Then one makes it by boiling during about twenty hours before crushing it during 5 hours. The flour obtained by crushing is diluted in a basin filled with a mixture of water and resin of the plant mò (clerodendron). Paper is obtained thanks to a mould after being pressed and dried.

For two hundred kilos of bark, one gets only 5 or 6 kilos of paper. That explains why the market is very limited. In addition, the Vietnamese papyrus dó grows only in the northern highlands. Known for making popular imagery on paper dó, villagers of Dương Ô and Đông Hồ suffered the same fate.

The cost price in the production of recycled paper is higher than the selling price of dó paper. That is why a few people still continue to be interesting to this ancient craft that is lost over the years.

Funan kingdom (Vương quốc Phù Nam)

j050807 Culture, Founan, Histoire, Lịch sử, Oc Eo, Văn Hóa janvier 25, 2018octobre 7, 2025civilisation, Histoire, Vietnam

Funan kingdom

Vietnamese version
French version

Until the dawn of the 20th century, the information was received about this old Hinduized kingdom in some Chinese texts. It was mentioned during the Three Warring States period of Chinese history (Tam Quốc )(220-265) in Chinese writings since the establisment of diplomatic relations between the Wu state (Đông Ngô) and foreign countries. In this report, it is noted that the governor of Guandong and Tonkin provinces, Lu-Tai sent representatives (congshi) in the south of his kingdom. The kings, beyond the borders of his kingdom (Funan, LinYi (future Chămpa) and Tang Ming (country identified in the northern Tchenla at the time of Tang dynasty) sent each other an ambassador to pay him their tribute. Then Funan was also quoted in the dynastic annals from the Tsin dynasty (nhà Tấn) until the Tang dynasty (Nhà Ðường).

Even the name of Funan is the phonetic transcription of the old khmer word bhnam (mountain) in Chinese characters. It still gives rise to reservations and reluctances in the interpretation of Funan by « mountain » for some experts. These one find the justification of the name « Funan » in the best sense of « hillock » because, until quite recently, in the ethnographical studies [Martin 1991; Porée-Maspero 1962-69] , the Khmer were used to practising ceremonies around the artificial hillocks. Being affected by this custom that they did not know, the Chinese have made reference to this mode of practice for designating this kingdom. Thanks to archaeological excavations which took place in 1944 at Óc Eo with French Louis Malleret in An Giang province located into the south of present-day Vietnam, the existence and prosperity of this Indianised kingdom have not been in doubt. The results of these excavations had been written in his doctoral thesis, then published in an entitled work « Archaeology of the Mekong delta » representing 6 volumes.

This allows to confirm the Chinese informations and to make them a little more precise in the confinement and localization of this kingdom. Because of the abundance of tin archaeological finds, French archaeologist Louis Malleret did not hesitate to borrow the name Óc Eo for designating this tin civilization. We begin to have now a deep light on this kingdom as well as its external relations during the resumption of excavations undertaken both by Vietnamese teams (Đào Linh Côn, Võ Sĩ Khải, Lê Xuân Diêm) and French-Vietnamese team led by Pierre-Yves Manguin between 1998 and 2002 in An Giang, Ðồng Tháp and Long An provinces where a large number of sites of Óc Eo culture are located.

We know that Óc Eo was a major port of this kingdom and was a transit hub in trade exhanges between the Malaysian peninsula and India on one hand and between the Mekong and China on other one. As the boats of the region could not cover long distances and had to follow the coast, Óc Eo thus became a mandatory stop and a important strategic step during the 7 centuries of blooming and prosperity for Funan kingdom.
Óc Eo civilization

Pictures gallery

This one occupied a quadrangle included between the gulf of Thailand and Transbassac (western plains of Mekong delta or miền tây in Vietnamese) in the South of Vietnam. It was bounded in the northwest by the Cambodian border and in the southeast by Trà Vinh and Sóc Trăng cities. Aerial photos taken by the French people in the 1920s revealed that Funan was a maritime empire (or a thalassocracy).

The Chinese authors tell us that immense city states, encircled by successive lines of earthen ramparts and ditches formely filled by crocodiles, were divided into districts by the ramification of canals and arteries. We can imagine houses and stores on piles, bordered by ships as in Venice or in the Hanseatic cities. We discover in this surprising network constituted by stars of rectilinear canals arranged according to the northeast / southwest frame (from Bassac towards the sea) and all communicating with each other, its important role for evacuating Bassac floodwaters towards the sea. This allows to wash the soil with alum, repulse headways of brackish water during Bassac floods, favor the floating rice, ensure especially the provisioning inside the kingdom by cargoes of coastal navigation coming from China, Malaysia, India and even from Mediterranean circumference.

The discovery of gold coins bearing Antonin le Pieux (in 152 A.D.) or Marc Aurèle‘s effigies and low-reliefs carvings of Persian kings testifies to the important role of this kingdom in trade exchanges at the beginning of the Christian era. There is even a grand canal allowing to connect the port city Óc Eo on one hand with the sea and on the other hand with the Mekong and the ancient city of Angkor Borei, located 90 km upstream in the Cambodian territory. This one would be presumably the capital of Funan in its decline.

For French archaeologist Georges Coedès, there is no question that the Angkor Borei site corresponds exactly to that of Na-fou-na, described in Chinese texts as the city where kings of Funan wildrew after their eviction from the ancient capital of Funan, Tö-mu, identified as the city Vyàdhapura located in the Bà Phnom region of the Cambodian territory by Georges Coedès [BEFEO, XXVIII, p. 127]. The wealth of this archeological site and the variety of archeological remains originating from it, confirm his affirmation.

Thanks to archeological finds that have been recovered during all series of excavations on the complex of Óc Eo sites, we can say that this kingdom knew three important periods during its existence:

The first period which extends from the 1st to about 3th century, distinguishes itself by terra-cottas (ceramic potteries, bricks, tiles), glassware (pearls and necklaces), silverware (rings, earrings), stones sculptures (seals, signet rings, cabochons), copper, iron, bronze and especially tin objects.

We attend the first human activity on hillocks in the Óc Eo plain and on low slopes of Ba Thê mountain. The habitat is on piles and wood. The common jar grave in the South-East Asia is still practised. The process of the Indianisation is not yet started by the absence of statuaries and religious relics. But there is, all the same, a regular contact between this kingdom and India.

The commercial exchange is strengthened by local alliances and Indian teachers arrival. These one, retained longer for their stays in this kingdom because of the season of monsoons, continued to practise their religions (Brahmanism, Buddhism). They began to make emulators among the natives and to help the latter in the implementation of a hydraulic network allowing to drain the flooded plain, until now, hostile and to make it « useful » for the habitat, cultivation and development of their kingdom. The Indians were known to realize advisedly the works of agricultural hydraulics and cultivation. It is what we have seen in the country of the Tamils during the Pallava period for example.

The floating rice cultivation is attested by the traces of use of this graminaceous plant as degreasing agent for pottery. For French researcher of CNRS, J.N. Népote, specialist of the Indo-Chinese peninsula, Funan kingdom received most of its revenues from the agricultural sector in the technique of floating rice.

It was not necessary to cultivate the soil nor to sow and even less to plant rice seedlings in this time when the coastal fringe of Funan was an flooded zone of polders. The rice grew alone at the same time as the water level, this one being able to reach three metres in height. The rice was later harvested by boats. For the floating rice, the only constraint to be required was the distribution and regulation of floods by the digging of canals in order to be better able to manage the irrigation water and facilitate the means of communication.

The second period of the Funan history (4th- 7th centuries) is marked by the discovery of a large number of Vishnouist and Buddhist religious monuments on the hillocks of Oc Eo plain and on the slopes of Mount Ba Thê. The emblematic figures of the Indian pantheon (Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Nanin, Ganesha and Buddha) were exposed. It is also the period when the piled wooden housing moves from hillocks towards flooded plain and low slopes of Ba Thê mountain.

The indianisation of the kingdom was underway when we saw around 357 an Indian of Chinese name Tchou Tchan-t’an, being perhaps of Scythian origin and Kanishka descent, to reign in Funan kingdom [Founan: Paul Pelliot, p 269], which could explain the success of the Surya cult and its iconography in the Funan art. Another Brahman of Chinese name (Kiao-Tchen-Jou) (or Kaundinga-Jayavarma) will succeed him and will reign in Funan kingdom between 478 and 514. It is the period quite known thanks to local inscriptions in sanskrit.

Even the myth of the kingdom’s foundation comes from India: a Brahman named Kaundinya, guided by a dream, get a magic bow in a temple and navigates towards these banks where he manages to beat the girl named Soma of the native sovereign presented as Naga king (a fabulous snake) then he marries her to govern this country. We can say that during this period, the Funan kingdom knew its peak and maintained close relations with China.

The magnitude of its trade was indisputable by the discovery of a large number of objects other than that of India found on Funan banks: fragments of bronze mirrors dating from the Han anterior period, Buddhist bronze statuettes attributed to Wei dynasty, a group of purely Roman objects, statuettes of Hellenistic style in particular a bronze representation of Poseidon. These objects were probably exchanged for goods because Funan people only knew the barter. For the purchase of valuable products, they used golden and silver ingots, pearls and perfumes. They were known as excellent jewelers. The gold was finely worked with numerous Brahmanic symbols. Jewels (golden earrings with the delicate clasp, admirable golden filigrees, glass pearls, intaglios etc.) exposed in the museums of Đồng Tháp, Long An and An Giang testifies not only of their know-how and their talent but also the admiration of the Chinese in their narratives during their contact with Funan people.

The last period corresponds to the decline and end of Funan kingdom. A important change was indicated during period tcheng-kouan (627-649) to Funan kingdom in the Chinese annals. The kingdom of Tchen-la (Chân Lập) (future Cambodia) situated in the southwest of Lin Yi ( future Champa) and country vassal of Funan took over the latter and subjugated it. This fact was not only reported in the new history of Tang (618-907) of Chinese historian Ouyang Xiu but also on a new inscription of Sambor-Prei Kuk in which king of Tchen La, Içanavarman was congratulated for having increased the territory of his parents. One thus bear witness to the abandonment of habitat and religious sites in the plain Óc Eo because the centre of gravity of the new political formation coming from the North leaves the coast to gradually approach the site of the future capital of Khmer empire, Angkor.

For French researcher J. Népote, the Khmers come from the North by Laos appear as Germanic bands against the Roman empire, try to establish inside lands a unitarian kingdom under the name of Chen La. They have no interest to keep the technique of the floating rice because they live far from the coast. They try to combine their own mastery of water storage with the contributions of Indian hydraulic science (barays) to finalize through multiple experimentations an irrigation better adjusted to the hinterland ecology and local varieties of irrigated rice.

In spite of the recent discoveries confirming the existence of this kingdom, many questions have remained unanswered. We do not know who were the indigenous people populating this kingdom. One thing is for sure: they were not Vietnamese who had arrived only in the Mekong delta in the 17th century. Were they ancestors of the Khmers? Some had this conviction when Louis Malleret began excavations in the 1940s because the toponymy of the region was totally Khmer. At the time of Funan, it was yet not clear what this is. However, thanks to the study of osseous remains of Cent-Rues (in the peninsula of Cà Mau), we are dealing with a population very close to Indonesians (or Austro-Asiatic ) (Nam Á).

A Mon-Khmer contribution in the North of this kingdom can be possible to give to Funan the juxtaposition and the fusion of two strata which are not far away from each other before becoming the race of Funan people. In this hypothesis frequently accepted, the Funan people were the proto-Khmers or the cousins of the Khmers. The absorption of a city of Malaysian peninsula (known under the name Dunsun in the Chinese sources reporting this fact ) in the 3th century by Funan in an area where the Mon-Khmer influence is undeniable, is one of the determining elements in favour of this hypothesis.

In what conditions did Óc Eo disappear? Nevertheless Óc Eo played an economic role in commercial exchanges during seven first ones centuries of the Christian era. The archaeologists continue to look for the causes of the disappearance of this port city: flood, fire, deluge, epidemic etc. …

Is the Funan kingdom a state unified with a strong central power or is it a federation of centers of urbanized and sufficiently autonomous political power on the Indo-Chinese peninsula as on the Malaysian peninsula so that we qualify them as city-states?

P.Y.Manguin has already raised this question during a colloquium organized by Copenhagen Polis centers on the city-states of the coastal South-East Asia in December, 1998. Where is its capital if the central power is strongly emphasized many times by the Chinese in their texts? Angkor Borei, Bà Phnom are they really the former capitals of this kingdom like that has been identified by French Georges Coèdes?

For the moment, what has been found does not bring answers but it only redoubles the envy and desire of archaeologists to find them in the coming years because they know that they have the feeling of dealing with brilliant civilization of the Mekong delta.

Bibliography references

Georges Coedès: Quelques précisions sur la fin du Founan, BEFEO Tome 43, 1943, pp1-8
Bernard Philippe Groslier: Indochine, Editions Albin Michel, Paris
Lê Xuân Diêm, Ðào Linh Côn,Võ Sĩ Khai: Văn Hoá Oc eo , những khám phá mới (La culture de Óc Eo: Quelques découvertes récentes) , Hànôi: Viện Khoa Học Xã Hội, Hô Chí Minh Ville,1995
Manguin,P.Y: Les Cités-Etats de l’Asie du Sud-Est Côtière. De l’ancienneté et la permanence des formes urbaines.
Nepote J., Guillaume X.: Vietnam, Guides Olizane
Pierre Rossion: le delta du Mékong, berceau de l’art khmer, Archeologia, 2005, no422, pp. 56-65.

Ceramic (Gốm Vietnam)

j050807 Art, Culture, Traditions, Văn Hóa janvier 23, 2018octobre 15, 2018Art, culture, traditions

French version

gom

It is greatly surprising to see that, despite the everlasting domination of China on Viet-Nam, the latter was able to distinguish brilliantly starting from 14th century in the domain of ceramics. It became thus an active participant in the flourishing trade of South-East Asia in this domain with its junks and its compass known since 11th century. Tome Pires in his Suma Oriental (1515) summarized all these exchanges and foot-noted even the existence of a Vietnamese ceramic production intended for sale in China. At that time, there was even the counterfeit of Vietnamese blue and white in the Chinese furnaces of Snatow.

Its success was mainly due to the cobalt blue that blew into Vietnamese ceramic art a spirit which will have lasted for two centuries and enabled it to capture a foreign market as far as even the most remote corners of Asia.

It is the case of large a vase-bottle found at the Topkapi palace of Istanbul, carrying an inscription in Chinese characters, in blue under glaze that one can read in Vietnamese: Painted for pleasure by Pei de Nam Sách in the 8th year of Thái Hoà, or of a dish with blue and white floral decoration at the Treasury of Ardebil (Museum of Teheran)

If the cobalt blue was known in Vietnam for a long time even before the Chinese invasion of Ming, it appears that it was used only around the years 1430-1450. It is from this time that the blue and white definitively replace monochromic ceramics.

Gốm

Vase (Lê dynasty)

It is thanks to the perfect control of manufacturing, decorating and baking techniques that the Vietnamese potter can improve his imagination. Even though constraints of painting under glaze do not prevent any repentance, there appear on the sandstone not only more and more sophisticated drawings but also a variety of pigments, an eruption of form s and original decorations, which made him an artist. If he does borrow a good number of decorative drawings from China ( peonies, lotus, flowers, foliated scrolls etc..), he has on the other hand the idea to create an autonomous style which is less hieratic and more vivacious than his Chinese homologous by the liveliness of his feature and his spontaneity. He can adapt these decorative elements to the Vietnamese style: the Chinese red fish becomes thus the Cá Bông, a Vietnamese freshwater fish.

It is no longer the case of China since China discovers the perspective starting from the reign of Jiajing (1522-1566). On the other hand, the quality of the central motif found on the plates, is definitely higher than that of the surrounding ones. This proves there is an intervention of several craftsmen in the realization of these plates. Because of the war, Viêt-Nam did not set up a systematic program of archaeological excavations. Few sites were exhumed so far. On the other hand one knows that the areas of Tam Tố north of Thanh Hoá, Nam Sách in the province of Hải Dương, Bát Tràng north of Hanoi to name a few sites, are surely witnesses of the manufacture of these Vietnamese ceramic pieces.

Jarres , verseuses et bols en grès à l’époque des dynasties Lý et Trần.