Lịch sữ

Lịch sữ  Việt Nam.

Việt Nam Quê Hương tôi

j050807 Culture, Histoire, Lịch sữ, Văn Hóa , , 0 commentaire

intro

Version française

English version

Việt Nam là một quốc gia  mà người dân rất yêu chuộng hoà bình, độc lập và tự do. Là người con Việt  thì phải có khả năng kháng cự lại trước hết việc đồng hóa hay là tư tưởng ngoại bang và hảnh diện có mang ở trong tĩnh mạch dòng máu của cha Rồng. Đối với người dân Việt, không còn sự  hoài nghi nào cả vì qua truyền thuyết Con Rồng Cháu Tiên có từ thuở nào, họ là con cháu của  cha Rồng mặc dầu họ biết rõ  từ nay nguồn gốc qua các công trình khoa học. Họ là người thừa kế của nền văn hóa Hòa Bình và thuộc về đại tộc Bách Việt, những bộ tộc sống rải rác ở phía nam sông Duơng Tử. Nuớc ở nơi nầy nó thấm nhuần với đất vì có thể là vậy nên quốc gia nầy thường được gọi là Đất Nước. Cũng  trên mãnh đất của đồng bằng sông Hồng nầy đã qua bao nhiêu thế kỷ trước Công Nguyên có một vương quốc sáng lâp một triều đại với các vua Hùng huyền thoại (nước Văn Lang). Sau đó được thay  thế bởi nước Âu Việt của An Dương Vương (Thục Phán) mà thành trì Cổ Loa là thủ đô, một bằng chứng cụ thể của vương quốc nầy bị thôn tính về sau bởi  Triệu Đà, một danh tướng của hoàng đế Trung Hoa Tần Thủy Hoàng. Ông nầy sáng lập ra nước Nam Việt (Nan Yue) bị thôn tính về sau bởi quân Tàu của danh tướng Mã Viện (Ma Yuan) dưới thời  Hán Quang Vũ Đế (Guagwudi) với một nghìn năm bắc thuộc  trước cuộc chiến tranh giải phóng dân tộc của tuớng Ngô Quyền. Trong thời kỳ đô hộ, văn hóa Đồng Sơn bị hủy diệt. Người ta tìm thấy trong văn hóa nầy các thạp đồng và nhất là cái trống đồng uy nghiêm biểu hiệu quyền lực và đặc tính của dân tộc Việt đã bao lần suýt bị hủy diệt bởi đế  chế Trung Hoa theo dòng lich sữ.  Đây không phải  là lịch sữ của các triều đại vua chúa hay các phong trào tư tưởng mà chính đây là lịch sữ của dân tộc nông dân bền bỉ từ biên cương Việt Trung đến mũi Cà Mau, vất vã khó nhọc để lại dấu ấn cho quang cảnh của mãnh đất nầy. Sự hy sinh của họ không phải là một từ vô ích. Các hào kiệt của họ thà làm qủi phương nam thay vì làm các vương công phương Bắc. Còn các nữ kiệt cũng không ngần ngại đáp lời sông núi. Đó là hai bà Trưng Trắc Trung Nhị, Triệu Ẩu, Nguyễn Thị Giang (Cô Giang), Nguyễn thị Minh khai vân vân. Không người con Việt nào có thể quên câu nói bất diệt của Nguyễn Thái Học trước cái chết :

Chết vì Tổ Quốc.

Đây là số mệnh quá cao thượng,  đáng khen ….

Trên chiến trường, không có lực luợng  ngoại bang nào có thể  đánh bại  khi có chạm trán với người dân  Việt. Chính họ dành được  sự thắng lợi  nhờ ba yếu tố nầy: Thiên Thời, Đia Lợi và Nhân Hòa. Chính yếu tố sau cùng  nầy nó  đem lại sự khác biệt trong cuộc chiến tranh tiêu hao. Nguyễn Trãi đã có dip nói rằng thà chinh phục nhân tâm hơn là chiếm đoạt thành trì. Hiên ngang trước quân giặc mạnh  hơn họ thì họ cần phải kiên nhẫn nghĩ đến các thể thức thường được áp dụng trong lý thuyết Âm Dương : Lấy Yếu chống Mạnh hay Lấy Cụt chống Dài. Chính nhờ mưu lược nầy mà Nguyễn Trãi dành phần thắng lợi  trong cuộc chống giặc nhà Minh của hoàng đế Vĩnh Lạc và xua đuổi quân Tàu ra khỏi Việtnam vào năm 1428. Dùng chiến thuật di quân (Dương) trước sự bất động của quân nhà Thanh (Âm) phù hợp hoàn toàn với địa lợi, vua Quang Trung  đánh bại  chớp nhoáng quân địch vào năm 1788 trong 5 ngày Tết  để lấy lại Thăng Long. Chính cũng Quang Trung lợi dụng sự không biết đia thế của quân địch mà dành phần thắng lợi thần tốc ở  rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút (Mỹ Tho) với quân Xiêm La của tướng Chakri  khi ông nầy gởi sang 50 vạn binh tiếp viện cho vua Gia Long. Không có dân tộc nào có thể cưởng lại trước sự  bành trướng  của người dân Việt trong cuộc Nam Tiến. (hai vương quốc Chămpa và Chân Lạp). 

Dù bị nghìn năm bắc thuộc và  có sự đóng góp văn hóa ngọai bang, những người nông dân con Việt  mảnh khảnh  nầy, chân vùi dưới bùn giữa các ruộng lúa, đã  gìn giữ được  những gì qúi giá nhất của các dân tộc trên thế giới. Đó là những truyền thống  và tiếng Việt dựa trên chữ Hán sau nầy dùng chữ Latinh với ông thầy tu Alexandre de Rhodes. Chỉ còn bộ tộc Lạc Việt duy nhất  thuộc đại tộc Bách Việt không bị hán  hóa qua nhiều  thế kỷ. Chính Đức Khổng Tử  đã có từng  so sánh sinh lực  có ở nơi người Trung Hoa và người Lạc Việt, tổ tiên của người Việtnam ngày nay : cang đảm và vũ lực thuộc về người Trung Hoa, còn Lạc Việt thì khoan dung và  nhân từ. Tuy nhiên người dân Việt luôn luôn gắn bó sâu đậm với đất nước khiến họ không nhường bộ trong cuộc đấu tranh vì thế theo sự suy luận của một nhóm người, họ là những kẻ đi chinh phục tàn nhẫn và đáng sợ nhưng còn nhóm người khác thì  họ là những người bảo vệ chính đáng trong công cuộc chiến  dành lại độc lập và tư do. Dù sao họ đã hy sinh quá nhiều trong quá khứ về sinh mạng cho hai khái niệm: độc lập và tự do mà họ  không có quen để lựa chọn hay tách biệt. Chính vì  vậy họ vẫn trong tình trạng khổ tâm không ít. Rồi họ cũng  có lần lượt  hai khái niệm nầy với  cái giá  mạng người quá đắt. Việc ý thức tập thể bất đầu thành hình qua nhiều năm với Nguyễn An Ninh. Mặc dầu ba vị vua trẻ Việt Nam Hàm Nghi, Thành Thái và Duy Tân bị lưu đày ở Algérie và La Réunion và việc xử trảm nhiều nhà cách mạng trong đó  có một chàng trai trẻ tài ba Nguyễn Thái Học, người dân Việt vẫn  không mất nhuệ khí trong các cuộc nổi dậy và dành lại độc lập với chiến thắng ở Điên Biên Phủ vào năm 1954. Việc  thả ba trăm tấn bom (265 kí cho mỗi người dân Việt)  và 60 triệu lít chất làm rụng lá cũng không làm nản lòng người dân Việt trên con đường thống nhất  lại đất nước vào năm 1975 sau đó dẫn đến việc đày  biết bao nhiêu người lính miền nam đến trại học tập và cuộc di tản  chưa từng thấy, có rất nhiều người  chết đuối  và bị hảm hại bởi hải tặc ở biển Đông và vịnh Thái Lan để đi tìm tự do. Theo lời tường thuật của nhiều tác giả Tây Âu, (Barry Wain, Magali Barbieri) có dịp nghiên cứu về vấn đề nầy thì có ít nhất  tổi thiểu là 250.000 người Việt vượt biên chết  ở biển. Theo sự dự tính của cơ quan HCR (Haut  Commissariat pour les Réfugiés), từ 1975 đến 1991, trong 16 năm, có gần một triệu người dân Việt mà trong đó có 8 trăm nghìn người di tản đã lìa bỏ Việtnam. Con đường hòa giải dân tộc rất còn xa vời vì nó đầy gian nan, cạm bẩy và vụng về sau ba thập niên chiến tranh và đau khổ. Một trang lịch sữ đã khép lại  nhưng Việtnam phải trả  giá rất đắt không những trên phương diện con người và môi trường bởi vì vẫn tiếp tục nhận  những hậu quả không  ước lượng nổi của bao nhiêu thập niên chiến tranh (chất độc da cam chẵng hạn). Theo tờ báo thông tin của Unesco ghi lại tháng năm năm 2000, một tổ chức làm việc dưới sự bảo hộ của Liên Hiệp Quốc, ước tính có một phần năm rừng ở miền nam bị hủy hoại bởi các thuốc diệt cỏ của Hoa Kỳ.

Người trai trẻ Việtnam ngày nay không biết hận thù  và cũng không có nỗi buồn chiến tranh của nhà văn Bảo Ninh. Nhưng thách thức  nghèo đói  vẫn   còn rình rập đeo đuổi. Bóng ma chiến tranh nó vẫn còn đó theo dòng ngày  tháng  ở biển Đông với các đảo Hoàng Sa bị cưởng đoạt  năm 1974 và Trường Sa gần đây bởi người phương Bắc mà  mối đe dọa càng ngày càng quá khiêu khích. Trước tham vọng quá đỗi của Trung Quốc, bài thiên sữ thi « Nam Quốc Sơn Hà » của tướng Lý Thường Kiệt phá Tống bình Chiêm, khẳng định lại chủ quyền của Việtnam, nó trở lại ám ảnh tâm trí và vang âm trong trái tim của người con Việt.  Tuy rằng với bao nỗi lo âu và cuộc sống quá tồi tệ, không ai có thể quên đi  được mãnh đất  nầy mà người con Việt thường gọi là Quê Hương vì  chỉ ở nơi  nầy  có thể tìm lại kỷ niệm của tuổi ấu thơ, mái trường xưa và  quá khứ. Mặc dầu mãnh đất nầy  nó đồng nghĩa với chữ nghèo nàn và khổ cực, nó là lý lẽ sống đấy vì ông cha ta  tranh đấu và giành được từ  khi lập nước với mồ hôi, nước mắt và xương máu. Cũng như mẹ, mỗi người con dân Việt  chỉ có một người mẹ duy nhất trong đời không ai có thể thay thế được. Ngoài làng ra, hình ảnh đình làng, con trâu hay cây tre không bao giờ xoá mờ trong kí ức tập thể của người con Việt cả. Đối với những người con Việt viễn xứ, đây chỉ là một khoảng thời gian tạm thời thôi   chớ nó không phải là một kết cục chính. Hình bóng Quê Hương nó vẫn  đeo đuổi mãi  họ với biết bao trìu mến và luyến tiếc.

Những bài mới viết gần đây

Le voyage à Hà Giang, Cao Bằng ( Chuyến đi Hà Giang, Cao Bằng)

j050807 Ethnies, Français, Lịch sữ, Sites touristiques , , 0 commentaire

Le voyage à Hà Giang et Cao Bằng

Devant la chute d’eau impressionnante de Bản Giốc (Cao Bẳng)

Version vietnamienne

Je n’ai aucun moment de visiter jusque-là tant d’endroits durant mon séjour au Vietnam comme je viens de le faire cette fois. Cela vient peut-être de mon ambition ancrée en moi depuis longtemps mais aussi de mon âge assez élevé. Si je ne fais pas cette fois une excursion à Hà Giang, je pense que je n’ai plus d’occasion pour y aller même si j’ai tant d’argent. En prenant habituellement un circuit touristique, on n‘est jamais gâté car on n’a pas l’occasion de faire des photos à l’endroit désiré mais on est obligé de respecter les horaires imposées par le guide. De plus on a besoin de justifier qu’on est en bonne santé et qu’on est accompagné par des proches durant le voyage. Grâce à l’aide apportée par le patron d’un hôtel situé dans la vieille ville de Hanoi, Mr Trung et à l’encouragement de mes enfants, je suis plus motivé pour réaliser ce projet. La veille de notre départ, tout le monde me recommande d’y renoncer car les routes de Hà Giang ont été dévastées par le typhon Sơn Tinh la semaine précédente. Mais je suis entêté dans ma décision car je pense que chacun de nous a son destin et Dieu continue à soutenir ma volonté d’y parvenir. En arrivant à Hà Giang, je m’aperçois qu’il y a tellement de tronçons de route sinueux dévastés. La pluie continue à tomber à des endroits où le nuage s’assombrit et la route est très dangereuse pour moi et mes proches. Il ne faut pas oublier de remercier le jeune chauffeur Minh tellement doué dans la conduite et aimable que ma peur s’estompe au fil de mon voyage malgré la succession des pentes particulièrement plus raides que celles trouvées en Corse (France). Minh ne cesse pas de répondre à mon attente et de me permettre à faire des photos à mon gré malgré sa fatigue visible sur son visage à cause de son assiduité pour parer à toute éventualité. Il faut reconnaître que j’ai la chance d’avoir des gens extrêmement gentils et d’être dans cette région. C’est aussi une occasion pour moi d’admirer la beauté naturelle et grandiose, une caractéristique de la forêt du nord-ouest semblable à un tableau naturel du créateur, de pouvoir visiter la vieille ville Đồng Văn, grimper les 384 marches de l’escalier pour voir le drapeau flottant à Lũng Cú, admirer les chutes d’eau impressionnantes de Bản Giốc (Cao Bằng) occupées en grande partie aujourd’hui par les gens du Nord dans une région jusque-là défendue vaillamment par nos ancêtres avec des larmes et du sang. Je suis à la fois triste et heureux quand je rencontre à Lũng Cú deux jeunes garçons routards vietnamiens âgés à peu près de 16 à 18 ans venant de la région Thái Nguyên avec leur moto. Leur but est de pouvoir réaliser quelques photos avec la tour du drapeau flottant à Lũng Cú en grimpant comme moi les 300 marches de l’escalier. Ce geste m’émeut tellement que je ne retiens pas mes larmes. Je me rends compte de l’amour intense de la jeunesse vietnamienne face à la menace des gens du Nord.

Galerie des photos

Chuyến đi Hà Giang, Cao Bằng

Chưa có bao giờ tôi về Việt Nam mà đi tham quan nhiều nơi như vậy có lẻ vì hoài bão mà mình có từ lâu ở nơi mình nhưng cũng có phần nào vì tuổi tác của mình. Nếu không đi thì không bao giờ đi được nửa dù có tiền đi nửa. Đi tour thì không thích thú chi cho mấy không được chụp những nơi mình thích mà còn vô cùng vội vã tranh thủ thì giờ theo lịch trình của hướng dẩn viên . Vã lại còn phải bảo đảm không bệnh hoạn có bảo hiểm và có người thân đi chung khi đi tour. Vi thế nhờ biết cháu Trung, nguời quản lý của khách sạn mình ở và quen biết từ lâu và nhờ có các con cháu đi chung mà mình mới có động lực thực hiện được hoài bão nầy. Trước ngày đi, mọi người khuyên bỏ ý đinh nầy đi đang sạt lở đường xá ở Hà Giang với bão Sơn Tinh tuần trước. Nhưng mình nhất định đi vì mình nghĩ rằng mỗi người đều có số mạng vã lại Trời không phụ ý định tâm quyết của mình đấy. Khi đến Hà Giang, mình mới nhận thấy sạt lở ở những đoan đường quanh co, mưa vẫn còn khi có mây đen ở từng đoạn đường, rất cực kỳ nguy hiểm cho mình và mọi người. Cũng phải cảm ơn Minh, cháu tài xế trẻ lái rất giỏi và rất dễ thương khiến sự sợ hải của mình không còn nửa nhất là đèo nầy vừa qua thì đèo khác lại tới còn hơn ở đảo Corse của Pháp nhiều lắm. Chú ơi, chú muốn ngừng ở đâu chụp, cháu ngừng ở nơi đó dù đôi khi Minh tỏ ra mệt mỏi đau lưng vì quá chăm chỉ. Thật sự tôi có duyên với mọi người nhất là với mãnh đất nầy. Mới có dip nhìn thấu tận vẽ đep cực kỳ hùng vĩ đặc trưng của rừng Tây Bắc như một bức tranh thiên nhiên của tạo hóa, có dip đến tham quan làng cổ Đồng Văn, leo 384 bậc thang lên xem cột cờ Lũng Cú, đến nhìn thác Bản Giốc(Cao Bằng) hùng vĩ nay bị mất đi một phần ở mãnh đất đia đầu của Tổ Quốc được bao lần giữ gìn bởi ông cha chúng ta. Rất vui buồn lẫn lộn khi thấy hai đứa trẻ cở chừng 16, 18 tuổi chạy xe gắn máy từ Thái Nguyên ngủ bờ ngủ bụi đi phượt để trèo lên như mình qua 300 bậc thang để chụp hình cột cờ Lũng Cú rồi quay về Thái Nguyên, một niềm hảnh diện của tuổi trẻ làm mình chảy nước mắt vì tinh thần yêu nước của tui trẻ nầy vẫn còn nồng nàn, vẫn còn mãnh liệt trước hiểm họa của người phương bắc.
Hà Giang ngày 24/7/2018

Passages couverts de Paris (Các hành lang cổ kính của Ba Lê)

j050807 Art, Culture, Lịch sữ, Văn Hóa, Villes , , 0 commentaire

Passage Colbert

Version vietnamienne

Méconnus jusqu’à une date récente, les passages de Paris redeviennent aujourd’hui l’un des attraits touristiques et architecturaux de Paris. Dans les années 1850, Paris possède au moins 150 passages couverts et exporte le modèle vers d’autres villes françaises (Bordeaux, Nantes etc …) et vers l’étranger (Italie, Turquie, Grande-Bretagne etc …). C’est aussi  un modèle importé de Paris, le passage Eden dans lequel on était habitué à flâner à Saïgon (Vietnam) dans les années 1970.  Ces passages parisiens se regroupent sur la rive droite de la Seine, en particulier dans le quartier des Grands Boulevards. Plusieurs passages ont été démolis au profit de l’urbanisation entamée par les grands travaux du baron Haussman et de l’essor de grands magasins ( Le Bon Marché, la Samaritaine, le Printemps etc …). Il ne reste qu’une vingtaine de passages aujourd’hui à Paris. Ils font partie désormais du patrimoine architectural et mémoriel de la capitale.

Một cuộc du ngoạn thú vị ở Paris
qua các hành lang

 

Les passages couverts  de Paris

  • Passage  Choiseul  (Rue Saint Augustin)
  • Passage Colbert (Rue des Petits Champs)
  • Passage Vivienne (Rue Vivienne)
  • Passage des Panoramas ( Boulevard Montmartre)
  • Passage Jouffroy (Boulevard Montmartre)
  • Passage des princes (Boulevard des Italiens) 
  • Passage du Grand-Cerf ( Rue du Saint Denis ) 
  • Passage Brady ( Rue du Faubourg Saint Denis) 
  • Passage Verdeau (rue de la Grange-Batelière) etc…..

Version vietnamienne

Ít được biết đến trong thời gian qua, các hành lang của Paris trở lại hiên nay là một trong những nơi thu hút du khách ngoại quốc khi đến Paris. Trong những năm 1850, Paris có ít nhất 150 hành lang bao phủ và xuất khẩu mô hình nầy qua nhiều thành phố khác của Pháp như (Bordeaux, Nantes vân vân …) và các nước ngoài như Ý Đại Lợi, Thổ Nhi Kỳ, Anh Quốc vân vân….  Cũng với mô hình nầy mà hành lang Eden được xây cất có một trăm năm và người Saïgon có dip đến đây du ngoạn trong thập niên 70. Các hành lang Paris nầy được tập trung ở hữu ngạn của sông Seine, nhất là trong khu vực được gọi là « Les Grands Boulevards ». Nhiều hành lang bị phá hủy sau nầy trong việc thực hiện các công trình đồ sộ của bá tước Haussman và đáp lại sự phát triển của các cửa hàng lớn như Le Bon Marché, la Samaritaine, le Printemps vân vân … Nay chỉ còn lại khoảng chừng 20 hành lang ở Paris. Các hành lang nầy đươc xem hiện nay là di sản kiến trúc và lưu niệm của thành phố Paris.

Sa Huynh culture (Văn Hóa Sa Hùynh)

j050807 Art, Chămpa, Culture, Sa Huỳnh, Văn Hóa 0 commentaire

Văn Hóa Sa Hùynh

 
sahuynh_titreFrench version

Reputed for its salt marshes and its beautiful beach , Sa Huỳnh (*) located in Quảng Ngãi province ( Center of Vietnam) is also the region where French archeologist M. Vinet discovered in 1909  not far An Khê swamp (Long Thành) , an  strange depot composed of 200 funerary jars originating from a brilliant maritime civilization thanks to a Champa inscription.  Having a happy concurrence of circumstances and interested in archeology, the spouse of an controller of the customs  local office,  Mrs  Labarre , had  the opportunity to take over the   archaeological excavation in 1923. She did not take long to rediscover at the top of coastal dunes an other depot of 120 earthenware jars being still intact and near the village of  Phú Khương in the same region. A third site of 187 jars  which  was later reported by French archeologist  Madeleine Colani  in 1934 was at Tràng Long on a sand dune  locally known under the name of « 

 Un troisième site de 187 jarres rapporté plus tard par l’archéologue française Madeleine Colani en 1934 se trouvait à Tràng Long sur une dune de sable appelée localement sous le nom du « plateau des colliers » à cause d’une quantité énorme de colliers trouvés sur place.

 

 

Duy Tân (1907-1916) (English version)

j050807 Histoire, Lịch sữ, Vietnam , , 0 commentaire

duytan_empereur

Version française

 A great homage to the man who has dedicated all his life for his people and his country.

Một đời vì nước vì dân
Vĩnh San đứa trẻ không cần ngôi vua
Tù đày tử nhục khi thua
Tử rồi khí phách ông vua muôn đời

With the agreement of the Vietnamese authorities, the ashes of emperor Duy Tân interred up to now in the Republic of Central Africa were gathered with great pomp on April 4th, 1987 in Huế, the city of imperial mausoleums of the Nguyen dynasty. This has brought an end to a long and painful banishment that has had prince Vĩnh San often known as Duy Tân ( or Friend of Reforms ) since his uprising plan against the colonial authorities was discovered on May 4, 1916 because of the treason of a collaborator, Nguyễn Ðình Trứ.

Duy Tân is an outstanding character that none of the last emperors of the Nguyễn dynasty could be equal to. One can only regret his sudden disappearance due to a plane crash that took place at the end of 1945 on his way back from a mission from Vietnam. His death continues to feed doubt and remains one of the mysteries not elucidated until today. One found in him at that time not only the unequal popularity he knew how to acquire from his people, the royal legitimacy, but also an undeniable francophile, an alternative solution that general De Gaulle contemplated to propose to the Vietnamese at the last moment to counter the young revolutionary Hồ Chí Minh in Indochina. If he had been alive, Vietnam probably would not have known the ill-fated decades of its history and been the victim of the East-West confrontation and the cold war.

It is a profound regret that every Vietnamese could only feel when talking about him, his life and his fate. It is also a misfortune for the Vietnamese people to have lost a great statesman, to have written their history with blood and tears during the last decades.

His ascension to the throne remains a unique occurrence in the Annals of history of Vietnam. Taking advantage of suspicious anti-french schemes and the disguised lunacy of his father, emperor Thành Thái, the colonial authorities compelled the latter to abdicate in 1907 and go into exile in the Reunion at the age of 28. They requested that Prime Minister Trương Như Cường assume the regency. However this one while categorically refusing this proposal, kept demanding the colonial authorities to strictly respect the definite agreement in the Patenôtre Treaty of Protectorate (1884) providing that the throne comes back to one of the emperor’s sons in case he ceases reigning ( Phụ truyền tử kế ). Facing popular opinion and the infallible fidelity of Trương Như Cương to the Nguyen dynasty, the colonial authorities were forced to choose one of his sons as emperor. They did not hide their intention of choosing the one that seemed docile and without caliber. Except Vĩnh San, all of about 20 other sons of emperor Thành Thái were present at the moment of selection made by the General Resident Sylvain Levecque. The name Vĩnh San missed at the roll-call, which forced everyone to look for him everywhere.

Finally he was found under the beam of a frame, his face covered with mud and soak with sweat. He was chasing the crickets. Seeing him in this sordid condition, Sylvain Levecque did not hide his satisfaction because he thought only a fool would choose the day of ascession to the throne to go chasing the crickets. Upon the recommendation of his close collaborator Charles, he decided to designate him as emperor of Annam as he found in front of him a seven-year old child, timid, reserved, having no political ambition and thinking only to devote himself to games like children of his age. It was an erroneous judgment as stated in the comment of a French journalist at that time in his local newspaper:

 A day on the throne has completely changed the face of an eight-year old child. 

One noticed a few years later that the journalist was right because Duy Tân has dedicated all his life for his people and his country until his last breath of life.
At the time of his ascension to the throne he was only 7. To give him a stature of an emperor, they had to give him one more year of age. That is why in the Annals of history of Vietnam, he was brought to the throne at 8 years of age. To deal with this erroneous designation, the colonial authorities installed a council of regency constituted of Vietnamese personalities close to General Resident Sylvain Levecque ( Tôn Thất Hân, Nguyễn Hữu Bài, Huỳnh Côn, Miên Lịch, Lê Trinh, Cao Xuân Dục) to assist the emperor in the management of the country and requested that Eberhard, the father-in-law of Charles be Duy Tân’s tutor. It was a way to closely supervise the activities of this young man.

Trần Cao Vân

In spite of that, Duy Tân succeeded in evading the surveillance network placed by the colonial authorities. He was one of the fierce partisans for the revision of the Patenotre agreements (1884). He was the architect of several reforms: Tax and chore duty reduction, elimination of wasteful court protocols, reduction of his own salary etc… He forcefully protested the profanation of emperor Tự Ðức’s tomb by General Resident Mahé in his search for gold, with the governor of Indochina Albert Sarraut. He claimed the right to look at the management of the country. This marked the prelude of dissension which grew more and more visible between him and the French Superior Resident. On May 4, 1916, with Trần Cao Vân and Thái Phiên, he fomented a rebellion which was discovered and put down due to the treason of one of his collaborators. Despite his capture and flattering advice of the Governor of Indochina asking him to reexamine his comportment and conduct, he continued be impassible and said: 

If you compelled me to remain emperor of Annam, you should consider me as an adult emperor. I should need neither the council of regency nor your advice. I should manage the country’s business on the same footing with all foreign countries including France.

Facing his unwavering conviction, the colonial authorities had to assign the Minister of Instructions of that time, the father-in-law of future emperor Khải-Ðịnh, Hồ Ðắc Trung to institute proceedings against his treason toward France. For not compromising Duy Tân, the two older collaborators Trần Cao Vân and Thái Phiên made it known to Hồ Đắc Trung their intent to voluntarily accept the verdict provided that emperor Duy Tân was exempt from the capital punishment. They kept saying:

The sky is still there. So are the earth and the dynasty. We wish long live to the emperor.

 

Faithful to the Nguyen dynasty, Hồ Ðắc Trung only condemned the emperor to exile in justifying the fact that he was a minor and that the responsibility of the plot rested with the older collaborators Trần Cao Vân and Thái Phiên.

The men were guillotined at An Hoà. As for emperor Duy Tân, he was condemned to exile to the Reunion on November 3, 1916 on board of the steamship Avardiana. The day before his departure, the representative of the General Resident visited him and asked:

Sir, if you need money you may take it from the state coffer.

Duy Tân replied politely :

The money that you find in the coffer is intended to help the king to govern the country but it does not belong to me in anyway especially to a political prisoner.

To entertain the king, the representative did not hesitate to remind him that it was possible to choose preferred books in the library and take them with him during his exile because he knew the king loved to read very much. He agreed to that proposal and told him:

I love reading very much. If you have the chance to bring books for me, don’t forget to bring the entirety of all the volumes of « History of the French Revolution » of Michelet.

The representative dared not report to the Resident what Duy Tan had told him.

His exile marked not only the end of the imperial resistance and the struggle monopolized and animated up until then by the scholars for the defense of the Confucian order and the imperial state but also the beginning of a national movement and the emergence of a state nationalism placed in birth by the great patriot scholar Phan Bội Châu. It was also a lost chance for France for not taking the initiative to give freedom to Vietnam in the person of Duy Tân, a francophile of the first hour.

His destiny is that of the Vietnamese people. For a certain time, one has deliberately made all streets bearing his name disappear in big cities ( Hànội, Huế, Sàigon ) in Vietnam, but one cannot forever erase his cherished name in his people’s heart and in our collective memory. He is not the rival of anybody but he is on the contrary 

the last great emperor of Vietnam.

To this title I dedicate to him the following four verses:

Devoting his whole life to his country and people,
Duy Tan the kid did not hang on to his throne.
Facing exile and humility when defeated,
His uprightness lives forever in history unabated.

Thành Thái (1879-1954) (English version)

j050807 Histoire, Lịch sữ, Vietnam , , 0 commentaire

 

 

Version française

Thành Thái 

A great homage to a man who devoted his whole life for his country and people through my Six-Eight verses:

Ta điên vì nước vì dân
Ta nào câm điếc một lần lên ngôi
Trăm ngàn tủi nhục thế thôi
Lưu đày thể xác than ôi cũng đành

His madness for the love of  his country  and people.

I am mad for the love of my country and people
Once on the throne, I can’t stay deaf-mute
It wouldn’t matter I feel self pity and shame
And my body suffers years of exile with resignation

Prior to becoming emperor Thành Thái, he was known as Bửu Lân. He was the son of emperor Dục Ðức who had been vilely assassinated by the two Confucianist mandarins Tôn Thất Thuyết and Nguyễn Văn Tường, and the grand son of the mandarin Phan Ðình Bình. Because the latter was maladroitly opposed to the enthronement of emperor Ðồng Khánh by the colonial authorities, Ðồng Khánh was fast to take revenge by cowardly getting rid of this old mandarin and by putting Bửu Lân and his mother under house surveillance within the surrounding wall of the purple city at the Trần Võ palace in order to avoid all seeds of revolt. That was why at Ðồng Khánh’s death and upon the announcement of the choice of her son as the successor by the colonial authorities, Buu Lan’s mother was surprised and cried so much because she was always obsessed by the idea that her son would probably meet the same fate as her husband, emperor Dục Đức and her father, the mandarin Phan Ðình Bình. If Buu Lan was preferred to other princes, it was incontestably due to the ingenuities of Diệp Văn Cương, the presumed lover of his aunt, princess Công Nữ Thiên Niệm because Diệp Vân Cương was Resident General Rheinart‘s personal secretary, in charge of conducting business with the Imperial Court to find a compromise on the person to be chosen to succeed emperor Ðồng Khánh.

Thus he involuntarily became our new emperor known as Thành Thái. He was fast to realize that his power was very limited, that the Patenôtre treaty was never respected and that he had no right with regard to the management and future of his country. Contrary to his predecessor Ðồng Khánh, close to the colonial authorities, he took a passive resistance by trying to thwart their policies in a systematic manner with his provoking remarks and amicable gestures. His fist virulent altercation with the Resident General Alexis Auvergne was noticed at the inaugural ceremony of the new bridge spanning across the Perfume river. Proud of technical prowess and confident of the sturdiness of the bridge, Alexis Auvergne did not hesitate to tell Thành Thái with his habitual cynicism:

When you would have seen this bridge collapse, your country would be independent.

To show the importance that the colonial authorities has given to the new bridge, they named it « Thành Thái ». This made the emperor mad. Using as a pretext that everyone can walk over his head when crossing the bridge, he forbade his subjects to call the bridge by its new name and incited them to use the old name « Tràng Tiền ».

Tràng Tiền bridge (Huế)

Some years later, the bridge collapsed during a violent storm. Thành Thái was fast to recall Alexis Auvergne of what he had said with his black humor. Alexis Auvergne was red with shame and had to clear off at these embarrassing remarks. The dissension with the authorities grew day by day until the replacement of the old Resident General by Sylvain Levecque. The latter was fast to place a network of strict surveillance when he learned that Thanh Thai continued to approach his people through the bias of his reforms and his disguise in plain clothes or as a beggar in villages. He was the first emperor of Vietnam to take the initiative of having his hair cut the European fashion, which astonished so many of his mandarins and subjects when he first appeared. But he also was the first emperor to encourage his subjects to follow French education. He was the artisan of several architectural projects. He was also the first emperor of the Nguyen dynasty who wanted to pay enormous attention to the daily life of his subjects and to know their daily difficulties. It was reported that during an escorted excursion, he met on his way a poor man who was hauling a heavy load of bamboo. He body guard wanted to ease the way but he stopped him by saying:

I am neither citizen nor emperor as I should be in this country. Why do you chase him away?

During his excursions, he often used to sit on a mat, surrounded by the villagers and to discuss all the issues with them. It was in one of his excursion that he brought back to the purple city an oarswoman who accepted to marry him and became his concubine. He was well known as an excellent drummer.

That is why he summoned all the best drummers in the country to the purple city, asked them to play drums before his court and reward them generously according to their merit. It was reported that one day, he met a drummer who used to tilt his head when playing. Wanting to help him correct this funny habit, he told him jokingly:

If you keep on playing that way, I will have to have your head rolled.

From then on, the drummer, worrying incessantly about the next call, was overwhelmed by fear and died of a heart attack. One day, knowing the death of the drummer, Thanh Thai was taken my remorse, summoned his family and gave them a large sum of money to take care of their daily needs.

His way of joking, his frequent disguises, his sometimes strange behavior incomprehensible to the colonial authorities gave them an opportunity to brand him a lunatic.

As for Thành Thái, he was deported first to Vũng Tàu (former Cap St. Jacques) in the Fall of 1907, then later to the Reunion Island with his son, emperor Duy Tân in 1916. He was only allowed to return to Vietnam in 1945 after the death of Duy Tân and to stay confined within Vũng Tàu, South Vietnam during the last years of his life.

Is it possible to brand him lunatic when it is known through his poem titled « Hoài Cổ » ( Remember the Past ) that Thành Thái was so lucid and never stopped to groan with the pain facing the alarming situation of his country? Other eight seven-foot verses we know such as The storm of the year of the Dragon in 1904 ( Vịnh Trần Bão Năm Thìn ) or Profession of Faith ( Cảm Hoài ) not only show Thành Thai’s perfect mastery in the strict application of the difficult rules in Vietnamese poetry but also the painful pride of a great emperor who, in spite of a forced exile for almost half a century ( 1907-1954 ) by the colonial authorities, continued to display his conviction and unshakable faith in the liberation of his country. Through him it is already seen forging on this land of legends the instruments of a future revolt.

For him, his incurable illness was the goal to realize his intention, to give his people the dignity so long waited and to show future generations the sacrifice and the price which even he, a person considered alienated by the colonial authorities, had to pay for that country ( 47 years of exile ). In the political context of the time, he should not reveal himself of this « illness ».

Up to now, no historic document show us Thành Thái’s insanity but rather it reveals a great emperor’s lunacy of the love of his country and people, neverending affliction of a great patriot facing the destiny of his country.

Yin and Yang numbers (Âm Dương: Part 3)

j050807 Culture, Traditions, Văn Hóa, Vietnam , , 0 commentaire

Version française

Yin and Yang numbers (Con số Âm Dương)

One is accustomed to say in Vietnamese: sống chết đều có số cả (Everyone has his D day  for life  and death). Ði buôn có số, ăn cỗ có phần   (One has his vocation in trade as one has his part in feast). In daily life, everyone a his size for his clothing and his shoes. Contrary to the Chinese, the Vietnamese emphasize odd numbers (số dương) rather than  even numbers (sô’ âm). 

One frequently  finds the use of even numbers in the Vietnamese phrases: ba mặt một lời (One needs to be in front of someone with the presence of a witness),  ba hồn bảy vía ( three souls and 7 vital supports for men i.e one is terrified), Ba chìm bảy nổi chín lênh đênh ( very  hectic), năm thê bảy thiếp ( to have  5 spouses and 7 concubines i.e. to have many  women ), năm lần bảy lượt ( many times), năm cha ba mẹ ( heterogenuos), ba chóp bảy nhoáng ( with precipitation and  no care ), Môt lời nói dối , sám hối 7 ngày (A  speech deceitful amounts to  seven days of  repentance), Một câu nhịn chín câu lành (To avoid an offensive sentence is having kind sentences ) etc …or that of integral  multiples of the number 9:18 (9×2) đời Hùng Vương ( 18 legendary kings Hùng Vương ), 27 (9×3) đại tang 3 năm (27 tháng)(or a beareavement endured  on three years or 27 months only), 36 (9×4) phố phường Hànội (Hànội with 36 neighbourhoods) etc …One don’t forget to mention the numbers 5 and 9, having each of them a role very important.   The figure 5 is the  number the most mysterious because all starts from this number. Heaven and Earth have the five elements  or agents giving birth to thousand things and objects. It is placed in the center of the River map and Writings of Luo which are the basis for the mutation of five elements (Thủy, Hỏa, Mộc, Kim, Thổ)( Water, Fire, Wood, Metal and Earth). It is associated to the element Earth in the central position that the peasant needs to  known for the  management of cardinal points.  This goes to the man to have the centre in the management of things and species and four  cardinals.  That is why, in the feudal society, this place is reserved to the king because it is he who  has govern  the people. Consequently, the number 5 belonged to him as well as the yellow colour symbolizing the Earth. This  explains the colour choosen by Vietnamese  and Chinese emperors for their clothes.

Ho Tou Lo Chou

(Hà Đồ Lạc Thư)

In the addition to the centre occupied by man, an symbolic animal is associated to the each of four cardinal points: the North by the turtle, the South by the phoenix, the West by the dragon and the East by the tiger. One is’nt surprised to see at least in this attribution the presence of three animals living in the region where the agricultural life plays a notable role and water is vital. It is the land of Bai Yue group. Even the dragon very mean in others cultures becomes a kind and noble animal imagined by  peaceful peoples  Bai Yue. The number 5 is yet known  under the name « Tham Thiên Lưỡng Đia » (or  three Heaven two  Earth or 3 Yang 2 Yin) in the Yin and Yang theory because the acquisition of the number 5 coming from the union of  numbers 3 and 2 corresponds better to the reasonable percentage of Yin and Yang than that of the association of numbers 4 and 1. In this latter, the number Yang 1 very dominated by the number 4. It is’nt the case of the union of the numbers 3 and 2 because the number Yang 3 slightly overpowers the number Yin 2. This encourages the universe development in an almost perfect harmony. In ancient times, the fifth day, the fourteen en day (1+4=5) and the twenty-third  (2+3=5) day in the month were reserved for the way out of the king. It is’nt allowed to subjects  for trading during his travel and disturbing his walk. It is  perhaps the reason for which a great number of the Vietnamese continue to avoid these days for the home construction, the trip and major purchases. One is accustomed to say: 

Chớ đi ngày bảy chớ về ngày ba
Mồng năm, mười bốn hai ba
Đi chơi cũng lỗ nữa là đi buôn
Mồng năm mười bốn hai ba
Trồng cây cây đỗ, làm nhà nhà xiêu

You  avoid going  out the 7th day and coming back the 3th in the month. For the 15th, 14th and 23th days in the month, you  will be losing if you go out or you trade.  Likewise, you will see the failing tree or the tilting of your home if you make the planting tree or the house construction.

The number 5 is frequently mentioned in the Vietnamese culinary art. The most typical sauce remains the fish brine (nước mắm). In the preparation of this national sauce, one mentiones the presence of 5 flavours classified according to the 5 elements of Yin and Yang:mặn ( salty ) with the fish juice  (nước mắm), đắng (bitter)  with the lemon zest (vỏ chanh), chua (acidulous) with the lemon juice, cay (spicy) with pigments crushed  in powder or chopped  in strips and ngọt (sweet ) with sugar in powder. These  5 flavours ( mặn, đắng, chua, cay, ngọt ) combined and found in the Vietnamese national sauce  correspond to 5 elements defined in the Yin and Yang theory (Thủy, Hỏa , Mộc , Kim Thổ ) ( Water, Fire,  Wood, Metal and Earth ).

Likewise, one rediscovers these 5 flavours in the bittersweet soup (canch chua) prepared from fish: acidulous with tamarin seeds or vinegar, sweet with slices of ananas, spicy with pigments chopped in strips,  salty with fish juice and bitter with some okras  (đậu bắp)  or flowers of « fayotier in French »  (bông so đũa). When the soup is served, one will add some fragrant herbs like the panicaut (ngò gai), rau om (herb having  the  flavor  of coriander with  a  lemony   taste in addition). It is a characteristic trait of the bittersweet soup of Sud Vietnam which  is different from those found in others regions of Vietnam.

One cannot forget to mentione the sweet rice cake that the Proto-Vietnamese had succeeded to bequeath to descendants over millennia of their civilization.  This  sweet rice cake is the intangible proof of Yin and Yang theory and 5 elements belonging to Bai Yue group (Hundred Yue), the Proto-Vietnamese of which formed part  because there is  the generation cycle (Ngũ hành tương sinh)  in its composition. 

(Fire->Earth->Metal->Water->Wood)

Inside the cake, one finds a piece of porkmeat in red color ( Fire ) around which there is  a kind of paste made with broad beans in yellow color ( Earth ). The whole thing is wrapped by the sticky rice in white color ( Metal ) to be cooked with boiling water ( Water ) before having a green colouring on its surface thanks to the latanier leaves (Wood).

An other cake is not missing th weddings. This is the cake susê or phu thê (husband-spouse) having inside a round form  and enveloped by banana leaves (green colour) in order to give it the  well-tied cube appearance  with a red ribbon (red color).  The circle is  thus placed within the square (Dương trong âm)(Yang in Yin). This cake is made from tapioca flour,  perfumed in pandan and strewn with  black sesame seeds (black color). One finds in the hearth of this cake a paste made of steamed soybeans  (yellow color) and jam of lotus seeds and grated coconut.(white color). This paste is very similar to the  frangipane found in « galettes des rois ». Its sticky texture reminds the link that one can represent in the union. This cake is the symbol of the perfection in conjugal love and loyalty responding the perfect agreement with the Heaven and the Earth and 5 elements symbolized by 5 colors (red, green, black, yellow and white).

This cake is related by the following tale: in the past, there was a merchant engaged in debauchery and doing not like to go home although before his departure, his spouse gave him the cake susê  and promised to remain cordial and sweet like the cake. That is why, when she has heard this story, she did send others cakes phu thê accompagnied by two following verses: 

Từ ngày chàng bước xuống ghe
Sóng bao nhiêu đợt bánh phu thê rầu bấy nhiêu

Since your departure, waves were encountered by your boat as much as afflictions were known by the cake susê  
Lầu Ngũ Phụng

 

In architecture, the number 5 is not forgetten either. It is the case of Ngọ Môn gate (noon gate) in the forbidden city (Huế). This gate is  a powerful  masonry  foundation drilled with five passages and surmonted by an elegant wooden structure with two levels, the Belvedere of five Phoenixes (Lầu Ngủ Phụng). Viewed from the sky, this latter  with two additional wings, seems to form five phoenix in flight with intertwined beaks. This belvedere possesses 100 wood columns(gỗ lim)(ironwood) painted and tinted in yellow for allowing  to carry its nine roofs. This number 100 was well examinated  by Vietnamese specialists. According to renowned  archeologist  Phan Thuận An, it exactly corresponds to the total number obtained by adding two numbers found respectively  in the River map (Hà Đồ)  and Writings of Luo  (Lạc thư cửu tinh đồ) symbolizing the perfect harmony of the union Yin and Yang.  It is not the Liễu Thượng Văn advice.  According to this latter, this represents the strength of 100 families or people (bách tính) and reflects the notion dân vi bản (consider people as basis) in the Nguyễn dynasty’s governance.  The roof of the central pavilion is covered by yellow tiles « lưu ly », the rest being with blue tiles « lưu ly ». Being  just in the middle,  the main gate  (or noon gate) is reserved to the king and  paved with stones   « Thanh » tinted in yellow color. From both sides, one finds  left and right doors (Tả, Hữu, Giáp Môn) reserved to civilian and military mandarins.  Then two others lateral  gates Tả Dịch Môn và Hữu Dịch Môn are intended to soldiers and horses. One is accustomed to say in Vietnamese: 

tucam

Ngọ Môn năm cửa chín lầu
Một lầu vàng, tám lầu xanh, ba cửa thẳng, hai cửa quanh »

The noon gate  possesses 5 passages and 9 roofs the one of which is varnished in yellow and the 8 others in blue.  There are  three main  doors  and two side entries.

In the east and west of the citadel, ones finds Humanty and Virtue gates which are reserved respectively for men and women. 

The number 9 is a Yang number (or odd number). It representes the Yang strength at the maximum.  It is difficult to reach it.  That is why, in the past, the emperor often uses for showing his power and supremacy. He climbs 9 stairs symbolizing the ascent of sacred mountain in which there was his throne. It is said that the forbidden city like that of Pékin possessed 9999 rooms. It is useful to recall that the forbidden city of Pékin was supervised by  Nguyễn An, a Vietnamese exiled  still  young at the time of the Ming. As his palaces, the emperor turns towards the South in Yang energy in order to receive the vital breath of Sky because he is the Heaven son. In Vietnam, one finds nine dynastic urns of Huế citadel, nine branchs of Mekon river, nine roofs of  Belvedere of five Phoenixes etc … In the tale intituled   « The God of Mountains and the God of Rivers « (Sơn Tinh Thủy Tinh) », 18th (2×9) Hùng Vương king, proposed for the dowry marriage of his daughter Mị Nương: an elephant with nine tusks, a rooster with nine spurs and a horse with nine red manes.  The number 9 symbolizes the Heaven,  the birthday of which is the ninth (9th) day of February month.

Being less important than 5 and 9, the number 3 (or Ba and Tam in Vietnamese) isclosely tied to the daily life of the Vietnamese.  They do not hesitate to evoke it in a large number of popular expressions. For meaning a certain limit, a certain degree, they have the habit of saying: 

Không ai giàu ba họ, không ai khó ba đời:
No person can claim to be rich  to three generations as  no one is  more  stringent to three successive lives. 

It goes to the Vietnamese to often  accomplish this certain thing at once, this obliges them to do many times this operation. It is the following expression that they uses frequently: Nhất quá tam.  It is the number 3, a limit they don’t like to exceed  in the accomplishment of this task. For saying that someone is irresponsible,  they designate him under the term “Ba trợn“.  Someone who is opportunistic is called « Ba phải » . The expression  « Ba đá » is reserved to vulgar people while those who continue to be entangled in minor matters or endless difficulties  receive the title « Ba lăng nhăng« . For weighing his words, the Vietnamese needs to bend three inches of his  tongue. (Uốn ba tấc lưỡi). 

The number 3 also is synonymous with insignificant and unimportant something.It is what one finds in following popular expressions: 

Ăn sơ sài ba hột: To eat a little bit.
Ăn ba miếng: idem
Sách ba xu: book without values. (the book costs only three  pennies).
Ba món ăn chơi: Some  dishes  for tasting. 

Analogous to number 3, the number 7 is often mentioned in Vietnamese literature. One cannot ignore either the expression Bảy nỗi ba chìm với nước non  (I  float 7 times  and I descend thee times if this  expression is translated in verbatim) that Hồ Xuân Hương poetess  has used and immortalized in her poem intituled « Bánh trôi nước” :

Thân em vừa trắng lại vừa tròn
Bây nỗi ba chìm với nước non
………. 

for describing difficulties encountered by the Vietnamese woman in a feudal and Confucian society. This one did not spare either those having an independent mind, freedom and justice.   It is the case of  Cao Bá Quát , an active scholar who was degusted from the scholastica of his time and dreamed of replacing the Nguyễn authoritarian monarchy by an enlightened monarchy. Accused of being the actor of the grasshoppers insurrection  (Giặc Châu Chấu) in 1854, he was condemned to death and he did no hesitate his reflection on the fate reserved to those who dared to criticize  the despotism and feudal society in his poem before his death: 

Ba hồi trống giục đù cha kiếp
Một nhát gươm đưa, đéo mẹ đời. 

Three gongs are reserved to the miserable fate
A sabre slice finishes this dog’s life. 

If the Yin and Yang theory continues to haunt their mind for its mystical and impenetrable character, it remains however a way of thinking and living to which a good number  of the Vietnamese continue to refer daily for common practices and respect of ancestral traditions.

Bibliography

-Xu Zhao Long : Chôkô bunmei no hakken, Chûgoku kodai no nazo in semaru (Découverte de la civilisation du Yanzi. A la recherche des mystères de l’antiquité chinoise, Tokyo, Kadokawa-shoten 1998).
-Yasuda Yoshinori : Taiga bunmei no tanjô, Chôkô bunmei no tankyû (Naissance des civilisations des grands fleuves. Recherche sur la civilisation du Yanzi), Tôkyô, Kadokawa-shoten, 2000).
-Richard Wilhelm : Histoire de la civilisation chinoise 1931
-Nguyên Nguyên: Thử đọc lại truyền thuyết Hùng Vương
– Léonard Rousseau: La première conquête chinoise des pays annamites (IIIe siècle avant notre ère). BEFO, année 1923, Vol 23, no 1
-Paul Pozner : Le problème des chroniques vietnamiennes., origines et influences étrangères. BEFO, année 1980, vol 67, no 67, p 275-302
-Dich Quốc Tã : Văn Học sữ Trung Quốc, traduit en vietnamien par Hoàng Minh Ðức 1975.
-Norman Jerry- Mei tsulin (1976) : The Austro asiatic in south China : some lexical evidence, Monumenta Serica 32 :274-301
-Henri Maspero : Chine Antique : 1927.
-Jacques Lemoine : Mythes d’origine, mythes d’identification. L’homme 101, paris, 1987 XXVII pp 58-85
-Fung Yu Lan: A History of Chinese Philosophy ( traduction vietnamienne Đại cương triết học sử Trung Quốc” (SG, 1968).68, tr. 140-151)).
-Alain Thote: Origine et premiers développements de l’épée en Chine.
-Cung Ðình Thanh: Trống đồng Ðồng Sơn : Sự tranh luận về chủ quyền trống
đồng giữa h ọc giã Việt và Hoa.Tập San Tư Tưởng Tháng 3 năm 2002 số 18.
-Brigitte Baptandier : En guise d’introduction. Chine et anthropologie. Ateliers 24 (2001). Journée d’étude de l’APRAS sur les ethnologies régionales à Paris en 1993.
-Nguyễn Từ Thức : Tãn Mạn về Âm Dương, chẳn lẻ (www.anviettoancau.net)
-Trần Ngọc Thêm: Tìm về bản sắc văn hóa Việt-Nam. NXB : Tp Hồ Chí Minh Tp HCM 2001.
-Nguyễn Xuân Quang: Bản sắc văn hóa việt qua ngôn ngữ việt (www.dunglac.org)
-Georges Condominas : La guérilla viêt. Trait culturel majeur et pérenne de l’espace social vietnamien, L’Homme 2002/4, N° 164, p. 17-36.
-Louis Bezacier: Sur la datation d’une représentation primitive de la charrue. (BEFO, année 1967, volume 53, pages 551-556)
-Ballinger S.W. & all: Southeast Asian mitochondrial DNA Analysis reveals genetic continuity of ancient Mongoloid migration, Genetics 1992 vol 130 p.139-152….

Yin and Yang theory (Âm Dương : Phần 1)

j050807 Culture, Traditions, Văn Hóa, Vietnam , , 0 commentaire

French version 
yinyangviet

Part 1 (Yin and Yang theory)
Part 2 (Yin and Yang theory)
Part 3 (Yin and Yang numbers)

The Yin and Yang theory continues to manage the daily life of the Vietnamese,   down to the last detail. The Yin nature is everything being  fluid, cold, humid, passive, dark, interior, immobile and originating from  feminine  essence as the  sky, moon,  night,  water and  winter. But everything being solid, hot, light, active, exterior, mobile and coming from the male essence as  soil, sky, fire and  summer belongs to the Yang nature. This  bipolarity is even  found   in the Vietnamese grammar by using the words « con » and « cái ».  Similar to French articles defined « le » and « la », these are employed to indicate the type in certain cases but one can rely on the nature « mobile » or « immobile » of the object accompanied for indicating its belonging in the corresponding semantic class. The word cái is used in case where the object carries the character « immobile » (tĩnh vật) : cái nhà (house), cái hang (cave), cái nồi ( pot) etc… However, when the state « mobile » (động vật) belongs to the object nature, the word « con » is used instead of « cái ». It is the case of the following words: con mắt (eye), con tim ( heart), con trăng ( viper),  con ngươi ( pupil), con dao ( knife) etc… The eye moves incessantly as the throbbing heart. Similarly, the viper moves as well as the pupil. The knife is considered by the Vietnamese as a sacred animal. It is nourrished with blood, wine and rice.  The same name beared by an object can lead to two different interpretations depending on the use of the word « cái » or « con« . The following example reflects the character « mobile » or « immobile » of the object « thuyền » ( or boat ) employed : Con thuyền trôi theo dòng nước (The boat moves on the water). This mean  someone drives forward the boat with oar or  engine. However, when one says  « cái thuyền trôi theo dòng nước » (The boat moves on the water), one insists on the fact that nobody does not manoeuvre the boat. It is the flood waters that drives forward the boat alone. This notes the character « immobile » of the boat. The influence of Yin and Yang is no stranger to the way of attributing the sex to common objects. It is the case of the knife (dao): dao cái (large knife), dao đực ou dao rựa (or machete).  This remark has been notified by French archeologist and sinologist Alain Thote in his article intituled « Origine et premiers développements de l’épée en Chine « : The Yue  swords enjoyed the very  high celebrity in ancien times. Some swords had the name  and one was brought to consider their belonging to the male or female sex. The expression  « đực rựa »  used frequently in conversations for designating the men,  is from the custom  of the old Vietnamese  carrying machetes during the walk.

The gender  association is  also visible for a long time in Vietnam in rice cultivation: the man ploughs and the woman pricks out in the field. The plougshare penetrating the soil (Yin)  symbolizes the male sex (Yang) while the woman transmits the power of fertilization (Yin) to rice plants (Yang)  by transplantation. For showing the complete perfection in the harmonious union of Yin and Yang, one has the habit of saying in Vietnamese: Being together, husband and wife achieve to scoop all the  water from the East sea. (thuận vợ thuận chồng tát biển Đông cũng cạn).

Being ric farmers, the Proto-Vietnamese were attached not only to the soil but also to the environment because thanks to the natural  phenomena ( rain, sky, wind, cloud etc…) , they had successful  harvests or not. The extensive agriculture in slash/burning or in flooded terrains  depended on  the vagaries of climate. That is why they needed to live in harmony with nature. They considered that they were the link between  Heaven and Earth (Thiên-Nhân-Địa). From this notion, one has the habit of saying: Thiên Thời, Địa Lợi, Nhân Hòa (to be aware of  weather,to  know the environment and to  have popular support or national harmony). There are three  key   factors of success  to which Vietnamese strategists (Trần Hưng Đạo, Nguyễn Trãi or Quang Trung) referred,  in their struggle against foreign invaders. The Vietnamese  take into consideration this triad in their way of thinking and their daily life. For them,  there is no doubt that this notion has an undeniable influence on man himself: his destinity is imposed by the will of Heaven and depend on his date  of birth. With the exterior and interior environment of his home, he can receive the harmful or beneficial  breath (qi) generated by the Earth. The art of harmonizing the exterior and interior  environmental energy of his housing allows him to minimize his troubles and promotes his welfare and his health. A flat terrain without any undulations and no hills is the lifeless soil and shortness of breath qi (Khí). The Vietnamese call  mountains and hills with the names Dragons and Tigers. Buildings should have respectively  a green  Dragon  and  a white tiger in the  west and east facing.  The caring dragon must be more powerful than the tiger (Hữu Thanh Long, Tã Bạch Hổ), that means the Dragon mountain is higher than the Tiger hill.  The best site is that which has a hill behind one another, which enables to show the interlacing between the Dragon and the Tiger. The concept of harmony takes on its full meaning when a site backed by a mountain and surrounded on two sides by ranges of hills allowing its protection against winds for avoiding the dissipation of Chi (or cosmic energy), provides access to a lake or a river where there are  both water and nourrishment and the accumulation of cosmic energies.  This model is found by taking the example of  historic city of Huế.  The enclosure of this latter is a defensive  military structure based on the technique of strengthened fortifications of  renowned engineer, Vaubanand covers near the southern front,   the imperial city delimited by a second square-enclosed area mesuring approximatively  622m x606 m. Therein, one finds the   Forbidden Purple City forming the symbolic heart of the empire in the third and last enclosure, having  nearly  a square in shape  and mesuring 330×324 m. The imbrication of three enclosures refers to the triad  (Thiên, Nhân, Ðịa). Facing to the 105 m high  mountain Royal Screen (or Ngự Bình in Vietnamese)  that, according to the geomancers interpretation (Feng Shui)(Phong Thủy),  is the imperial shield created by  Gods,  the citadel’s southern front including the moon gate (or Ngọ Môn), follows the convex alignment along  the Perfume river (Hương giang). Being similar to the dragon lying in the West, this river undulates and goes up  in the north  by penetrating the soil through small hills and  making a 45°  bend towards the east. It   reachs  firstly  protectives isles Dã  Viên and Cồn Hến  before ending in the sea.  That creates the ideal position (Chi Huyền Thủy) corresponding to the above described scheme with a green Dragon in the West  and a white Tiger in the East. These animals are respectively represented by the shell isles Dã Viên and Cồn Hến  in the face of the natural screen symbolized by the mount of Royal Screen (Núi Ngự Bình). 

The man can affect his own life. By accomplishing acts of caring towards others,  he can find his joy and improves his karma. In ancient times, Vietnam had a sacrificial ceremony named « Nam Giao » or « Tế Giao »  intended  to Heaven and  Earth. It goes back to the king  to pay homage  to Heaven and Earth every year with his deified ancestors on the monumental esplanade built in 1806 in the southern suburb of Huế. One finds in this esplanade a  square mound representating the Earth temple, in the center of which is an other round mound symbolyzing the Heaven temple. Being firstly  subjected in complete isolation and fast,  the king climbs the sacrificial  esplanade and acts on behalf of his people for communicating  with universe natural forces in order to ask them to improve the environment on earth. The king is the only figure eligible for being an intermediary between Earth and Heaven. This Triad (Thiên, Nhân, Địa) has also evoked in Vietnamese legends. One finds the narrator willingness to show the deep attachment  of Vietnamese people to the triad notion in accordance with nature and moral. In  the legend intituled « The God of Mountains and the God of Rivers (Sơn Tinh Thủy Tinh), a girl named Mị nương is requested in marriage by these two geniuses or in the Kitchen genius myth  (Chuyện Táo quân),  one finds a woman torn between  the love of her old husband and that of her new companion. In the betel quid (Trầu Cau), the triad (wife, husband and brother) is represented by the woman, her husband and her twin brother-in-law who, once deceased,  respectively become betel,  arecanut palm  and  limestone.  The betel  quid reflects well the equilibrium notion and harmony found in the Yin and Yang theory.  For preparing the betel quid,  a little of slaked lime is smeared on a betel leaf.  Then one adds some root bark of Artocarpus tonkinese in yellow-orange colour and finally incorporates a areca nut finely sliced. All this  is introduced in the mouth and chewed slowly.  After twenty minutes of chewing, one spits out what remains. Five tastes can  be  found in the betel quid: sweet with areca nut, spicy with betel leaf,  sour with root bark,  salty with lime and acidulous  with saliva.  By the image  of  fresh betel liana coming from Earth symbolized by lime stone and embracing the slender  arecanut palm trunk in this legend, one wants to mention the intermediary   character between the Yin and Yang in a perfect accord.  The old Vietnamese adage says that   the betel quid is the prelude to the conversation (Miếng trầu là đầu câu chuyện).  The acceptation implies heavy consequences and is equivalent to a firm commitment, a word given that no one would  ever  think of taking back. If the exchange has taken place between girl and boy , this is equivalent to a proposal of marriage. In the Vietnamese tradition, the betel quid is the symbol of marital happiness. It cannot be missing in marriage riruels.

In the swamp rice civilization, others trinities are important as the triad (Heaven, Earth, Man). There is the case of  the triad  (Thủy, Hỏa, Thổ) (or (in English  Water-Fire-Soil) or that of the triad (Mộc, Kim, Thổ)(or Wood, Metal, Soil).  One needs soil  for the rice cultivation, water and fertilizers coming from  ashes caused by fire for enriching soils. Likewise, one needs plants for food and metals for making appropriate tools in agriculture.  One oberves that these triads have a common element that is the soil. That is why this latter occupies a central position in the management of 4 cardinal points. There is the pivot around which fourth others elements take place. In  the farm life,  the most important element following the soil is water.  One the habit of hearing from Vietnamese  peasant  the following saying: Nhất nước nhì phân (Firstly water, secondly fertilizers). Being of Yin nature, water is attributed to the northern direction because it is compatible with the cold (winter). On the contrary, being of Yang nature, fire found in the triad (Water-Fire-Soil) is better associated in the  southern direction with the warmth and radiation (summer). The element « Wood » evokes plants, the birthday of which takes place in spring. It derserves to occupy the eastern direction with the development of  Yang. Being  element of malleable character and  taking different forms, Metal is associated to the western direction (autumn).

The Vietnamese are  founding in the Yin and Yang theory a practice of alternation rather than a idea of opposition. Yin and its complementary Yang form an identity that  allows to result in the installation of right balance and harmony. For them,  the word represents  the totality of cyclical  sequences constitued by the combination of two alternating and complementary   events. One knows that in the relation of opposition, Yin as Yang each of them carries within himself or herself the germ of the other. (Không có gì hoàn toàn âm hoặc hoàn toàn dương, trong âm có dương và trong dương có âm).  Yin and  Yang are like  a wheel in motion. By coming at their end, they must start again. Once their limit  is reached,  they go come back again. A lot of popular sayings evoking the law of causality, concretely testify to  the Yin and Yang mutation.

That is why one is accustomed to saying in Vietnamese « Trong cái  rũi có cái may » (In the bad luck, there will have the chance), « Trong cái dỡ  có  cái hay (In what appears to be bad,  one also finds something  good) »,« Trong họa có phúc ( In the misfortune , there will have the happiness) ». « Sướng lắm khổ nhiều (The more one is  satisfied by desire,  the more  one will suffer ) », «Trèo cao ngã đau ( The more one climbs high,  the more one has a painful drop)». « Yêu nhau nhiều cắn nhau đau. The more we are in love, the more  we hurt each other’s feelings». The lost goods  sometimes  are the price of life. There is what the Vietnamese saying clearly expresses: Của đi thay người ( Goods are going out in the place of people). The factors Phúc and Họa have to vary in opposite directions. It’s because of the bipolarity Yin and Yang that the Vietnamese are accustomed to  strike  a good balance in the daily life.  They try to look for a perfect  arrangement with everyone and nature and even beyond their death. There is what one discovers in the necropolis of Lạch Trương (Thanh Hóa) dating from three centuries before J.C. with wooden burial objects (Yang) placed in the northern direction and that in terracotta (Yin)  at the southern  direction (Yang).  This equilibrium notion is even found in pagoda with geniuses of good and evil. (Ông Thiện Ông Ác). It’s thanks to this equilibium philosophy that the Vietnamese have the ability to adapt to any situation, even in the extreme case. It’s also this principle of balance that  Vietnamese leaders have continued to keep in the past during the confrontation with  foreign countries. For avoiding the humiliation of the Mongols twice defeated in Vietnam, General Trần Hưng Đạo proposed to pay tribute to  Koubilai Khan in exchange for lasting peace. After defeating the Ming, the  strategist and advisor  of Lê Lơi king, Nguyễn Trải did not hesitate  to let Wang Toung ( Vương Thông ) come back in China with 13000 captured soldiers and  proposed  a pact of vasselage with a triannual toll  of two  fine metal statues in standard size as compensation for two generals died in combat. Likewise,  Quang Trung king, guided by humility, sent an emissary to seek peace with Qianlong emperor after defeating the Qing army at Hànội in 1788 for a very short period of time.(6 days).  One cannot forget the conducting and flexibility carried out by communist leaders in diplomacy during the confrontation with the  French and  Americans. The  Geneva (1954) and Paris (1972) agreements once more testify  of the  search for balance or the middle way that the Vietnamese have found with ingenuity   in the Yin and Yang theory. In Vietnam,  the circular shaped objects (hình tròn)  are integrated  in the Yang and square shaped objects (hình vuông) in the Yin. It is the tendancy dating back  to the period when one believed that the sky was round and the soil  square and flat. The Vietnamese  were obliged to square the latter before using it in the plowing and house construction. It is in the state of mind that the Bai Yue ( to which the Proto-Vietnamese belonged ) had the habit of dividing a portion of land into nine  lots by taking for model the character  井 tĩnh (giếng nước). The central lot was expected for the construction of a water well and eight remaining lots were  destined for the housing construction, which is the first housing unit in the agricultural society.  The following Vietnamese popular saying: trời xanh như tán lọng tròn ; đất kia chằn chặn như bàn cờ vuông (The blue skue  ressembles  a round   parasol as this perfect soil similar to the square chessboard ) reflects this popular belief. NEXT (More reading Part 2)

Bibilography

–Alain Thote: Origine et premiers développements de l’épée en Chine.
–Cung Ðình Thanh: Trống đồng Ðồng Sơn : Sự tranh luận về chủ quyền trống đồng giữa học giã Việt và Hoa.Tập San Tư Tưởng Tháng 3 năm 2002 số 18. 
-Brigitte Baptandier : En guise d’introduction. Chine et anthropologie. Ateliers 24 (2001). Journée d’étude de l’APRAS sur les ethnologies régionales à Paris en 1993.
-Nguyễn Từ Thức : Tãn Mạn về Âm Dương, chẳn lẻ (www.anviettoancau.net) 
-Trần Ngọc Thêm: Tìm về bản sắc văn hóa Việt-Nam. NXB : Tp Hồ Chí Minh Tp HCM 2001. 
-Nguyễn Xuân Quang: Bản sắc văn hóa việt qua ngôn ngữ việt (www.dunglac.org)
-Georges Condominas : La guérilla viêt. Trait culturel majeur et pérenne de l’espace social vietnamien, L’Homme 2002/4, N° 164, p. 17-36. 
-Louis Bezacier: Sur la datation d’une représentation primitive de la charrue. (BEFO, année 1967, volume 53, pages 551-556) …..

 

 

 

Sacrifice (English version)

j050807 Histoire, Lịch sữ, Traditions, Vietnam , , 0 commentaire

Version Française

sacrifice_1f

Life is a game of chance. The chance is against us. It’s worth dying now for the country and set an example of sacrifice

Nguyễn Thái Học

Vietnam is not only a land of legends and learned men but also a land that men have acquired acre by acre in a crual mother nature for more than four thousand years. The cradle of the Vietnamese nation, the delta of Tonkin bordered by mild hills of the Hundred Thousands Mounts of China and squeezed in the South by a quasi impenetrable range, the Annamitic Cordillera, reduced to 15,000 km2 but rich of all the mud pulled out by the Red river, continues to be threathened by the latter with the discharge of 500m3 at low tide up to 3500m3 during the highest crests.

To master the blows of sword of the Red River, the Vietnamese people resort to a method of building dikes, which requires not only an increased watch of dikes but also a perpetual struggle. Facing the never-ending change of nature, the caprice of the Red river and the territorial ambitions of China, the Vietnamese people owe their safety at the cost not only of their labor and courage but also of their sacrifice in the long march toward the South.

This sacrifice is not foreign to the majority of Vietnamese in particular the men and women of character. It also becomes a cult that one likes to maintain and ceaselessly praise for Vietnam to excite the whole people before the threat of foreigners.

The sacrifice is the surest way to maintain the perfection of the homeland but it is also the synonym of loyalty and dignity. A great person is the one who dares take the responsibilities in moments of difficulty in his or her life but it is also the one who knows how to sacrifice himself or herself for a good cause, in particular for his or her country. The sacrifice is indispensable to the word « honor » in Vietnam.

Because of this moral dignity, many military people prefered suicide to surrender (Trưng Trắc, Trưng Nhị, Trần Bình Trọng, Võ Tánh etc..). That is why it is the habit to say:

Hùm chết để da, người chết để tiếng.
A dead tiger leaves its hide, a deceased person his reputation. 
The history of Vietnam is also that of sacrifices. The duty of a Vietnamese is to serve his or her country wholehreatedly. The greater the danger, the better his or her loyalty seems to be.

 

 

Heroes sacrifice for their fatherland. No matter what happens, his honor is never tainted. It is the case of the scholar Phan Thanh Giản, signatory of the Franco-Vietnamese treaty of 1868. After having failed to put up with the French in the defense of the three western provinces of the Mekong delta (Vĩnh Long, An Giang and Hà Tiên) he chose to surrender and decided to poison himself in 1967 because he thought it was the only way to save the people and to show his fidelity to emperor Tự Ðức. The same, Nguyễn Tri Phương (1873), adversary of Francis Garnier and Hoàng Diệu (1882), adversary of Henri Rivière preferred suicide after having failed to defend Hànội city.

During the French occupation, sacrifice became the flame of hope lit by unknown people such as Nguyễn Trung Trực, Phạm Hồng Thái. The former accepted to die in the stead of his mother captured after having succeeded in blowing up the French « Espérance » on its passage on the « Nhựt Tảo » river in Long An while the latter, chased by the Chinese police in his escape, preferred to throw himself in the river after having failed to assassinate the French governor Merlin during his passage by Canton in 1924. Admiror of his courage and sacrifice for his fatherland, the governor of Canton later buried his remains in a cemetery solely reserved for the 72 Chinese heroes and known as « Hoàng Hoa Cương » in Vietnamese. 

If this sacrifice is not a vain word for men, it carries a particular meaning for the Vietnamese women. Princess Huyền Trân of the Trần dynasty was proposed to become in 1306 the wife of king Chế Mẫn (Jaya Simhavarman)  in exchange of the two territories of Champa Chau Ô and Châu Rí. She had to sacrifice her life, her love for reason of State.

The same, three centuries later, a princess of the Nguyễn dynasty, of the name Ngọc Vạn to whom the word « Cochinchina » or (Cô chín xin) was attributed, was not late in following Huyen Tran’s footsteps in becoming the concubine of Cambodian king Prea Chey Chetta II in 1618 in exchange of the facilities granted to Vietnamese in their settlement in the region Ðồng Nai Mô Xoài which is no other than the Saigon-Cholon region today.

Her presence on the Cham soil served as a pretext for lord Nguyễn Phúc Tần to launch an expedition and annex the last territory of Champa in 1651. One cannot blame the Cham for hating princess Ngoc Khoa at that time because of her, they have lost their homeland. But Ngọc Khoa illustrates for us Vietnamese the sublime sacrifice she consented for her country and her people.

 

 

 

Eastern Han Dynasty (Nhà Đông Hán)

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Eastern Han dynasty (Nhà Đông Hán)

titre_dynhan_9 Guimet museum of Asian art (Paris)

 

Chronology of Eastern Han dynasty 

icon_daihan

 Đông Hán

25-57: Guangwudi reign

57-75: Mingdi’s reign

75-88: Zhandi reign

88-106: Heidi reign

106: Shangdi reign

106-125: Andi reign

125: Shaodi reign

125-144: Chongdi reign

145-146: Zhidi reign

146-168:  Huandi reign

168-189: Lingdi reign

184: Yellow turban rebellion

189: Shaodi impeachment.

189-220: Xiandi reign.

190: Increasing power of General Cao Cao (Tào Tháo)

220: Death of  Cao Cao and Xiandi.

End of Eastern Han dynasty

 

In the  territories conquered by  the Han, in particular in the South China, the Chinese assimilation continued in full swing. That is why revolts firstly  succeeded each other in the Dian kingdom (Điền Quốc)  (86, 83  before J.C., 14 after J.C., from 42 to  45 ). They were repressed with severity. These upheavals were largely due to   the Han officials exactions and the Chinese settlers’ behaviour in possession of fertile soils and expulsion of local people in remote  corners on his territory.  In addition, the latter had to adopt the language, customs and religious beliefs practiced by the Han.

In year 40, a serious rebellion broke out in Jiaozhou province (or Giao Châu in Vietnamese) including at this time, a great  part of  Kouangsi  and Kouang tong territories. It was led by the local prefect’s daughters, the elder Trưng Trắc (Zheng Cè)  and  her youngest daughter Trưng Nhị (Zheng Èr). As the husband of the elder Shi Suo (Thi Sách) opposed the Chinese assimilation policy conducted  brutally  by the Chinese proconsul Su Ding (Tô Định), the latter did not hesitate to kill him for making an example against Yue rebels. This killing revolted sisters Trưng and trigged immediately the insurgent movement in Yue territories.

 

icon_tigre

Mat weight 

intended to maintain the mat edges thanks to its weight.

 

Sisters Trưng succeeded in gaining control of 65 citadels for a very short period of time.  They were  proclaimed Queens on conquered territories and etablished themselves in Meiling (or Mê Linh). In year 41, they were defeated by Chinese general Ma Yuan ( Mã Viện, Phục Ba tuớng quân)(the flow tamer) and preferred the suicide instead of the reddition by pluging into the Hát river. They thus became the symbol of Vietnamese resistance. They continue to be venerated today not only in Vietnam but also in certain areas of Yue territories belonging to China (Kouangsi et Kouang Tong). Ma Yuan began to apply a policy of terror and assimiltaion at forced march by placing at all level administration, Chinese trustwothy men and imposing the Chinese as the official language over the territory of the Vietnamese. It is the first Chinese domination during just 1000 years before the war of liberation started by General Ngô Quyền. In the meantime, Guangwudi  (Quang Vũ Đế) succeeded to bring prosperity and stability in his empire by reducing the tax on crops and profits. After his death,   his son Mingdi (Hán Minh Đế) imitating Wudi, pursued the policy of expansion by taking an offensive against the northern Xiongnu (Hung Nô)  with the aim of releasing the States of Central Asia from the guardianship of the latter and restoring the security of the silk road (con đường tơ lụa) for the benefit of China. Being the brother of Ban Gu (*)(Ban Cố) historian of this time, General Ban Chao (Ban Siêu)  was in charge of this  military expedition. He succeeded in reaching the sea Caspienne and subduing the  Yuezhi (Nguyệt Chi or Nhục Chi) thanks to the Kusana assistance.

 

 (*) Author of Hanshu (Hán Thư)

 

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