Lịch sử category – Page 2 sur 37

In Vietnamese folklore, when speaking of Princess Huyền Trân (Jade Jenny), the Vietnamese people deplore not only the fate reserved for her but also the promise of King Trần Nhân Tôn to grant his daughter’s hand in marriage to the Cham King Chế Mân (Jaya Simhavarman III) during his special trip to the capital Vijaya (Bình Định) through the following folk song:

Tiếc thay cây quế giữa rừng,
để cho thằng Mán, thằng Mường nó leo.

It is a shame to let a Man or a Mung climb the cinnamon tree in the middle of the forest. However, we do not know that the founder of the « Bamboo Forest » sect was a talented politician with great insight who wanted to expand his territory in the South and maintain good neighborly relations in the fight against the danger coming from the North.

Thanks to the support provided by the Đại Việt kingdom in blocking the land passage, the Yuan army lost the battle for the second time by attacking Champa under the command of the valiant King Chế Mân with 20,000 soldiers. As for Chế Mân, the two provinces of Châu Ô and Châu Ri were not entirely under his control because their inhabitants had fled to the forest or to places where the Cham government still fully exercised its authority, the other three provinces Bố Chinh, Ma Linh and Địa Lý having long since been ceded to King Lý Thánh Tôn by the Cham king Chế Củ (Rudravarman III) in exchange for peace and his liberation.Now, by ceding two more provinces, Châu Ô and Châu Ri, it seemed difficult for him to speak to his people, especially since he was the hero of the Cham nation who had managed to win the victory against the Yuan army. The marriage of Huyền Trân was an excellent solution for the political situation of the time. This event also demonstrates the use of the « non-violence » method of the founder of « Bamboo Forest » to resolve conflicts in Buddhism according to the Vietnamese newspaper Giác Ngộ, but no one expected the sudden death of the king forcing Huyền Trân to accompany him and die with him on the funeral pyre according to Cham custom.

According to researcher Po Dharma, this is indeed a staging of the story of the organized rescue of Huyền Trân and the broken promise of the Trần dynasty, which transformed this incident into a deep discord between the two peoples, thus leading to the decline of the Champa kingdom a few centuries later with the dazzling victory of King Lê Thánh Tông in the citadel Đồ Bàn (Vijaya).

Is this ironic folk song true or not? Is Cham culture so mediocre that people despise it like this? We also need to know who they are, where they come from with the practices of a different culture carrying cultural and traditional elements specific to India. The temples and towers they possessed on the current central coast stretched over 1,000 kilometers with statues of gods of a strange and different religion. Although they were in ruins or intact, they were still invisible threats deeply rooted in the minds of our people like the statues of Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu, which created more or less anxiety, confusion and fear as is the case of Lord Tiên (Nguyễn Hoàng) who was in charge of governing the territory of Thuận Hóa (Binh Trị Thiên) in Đàng Trong, a remote, arid and dangerous region.

Tới đây đất nước lạ lùng
Con chim kêu cũng sợ, con cá vẫy vùng cũng lo.

This is a very strange place.

A bird’s cry frightens me as much as the wriggling of a fish in a stream.

This is why, according to Abbot Léopold Cadière, in order to reassure the soul and gain peace, our people do not hesitate to introduce Cham cultural sites into their world of religious belief and transform them into places of worship such as the Pagoda of the Celestial Lady (Thiên Mụ), the Hòn Chén palace, the Po Nagar temple etc.

Throughout the travel to Thuận Hóa, the group of faithful and trusted men of Nguyễn Hoàng were all from Thanh Hóa and integrated into that of Nghệ An during the first migration in the 14th century when the provinces of Châu Ô and Châu Rí belonged to the Đai Việt kingdom. The inhabitants of Thuận Hóa were called at that time by the name of « Thanh Nghệ people » (Thanh Hóa-Nghệ An). Having left without knowing the date of return, they had to endure all the hardships and sufferings from then on. But, having strengthened the will of an adventurer in a foreign land, sometimes, they could console themselves. That is why there is a folk song tinged with philosophy as follows:

Măn giang nấu cá ngạnh nguồn,
Tới đây nên phải bán buồn mua vui.

Nothing beats wild bamboo shoots cooked with catfish,
Once you’re there, you have to sell your sadness for a little hope.

Having arrived first, the inhabitants of Thanh Nghệ were not numerous in the current region of Quảng Tri. They were forced to live in harmony with the Chams who remained there. At first, Nguyễn Hoàng still spoke with a northern accent, but over the course of only a few generations, his heirs and residents were influenced by the social environment resulting from the mixing of the two peoples, especially at the time of the breakdown of relations and trade by taking the Gianh River as the border between Đàng Trong and Đàng Ngoài and especially after the construction of the rampart (Trường Dục) of Đào Duy Từ, which gave them a particular tone, recognizable to the inhabitants of Quảng Bình and Quảng Trị.

According to scholar Thái Văn Kiểm, the Huế accent was formed later when Lord Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên (Lord Sãi), decided to move the capital to Phước Yên village, Quang Điền district and Lord Thượng (Nguyễn Phước Lan) to Kim Long village in 1636. Through the interaction of two ancient cultures, Việt Mường (Thanh Hóa and Nghệ An) and Cham, a new way of life emerged focusing on food (eating spicy food, shrimp paste, pissalat etc.), treating diseases with southern medicinal plants, cultivating Cham rice, building boats with the Cham model (thuyền bầu) for trading at sea, water management and the construction of dikes along rivers and the use in fine arts, of the five most distinctive colors among which is purple, a color that does not provoke sad emotions and which Cham women still love and use today. These are the new characteristics of the Việt-Cham community that are often seen in Binh Trị Thiên and are now called the identity of Huế.

According to American historian Michael Vickery, based on comparative linguistic analysis, it is known that the Cham came from the island of Borneo by sea at the end of the first millennium BC. Their language belonged to the Austronesian languages. They often settled in places suitable for transporting goods on the river. Known as the Vikings of Southeast Asia, they used to cause trouble at sea by plundering ships in the southernmost coastal region of Nhat Nam district, which was directly under the administration of Giao Chau (the land of the Vietnamese) when the latter was still annexed by the Chinese. According to the observation of Vietnamese archaeologist Ngo Van Doanh, they often preferred to live in coastal plains located between three slopes of high mountains and a slope leading to the sea, all equipped with one or more fortresses.

Based on Chinese historical documents and epigraphic inscriptions, it is known that the Lâm Ấp (Lin Yi) country was transformed into the kingdom of Champa (Champapura) from the beginning of the 7th century with Simhapura (Trà Kiệu) as its capital. It is thanks to the name Champapura that we can guess that Champa is a kingdom composed of several city-states (pura). It is in some ways a federation of many city-states. The most powerful city-state is chosen to assume the role of « leader » (main role) and thus becomes Champapura (the capital of Champa). The dynasty of this city-state thus controls the entire kingdom of Champa.

According to archaeologist Trần Quốc Vượng, the Cham used to use the following cultural model, which always consisted of 3 parts: sanctuary (mountain), citadel (capital) and port (economic center) in their city. This type of model has been seen repeated in every Cham city-state from Quảng Trị to Bình Thuận. According to the observation of archaeologist Trần Kỳ Phương, city-states that built grandiose religious sites must be able to mobilize a necessary human resource that they can feed with possible economic potential. The Cham are generally oriented towards maritime trade because their arable land found in the coastal valleys of central Vietnam is very limited.

How many times has human history demonstrated that a superior civilization has a transformative effect on an inferior one? The more powerful ancient Rome, at the time of its conquest, was subject to the influence of Greek civilization. Similarly, the Mongols or Manchus, at the time of their conquest in China, were subsequently assimilated by the latter. Our Đại Việt kingdom was no exception either. Being accustomed to denigrating and despising the Chams (or Mans), could our Đại Việt have anything to do with this conquest? He received many things during the punitive military expedition of King Lê Đại Hành to Champa in 982. To enhance his prestige and celebrate his victory, he brought back not only an Indian monk (Thiên Trúc) who was at the monastery of Đ ồng Dương (present-day Quảng Nam) but also a hundred musicians and dancers (Thai Van. Kiem:64).

It can be said that since then, royal music included many elements of Champa. In 1069, King Lý Thánh Tông ordered the court musicians to compose a kind of slow and sad melody, in the style of the Cham people called Chiêm Thành Âm. Then, during the reign of Lý Cao Tôn, there were “Southern Rhymes (Airs of the Southerners)” such as Ha Giang Nam, Ai Giang Nam, Nam Thuong etc. There was also a Cham musical instrument called “Rice Drum” or “Phạn sĩ” which our people frequently use, according to the book titled “Annam chí lược (Abridged Records of Lê Tắc). As for sculpture, the Vietnamese lived under the southern influence of the South to create artifacts such as the head of a dragon from the Lý-Trần dynasty resembling that of a makara dragon or the Siamese duck (vịt siêm) with the Hamsa goose of Champa for example, all of which were found in the imperial citadel Thăng Long on the tiled roofs and gables of buildings up to the decorated motifs on bowls (Hồ Trung Tú:264). Another Cham element of the Lý dynasty that can be observed in the field of architecture and to which few people pay attention is that the pagodas of this period often had square plans, similar to the model of Cham towers (kalan).

The Dien Huu Pagoda (One Pillar Pagoda) originally consisted of a square main hall only 3 meters across and a single entrance similar to that of a Cham tower, erected on a column 4 meters high above the water surface. As for the barcarolles of the coastal region, such as the song of the second oar (hò mái nhì) or song of the propelling oar (hò mái đẩy), they all received Cham influence. According to musicologist Professor Trân Văn Khê, the boatmen’s songs of Huế (or barcarolles) and the Pelog songs of Java (Indonesia) both present the same melodic line. He concluded that after centuries of exchange, Vietnamese music was tinged with Cham color. According to researcher Charles J.C. MacDonald (CNRS Marseille), whale worship is considered a typical characteristic found among the Vietnamese living along the coast of Central and South Vietnam, as people in the North did not have it. Some Vietnamese scholars such as Thái Văn Kiểm, Trần văn Phước, or Trần Hàm Tấn have confirmed that this cult belongs to the Chams.

Thanks to these Cham elements, Vietnamese culture has become rich and diverse because, in addition to the Việt-Mường (Bai Yue) culture, it has also inherited, more or less, since the founding of the country, traditions from two ancient cultures: India and China.

The long march towards the South: the end of Champa.

j050807 Art, Chămpa, Histoire, Lịch sử, Văn Hóa avril 4, 2025avril 4, 2025

Vietnamese version

Version française

According to scholar Thái Văn Kiểm, our people’s long march towards the South is an obvious historical fact that veritable foreign historians must recognize, and it is also a source of great pride for our nation. For over a thousand years, the Vietnamese people have crossed more than five thousand kilometers, or 1,700 meters a year or 5 meters a day. This speed is even less than that of a snail. This proves that our people have encountered many obstacles and have sometimes had to stop and take a step back on this long march. In a way, this folk song evokes the anxiety and fear of the Vietnamese people on this journey strewn with pitfalls:

Đến đây đất nước lạ lùng
Con chim kêu cũng sợ, con cá vẫy vùng cũng lo.

This land seems very strange to them
The chirping of birds also frightens them, as does the restlessness of fish.

Despite the fact that our population stood at around one million against a giant China estimated at the time at over 56 million subjects, we were led to discover the incredible talent of Ngô Quyền, who succeeded in freeing our people from Chinese domination for almost a thousand years. Unfortunately, he reigned for only 5 years. Then came the period of national unrest with the twelve warlords. Fortunately, the hero Đinh Bộ Lĩnh from Ninh Bình province emerged. He succeeded in eliminating them, unifying the country under his banner and founding a new dynasty, the Đinh dynasty. During this period, our country had just become an independent nation, but was confined only to the Red River delta and the small plains along the central coast of North Viet Nam (Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An).

In the North, it is difficult to begin territorial expansion because of the presence of China. This country had a large population and always caressed the intention of annexing our country at the opportune moment, whatever the reigning dynasty. At the West stand the rugged Trường Sơn mountain range, which is difficult to cross, and at the East is located the East Sea, which Nguyễn Trãi had occasion to mention in the “Proclamation on the Pacification of the Ngô (Bình Ngô Đại Cáo)” as follows:

Độc ác thay, trúc Nam Sơn không ghi hết tội,
Dơ bẩn thay, nước Đông Hải không rửa sạch mùi.

What cruelty! The bamboo of the southern mountains can’t record all their crimes,
What filth! The water of the Eastern Sea can’t wash away their stench.

to allude to the cruelty of the Ming (Chinese) that the East Sea failed to erase during the ten years of their aggression against the Great Yue (Đại Việt). This is a pressure that our people always had to endure during the course of our nation’s formation. Only in the South lies the only way for our nation to expand its borders, avoid extermination and maintain national independence, especially as our ancestors remain the only tribe of the Bai Yue who have not been assimilated by the Chinese since the time of Qin Shi Huang Di (Tần Thủy Hoàng).

However, at this moment in time, in this march towrds the South, our people have two undeniable advantages, one of which is to have a brilliant strategist to defend against Chinese invaders in the North, and the other is to succeed in involving the mass popular movement in this expedition for legitimate reasons. In the South, there is a kingdom called Lin Yi (later Champa), which succeeded in gaining independence from China in Nhật Nam in 192 A.D., and used to provoke unrest on our country’s border. This kingdom occupies an important position on the trans-Asian sea route coveted by the envious (Manguin 1979: 269). The capture of Champa can be considered a major success in the control of the East Sea and passing ships (Manguin 1981: 259). Today, it’s still a burning issue that attracts the attention of world powers.

The Great Yue (Đai Việt) was a country that had just had its first king when it was caught in a pincer movement between China and Champa. These two countries initially acted in concert to destroy our country. Considered a warrior king and a strategic visionary, King Lê Đại Hành (or Lê Hoàn) had both of these advantages. He succeeded in defeating Hầu Nhân Bảo‘s Song army in 981 at Chi Lăng (Lạng Sơn) and in punishing Champa during an expedition mounted within a year to drive the Chams out of Amaravati province (Quảng Ngãi) after their clumsy king Bề Mi Thuế had imprisoned Đại Việt’s messengers, Từ Mục and Ngô Tử Canh sent to Champa in an attempt to smooth over disagreements. He destroyed the capital Indrapura (Quảng Nam) and the shrine in 982 and killed its king Paramec Varavarman (Bề Mi Thuế).

He then handed over control of operations in the capital Indrapura and northern Linyi to his subordinate Lưu Kế Tông before returning to his capital. Through this disguised power of attorney, we can see more or less clearly Lê Đại Hành’s intentions to expand the territory, but he was afraid of perhaps receiving reprimand from the Song dynasty at this time. That’s why he didn’t want to reveal them.

According to “Les Mémoires historiques du Grand Viet au complet (Đại Việt Sử Ký Toàn Thư)”, Lưu Kế Tông went into hiding in Champa. That’s why King Lê Đại Hành had to send his unnamed adopted son to capture and kill him in the year 983. But in Song history, it’s worth noting that Lưu Kế Tông became king of Champa three years later, from 986 to 989, and he even sent an ambassador to the Song dynasty to ask the latter to recognize him as ruler of Champa. This shows that there is something at odds with what has been written in our history. It can be explained that Lưu Kế Tông was initially tasked with fulfilling a mission that King Lê Đại Hành had entrusted to him. As Lưu Kế Tông managed to gain fairly strong local support, he attempted to pose as king and gave up honoring his mission.

But thanks to the restoration of the Cham people’s growing military strength in Vijaya (Chà Bàn, Bịnh Định), King Harivarman II succeeded in defeating Lưu Kế Tông, then retaking the whole province of Amaravati and once again settling in the capital Indrapura. As for Lưu Kế Tông, according to French researcher Georges Cœdès, he had passed away. He is no longer mentioned in history. Despite intensified looting along the northern frontier, Champa was now under constant and increasing pressure from our Annam. According to the scholar Trần Trọng Kim’s “History of Vietnam”, China always granted our king the title “Prince of Jiaozhi Province (Giao Chỉ quận vương)” because it continued to regard our country, Jiaozhi (or Giao Chỉ) as a Chinese province at the time of its rule. It was only under King Lý Anh Tôn that our king officially received the title of King of Annam. Since then, our country has been called Annam.

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Under the Lý dynasty, on the pretext that Champa had not paid tribute to the Annam kingdom for 16 years, King Lý Thái Tông was forced to go and fight Champa in 1044. The Chams suffered many casualties. Cham general Quách Gia Di decided to slash his king Sạ Đẩu (Jaya Simhavarman II), the last king of Champa’s Indrapura dynasty, and cut off his head to demand surrender. In 1069, based on the reason of not honoring the payment of tribute by Champa for 4 years, King Lý Thánh Tông decided to personally take 100,000 soldiers to fight Champa, succeeded in capturing Chế Củ (or Jaya Rudravarman III) in Cambodia where he sought refuge at that time and brought him back to the capital Thăng Long. To redeem his freedom and return to his homeland, Chế Củ offered in exchange the three northern provinces of Champa roughly equivalent to two provinces of Quảng Binh and Quảng Tri (Georges Cœdès: 248).

It can be said that from this transaction, Đại Viêt began to expand to new lands and encouraged people to live there under the reign of King Lý Nhân Tôn after Lý Giác‘s revolt in the Nghệ An region. On the advice of this rebel, King Chế Ma Na (Jaya Indravarman II) attempted to retake the three exchanged provinces, but was subsequently defeated by the famous general Lý Thường Kiệt, and this time had to definitively retrocede these three retaken provinces.

According to scholar Henri Maspero, during the reign of Lý Thần Tông, our country was invaded by the warrior king Sûryavarman II of Chenla (Chân Lạp). The latter used to often drag Champa into war by constantly inciting or coercing it against our country in the Nghệ An and Thanh Hóa regions. Then, as the two countries became hostile, there was a war lasting almost a hundred years. This was to weaken them in the face of the Annam country, which became powerful at the beginning of the 13th century with a new dynasty, the Trần dynasty. It was also a time when the entire Eurasian region was being invaded by the Mongols. But it was also a time when neighboring Annam and Champa enjoyed good relations, and Champa regained peace and stability under King Indravarman V (1265-1285).

It was thanks to this rapprochement that the Vietnamese and the Chams, united in the same struggle and acting together against a common enemy, the Yuan empire of Kubilai Khan (Đế Chế nhà Nguyên của Hốt Tất Liệt), together achieved military feats of great historical significance not only for our people but also for Southeast Asia. Thanks to this union, the two peoples defeated the Mongol empire. In order to strengthen the hitherto non-existent good understanding between the two peoples, King Trần Nhân Tông visited the Kingdom of Champa for nine months as spiritual leader of the Đại Việt Zen sect on May 11, 1301.

Thanks to this visit, he promised to grant the hand of his daughter, Princess Huyền Trân (Jet Pearl), to King Chế Mân (Jaya Simhavarman III), even though Huyền Trân was only 14 and Chế Mân was quite old. Despite his monk’s cassock, he was still the king-father of the Đại Việt kingdom. He therefore always had a long-term vision for the country and had realized that the Đại Việt kingdom needed territory as a rear base in case of need in the south when he was well aware of the malevolent intentions of the Northerners and he managed to win the war of resistance against the Yuan army twice (1285 and 1287-1288). On the contrary, why did the hero of the Cham people, Chế Mân (Jaya Simhavarman III), cede the two Ô-Lý districts at this time to become a traitor to his people? Is Champa too disadvantaged and Đại Việt too advantageous in this transaction, isn’t it?

It was perhaps because of the aridity of the ceded area that Chế Mân felt it was impossible for him to control it, as Quảng Trị was an area of sandy soil and Thừa Thiên Huế surrounded by hills was also a region devoid of any significant plain (Hồ Trung Tú:283). Moreover, it was a matter of legalizing a territory that Champa no longer had the capacity to govern since Chế Củ (or Jaya Rudravarman III) had ceded it in exchange for his release 236 years ago. The fact that Princess Perle de Jais (Huyền Trân) married Chế Mân five years later (1306) with the dowry of two thousand square meters of the Ô and Lý districts (today’s Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên Huế provinces) should be a well-considered political calculation with the aim of perpetuating peace and carrying the strategic character for both Đai Việt and Champa dynasties. Thanks to this marriage, Đai Việt’s territory had extended as far north as the Thu Bồn River, and Champa could preserve the remaining territory for future generations.

In the eyes of the people, Princess Huyền Trân is a woman deeply admired in the minds of several generations of Vietnamese, and she is evoked repeatedly in this long march south through her history and destiny. After a year of marriage, King Chế Mân died in 1307. Only the latter and Trúc Lâm đại sĩ (the nickname given to king-father Trần Nhân Tông) managed to know just why, but they had both died within a year of each other. Since then, this wedding gift became a bone of contention between the two countries, leading to continuous wars in which Đai Việt was always the country with the most victories.

Thanks to demographic pressure and immigration policy under the Hồ dynasty, the territories ceded by Champa had become independent, autonomous regions thanks to the Vietnamese village organization (the king’s authority stops in front of the village bamboo hedges). This made it more difficult for Champa to reclaim these territories in the future. Once again, after the 14th century, Champa became a major military power, engaging in battles as far afield as Thanh Hóa. This was the time of the appearance of a character described in the history of the Ming dynasty as Ngo-ta-ngo-tcho, but in the history of the Cham people he became known as Binasuor (or Chế Bồng Nga). Having taken advantage of the weakening of the Trần dynasty and at the same time received the title of King of Champa from the Ming dynasty in China, Chế Bồng Nga attacked North Vietnam 5 times in succession during the period from 1361 to 1390, but 4 times he took his troops directly to the capital Thăng Long.

Due to the treachery of one of Chế Bồng Nga’s subordinates, named Ba-lậu-kê, general Trần Khắc Chân of the Trần dynasty managed to spot the junk carrying Chế Bồng Nga and asked his soldiers to fire on it. Chế Bồng Nga was hit head-on. According to G. Maspero, Chế Bồng Nga’s period was at its peak, but according to G. Cœdès, this sentence is completely incorrect, but Chế Bồng Nga’s military victories should be compared with the blue light at sunset (Ngô Văn Doanh: 126 or G. Cœdès: 405).

A Cham general with the Vietnamese name La Khải, whom the Chams recorded as Jaya Simhavarman in their history, ascended the throne after eliminating the children of Chế Bồng Nga. La Khải decided to abandon all Cham territories north of the Hải Vân Pass (the present-day provinces of Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên Huế).

To avoid another war with the Đai Việt, he ceded Champa’s province of Indrapura in 1402, corresponding to the present-day province of Quảng Nam, where the Mỹ Sơn shrine was located, but reclaimed it later in 1407 when the Ming took the pretext of eliminating the Hồ dynasty for the usurpation of the Trần throne. These Ming thus annexed Annam, sought out all men of talent and virtue and brought them back to China for employment. These included the young Nguyễn An (Ruan An), who later became a Vietnamese eunuch architect responsible for building the Forbidden City in Beijing according to the theory of Yin and Yang and the 5 elements, and Nguyễn Phi Khanh, father of Nguyễn Trãi. After ten years of resistance against the Ming army, Lê Lợi ascended the throne in 1428 and founded the later Lê dynasty. He re-established peaceful relations with the Ming and Champa, whose king was the son of La Khải, named Virabhadravarman and known in Vietnamese chronicles as Ba Dich Lai (Indravarman VI).

According to George Cœdès, Champa rapidly fell into a state of political recession at the end of this dynasty, with up to five successive kings in 30 years due to civil wars for power. At that time, in Annam, there was a great king known as Lê Thánh Tôn, renowned for the literary and martial arts in the history of Việt Nam. It was he who asked the historian Ngô Sĩ Liên to compile all the information relating all the historical events into a collection of articles known as “Đại Việt sử ký (The Historical Memoirs of the Great Viet)”. He ordered his subordinate to trace the geographical map of our country, but secretly sent someone to Champa at the same time to draw a map of Champa with all the strategic nooks and crannies, which enabled his army to take the capital Đồ Bàn (Vijaya) from Chà Bàn (Bình Định) in the year 1471 and capture King Trà Toàn (Maha Sajan) brought back to Đại Việt with 30000 prisoners.

The capture of the Vijaya capital could be compared to the fall of Constantinople (1453) at the same time by the Turks (Nepote 1993:12). After this, the Ming emperor sent an emissary to ask him to return the territory of Binh Định to Champa. But faced with his categorical refusal, the Ming emperor had to give up all action, as our country’s prestige was great in view of the tributes paid by neighboring countries such as Laos (Ai Lao) and the Mường of the West. Champa had now shrunk to just the territories south of Cape Varella (Đại Lãnh, Phú Yên) and no longer posed major obstacles to the southward advance of the Vietnamese people.

As for the Chams, they were dispersed into numerous groups and evacuated by sea and land: one group fled to Cambodia and was sheltered by the Cambodian king Jayajettha III (Ang Sur) in Oudong, Chrui Changvar and Prêk Pra near the capital Phnom Penh and in the province of Kompong Cham, another group went as far as the island of Hainan (Thurgood 1999: 227) and Malacca, and the remaining population had to hide in the Panduranga region still belonging to Champa or accepted to live with the Vietnamese in the annexed territory.

By now, Vietnamese and Cham villages had been established side by side for several hundred years. Nor was it known who was really assimilated when there was the clash and peaceful cultural exchange between humanity’s two great civilizations, India and China. How many times has human history demonstrated that a superior civilization has a transformative effect on an inferior one? The more powerful ancient Rome, at the time of its conquest, was under the influence of Greek civilization. Similarly, when the Mongols or Manchus conquered China, they were assimilated by the latter.

Our Đại Việt kingdom was no exception either. Being accustomed to denigrating and despising the Chams (or Mans), could our Đại Việt have had anything to do with this conquest? He received many things, including many elements from Champa found in royal music such as the Chiêm Thành Âm (Champa Resonances) or the well-cooked rice-plated tambourine (trống cơm)(Thái Văn Kiểm 1964: 65) or later with the “Danses du Sud (Airs des Méridionaux)” through the endless painful laments of the Cham people such as Hà Giang Nam (Descent to the South of the River), Ai Giang Nam (Lamentation of the South of the River), Nam Thương (Compassion of the South) etc. and in sculptural art under both the Lý and Trần dynasties.

There was a time when the Vietnamese lived under the southern influence of the South to create artifacts such as the head of a Lý-Trần dynasty dragon resembling that of a Makara dragon or the Siamese duck (vịt siêm) to the Hamsa goose of Champa for example, all found in the imperial citadel Thăng Long on tile roofs and building gables right down to the decorated motifs on bowls (Hồ Trung Tú: 264).

As for the Chams, they weren’t completely assimilated right away, as they were abandoning their language to speak Vietnamese in their homeland. Henceforth, they were to have a surname like the Vietnamese under King Minh Mạng. The names they had had in their history were the surnames of kings or those of the royal family according to author Phú Trạm in the newspaper Tia Sáng (October 2, 2006). They used Ja (man) or Mu (woman) They also created an accent tone for themselves that hadn’t existed before, by speaking the Vietnamese language with the intonation of a native Cham. They spoke, they listened, they corrected themselves, they understood each other with the Vietnamese community on the spot to produce a distinct accent tone that no longer resembled the original tone (Quảng Nam’s intonation for example) when they had contact with the Vietnamese people before (as their Vietnamese wife and children) or when they were appointed notables in territories belonging to the Đai Việt kingdom. They didn’t necessarily lose their roots immediately, as they still retained the habits and customs of the Cham people.

More specifically, in regions such as Đà Nẵng, Hội An, we continued to see people still wearing Cham clothing at the end of the 18th century through the photographs of Cristoforo Borri or John Barrow. The men wore kama or bottomless pants (the sarong) with a fairly wide turban, and the women long skirts with several multicolored pleats or bare torsos (Hồ Trung Tú: 177).in front of the names like the words văn or Thị among the Vietnamese. When they became old and occupied an important role or rank in society, they were called from then on by that function or title (Hồ Trung Tú: 57).

The Vietnamese who migrated to areas where the Cham population was dense were obliged to adapt and accept the Chams’ way of speaking the Vietnamese language, from Quảng Nam to Phú Yên. As for the territories where the number of Chams was low and that of Vietnamese migrants was high, the intonation practiced in these territories remained that of the Vietnamese migrants. The latter managed to retain their intonation entirely in territories stretching from the Ngang Pass to Huế. They frequently used the dialects of Nghệ An-Hà Tịnh (Hồ Trung Tú:154) or Thanh Hóa later with Lord Nguyễn Hoàng.

As for the cultural characteristics of the Cham people, they have all disappeared since the 9th month of the Year of the Tiger, under the reign of Minh Mạng (1828). This was the time of the royal edict designed to prohibit southern men from wearing kamas. Since the Chams claimed not to know how long ago or when they had a link of Northern origin like hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese families cohabiting in this territory, they no longer wondered who they were exactly, because after a few generations they had become “pure Vietnamese” and thus joined their people in the long march to the tip of Cà Mau. From then on, the end of Champa could be announced.

Bibliography

Thái Văn Kiểm: Việt Nam quang hoa Editeur Xuân Thu, USA
Georges Cœdès: Cổ sử các quốc gia Ấn Độ Hóa ở Viễn Đông. NXB Thế Giới năm 2011
Pierre-Yves Manguin: L’introduction de l’islam au Champa. Études chames II. BEFEO. Vol 66 pp 255-287. 1979
Pierre-Yves Manguin: Une relation ibérique du Champa en 1595. Études chames IV. BEFEO vol 70 pp. 253-269
Ngô văn Doanh: Văn hóa cổ Chămpa. NXB Dân tộc 2002.
Hồ Trung Tú: Có 500 năm như thế. NXB Đà Nẵng 2017.
Agnès de Féo: Les Chams, l’islam et la revendication identitaire. EPHE IVème section.2004
Thái Văn Kiểm: Panorama de la musique classique vietnamienne. Des origines à nos jours. BSEI, Nouvelle Série, Tome 39, N° 1, 1964.
Thurgood Graham: From Ancient Cham to modern dialects . Two thousand years of langage contact and change. University of Hawai Press, Honolulu. 1999
Trần Trọng Kim: Việtnam sử lược, Hànội, Imprimerie Vĩnh Thanh 1928.
Đại Việt Sử Ký Toàn Thư. Nhà xuất bản Thời Đại. Năm 2013.

Is Vietnamese civilization a copy of Chinese civilization?

j050807 Culture, Lịch sử, Traditions, Văn Hóa avril 3, 2025avril 3, 2025

Is Vietnamese civilization a copy of Chinese civilization?

Version vietnamienne

Version française

For a long time, based on Chinese annals, famous Vietnamese scholars such as Trần Trọng Kim in his work « The History of Vietnam » or Đào Duy Anh in « The Outline of the History of Vietnamese Civilization » have recognized that the Proto-Vietnamese originated in China or Tibet. This is why during the time of Chinese domination, the Chinese governors Si Kouang and Ren Yan had to teach them how to cultivate rice and how to live and dress (Book of Later Han). This is an understandable mistake because they need to rely on Chinese annals to find the source of reliable information instead of believing in Vietnamese legends recounting improbable things, the ancient territory of Vietnam being delimited by the Dongting Lake of the Chu Kingdom during the Warring States period, for example.
Even the Europeans during their stay in Southeast Asia in the 19th century had a rather short-sighted vision because they only discovered two major and brilliant civilizations: India and China. This is why they called Indochina to recall the notable influence of these two civilizations in this region including Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The recent discoveries of famous American archaeologists such as Wilhelm G. Solheim II, Carl Sauer, Chester Gorman (1965), Donn Bayard, Stephen Oppenheimer provide evidence confirming that the birth of agriculture took place very early in Southeast Asia. Between 9000 and 10000 years BC, its inhabitants were experienced farmers. They did not live only from hunting as European archaeologists used to describe. Around 8000 BC, there was a great cataclysm and a flood that forced these farmers to flee to other safe regions to protect themselves and earn a living. According to S. Oppenheimer, their traces have been found in the islands of Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia. They spoke the language belonging to the Austronesian language family and were originally from Southeast Asia.

This is entirely consistent with the genetic data analyzed by the American team led by Professor J.Y. Chu of the University of Texas and published in July 1998 in the journal of the American Academy of Sciences under the title « Genetic Relations of Population in China »: the Chinese of today, especially those of South China (Hoa Nam) have ancestors in Southeast Asia. We can therefore say that the Bai Yue, especially the Luo Yue (the Proto-Vietnamese) were not Chinese and they knew agriculture very early. An axe dating back to 7000 BC was found by Chester Gorman in 1965 at the Spirit Cave in Thailand, while the axe attributed to China and brought back to Southeast Asia only dated back to 3000 BC. The Hemudu culture discovered in 1973 (5000 BC – 4500 BC) and considered to be the first very ancient domestic rice culture in China is also the Bai Yue culture because the Jiangnan province belonged during the Warring States period to the famous Wu-Yue king Goujian (496-465 BC). In fact, the Hoa Binh culture (12,000 BC-10,000 BC) that Madeleine Colani discovered in Vietnam and which was at the origin of Vietnamese civilization spread later and brought notable influence to the north. The people living in Hoa Binh at that time were called the Proto-Miao (they would later become the Proto-Vietnamese). They excelled in agriculture. That is why the Proto-Chinese used the pictogram Rice Field 田 below which appears the pictogram Vegetation 艹 to form the word Miao 苗 designating people who knew how to do agriculture. They left the Himalayan mountain range, Tiānshān (Thiên Sơn) several thousand years ago, followed the rivers in the East and Southeast direction and settled in Southeast Asia before traveling through the regions located in the south of China (or the south of the Yangtze River Delta). They were also called the people living in the hot country (or Viêm tộc) during the Chu Dynasty (nhà Châu) or the Bai Yue later. It can be said that the Hoà Bình culture was the flooded rice culture of the Vietnamese. It also favored the birth of the Hemudu culture (5500 TCN), the Đồng Sơn culture (500 years BC) etc.

As for the Proto-Chinese, they were also from Tiānshān (Thiên Sơn) but they were part of the nomadic tribes living from hunting and cattle breeding in the Xinjiang region. When it became desert (5000 BC), the Proto-Chinese were forced to follow along the Yellow River and advanced into northern China where the Proto-Miao were. They were called at that time the Yi. This pictogram Yi 夷 is the association of two pictograms Man 人 and Bow 弓 to designate a man knowing how to shoot with a bow. The Proto-Chinese were excellent warriors. This is why there is a confrontation that took place between them and the Proto-Miao led by Chiyou at Zhuolu in 2704 BC. They emerged victorious with the death of the latter.

For the Chinese, the first traces of their civilization date back to the Neolithic period in the Shang capital, Anyang (Henan) and Yangshao (Shaanxi) with several sites. It was the Swedish archaeologist Johann Andersson who discovered the first site in 1921. This culture, dating back to between about 5000 and 3000 years BC, flourished in the plains of the central highlands irrigated and shaped by the Yellow River for centuries. They cultivated millet, wheat and barley. According to the French historian René Grousset, rice is foreign to northern China (page 8) in his work entitled « History of China« . This fact is consistent with the spread and influence exerted by the Hoà Binh culture (12000TCN-10000 TCN) in the north. The Chinese living in southern China are Bai Yue, whom the Chinese have managed to sinicize because their blood contains the gene of the Proto-Miao or Bai Yue (like the Man Yue, the U Yue, the Shan Yue, the Wu Yue, etc.). This is why the Chinese are proud of the richness and diversity of their culture. Yin and Yang and the 5 elements, the Yi King, the tea, the curved roof of houses, the paper, the dragon, the chopsticks and the bronze drums, everything now belongs to them because it is located in the territory of the Bai Yue, i.e. in the south of the 5 Passes (Lĩnh Nam) of China except Vietnam. Yet at a certain time, the Bai Yue were still Nan Man or southern barbarians. This is one of the characteristic features of Chinese culture: it knows how to accept and absorb foreign cultures without ever being able to speak of vacillation or cultural modifications. This is what the famous 20th century Chinese philosopher Liang Shuming wrote in the introduction to his work entitled « The Master Ideas of Chinese Culture » (translated by Michel Masson).

This is in line with the following observation made by the French ethnologist and sinologist Brigitte Baptandier in her lecture text at an APRAS study day on regional ethnologies in Paris in 1993: Chinese culture has thus been formed over the centuries as a sort of mosaic of cultures. China needs a slow infusion of barbarian blood by readapting the beautiful formula of the historian F. Braudel for France with the barbarians. The Chinese introduce into their literature a Pangu creation myth collected from the ancestors of Yao. (Baptandier).

Lac_viet

From the Qin-Han period onwards, there existed an imperial institution, the fangshi, who were local scholars considered magicians specializing in star rites and government recipes. Their role consisted of collecting, each in their own territory, ritual procedures, beliefs, local medicines, systems of representation, cosmologies, myths, legends as well as local products and submitting them to the political authority so that the latter could retain them or not and incorporate them in the form of regulations with the aim of increasing imperial power in an ethnologically very diverse nation and giving the emperor the means for his divine vocation.

Everything had to be collected and added to the service of the Son of Heaven in order to establish his legitimacy in territories recently conquered from the barbarians. This is why in the history of China there is an inconsistency that is difficult to understand because the Chinese used to take Mr. A’s outfit to dress Mr. B during the time of the Five Emperors and Three Augusts. All this is due in large part to the borrowing of traditions, customs and mythical characters or animals from the peoples they managed to sinicize.

Chinese demiurges such as Fuxi, Nuwa, Pangu, Shennong were borrowed from southern populations. This is the case of the great Chinese scholar Ruey Yih-Fu who sees in Fuxi and Nuwa a specific cultural trait of the Nan Man (Southern Barbarians) or that of Charles Le Blanc, the translator of Huainanzi (Hoài Nam Tử). For the latter, the cycle of Fuxi-Nuwa is a tradition of the kingdom of Chu. We tend to forget that from the Qin-Han era, the agricultural culture of the Bai Yue was integrated into Chinese culture so much so that the difference between these two cultures is no longer distinguished. China succeeded in largely sinicizing most of the Bai Yue except the Luo Yue.

They managed to escape from the yoke of the Northerners after a long domination lasting almost 1000 years. The Chinese took over everything that belonged to the Vietnamese but they failed to sinicize them because the Vietnamese continued to keep the characteristic way of life of the cultivation of flooded rice based essentially on the autonomy of the villages thus making the penetration of foreign aggressors ineffective with their traditions and customs. (The authority of the king yielding to the local customs of the village). This is why they only need two essential elements « Earth » and « Water » to refer to their country and their civilization. « Earth » and « Water » allow them to domesticate wild rice and help them to attach themselves deeply to their soil to protect the water (or country in Vietnamese), this is what their ancestors have managed to demonstrate many times the resistance to the peril of the Northerners for many centuries.

Anh Ca (Brother Hai)

j050807 Culture, Ethnies, Lịch sử, Traditions, Văn Hóa avril 1, 2025avril 1, 2025

Anh Cả (Brother Hai)

Once, while I was visiting South Vietnam, I had the opportunity to listen to the bus guide tell us about it. According to him, during our people’s march to the South, the eldest son must stay with his mother to support the family while his father, who is in the army, goes to the South alone. Far from his family and his homeland, he usually takes a second wife and has another child. This child will be called « sister Hai » or « brother Hai » because this corresponds to the rank « TWO » in the family consisting of several children. There is another hypothesis as follows:

During the Nguyen Dynasty, there was a tradition of refraining from any action that referred to the first name of the king or his relatives. This is why the word ĐẢM was replaced by the word ĐỞM because ĐẢM was the first name of Nguyễn Phúc Đảm (King Minh Mang) (can đảm meaning courage was transformed into can đỏm). King Minh Mang had a wife named Hồ Thị Hoa, mother of King Thiệu Trị. Viceroy Le Van Duyet built a bridge near a beautiful garden in Bến Nghé (the first district of today’s Ho Chi Minh City). It was originally called « flower bridge » (cầu HOA), which later became « cầu BÔNG. » It is said that the word « Cả » is not used because it refers to the eldest son of King Gia Long (Prince Cảnh). This is absurd because « Hương Cả » is the title given to the first person in the village in South Vietnam, often heard by the population and still used in the French colonial era. This is absurd because no one ever pays attention to the rank or title given.

It should be remembered that the Vietnamese are part of the Austro-Asiatic group. In addition to the Vietnamese, there are many other ethnic groups that are now called ethnic minorities such as the Tai-Kadai, the Austronesians, the Mường, the Hmong, the Cham etc.). Consequently, there is always the reciprocal borrowing of words in the vocabulary used by these ethnic groups. In South Vietnam, formerly it was the territory of the kingdom of Funan whose inhabitants were not the Khmer but the Austronesians like the Cham and the Mạ in the Đồng Nai region despite the annexation of this kingdom later by Chenla which later became the Angkorian empire of the Khmer. As their territory was too vast, the Khmer were unable to assume their presence everywhere. This is why the Funanese only became Khmer in places where contact was possible thanks to the assimilation policy. On the other hand, in other places the Funanese continued to live as before.

Being given the undeniable proximity of the Austro-Asiatic and Austronesian groups, proven for thousands of years by documents from genetic research work as recently as twenty years ago, the borrowing of the word HAK from the Funanese belonging to the Austronesian group in South Vietnam by the Vietnamese is very normal to designate children.

According to Vietnamese writer Bình Nguyên Lộc, the eldest son is always called « Son Hak » by the Funanese. So « sister Hai » or « brother Hai » used by the Vietnamese in South Vietnam obviously come from the Funanese. This is why in South Vietnam when you meet a Vietnamese with wavy hair, you can deduce that he is of Funanese origin like the Mạ in the Dong Nai region. A pure Vietnamese never has wavy hair but on the other hand has straight hair because he is part of the Southern Mongoloid group.

Traces of Vietnam’s matriarchal system

j050807 Culture, Ethnies, Histoire, Lịch sử, Traditions, Văn Hóa mars 29, 2025mars 29, 2025

Traces of Vietnam’s matriarchal system.

Version française
There is a time when our people, like other peoples of the world, adopt the matriarchal system. Do we have the opportunity to think about this for ourselves? Certainly not, because at birth, we all took our father’s name, except in France where we are now allowed to add our mother’s name to our name. In the Vietnamese language, we often use words that still bear traces of the matriarchal system, which we never think about, especially since our country has adopted the patriarchal system for so long. We often say wife/husband (VỢ CHỒNG) but never husband/wife (CHỒNG VỢ). We are used to referring to the family line with the term « BÀ CON » where the word BÀ (madam) always precedes the word CON (or child). Sometimes there is contempt in the words when using the following term « gái nạ dòng or divorced woman » where the word nạ refers to the mother’s lineage. According to the writer Binh Nguyên Lộc, this is meant to imply a polyandrous girl. This implicitly means a bad girl.

Today, our country still has a matriarchal system in many places, such as in the Vietnamese highlands with the Cham, Jarai, Ede, Raglai and Churu ethnic groups belonging to the Austronesian language family, or the M’nong and K’ho of the Austro-Asiatic language family. Some claim that our country has adopted the patriarchal system since the annexation of Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ) by China. This is certainly not true. When did our country abandon the matriarchal system in favor of the patriarchal one? To explore this question further, archaeologists often rely on the way the dead are buried in the tombs of sites linked to the flooded rice civilization. It was certainly not at this time that the Hùng kings of the Văn Lang kingdom ruled with the Phùng Nguyên culture, as succession to the throne clearly operates through patriarchy in the legend, notably the major power always accruing to the eldest member of the family in the social organization of the time.

We also know that the ancestors of the Vietnamese people came directly from the region of the Blue River (Yangtze), based on today’s genetic research data. We need to go back in time and analyze the places where flooded rice was grown in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, because according to Japanese researcher Shin’ichi Nakamura of Kanazawa University, the cradle of rice cultivation must have been there, but given the current state of knowledge, it’s difficult to pinpoint it very precisely on a map.

However, there is the social evolution in the regions of the lower Yangtze River (Hemudu and Liangzhu archaeological sites) during the Neolithic period:

from a diversified economy to an exclusively rice-growing economy

– from agricultural to urban settlement

– from a collective cemetery to a cemetery for individual groups.

Why the Hemudu site? According to French archaeologist Corinne Debaine-Francfort, the oldest Neolithic site in the Hemudu region (Zheijiang) not only yielded the remains of a wooden lake dwelling on stilts, quite different from the mud houses of northern China, but also grains of rice cultivated in flooded fields using hoes made from animal shoulder blades in 1973. It can be said that rice was domesticated at this site dating from around 4770 to 5000 BC. The people living here had both Mongoloid and Australo-Negroid features. When people died, they were buried with their heads facing east or northeast, and most had no offerings. Nor did they have a clearly defined communal cemetery.

On the other hand, they had a common clan cemetery with numerous grave goods. We can see that a matriarchal system was still in place here, as we find the remains of animals such as monkeys, rhinoceroses, deer, elephants, tigers, tortoises etc. This shows that the local inhabitants were still living off hunting and fish.

The role of man is not considered important, as it is not yet necessary to have a social organization requiring many human resources for production, such as tool-making, storing rice in granaries, casting bronze, etc., as well as the distribution of arduous tasks to obtain the desired result during the harvest season. Man seems to have little power and is not allowed to own or inherit land.ing at the time.

On the other hand, in the Neolithic sites of the Liangzhu culture, there is a clear shift in the balance of power between husband and wife. For example, among the funerary objects in individual tombs, agricultural tools such as polished stone shovels are intended for men, while weaving wheels remain the main objects for women. This proves that, at the time, men were the main laborers in the rice fields and women were only responsible for household chores.

In addition, stonecutters were forced to change their trade and became jade cutters. This led to an important period of industrial development and division of labor in society, and fostered the emergence of class distinctions between rich and poor, as well as between aristocracy and religion. Since then, there has also been a contribution to division within the family unit. It was also at this point that monogamy began to appear. The wife followed her husband to live with his family. The children were also able to live with their parents and family, and took the father’s surname when they were born. Upon death, husband and wife could be buried together with members of their patriarchal family.

In short, we can say that the Vietnamese followed the patriarchal system very early on, when our ancestors were still living in the Yangtze basin. Consequently, when they returned to the Red River delta, they continued to preserve patriarchy under the Hồng Bàng dynasty with the Phùng Nguyên culture.

Bibliographie:

Annick Levy-Ward : Les centres de diffusion du riz cultivé. De l’Asie du Sud-Est à la Chine. Études rurales, n°151-152, 1999
Shin’ichi Nakamura: LE RIZ, LE JADE ET LA VILLE. Évolution des sociétés néolithiques du Yangzi. Éditions de l’EHESS 2005/5 60e année, pp 1009-1034
Corinne Debaine-Francfort : La redécouverte de la Chine ancienne. Editions Gallimard 1998.
Bình Nguyên Lộc: Lột trần Việt ngữ. Talawas

Why do the Thai have a piece of history with the Vietnamese people?

j050807 Gallery, Histoire, Lịch sử, Văn Hóa mars 29, 2025mars 29, 2025

Tại sao dân tộc Thái có một đoạn đường chung

với dân tộc Việt?

Version française
Version vietnamienne

According to Western scholars such as archaeologist Bernard Groslier, the Thai were grouped with the Vietnamese in the Thai-Vietnamese group, especially as they only founded their country in the 14th century, and there were black and white Thai sub-groups in Vietnam. So, are these the Thais found in Thailand today?

Repulsed by the Tsin of Shi Huang Di, the Thai tried to resist many times. For the Vietnamese writer Bình Nguyên Lôc, the subjects of the Shu and Ba kingdoms (Ba Thục) annexed very early by the Tsin in Sichuan (Tứ Xuyên)(1) were the proto-Thais (or Tay). According to this writer, they belonged to the Austro-Asiatic group of the Âu branch (or Ngu in Mường language or Ngê U in Mandarin Chinese (quan thoại)) to which the Thai and the Tày were attached.

For him, as for other Vietnamese researchers Trần Ngọc Thêm, Nguyễn Đình Khoa, Hà Văn Tấn etc., the Austro-Asiatic group includes 4 distinct subgroups: Môn-Khmer subgroup, Việt Mường subgroup (Lạc branch), Tày-Thái subgroup (Âu branch) and Mèo-Dao subgroup to which must be added the Austronesian subgroup (Chàm, Raglai, Êdê etc.) to define the Indonesian (or proto-Malay) race (2) (Chủng cổ Mã Lai).

The Thai contribution to the founding of the Au Lac Kingdom of the Viet of Thục Phán (An Dương Vương) is no longer in doubt after the latter succeeded in eliminating the last Hùng king of the Văn Lang kingdom because the name « Au Lac » (or Ngeou Lo) obviously evokes the union of two Yue ethnic groups of the Au branch (Proto-Thai) and the Lac branch (Proto-Viet). Moreover, Thục Phán was a Yue of the Au branch, which shows to such an extent the union and the common historical mission of these two ethnic groups in the face of Chinese expansion. According to Đào Duy Anh, Thục Phán was a prince of the Shu kingdom.This is what was reported in Chinese historical writings (Kiao-tcheou wai-yu ki or Kouang-tcheou ki), but it was categorically refuted by some Vietnamese historians because the Shu kingdom was located too far at that time, from the Văn Lang kingdom. It was annexed very early (more than half a century before the foundation of the Âu Lạc kingdom) by the Tsin. But for the Vietnamese writer Bình Nguyên Lôc, Thục Phán having lost his homeland, had to take refuge very young in the company of his faithful at that time in a country having the same ethnic affinity (culture, language) as him, namely the Si Ngeou kingdom (Tây Âu) located next to the Văn Lang kingdom of the Vietnamese. Furthermore, the Chinese have no interest in falsifying history by reporting that it was a prince of Shu ruling the kingdom of Âu Lạc. The asylum of the latter and his followers in the kingdom of Si Ngeou must have taken some time, which explains at least half a century in this exodus before the foundation of his kingdom Âu Lạc. This hypothesis does not seem very convincing because there was a 3000 km walk. In addition, he was at the head of an army of 30,000 soldiers. It is impossible for him to ensure logistics and make his army invisible during the exodus by crossing mountainous areas of Yunnan administered by other ethnic groups who were enemies or loyal to the Chinese. It is likely that he had to find from the Si Ngeou (or the Proto-Thais) everything (armament and military personnel, provisions) that he needed before his conquest.

There is recently another hypothesis that seems more coherent. Thục Phán was the leader of a tribe allied to the Si Ngeou confederation and the son of Thục Chế, king of a Nam Cương kingdom located in the Cao Bằng region and not far from Kouang Si in today’s China. There is a total concordance between everything reported in the legend of the magic crossbow of the Vietnamese and the rites found in the tradition of the Tày (Proto-Thai). This is the case of the golden turtle or the white rooster, each having an important symbolic meaning. An Dương Vương (Ngan-yang wang) was a historical figure. The discovery of the remains of its capital (Cổ Loa, huyện Đông An, Hànội) no longer casts doubt on the existence of this kingdom established around three centuries BC. It was later annexed by Zhao To (Triệu Đà), founder of the kingdom of Nan Yue.

Lac Long Quan-Au Cơ myth cleverly insinuates the union and separation of two Yue ethnic groups: one of the Lac branch (the Proto-Vietnamese) descending into the fertile plains following the streams and rivers, and the other of the Au branch (the Proto-Thai) taking refuge in the mountainous regions. The Muong were among the members of this exodus. Linguistically close to the Vietnamese, the Muong managed to preserve their ancestral customs because they were pushed back and protected in the mountains. They had a social organization similar to that of the Tày and the Thai. Located in the provinces of Kouang Tong (Quãng Đông) and Kouang Si (Quãng Tây), the kingdom of Si Ngeou (Tây Âu) is none other than the country of the proto-Thais (the ancestors of the Thais). It is here that Thục Phán took refuge before the conquest of the Văn Lang kingdom. It should also be remembered that the Chinese emperor Shi Houang Di had to mobilize at that time more than 500,000 soldiers in the conquest of the kingdom of Si Ngeou after having succeeded in defeating the army of the kingdom of Chu (or Sỡ) with 600,000 men. We must think that in addition to the implacable resistance of its warriors, the kingdom of Si Ngeou would have to be of a significant size and populated enough for Shi Houang Di (Tần Thủy Hoàng) to engage a significant military force.

Despite the premature death of a Si Ngeou king named Yi-Hiu-Song (Dịch Hu Tống), the resistance led by the Thai or (Si Ngeou)(Tây Âu) branch of the Yue managed to achieve some expected successes in the southern Kouang Si region with the death of a general T’ou Tsiu (Uất Đồ Thu) at the head of a Chinese army of 500,000 men, which was recorded in the annals of Master Houa-nan (or Houai–nan–tseu in Chinese or Hoài Nam Tử in Vietnamese) written by Liu An (Lưu An), grandson of Emperor Kao-Tsou (or Liu Bang), founder of the Han Dynasty between 164 and 173 BCE.

Si Ngeou was known for the valor of his formidable warriors. This corresponds exactly to the temperament of the Thais of yesteryear described by the French writer and photographer Alfred Raquez:(3)

Being warlike and adventurous, the Siamese of yesteryear were almost continually at war with their neighbors and often saw their expeditions crowned with success. After each successful campaign, they took prisoners with them and settled them in a part of the territory of Siam, as far as possible from their country of origin.

After the disappearance of Si Ngeou and Âu Lạc, the proto-Thais who remained in Vietnam at that time under the rule of Zhao Tuo (a former Chinese general of the Tsin who later became the first emperor of the kingdom of Nanyue) had their descendants forming today the Thai ethnic minority of Vietnam. The other proto-Thais fled to Yunnan where they united in the 8th century with the kingdom of Nanzhao (Nam Chiếu) and then with that of Dali (Đại Lý) where the Buddhism of the Great Vehicle (Phật Giáo Đại Thừa) began to take root. Unfortunately, their attempt was in vain. The Shu, Ba, Si Ngeou, Âu Lạc (5), Nan Zhao, Dali countries were part of the long list of countries annexed one after the other by the Chinese during their exodus. In these subjugated countries, the presence of the Proto-Thais was quite significant. Faced with this relentless Chinese pressure and the inexorable barrier of the Himalayas, the Proto-Thais were forced to descend into the Indochinese peninsula (4) by slowly infiltrating in a fan-like manner into Laos, the North-West of Vietnam (Tây Bắc), the north of Thailand and upper Burma.

According to Thai historical inscriptions found in Vietnam, there were three major waves of migration by the Yunnan Thais into north-western Vietnam during the 9th and 11th centuries. This corresponds exactly to the period when the kingdom of Nanzhao was annexed by the kingdom of Dali, which was in turn annihilated 3 centuries later by Kubilai Khan’s Mongols in China. During this infiltration, the proto-Thai divided into several groups: the Thai of Vietnam, the Thai in Burma (or Shans), the Thai in Laos (or Ai Lao) and the Thai in northern Thailand. Each of these groups began to adopt the religion of their host country.

The Thai in Vietnam did not have the same religion as those in other territories. They continued to retain animism (vạn vật hữu linh) or totemism. For this reason, they constituted the ethnic minorities of today’s Viet Nam.

Thaïlande (English version)

j050807 Ethnies, Histoire, Lịch sử mars 28, 2025mars 29, 2025

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The emergence of the Thai only became firmly established in the 14th century. Yet they are an ancient people of southern China. They are part of the Austro-Asiatic group (Chủng Nam Á) (or Baiyue or Bách Việt in Vietnamese). It is this group that the French archaeologist Bernard Groslier often referred to as the « Thai-Vietnamese group.

Si Ngeou was known for the valor of his formidable warriors. This corresponds exactly to the temperament of the Thais of yesteryear described by the French writer and photographer Alfred Raquez:(3)

After the disappearance of Si Ngeou and Âu Lạc, the proto-Thais who remained in Vietnam at that time under the rule of Zhao To (a former Chinese general of the Tsin who later became the first emperor of the kingdom of Nanyue) had their descendants forming today the Thai ethnic minority of Vietnam. The other proto-Thais fled to Yunnan where they united in the 8th century with the kingdom of Nanzhao (Nam Chiếu) and then with that of Dali (Đại Lý) where the Buddhism of the Great Vehicle (Phật Giáo Đại Thừa) began to take root. Unfortunately, their attempt was in vain. The Shu, Ba, Si Ngeou, Âu Lạc (5), Nan Zhao, Dali countries were part of the long list of countries annexed one after the other by the Chinese during their exodus. In these subjugated countries, the presence of the Proto-Thais was quite significant. Faced with this relentless Chinese pressure and the inexorable barrier of the Himalayas, the Proto-Thais were forced to descend into the Indochinese peninsula (4) by slowly infiltrating in a fan-like manner into Laos, the North-West of Vietnam (Tây Bắc), the north of Thailand and upper Burma.

(1): Land of pandas. It is also here that the Ba-Shu culture was discovered, famous for its zoomorphic masks of Sanxingdui and for the mystery of the signs on the armor. It is also the Shu-Han kingdom (Thục Hán) of Liu Bei (Lưu Bị) during the Three Kingdoms period. (Tam Quốc)

(2): Race of prehistoric Southeast Asia.

(3): Comment s’est peuplé le Siam, ce qu’est aujourd’hui sa population. Alfred Raquez, (publié en 1903 dans le Bulletin du Comité de l’Asie Française). In: Aséanie 1, 1998. pp. 161-181.

(4): Indochina in the broad sense. It is not French Indochina.

Forbidden Purple City (Huế)

j050807 Art, Histoire, Lịch sử, Sites touristiques, tourisme, Văn Hóa mars 28, 2025mars 28, 2025

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The Forbidden Purple City of Hue is protected by a 4-meter-high brick wall. This wall is further reinforced by the installation of a water-filled moat system, thus encircling the city. Each gate leading into the city is preceded by one or more bridges, but the Meridian Gate remains the main entrance, once reserved for the king. Today, it is the main entrance for visitors.

It is a powerful masonry structure pierced by five passages and topped by an elegant two-story wooden structure, the Five Phoenix Belvedere (Lầu Ngũ Phụng). To the east and west of the citadel are the Chương Đức Gate (7) and the Hiển Nhơn Gate (8), which are very well decorated and each pierced by three passages. The Hiển Nhơn Gate was completely restored in 1977.

World cultural Heritage of Viet Nam

Once you pass through the Meridian Gate, you see the sumptuous Palace of Supreme Harmony or Throne Palace, which can be reached by crossing the Esplanade of Great Salutations (Sân Ðại Triều Nghi). It was in this palace that the emperor, seated on the throne in a prestigious symbolic position, received the greeting of all the dignitaries of the empire. They were lined up hierarchically on the esplanade for major ceremonies. It is also the only building that has remained relatively intact after so many years of war. Behind this palace is the private residence of the king and his family.

1 Gate of the Midday (Ngọ Môn)
2 Palace of the Supreme Harmony. ( Điễn Thái Hòa)
3 Belvedere of the Lecture or Pavilion of the Archives (Thái Bình Ngự Lâm Thư Lâu)
4 Royal Theatre (Duyệt Thị Đường)
5 Splendour Pavilion (Hiên Lâm Các)
7 Gate of the Vertu (Chương Đức Môn)
8 Gate of the Humanity (Hiển Nhơn Môn)

Vietnamese makara (con kim)

j050807 Art, Culture, Lịch sử, sculpture, Văn Hóa mars 28, 2025mars 28, 2025

Con kìm

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For so many years, when I have the opportunity to visit temples or pagodas, I am used to taking photos of the sacred animal that is clearly visible on their roofs. I always think I am dealing with a dragon because its head resembles that of a dragon, its mouth being gaping and always swallowing an element of the roof. But when you examine it closely, you discover its very short body and its tail resembling that of a fish. The Chinese are used to calling it Xi. This is their way of calling this legendary creature Makara. This one is used to living underwater and is the favorite vehicle of the goddess of the Ganges River, Ganga. It is therefore an aquatic creature from abroad. Its mouth is so large that it can swallow an architectural element of the roof. Is this why the Vietnamese give it the name « Kìm » (or pincer in French)? Why is it often found on the roofs of temples or communal houses?

According to the Taiping Leibian Encyclopedia, it is a tradition dating back to the Han period under the reign of Emperor Han Wudi and the period when Buddhism began to take root in China. Following the fire at the Bach Luong Palace and at the suggestion of a mandarin to the emperor, the Imperial Court decided to sculpt the statue of this aquatic creature and install it on the roof of the palace because it was capable of extinguishing fire by surfing on the waves, which caused rain when it appeared. This creature henceforth became the symbol of the extinction of fire.

This custom was widespread not only in the Han imperial court but also in popular belief. Our country, annexed by the Han at this time, was no exception in the practice of this cult. Kim thus became the sacred animal of decoration on the roofs of communal houses and pagodas because Vietnamese artists have succeeded today in giving it a specific character in Vietnamese culture over the centuries. It has long since become a purely Vietnamese sacred animal. Everyone forgets not only its Hindu name, makara, but also its origin.

Nỗi buồn chiến tranh (Chagrins de la guerre)

j050807 Histoire, Lịch sử, Vietnam mars 27, 2025mars 27, 2025

Tình gia thất nào ai chẳng co’
Kià lão thân khuê-phụ nhớ ‘thương
Mẹ già phơ phất mái sương
Con thơ nhỏ dại còn dương phù trì

Chinh Phụ Ngâm

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Nhắc đến Việt Nam, người ta không ngừng nghĩ về cuộc chiến, những vết thương lòng và các thuyền nhân. Không ai có thể thờ ơ khi biết rằng có đến 13 triệu tấn bom (265 kg bình quân đầu người) và sáu mươi triệu lít chất tẩy lá đã được thả xuống suốt thời kỳ chiến tranh. Có khoảng 4 triệu thường dân Việt Nam thiệt mạng hoặc bị thương, 450000 chiến binh tử vong, 800.000 chiến binh bị thương chưa kể đến 58.183 lính Mỹ tử vong hay mất tích và 313 613 người Mỹ bị thương. Cuộc chiến này đã chia rẽ vào thời điểm đó không những dư luận quốc tế mà luôn cả dư luận ở Việt Nam. Nó vẫn mãi còn in sâu trong tâm trí của người Mỹ cho đến ngày nay. Trái lại, người Việt Nam khó mà có thể biện minh cho cuộc chiến này khi yêu chuộng công lý, tự do và độc lập. Mỗi người trong chúng ta đều tràn đầy tiếc nuối, mâu thuẫn và bối rối vì chúng ta biết rõ nguyên nhân và hậu quả của cuộc chiến này.

Độc lập và tự do không bao giờ đi cùng nhau trên con đường đi đến hòa bình. Chúng ta tiếp tục ước mơ có một ngày nào đó có đựợc cả hai trên mảnh đất gian khổ này mà chúng ta không ngừng uốn nắn và thấm đẫm nó với mồ hôi và nước mắt từ bao nhiêu thế hệ.

Chúng ta tiếp tục van xin Thượng Đế, đổ lỗi cho người ngoại quốc mà không muốn nhận ra lỗi lầm của mình, không dám soi gương và không muốn nuôi dưỡng niềm hy vọng của cả một dân tộc. Trong quá khứ, chúng ta đã đánh mất quá nhiều cơ hội hòa giải, đưa Việt Nam ra thoát khỏi sự nghèo đói và đưa nước ta trở lại trên con đường thịnh vượng vào buổi bình minh của thế kỷ 21. Đã đến lúc không nên lặp lại những sai lầm mà các bậc tiền bối của chúng ta đã mắc phải trong nhiều năm qua, nên chôn vùi mối hận thù cá nhân vì lợi ích quốc gia và đối xử một cách cao thượng với tất cả những người không có cùng quan điểm chính trị. Rõ ràng là chúng ta không làm điều đó một cách dễ dàng nhưng cũng đỡ đớn đau hơn những gì mà biết bao gia đình Việt Nam phải gánh chịu trong cuộc chiến này, điều mà chúng ta thường gọi là “nỗi buồn chiến tranh”.

Năm 1945, tại vùng đồng bằng sông Cửu Long, một thiếu niên tên Hoàng, xuất thân từ một gia đình địa chủ, sống bí mật ở một vùng ngoại ô cách Cần Thơ không xa cùng với người tình trẻ tên Hương. Họ có được hai người con, một bé trai tên Thành 3 tuổi và một bé gái tên Mai một tuổi. Đáng tiếc, cuộc hôn nhân này chỉ tồn tại trong thời gian ngắn vì bị người thân của họ phát hiện. Họ lên án mạnh mẽ cô vì thật xấu hổ cho gia đình khi biết cô gái trẻ này không ai khác chính là em họ xa của Hoàng. Quá xấu hổ và hối hận, Hoàng quyết định từ bỏ gia đình và nhập ngũ vào quân đội Việt Minh với hy vọng tìm được sự giải thoát trên chiến trường chống lại quân Pháp. Nhờ lòng dũng cảm và chiến công quân sự, vài năm sau Hoàng trở thành lãnh đạo quan trọng của Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam ở vùng Minh Hải (Cà Mau), miền Nam Việt Nam.

Năm 1954, sau Hiệp định Genève, Hoàng được tập kết ra miền Bắc Việt Nam chờ cuộc bầu cử dân chủ mới ở miền Nam Việt Nam. Thật không may, vì chiến tranh lạnh và sự đối đầu Đông/ Tây khiến các cuộc bầu cử đã không bao giờ diễn ra. Việt Nam sau đó trở thành nơi đối đầu và bị chia thành hai nước cộng hòa, một nước thân cận với khối Xô Viết và nước kia là Việt Nam Cộng hòa. Sau vài năm du học ở Mạc Tư Khoa, Hoàng trở về Hà Nội, vài năm sau và trở thành kỹ cao cấp có trách nhiệm,chuyên trong lĩnh vực chế tạo pháo hạng nặng và bảo trì các khẩu đội phòng không DCA trong chiến tranh Mỹ-Việt. Trong thời gian đó, Hoàng tái hôn và bị tử vong vào một buổi sáng đẹp trời trong hầm trú ẩn lúc máy bay Mỹ-Miền Nam Việt Nam oanh tạc ở vùng Vinh năm 1964. Hoàng được truy tặng danh hiệu và được xem coi là anh hùng dân tộc (hay liệt sỹ).

Về phần Hương, nàng tiếp tục nuôi hai con ở miền Nam trong khi chờ lúc chồng về. Khoảng hai mươi năm sau, cậu con trai Thành của Hương đã trở thành một trong những phi công trẻ xuất sắc của miền Nam Việt Nam sau ba năm học tập và huấn luyện tại một căn cứ quân sự ở Hoa Kỳ (Houston, Texas). Thành đã thực hiện một số phi vụ ở miền Bắc Việt Nam và nhiều lần tham gia các cu ộc ném bom ở vùng Thanh Hóa và Vinh. Liệu một trong những quả bom vô tình đánh rơi có thể giết chết cha Thành, người mà Thành luôn luôn muốn gặp lại một ngày khi hòa bình trở lại với đất nước này? Hai tháng trước khi Sài Gòn thất thủ năm 1975, vào tháng 2, Thành nhận được lệnh bí mật cùng gia đình rời Việt Nam để di cư sang Hoa Kỳ. Cuối cùng,Thành thích ở lại Việt Nam hơn vì mẹ anh vẫn nuôi hy vọng tìm thấy cha mình đang sống ở miền Bắc Việt Nam và gặp lại gia đình đoàn tụ sau bao nhiêu năm đau khổ và chia ly. Thật không may, Hương không bao giờ tìm thấy được chồng mình còn sống. Nàng được biết chồng nàng đã bị bom Mỹ giết chết và như một phần thưởng, nàng đã nhận được danh hiệu “vợ anh hùng” (hay vợ của liệt Sỹ).

Ngược lại, vì ba năm được huấn luyện ở Hoa Kỳ và hoạt động quân sự nên Thành, con trai Hoàng, bị đưa vào trại cải tạo ở Lạng Sơn, miền Bắc Việt Nam. Thành phải mất 8 năm để phục hổi chức năng. Trong thời gian anh bị giam giữ, mẹ anh, Hương cứ sáu tháng lại phải đi một chặng đường dài để gặp anh và không ngừng khóc trong những lần đoàn tụ này. Anh ta chỉ thấy mẹ bị mất thị lực và trông tình trạng đáng thương khi anh được thả về. Anh chưa bao giờ có cơ hội phục vụ mẹ đựợc lâu vì anh được phép rời Việt Nam định cư lâu dài tại Hoa Kỳ vào năm 1994. Có lẽ, anh sẽ không bao giờ gặp lại mẹ mình nữa năm nay đã 85 tuổi, bởi việc trở về Việt Nam lúc này sẽ là một điều không mơ tưởng.

Câu chuyện của gia đình này bị hủy hoại và khổ đau bởi cuộc chiến không chỉ là câu chuyện của đại đa số người Việt Nam mà còn là câu chuyện của một dân tộc tiếp tục xoa dịu vết thương sâu đậm qua ngày tháng cho cái giá độc lập và tự do.