First Chinese domination of Vietnam

Bắc thuộc
District of the Han Empire
← 111 BC–40 →
Government		Monarchy
History
•	Han-Nam Việt War	111 BC
•	Trưng Sisters' Uprising	40

The first Chinese domination is a period in Vietnamese history during which Vietnam was under Chinese rule from the north.^[1] It is the first of four periods of Chinese domination of Vietnam, the first three of which are almost continuous and referred to as Bắc thuộc ("Northern domination").

In 111 BC, the Han dynasty of China conquered the Nam Việt (or Nanyue) kingdom during its expansion southward and incorporated what is now northern Vietnam, together with much of modern Guangdong and Guangxi, into the expanding Han empire. Vietnamese resistance to Han rule culminated in the rebellion of the Trưng Sisters, who expelled the Han in 40 AD and briefly ruled Vietnam until being defeated by the returning Han army in 43 AD.

Administration

In 111 BC, the Han dynasty armies defeated the successors of Zhao Tuo (Triệu Đà) and incorporated Nam Việt and former Âu Lạc into the Han empire under the new name of Jiaozhi (Giao Chi), dividing the former kingdom into nine commanderies:^[2]

1. Nanhai (南海; Vietnamese: Nam Hải; located in Lingnan, modern central Guangdong)
2. Hepu (合浦; Vietnamese: Hợp Phố; located in Lingnan, modern southern coastal Guangxi)
3. Cangwu (蒼梧; Vietnamese: Thương Ngô; located in Lingnan, modern eastern Guangxi)
4. Yulin (郁林/鬱林; Vietnamese: Uất Lâm; located in Lingnan, probably Guilin, modern northeastern Guangxi)
5. Zhuya (珠崖; Vietnamese: Châu Nhai; located on Hainan)
6. Dan'er (儋耳; Vietnamese: Đạm Nhĩ; located on Hainan),
7. Jiaozhi (交趾; Vietnamese: Giao Chỉ; located in northern Vietnam and part of southern Guangxi)
8. Jiuzhen (九真; Vietnamese: Cửu Chân; probably located in central Vietnam)
9. Rinan (日南; Vietnamese: Nhật Nam; probably located in central Vietnam)

All nine districts were administered from Long Biên, near modern Hanoi;^[3] each ruled by a Chinese mandarin while the old system of low er rank rulers of Lac Hau, Lac Tuong were kept unchanged.

Economy

The Vietnamese paid heavy tributes and taxes to the Hans. The Han mandarins tried to occupy large areas of land and changed them into Chinese style farms and brought Chinese peasants to work them. The Chinese attempted to impose Chinese culture, institutions, educational system, politics, language, art, music, architecture and religion on the Vietnamese, and imported Chinese administrators to replace the local nobility. However, implementation of a foreign administrative system and the Sinicization was not easy, frequent uprisings and rebellions were indicative of Vietnamese resistance to these changes.

Under foreign rule, the Vietnamese people had to adopt foreign writing system, but lost much of their spoken language, and their national identity.

The Hans were anxious to extend their control over the fertile Red River Delta, in part to serve as a convenient supply point for Han ships engaged in the growing maritime trade with South and Southeast Asia. During the first century of Chinese rule, Vietnam was governed leniently, and the Lạc lords maintained their feudal offices. In the first century A.D., however, the Han dynasty intensified its efforts to assimilate its new territories by raising taxes and instituting marriage reforms aimed at turning Vietnam into a patriarchal society more amenable to political authority.

History

Historical accounts of the Triệu Dynasty

There is a dispute as to whether the period of the Triệu dynasty was part of the first Chinese domination of Vietnam.

Trưng uprising

In response to increasingly oppressive Han rule, a revolt broke out in Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen (Cửu Chân), and Rinan (Nhật Nam) in 40, led by Trưng Trắc, the wife of a Lạc lord named Thi Sách who had been put to death in 39 by Su Ding (Tô Định) governor of Jiaozhi, and her sister Trưng Nhị. The Trưng Sisters incited a victorious armed revolt against Han authorities, took over 65 cities. They were crowned the queens in 40, renaming the country Lĩnh Nam. This marked the end of the first Chinese domination of Vietnam.

References

1. Charles S. Prebish Buddhism: A Modern Perspective 1975 Page 174 "This was the first Chinese domination of Vietnam which lasted until A.d. 39, when the heroic Tru'un Trac, outraged at the Chinese for the unjust execution of her husband, and her younger sister Tru'un Nhi, managed to free the land for a brief four years."
2. Google Books result
3. Taylor 63

Sources

• Taylor, Keith Weller. (1983). The Birth of Vietnam. ISBN 0-520-07417-3