Long Biên

For the district of modern Hanoi, see Long Biên District.

Long Biên (Vietnamese), also known as Longbian (Chinese: t 龍編, s 龙编, p Lóngbiān, w Lung-pien, lit. "Dragons Interweaving"),[note 1] was the capital of the Chinese province of Jiaozhou and commandery of Jiaozhi during the Han dynasty and its successors. It was located on the Red River within modern Hanoi. After Ly Bi's successful revolt in AD 544, it was the capital of Van Xuan. Sui China retook the territory in 603. Their general removed the capital to nearby Songping (Tông Binh) but Long Biên flourished as a trading port in the late 8th and early 9th centuries. Thăng Long was founded in 1010 at the site of earlier Chinese fortresses nearby. This grew into modern Hanoi, which incorporated Long Biên as one of its districts.

Name

The name has been translated as "Dragons Interweaving" or "Dragon Twist",[1] traditionally in reference to a jiao seen in the river shortly after the founding of the city.[1] It was also known as Longyuan (Long Uyên),[2] briefly known as Longzhou (t 龍州, s 龙州, p Lóngzhou, w Lung-chou) in the 7th century, and known as "Dragon's Gulf".[1] It was also known by the name of its city wall as Luocheng or La Thanh (t 羅城, s 羅城, p Luocheng, w Lo-ch'eng, lit. "Enveloping Wall"),[1] although this name was later transferred to Songping after the Sui conquest in 602[1] and to a third site which became present-day Hanoi in the later 8th century. It is also sometimes anachronistically referenced as "Hanoi".

History

The capital of the early Vietnamese kingdom of Au Lac had been at Co Loa in present-day Hanoi's Dong Anh district.[3] The area was conquered by the Qin general Zhao Tuo between 208 and 207 BC, a few years after the death of the First Emperor. With China falling into chaos during the contention between Han and Chu, Zhao Tuo split off Nanhai Commandery as the separate state of Nanyue, which he ruled from Panyu (Guangzhou).[4] In the 110s BC, the royal family of Nanyue mooted incorporating their realm as a principality of the Han Empire. The local nobility reäcted violently, killing King Zhao Xing, the Queen Dowager Jiushi (樛氏), and several Chinese diplomats.[5] The first army sent by Emperor Wu under Han Qianqiu was defeated in 112 BC,[6] but the next year a much larger force assembled under Lu Bode and Yang Pu, besieging Panyu, conquering the kingdom, and initiating the "First Northern Domination" of Vietnam.

The territory was organized as the province of Jiaozhou. Shi Dai administered it from Lianshou (Liên Thụ) rather than Panyu.[2] In 106 BC, this was moved to Guangxin (Quảng Tín) in Cangwu.[2] Long Biên is sometimes given as the provincial capital instead,[7] but this did not occur until the time of Shi Xie during the Three Kingdoms period.[note 2] Long Biên was the capital of the commandery of Jiaozhi and Longbian County, but it was not named before the erection of its citadel in AD 208.[2] Jiaozhou also held the commanderies of Nanhai, Cangwu, Yulin, Hepu, Jiuzhen, and Rinan.[8][9] Jiaozhi also held the counties of Lianshou (Liên Thụ), Anding (An Định), Goulou (Cẩu Lậu), Miling (Mê Linh), Quyang (Khúc Dương), Beidai (Bắc Đái), Jixu (Kê Từ), Xiyu (Tây Vu), and Zhuyuan (Chu Diên).[8][9]

Long Biên was the major Chinese entrepôt for foreign trade in antiquity and is one of major contenders for Ptolemy's Cattigara. The local products were bananas, areca nuts, sharkskin, python bile, and kingfisher feathers,[1] although the district between it and Guangzhou was rich in silver, cinnabar, and mercury.[10] Cen Shen also wrote that the country "abounds in treasures and jewels".[11] For the Chinese, it was mainly reached overland through the Gate of Ghosts[10]—Han Yu noted that officials arrived "only after several months" of travel[11][note 3]—while direct maritime trade with Guangzhou, Malaysia, and India was often in the hands of Arabs and Persians.[10] In addition to maritime and overland routes to Guangzhou, there was a great road to Champa in the south.[13] Another route—often disrupted by conflict—led northwest on the upper Red River and the "Clear River" through "Feng-chou" to Yunnan.[13]

Deng Rang was the grand administrator of Jiaozhi at the revival of the Han in AD 29.[14] Su Ding was appointed in 34.[15] The revolt of the Trung Sisters from AD 40–43 was occasioned by the treatment they received by the commandery's grand administrator Su Ding (蘇定).[16] They besieged the settlement as one of their first acts,[16] taking the town and driving Su back to Nanhai.[17] Their capital was at nearby Me Linh.[18] Ma Yuan, assisted by Liu Long and Duan Zhi, defeated them at Langbo (Tây Hồ) in 42 and defeated and captured them in 43.[19] The period following their defeat is reckoned as the "Second Northern Domination" in Vietnamese history.

During the Three Kingdoms period, the grand administrator of Jiaozhi, Shi Xie, declared for Sun Quan and his Kingdom of Wu and sent his son Xin as a hostage.[20][21] Using the area's thriving foreign trade, Shi Xie provided large amounts of tribute and eventually seated his three brothers Shi Yi, Shi Wei, and Shi Wu as grand administrators over the neighboring commanderies of Hepu, Jiuzhen, and Nanhai.[20][21] He was also named Marquis of Longbian[20][21] and fostered Buddhism in his territories,[22] for which he is still worshipped under the name "King Si" (Vietnamese: Sĩ Vương).[23] After Xie's death in 226, Sun Quan divided Jiaozhi, giving its northern commanderies to a new governor at Guangzhou. Xie's son Shi Hui attempted to resist this move and usurped his father's command, opposing the arrival of Dai Liang, the designated successor.[20][21] Huan Lin spoke in favor of surrendering to the legitimate administrator and was personally killed by Shi Hui; the official's brother and nephew, Huan Zhi and Fa, then besieged the city for months. Shi Yi's son Shi Kuang convinced Hui to yield to the royal administration but Lü Dai first ensured the execution of Shi Hui and all of his brothers and then demoted the rest of the Shi clan to common status.[20][21] In 248, Lady Triệu and others rebelled, but most were bought off by Lu Yin (陸胤) and the revolt collapsed.[24]

At the establishment of the Jin Dynasty in 280, Yin Ju was appointed grand administrator over Jiaozhi at Long Biên.[25] Bu Zhi reunited Jiaozhou and Guangzhou, but kept the capital in the latter.[26]

After Ly Bi's successful revolt in AD 544, it was the capital of Van Xuan.

The Sui general Liu Fang retook the area in 603, removing the Chinese administration to Songping (Tông Binh) on the south shore of the Red River.[1] Long Biên and Tông Binh were elevated to county or prefectural status under the names "Longzhou" and "Songzhou" in 621 but these were abolished only a few years later.[1] This period is known as the "Third Northern Domination".

Under the Tang, the area was organized as Annam and administered from Jiaozhi.[9] The road to Guangzhou was reopened in 622 through negotiations which left the local Ning tribesmen in control of the nominally Chinese counties in the area.[10] The Chinese administration was largely staffed with mandarins banished from other areas of China.[27] Many were killed en route or succumbed to tropical diseases.[28] Long Biên prospered in the second half of the 8th century and early 9th century not so much on its own merits but owing to corruption at Guangzhou,[note 4] continuing despite a major Arab and Persian raid on the city in 758.[26][30] and subsequent corruption there that diverted a great deal of the foreign trade to the Red River.[31] The Chinese garrisons in the country repeatedly mutinied during the 9th century.[13]

At the establishment of the Ly Dynasty, the capital was renamed Thăng Long, which name was revived by the later Trần and Lê dynasties.[2]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The Baxter-Sagart reconstruction of the characters' Old Chinese pronunciation is *Məroŋ-pˁen.
  2. ↑ Panyu also again briefly served as the Eastern Han's capital of Jiaozhou after AD 210.[2]
  3. ↑ Schafer provides an itinerary of the usual route in his Vermilion Bird.[12]
  4. ↑ Wang O, the administrator from 795–800, was said to have had more wealth on account in Changan than the public treasury.[29] Kong Kui, working from 817–819 ended "voluntary gifts" from foreign merchants, reduced their fees, and ceased the practice of seizing deceased merchants' property when left unclaimed for 3 months.[29]

Citations

References

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