Nanyue Totally Explained

Everything about Nanyue totally explained

Nanyue was an ancient kingdom that consisted of parts of the modern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and much of modern northern Vietnam. The kingdom was established by the Han Chinese general Zhao Tuo of the Qin dynasty who assimilated the customs of the Yue peoples and central China in his territory. Its capital was named Panyu (番禺), in today's Guangzhou, China. In Vietnam, the name Triệu Dynasty (based on the Vietnamese pronunciation of the surname Zhào) is used to refer to the lineage of kings of Nanyue, and by extension the era of Nanyue rule.

History

The history of Nányuè was written in Records of the Grand Historian by Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian, between 109 BC to 91 BC.
After the first Emperor of China Qin Shi Huang united China by conquering all six kingdoms in 219 BC, he ordered his generals to conquer the regions of present-day Guangdong and Guangxi. The conquest was completed in 214 BC. A new administrative unit, Nánhǎi Commandery (南海郡) was formed to rule the area corresponding approximately to present-day Guangdong. Zhào Tuō was appointed to manage a Lóngchuān (龍川), a strategic place in the military. He asked Qin Shi Huang to send 500 thousand people from Central China to Nánhǎi to assimilate the culture of Central China and Yuè.

Establishment

After the death of Qin Shi Huang, a wave of anti-Qin riots swept across central China and the Qin Dynasty soon capitulated. In 208 BC, the head of Nánhǎi Commandery, Rèn Xiāo (任囂), appointed Zhào Tuō to succeed his position and suggested that Zhao establish a country in the south and take advantage of the mountainous boundary with northern China. Zhao soon reinforced the defences in the mountain passes north and replaced the Qin officials with his own followers. In 203 BC, he conquered another two commanderies, Guìlín (桂林郡, approximately Guangxi) and Xiàng "Elephant" (象郡, approximately Yunnan, north and central Vietnam), at the south of the mountain. The new kingdom of Nányuè was born, with Pānyú as the capital; Zhào Tuō declared himself Wǔ Wáng (武王, lit. martial king) of Nányuè. Liu Bang, after years of war with his rivals, established the Han dynasty and reunified Central China in 202 BC. Liu and his successors adopted a policy of peace to give his empire time to regenerate. In 211 BC, the emperor Liu sent Lù Jiǎ (陸賈) to Nányuè to appoint Zhào Tuō as the King of Nányuè. Trade relations were established at the border between Nányuè and the Han kingdom of Changsha. Although formally a Han subject state, Nányuè retained a large measure of effective autonomy.
   After the death of Liu Bang in 195 BC, the government was put in the hands of his wife, Empress Lü Zhi, who served as empress dowager over their son Emperor Hui of Han and then Emperor Hui's sons Liu Gong and Liu Hong. Zhao Tuo believed that Wu Chen (吳臣), the Prince of Changsha, had made false accusations against him to get Empress Dowager Lü to block the trade between the states and to prepare to conquer the Nanyue to merge into his principality of Changsha. In revenge, he then declared himself the emperor of Nányuè and attacked the principality of Changsha. Lǚ sent general Zào (灶) to punish the Zhào Tuō. The hot and humid weather made soldiers fall ill and the army unable to go south of the mountains. The army withdrew. With the military success, Zhào Tuō took in the surrounding states of Mǐnyuè (閩越) in the east and Ōuluò (甌雒) in the west as subject kingdoms. The empress dowager then killed some of Zhao's clan members within Han territory and damaged his ancestors' tombs.
   In 179 BC, Liu Heng ascended the Emperor of Han. He reversed the policy of the empress. He ordered officials to visit the family town Zhēndìng (真定), garrison the town and make offerings to his ancestors regularly. His prime minister Chén Píng (陳平) suggested sending Lù Jiǎ to Nányuè as they were familiar with each other. Zhào Tuō felt surprised on Lù's arrival. He then withdrew his title of emperor and Nányuè became Han's subject state.
   The Yuè, under the domination of the Han (Han Wudi) was forced, wiped, tortured and enslaved to repair and enhance the Great Wall of China.

Zhào Hú

In 137 BC, Zhào Tuō died. His grandson Zhào Hú (趙胡) succeeded the king of Nányuè. Yǐng Xìng (郢興), the king of Mǐnyuè, attacked Nányuè. Zhào Hú asked the Emperor Liu Che to send troops to halt the attack of Mǐnyuè. The emperor sent two generals to Mǐnyuè. Before Han's advancing to Mǐnyuè, Yǐng Xìng's younger brother Yú Shàn (餘善) killed Yǐng Xìng and surrendered.
The emperor Liu Che sent Zhuāng Zhù (莊助) to Nányuè. Zhào Hú thanked the Emperor and sent his son Zhào Yīngqí (趙嬰齊) to the Han capital, Chang'an. He also wanted to go Chang'an but was stopped by his minister for fear that he couldn't return and it would be the end of the kingdom. He thus pretended to be sick and stayed in Nányuè. He really fell sick later for over 10 years and died. He got his posthumous name Wén Dì (文帝).

Zhào Yīngqí

Zhào Yīngqí returned to Nányuè and succeeded the king. He married a woman of family Jiū (樛) from Handan and born a son Zhào Xìng (趙興) when he was in Chang'an. He asked the Emperor to appoint Jiū as his queen and Zhào Xìng his crown prince. He sent his second son to Chang'an. Zhào Yīngqí died with posthumous name Míng Wáng (明王).

Zhào Xìng

Zhào Xìng succeeded Zhào Yīngqí as king. As the king was young, the king's mother Jiū took control of the kingdom. In 113 BC, the Emperor sent Ānguó Shǎojì (安國少季) to Nányuè ask the king and the king's mother to visit the Emperor. Ānguó Shǎojì was in fact Jiū's lover when she was in Chang'an. They renewed their affair which made the subjects mistrust the king's mother. To secure their positions, the king and his mother wanted Nányuè to be a kingdom within the Han Empire. The king, his mother, and Ānguó Shǎojì tried to persuade Lǚ Jiā (呂嘉) and other ministers to follow. Lǚ Jiā stood and left. The king's mother tried to kill him but stopped by the king.
Lǚ Jiā refused to meet the king and planned to revolt. As he knew the king had no intention to kill him, the plan wasn't carried out for months.

Zhào Jiàndé

The minister Lǚ Jiā revolted and killed the king and the king's mother. He named Zhào Jiàndé (趙建德), the eldest son of Zhào Yīngqí, to be the king of Nányuè. In autumn 112 BC the emperor sent a navy of a hundred thousand strong to attack Nányuè. In winter 111 BC the capital Pānyú fell and many surrendered. Lǚ Jiā and Zhào Jiàndé escaped on the sea but were captured soon. Nányuè was officially incorporated into Han.

Kings

personal name				posthumous name				reign
Chinese	Quốc ngữ	Pinyin	Cantonese	Chinese	Quốc ngữ	Pinyin	Cantonese
趙佗	Triệu Đà	Zhào Tuó	Chiu To	武王	Vũ Vương	Wǔ Wáng	Mo Wong	203–137 BCE
趙眜	Triệu Mạt	Zhào Mò	Chiu Mut	文王	Văn Vương	Wén Wáng	Man Wong	137–122
趙嬰齊	Triệu Anh Tề	Zhào Yīngqí	Chiu Ying-chai	明王	Minh Vương	Míng Wáng	Ming Wong	122–115
趙興	Triệu Hưng	Zhào Xìng	Chiu Hing	哀王	Ai Vương	Āi Wáng	Oi Wong	115–112
趙建德	Triệu Kiến Đức	Zhào Jiàndé	Chiu Kin-tak	陽王	Dương Vương	Yáng Wáng	Yeung Wong	112–111

Controversy

Among the Vietnamese, the Zhào/Triệu Dynasty was a controversial one. Many consider it a period of Chinese domination since it was ruled by a Chinese general, while others consider it a period of independence because they believed that he adopted Yuè/Việt customs and often ruled in defiance of the Han emperor.
Most official pre-modern Vietnamese annals, such as the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, list the Trieu Dynasty as a Vietnamese dynasty.

Archaeological findings

In June of 1983, The tomb of Zhào Hú was found in Guangzhou. Thousands of artefacts were found, including bronze ritual utensils, musical instruments, weapons, farming utensils, lacquer, silk, and jewelry of jade, gold, silver, and ivory. Others were also found buried with the king. In addition, the gold seal of Wén Dì was unearthed.

Guangdong and Vietnam

Nán/Nam (南) means in the south and Yuè/Việt (越) means Yuè/Việt people and the place of Yuè/Việt people. Nam Việt is a southern country in the place of Việt people.
   The Chinese character 越 (Yuè/Việt) and its homonym variant 粤 (Yuè/Việt), were used in ancient times to refer to people or peoples inhabiting southern China: see Yue (peoples) for details. Today, the former character refers either to the people, culture, and languages of Zhejiang province (on the east coast) or Vietnam, while the latter character refers to those of Guangdong province.
   After the Han Chinese controlled the Nányuè area for nearly 1000 years, people in northern Vietnam were partly sinicized while the areas of present-day Guangdong and Guangxi were largely sinicized.
   The people in northern Vietnam broke away from China in 938 A.D. after their victory on the Bach Dang river. They formed their own kingdom and called it Đại Việt (The Great Việt Kingdom). This kingdom grew stronger; it expanded south and conquered the Champa kingdom (in central Vietnam) and most of the Khmer empire (in southern Vietnam), forcing the Khmer to migrate. In 1800s, Nguyen Anh, a Việt king, wanted to change his kingdom's name from Dai Viet to Nam Viet. However the Qing Emperor at that time didn't want to confuse it with the ancient kingdom thus changing the name to Viet Nam (south of Yue or Viet). The Kinh people of the hundred tribes of Yuè form the majority of the modern-day ethnic group of Vietnam.

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