The Spread of Chinese Civilization: Vietnam

1. Nick Ahrendt, Alex Breeden, and Thomas Brinkman Period 5 The Spread of Chinese Civilization: Vietnam

2. The Making of Vietnam • Chinese moved southward to fertile, rice growing region of Red River valley • Qin records dubbed them “southern barbarians” • Did not become annexed at first, unlike others in the fertile southern regions • Homeland far from Chinese political centers in northern plains • Had pre-established resilient and sophisticated culture

3. The Making of Vietnam cont… • Routine raids by the Qin in the 220s B.C.E. furthered already flourishing trade with other peoples of southern China -traded ivory, tortoise shells, pearls, peacock feathers, and aromatic woods for Chinese silk • Defeated feudal warlords in decades following the raids to unite Nam Viet, “people in the south” • Intermarried with Mon-khmer and Tai speaking inhabitants to form specific ethnic group

4. Societal Aspects • Willingness to do so suggests shared culture with southeast Asia before conquest by Han • Spoken language not related to Chinese • Strong village autonomy and favored nuclear family • Did not develop clan networks like southern China • Women had more freedom and influence than those in China • General customs and cultural forms were very different from those of China

5. Conquest and Sinification • The expanding Han first secured tribute from Viets • After 111 B.C.E. the Han assimilated them directly • Chinese administrators presided over the introduction of their culture • Viets attended Chinese schools, where they learned Chinese script and Confucian classics • Took administrative exams for entrance into the bureaucracy • Incorporation of Chinese cropping techniques and irrigation technology made agriculture more efficient and led to higher population density

6. Conquest cont… • The elite eventually adopted the extended family model and took to veneration of their ancestors in the Confucian manner • Increasing clashes with peoples to the west and south whom had adopted Indian patterns of kinship and warfare • Chinese political and military organization gave them a decisive advantage though

7. Roots of Resistance • Full absorption of the Viets was constantly stifled by sporadic revolts by the aristocracy and the failure of Chinese culture to win over the peasantry • Women also participated in the revolts - 39 C.E. Trung Sisters, children of deposed local leader led uprising - women held disdain for male-dominated Confucian codes and patriarchal family system

8. Winning Independence • Revolutions took benefit from long distance from China and the several mountain ranges which separated the two • The Vietnamese were also quick to take advantage of nomadic incursions and political turmoil in northern China • By 939 C.E. Vietnam was independent; remained so until the 19th century

9. Continuing Chinese Influences • Le dynasty (980-1009) began succession of dynasties which ruled Vietnam through a bureaucracy based on the Chinese systems • Local scholar-gentry class never gained power it did in China • Local Viet officials identified with village rulers and peasantry instead of ruling dynasty • Buddhist monks also gained stronger bonds with the common folk, especially women, than did the Confucian bureaucrats

10. The Vietnamese Drive to the South • The Chinese legacy helped the Viets in struggles with local rivals such as the indianizedChams and Khmers of the southern lowlands • Regularly traded with the hill dwellers, though minimally as they saw these hunters and shifting cultivators as “nude savages” • Series of successful wars from the 11th to 18th centuries extended Viet territory into the Mekong delta region

11. Expansion and Division • The dynasties centered at the capital city of Hanoi were unable to keep control of the distant frontier regions • Schism in culture as the invaders intermarried with the Chams and Khmers • Regional military commanders sought independence • 16th to 18th centuries the northern ruling Trinh family clashed with rival Nguyen dynasty, with a capital at Hue, over control of Vietnam