(Trương Thái Du)
A New Approach on Old Issues
Of Ancient Vietnamese History
Vietnamese ancient history prior to the time of The Mê Linh Heroines (The Trưng Sisters) has always intrigued and challenged me. Using paths not previously recorded, and with all my reverence toward the temple of history, I have explored that ancient time with a few essays, based on studies of old writings, books and antiques from both Vietnamese and Chinese sources. As these essays near completion, my knowledge of the ancient Vietnamese history has turned a new page. All obvious mistakes, conflicts of ideas will be cleared; single veins of events will be collected into groups to form new and longer, more realistic pages of rewritten history.
Summary of studies:
a) Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ) by definition means an area bordering the South of China during the time of Tangyao – Yushun (Đường Nghiêu – Ngu Thuấn). Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ) during the beginning of Zhou (Chu) actually was the land of Chu (Sở) (Hubei, China). Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ) also was called Jizhi (Cơ Chỉ) or Jichu (Cơ Sở), which was the name of the land of Chu (Sở) during the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period. During the Qin (Tần), Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ) was Xiangjun (Tượng Quận). During the Western Han, Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ) was the North Vietnam. Only since the time of Eastern Han, did Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ) become a real name given to an area defined on map. Based on the knowledge of astronomy during the Qin – Han (Tần – Hán), Rinan (Nhật – sun, Nam – south ) means an area south of the sun, which is the Southern hemisphere. Jiuzhen (Cửu Chân) means “the foot of the sun” which is the Equator. It is very possible that the Chinese made no mistakes, and more than anyone, they knew the meaning of Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ); however, many historians intentionally caused confusion regarding this word. This was part of the Han’s politics, using literature and culture to secure its colonialism.
– The primitive Wenlang (Văn Lang) government of Luoyue (Lạc Việt) people was first formed at Dongtinghu (Động Đ́nh Hồ) Hunan, China), around 1199 BC, a year of the dog. The last King Xiong (Hùng) among the 18 Kings of Hungs had escaped the Chu (Sở) enemy, traveling southward to the land along Xijiang (Tây Giang, the West River), Guangxi, China – then re established the same primitive government format of Wenlang Dongtinghu (Văn Lang Động Đ́nh Hồ), which then became Wenlang Xijiang (Văn Lang Tây Giang). King Shu (Thục), named Pan (Phán), of the Shu (Thục) Guizhou (Quí Châu), North West of Guangxi had invaded Wenlang Xijiang (Văn Lang Tây Giang) to form a new nation called Xiouluo (Tây – West, Âu – Mountain, land, Lạc – Water, Nation). A large number of people from Wenlang Dongtinghu (Văn Lang Động Đ́nh Hồ) had continued to migrate toward the Hồng River delta, before and after 179 BCE. On the land of the ancient Vietnamese, these immigrants re-established their society using the social patterns from those of Wenlang Dongtinghu (Văn Lang Động Đ́nh Hồ); however, the matriarchal groups were not as well connected. Their King Hùng then was the leader of only small areas, as a tribal chief, or a head of an extended family. In Sima Qian’s language, Xiyu (Tây Vu – the western area of Nanyue) was Xiouluo (Tây Âu Lạc) after it was invaded by Zhaoduo (Triệu Đà) – It was not Xiyu (Tây Vu, the western area of the Hồng River) during Mayuan (Mă Viện)’s time. During Hanwudi (Hán Vũ Đế)’s time, Xiouluo (Tây Âu Lạc) became the county named Hepu (Hợp Phố). The word Xi (Tây, West) in Xiouluo (Tây Âu Lạc), Xiou (Tây Âu), and Xiyu (Tây Vu) still exists today in the name of Guangxi (Quảng Tây, large area in the West), a county of China that is next to the north of North Vietnam. The people of Luoyue (Lạc Việt) at Hepu (Hợp Phố) then may be the Zhuang (Tráng) of today. The tradition to respect and honor the copper drum as a precious and spiritual symbol of Luoyue (Lạc Việt) is still kept by the Zhuang (Tráng)‘s people. In a very linguistic sense, the word “Zhuang” has the same meaning as the word “Xiong”, (Hùng) in Xiongwang (Hùng Vương) or King Hùng.c) – The areas of the ancient Luoyue (Lạc Việt) included Hunan, Guangxi, Guangdong, North Việt Nam and Hainan island. The people of Luoyue (Lạc Việt) called their country “Đất (Earth) and Nước (Water), which in Chinese characters became Ouluo (Âu Lạc). Therefore, Luoyue (Lạc Việt) actually was the Việt Nation or Yueshangguo (Việt Thường Quốc). The people of Luoyue (Lạc Việt) who supported Zhaoduo (Triệu Đà) to form Nanyue ( Nam Việt) with the capital at Panyu (Phiên Ngung) also called that place Ouluo (Âu Lạc). Since was born the name Xiouluo (Tây Âu Lạc) which had the same meaning as Xiou (Tây Âu), which was the land to the west of Panyu (Phiên Ngung). Thus, there was not an Ouluo (Âu Lạc) nation on the bank of the Hồng River during the time BCE. After 179 BCE, the people of Luoyue (Lạc Việt) from Xiouluo (Tây Âu Lạc, the West Area) fled from Zhaoduo (Triệu Đà) to North Việtnam had adapted and mixed both socially and historically with their brothers who came from the same roots of Luoyue Dongtinghu (Lạc Việt Động Đ́nh Hồ). These exact same roots had concealed all the traces of re-connection between the two groups, the gaps between them as well as the deception of Chinese written history; and changed the Ancient Vietnamese history into a story with very few documents of conflicting information which was therefore extremely complex.
d) – Based on the nature of the title Xiongwang (Vua Hùng, King Hùng), the First Trưng Sister (Trưng Trắc) was actually the first and the last King Hùng of the Luoyue (Lạc Việt) who lived on the Hồng River delta. The sounds of their bronze drums, in certain tunes and beats must have been the call for unity of the people from King Hung and his generals. In order to eliminate any chance of revolutions from the Luoyue (Lạc Việt), Mayuan (Mă Viện) had searched widely and collected many bronze drums after he killed the Trưng Sisters. This resulted in the fact that the Vietnamese were robbed of their drums from their cultural and social activities for the past thousands of years.
A. What are the meanings of Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ), Xiangjun (Tượng Quận), Jiuzhen (Cửu Chân), Rinan (Nhật Nam) ?
1. Nanjiao (Nam Giao), an ancient space station:
In Shangshu, Volume I, the earliest Chinese History book known edited by Confucius, chapter Yushu (Ngu thư), part Yaodian (Nghiêu điển) there was already the name Namjiao (Nam Giao): “Thân mệnh Hy Thúc trạch Nam Giao, b́nh trật nam ngoa, kính trí. Nhật vĩnh, tinh Hỏa, dĩ chính trọng hạ. Quyết dân nhân, điểu thú hy cách”. Meaning: “(King Yao) ordered Xiishu (Hy Thúc) to go to Nanjiao (Nam Giao), to observe the Sun moving Southward, note the Summer Solstice (Hạ Chí). During the longest day, Mars will be directly above our head, and that would be the mid summer day. People wore light clothes, birds changed their feathers.” Nanjiao (Nam Giao) was in the system of locations including: Yanggu (Dương Cốc, East), Meigu (Muội Cốc, West), Shuofang (Sóc Phương, North), Nanjiao (Nam Giao, South). From these 4 locations, the officers ordered by King Yao would observe the pattern of movements of the sun, moon, stars, then systematize these movements into calendar following the changes in nature so the people could apply directly to their daily life. The above four locations actually were the four astronomy stations in the ancient time.
Today, Chinese archeologists are still unable to confirm the exact location of the capital during Yaoshun (Nghiêu – Thuấn) time, although they have always known it was not outside of the areas around the middle part of Huanghe River (Shaanxi, Henan, Shanxi). The four space stations would have been at the four corners of which the capital Yao - Shun was at center. In an astronomy mathematical problem, the margin of errors in measurements (must have existed) would affect the results less if the distances between the stations were more. However, when the stations were too far apart, then it became difficult to communicate. I believed the distance between East – West stations or South – North stations would have been about 10 latitudes or longitudes at the most. The interval between latitudes is about 110 km. Therefore, Nanjiao (Nam Giao) could not be any farther from the Yaoshun capital any more than 500km, not talking about beyond the dangerous Changjiang (Trường Giang) river toward the South.
I would like to present a simple astronomy math problem to prove the point: Based on a very primitive way to measure the sun, we can find out the latitude of any location on earth. Knowing the latitudes of two points will help us calculate to shortest distance between them.
For example: Find the latitude of Ha Noi: Pick one of either Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Autumn Equinox, or Winter Solstice. Set a pole to form a right angle against the ground. At noon, mark the shadow of the pole which at that time should fall on the North – South direction. We can easily calculate the angle A between the pole and the hypotenuse of the right triangle formed by the pole, its shadow, and the hypotenuse (imaginative). Hà Nội ‘s latitude would be:
a. On Spring equinox or Autumn equinox: V = the angle A
b. On Winter Solstice: V = Angle A – 23 °27’
c. On Summer Solstice: V = 23°27’ – Angle A
Despite the day, V always equals 21°. Similarly, we calculate the latitude of Saigon to be 10°30’. The shortest distance between Hà Nội and Sài g̣n is:
D = (21°– 10° 30’) x 111km = 1,165.5 km.
In this case, the margin of error is small and does not affect the approximate results. When the difference is too large, we will have to do a few more calculations.
Simply with a pole, people had calculated rather exactly the numbers of days in one year: that is the cycle that the shadows of pole equal when based on a fixed angle. Not only China, but many civilizations in the Northern Hempisphere had invented the first clock using only 1 pole.When we plant the pole straight up on the ground, the length of the shadow and its angle compared to North – South would always change with the time. Therefore, knowing the facts about the shadow and angle will give us the time of day. Specially, shadows of the pole always move fromt left to right within a circle less than 180 degrees, based on the latitude of the observer. This explains why most clocks have hands that move from left to right. The hands of a clock also mimic the shadows of the simple pole used to study times and space in the old days.
In short, Nanjiao (Nam Giao) was the name of a location. Later, man’s knowledge of astronomy improved with better astrolabes, people do not need to travel far to measure. Nanjiao (Nam Giao) station might have been built right in the capital. Kings can worship the sun easier atop the station, and gradually, Nanjiao (Nam Giao) station was changed to a place used only to worship the sun. The astronomical role of Nanjiao (Nam Giao) was covered by religious practice. Moreover, today, with an astrolabe and knowing how to look up ready made tables in books, we can calculate the most complicated astronomy problems.
2. The name Nanjiao (Nam Giao) contributed to the concept of Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ)
Nanjiao gave way to the concept Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ). That’s right. Jiaozhi with the word Zhi has a subset mean “the area”. Jiaozhi is the area next to, near the border of China southward of Nanjiao. The word Zhi besides the subset, also contained another set with the same pronunciation but written with the meaning of “feet”. The confusion between the two has given historians from the Eastern Han onward many different ways to explain the name “Jiaozhi”. Chenshu (Trần Thư), a history book written by Yaosilian (Diêu Tư Liêm) in 636, had for the first time recorded another Zhi (Chỉ) with the meaning of “Land” in Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ). Old China writing has a principle of “similar sounds, may be used similarly”. Therefore to find a definition to a word, we have to consider the whole text, not automatically trust an obsolete meaning that is not applicable.
The First volume of Shangshu was the first book that mentioned Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ), Part Dazhuan (Đại Truyện, Main Stories) noted: “To the South of Jiaozhi, there was Yueshangguo (Việt Thường Quốc), during the time of Chengwang (Thành Vương, 1063 BCE-1026BCE), they had come to establish a relationship and brought Phoenix as gifts for the nation”. Shangshu also was believed to be a book from heaven. This became the logic for the poem “Nan Guo Shan He” (The country of the South, Nam Quốc Sơn Hà) during the time of Ly dynasty:
The country in the South was where the King of the South lived,
This was written cleary in the Book of Heaven.
All enemies who dared to touch this land,
Surely would be defeated.
The Viet had none of the history books left from the Lư, but just the poem above had strongly illustrated the concept that their ancestor was Yueshangguo (Việt Thường Quốc), South of Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ). Jiaozhi was never considered to be a nation by Shangshu. Obviously, Lư Thường Kiệt understood Jiaozhi simply was a concept, so he wrote the poem to encourage the spirit of his people. Previously, he had moved his army Northward as if to explore the possibility of regaining the land of Luoyue (Lạc Việt) that was invaded by China. Century 18, Quang Trung Nguyễn Huệ shared the same thinking. Century 19, King Gia Long wanted to change the country’s name to Nanyue (Nam Việt) but was not successful, therefore his grandson Tự Đức wrote with regrets in Khâm Định Việt Sử: “That (story) helped us to know it was very difficult to try to gain back your lost land ever since years ago, not just today. It was so sad.” Following I will prove that Luo (Lạc) means water or nation. Thus, Luoyue (Lạc Việt) was actually Yueshangguo (Việt Thường Quốc).
Since Yaoshun until the beginning of Zhou, Chinese territory had never crossed beyond the Changjiang River. Chapter Wugong (Vũ Cống) in Shangshu states that the land of China included the South bank of Changjiang, but many scholars believed the content of Wugong had been edited a lot, even might have been written during the Warring States period, not any earlier. Therefore, we need not confirm the exact location of Nanjiao, but still should be able to understand the concept Jiaozhi used to imply the land next to Nanjiao, on the north bank of Changjiang river. Assuming there was a name Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ), since Dongzhou, if Chu (Sở) was formed and expanded southwards, Chu would have moved through Jiaozhi and the name Jiaozhi ought to be written down at least more than once in History Books where there was talk about Chu.
This logic led to a very unexpected question: Did Chu, the land that Zhouchengwang gave Yu Xiong (Dục Hùng) actually belong to Jiaozhi at that time? In the beginning part of An Nam Chí Lược, Lê Tắc quoted Han Guan Yi book of Ying Shan that China expanded from the North (Shuo) then moved Southward to establish Jizhi (Cơ Chỉ). Shi Jing Zhu (Thủy Kinh Chú) by Li Dao Yuan (Lịch Đạo Nguyên) also called Jiaozhi by the name Jizhi (Cơ Chỉ, Cơ sở) where Hanwudi had expanded for his family (more explanations to follow later). Jizhi (Cơ Chỉ) is a synonym of Jichu (Cơ Sở). The word “Chu” in Jichu only differs from the word Chu in the name of the country Chu with a subset “Shi” (Rock) on the left. Based on the principle that “similar pronunciation can be used similarly”, this led to the fact that the land “Chu” which Chengwang gave Yu Xiong was actually the same as Jichu which belonged to the Chu – the land named Jizhi which was part of Jiaozhi (the bordering land in the south) of the Zhou’s dynasty. Yu Xiong came to Dan Yang to establish his country, where today is the land near the north bank of Changjiang River, in Hubei, China.
Nan Man Story (Story of the under-developed land in the South) of Houhanshu, after mentioning Yueshangguo in Main Stories, Fan Ye continued: “The Zhou was loosing its power, when Chu claimed to be Lord of the land, Baiyue (Bách Việt) paid tax to Chu. The logic here is Yueshangguo (Việt Thường Quốc) belonged to Baiyue. Chu also was called Jing (Kinh). The people of Chu bored the Yue’s heredity. Ever since Xiongcong (Hùng Thông), offsprings of Yu Xiong claimed to be King, China had always looked down on Chu as barbarians. Outside of the regulations from The Dong Zhou, Chu continued to expand and had one time ruled all the small groups in the east. Therefore, the concept Jiaozhi was lost for a very long time. This also was the reason China History did not have any details about Yueshangguo and many other areas of Baiyue during the time from the Spring and Autumn period to the end of the Warring States. The history of Chu was considered not the mainstream history to teach, thus most of it was burned by the Qin or was lost.
Shiji of Simaqian, Chapter “Zhao Shi Jia”, in the event of the year 307 BCE Zhao Ling Wang disguised as people of Hu to ride horses and build up his horse calvary division, noted: “Yu Di Zhi (The Book of Geography) recorded that during the Zhou, Jiaozhi was Luoyue (Lạc Việt), during the Qin, (it) was Xiou (Tây Âu), the people wore tattooed and short hair to avoid Sea Dragons. Xiouluo (Tây Âu Lạc) was in the west of Panyu. Nanyue and Ouluo (Âu Lạc) had many last name (Han called it “tianxing” (thousands of last name) – different from the Chinese “baixing” (hundreds of last name). “Shiben” book (Book about real life) also noted that the Yue had many groups, and shared the same ancestors with the Chu people.” Yu Di Zhi and Shiben were the two books written by later generations in attempts to explain details from the original Shiji. Thus, about the time of 307 BCE (the last half of the Warring states), in the Jiaozhi area, south of Chu, there was a group of Luoyue (Lạc Việt) that had the same ancestors with the Chu.
When Qin invaded Chu, Chu was combined with the middle part of China (Zhongyuan), and the concept of Jiaozhi did not appear. History, Stories about Nan Yue (Shiji), wrote: 214 BCE, Qin took over Yangyue to create 3 districts: Guilin, Nanhai, and Xiang. Guilin and Nanhai had been rather obvious, however, for the last two thousand years, people had wasted countless amount of ink and paper to no avail in order to find the exact location of Xiangjun. All because the Qin was too short, and the war afterward destroyed most of books and writings. An Nam Chí Lược by Lê Tắc wrote: “The Qin named Jiaozhi by Xiangjun.”
Once the concept of Jiaozhi was not used, there must be another concept replacing it. Was that “Xiang”? To describe something abstract, people used symbols, or “xiangzheng”. The story of “a blind man tried to describe an elephant” used an elephant as symbol. The meaning of “xiang” is most clear in Chinese Chess. The Chinese had invented Xiangqi (The Symbolic Game of War), when tanks were still considered the most powerful king of the battle. This super war game symbolizes a battle in the ancient time, using 64 squares divided in the middle by a river. Each side has 2 elephants. These were not simply elephants as many people has mistaken. The elephants never cross the river. They symbolized abstract factors that have certain effects to the whole war like psychological war, people motivations, human’s will to sacrifice … B́nh Nguyên Lộc in his book “Nguồn Gốc Mă Lai của dân tộc Việt Nam” informed us that in Liji, chapter “Wangzhi” noted during the Xia, Shang, Zhou, the Chinese used “Xiang” to name the South. The Zhou dynasty had created a rank for an officer called “Xiangzi” whose responsibilities were to take care of relationships with the barbarians in the South.
Xiangjun may be understood as an area in the South that was to put on the back burner, did not need to invade at the time, and there was not time to explore or “develop” just like the language used during the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period. Xiangjun was a symbolic name that was only a concept by the Qin, similar to Jiaozhi from the Zhou. Jiaozhi during Qin Shi Huang was Xiangjun, thereafter, Xiangjun was the same as Rinan (Nhật Nam) would be very logical in the ancient ways of language and thinking based on limited geology knowledge.
Rinan (Nhật Nam) means South of the Sun. Shiji wrote: “Territory of the Qin … the South expanded to the areas where houses facing north.” Just like the word “Jiaozhi”, Rinan (Nhật Nam) originally was only a concept and was related to astronomy. The land of China is mostly above the Tropic of Cancer, (23°27’), across the city of Guangzhou, therefore to them, the sun always comes from the south, rises from the southeast and sets in the southwest. Therefore, to perform ceremonies to God (the Sun), Tianzi (King) – son of the sun – had to face South. It must have been at the latest during the Qin, the Chinese understood the earth was a sphere that rotate around its own axis. They were able to calculate orbit of the sun (Huangdao) and reasoned that when one go south, there would be a point where to face the sun and enjoy its warmth, one would have to build houses facing north.
The above statement made by Sima Qian proved that despite their knowledge in astronomy, the Chinese had never set foot on the area of Rinan (Nhật Nam). To be exact, Rinan (Nhật Nam) must be very far far away, beyond the equator and the Tropic of Capricorn, to the islands south of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea of today.
3. The confusion between Concept and Name of Area:
The Qin disregarded the concept Jiaozhi (The land out of the southern border) to use the word “Xiangjun” (A Symbolic disctrict). The Han was in power after the Qin, and just like Chu before, Nanyue under Zhao leadership had confined the Han’s territory in the South for 93 years. When Nanyue was erased, the confusion between using the word “Jiaozhi” as a name to the area simultaneously as a concept began. This happened when they name the area just invaded in 111 BCE.
Hanshu (Book about the Han) written by Ban Gu had a statement: “We had settled Nanyue and divided it into nine districts: Daner, Zhouya, Nanhai, Shangwu, Yulin, Hepu, Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen, Rinan.” Zhouya and Daner are on Hải Nam islands. Nanhai, Shangwu belonged to Guangdong. Yulin and most of Hepu was in Guangxi. To me, Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen and Rinan were still just concepts, the kind of concepts purely based on astronomy that illustrated the self elevation, greediness, and imperialism of the Han.
The Chinese used the concept Jiaozhi (The land at the border [to the South of China]) to call the new 9 districts. Jiaozhi District was a conceptual name for the area. The officer that managed Jiaozhi District was appointed in 106 BCE, that was Officer Shidai. If Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen, Rinan were actual areas, there ought to be an officer there to manage these districts. This only happened 100 years later, in the beginning of the common era, with Jiguang and Renyan (appointed as officers to look after Jiaozhi). Hanshu also recorded that in the year 48 BCE, based on reports from Jiajuanzhi, King Han had abandoned Zhouya district since the Han’s officers there often were being opposed and killed by the local people. Officer Shunxing at the end of King Hanwudi was a case in point. It then is very difficult to explain that Jiaozhi at that time was a populated district with civilization, once was the land of Ouluo (Âu Lạc), with the capital of Wenlang (Văn Lang). Why did the people there submit to the domination of foreigners with imaginative officers, and pay outrageous taxes for hundreds of years until the time of the Me Linh Heroines?
Until this time, even if Jiaozhi belonged to Jiaozhi district or Jiaozhi Area, it still was the land at the border of the Han’s territory in the South. Therefore, throughout hundreds of years of the Chinese‘s Southward expansion, the concept “Jiaozhi” also moved along with the foot steps of the imperial’s army. Is that the reason why “Zhi” was given another way to write with subset “foot”.
It became complicated when there was Jiuzhen (Cửu Chân) in between Rinan (Nhật Nam, South of the Sun – the land unkown to the Han at that time), and Jiaozhi district. I believe Jiuzhen means where the Sun is, or “The Equator” area. Jiu is number 9, which symbolized God, with no doubts. Zhen for sure means “root”, as in “Guizhen” means coming back to your roots. Zhen also has the meaning of “Zhong” (Real [very] ), as in Zhong xia (Real Summer) means in the middle of the summer – that was previously quoted from Shangshu. The translation of “Jiuzhen” into Vietnamese unexpectedly enlightens the idea: “Chân Trời” means The Horizon!
The concept Jiaozhi, with the word “Jiao” (in contact with) had traveled along with the word Nan and had gone Southward for thousands of years, had stopped at this land. The Han thought they had reached the Equator (Jiuzhen), which was not very wrong, since at noon on the Spring Equinox and the Autumn Equinox, the sun almost always right above the head of the people in the area of Thanh Hóa, Việt Nam. The assumption that on the other side of “the root of the sun” (Jiuzhen) the sun shines northward is logical. The Chineses who came to the East Sea to scout or trade probably could not afford to have with them an expert in astronomy (who might only accustom to working in the office at the Han’s capital). However, the new meanings of Jiuzhen and Rinan were still concepts, the kind of thinking originated from the progressing astronomy, the ideas that were needed after the concept of Jiaozhi had lost its meaning to take on the role of a name for an area.
The Chinese Astronomy at that time required more facts to confirm their theories. To gather more facts takes time, and they actually had waited hundreds of years until the day Mayuan took the army Southward. This gap of time had diluted all the astronomical aspects in the names Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen, Rinan, much so that they lost their conceptual meaning and rightly became names for geological areas on the Map of the Han.
The copper poles erected by Mayuan in the year 43 at Jiaozhi District and Xituyi also were a form of astrolabe. The Old Tangshu [Cựu Đường Thư] (written by Liufu in the years of 924 – 946) had the most explicit writing about this in Chapter 4 of Geography: “Mayuan went pass Rinan, Linyi, to the border of Xianglin and Xituyi to erect two copper poles marking the great achievement of the Han Dynasty. Tens of those persons who went could not make it back (?), they stayed there near the poles, until the Sui Dynasty they had multiplied into about 300 families. The Nanman (Barbarians in the South) called them Maliuren (People left back by Mayuan).”
There are two possibilities:
First is that Liufu honestly did not know the real reason Mayuan erected the copper poles was to measure the movements of the Sun, to establish an astronomical table and calculate the distance from Xianglin to the capital of Han.
Second is that Liufu knew but obeyed the strict principles to protect secret knowledge of science that the Chinese possessed at that time, and was writing only for the people who knew the principles. During the time of Mayuan, the studies of astronomy to confirm locations of new land required observations years after years. The standard astrolabe pole had to be durable and sturdy, therefore a cooper pole was selected. To have a complete observation, they had to appoint someone to stay there, to gather numbers and reported annually to the King. Vietnamese folk story about Mayuan erecting a copper pole in North VietNam confirmed this was an astrolabe and not a landmark. No one would erect a pole as a landmark right in the populated area, asking everyone passing by to throw a rock to it hoping it would not fall down. The saying “Đồng Trụ chiết, Giao Chỉ diệt” (If the copper pole falls down, the land of the South goes down with it.” from Mayuan implied to pay special attention to that small “space station”. That was the whole reason! My simple astronomy mathematic problem in [1] illustrates this thinking.
4. Thousands of years trapped in false beliefs of Chinese and Vietnamese Studies of History.
It is not necessary to list series of false deductions from Chinese and Vietnamese Scholars about the meaning of Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen, Rinan from the Eastern Han until now. One who stated “the truth never belonged to the crowd” should be conferred with. I will point out reasons for those naïve deductions.
Shiji (completed during the 90s, century 1 BCE) did not list the names of 9 districts in the South of Han, these districts were invaded by Lubode in 111 BCE. It might be that Sima Qian did not catch up with current events. Those 9 names only appeared in Hanshu [Book of Han], a book of history that recorded events from 206 BCE to 6 CE written by Bangu (32 CE- 92 CE). In “History of the Later Han period” [Hou Hanshu] written by Fanye (398 – 455), recorded events from 25 CE until 190 CE, there were unsubstantiated explanations about the name Jiaozhi.
China since the period of Yin – Shang already had a rank of History Officer, who recorded past events. We observed that in the time of Mayuan and Bangu, the History Officer also was responsible for studies of astronomy, and writing calendars. For example, Sima Qian worked with Husui to edit old calendars into Calendar of the Han. Shiji and Hanshu always included chapters about astronomy that articulated and listed many studies about astronomical events that happened through the years as in Tianshi (Rocks from Heavens / Meteorite) in Qin Shi Huang’s edition, the black spots in the sun (Wuxingzhi, Hanshu). Therefore, the possibilities that these officers conferred with the King their ideas to name new areas based on concepts originated from astronomy knowledge were understandable. They did not have any real documents about Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen, Rinan, and had to make assumptions based on astronomy.
From the time of Sima Qian and Bangu onward, Chinese astronomy developed quickly. For example, Dongzhongshu used “Jiaguwen” to calculate and predicted that there would be a Lunar Eclipse on the Full Moon of the second lunar month in the 29th year of Wuding. Today, we searched our calendar (written based on the sun) and found that exactly on that date (November 23, 1311 BCE) there was a Lunar Eclipse. In the era of the Western Han, Chinese astronomers had calculated out the cycle of Mars was 584.4 days, compared to the finding of 583.92 days based on current astronomical methods, the margin of error was too minute to imagine! Hunyi, a rather accurate astrolabe was created during the time of King Hanwudi, with chapter about longitudes, the orbit of the sun, and the equator. In the time of Zhangheng (78 – 139), Chinese old astronomy had reached the height of mankind. Zhang invented Huntianyi which illustrate the patterns of movements of planets and stars, with the orbit of the sun and the equator to form an angle of 24° while in real life it is 23° 27’ (this is the number to calculate Hanoi ‘s latitude in the astronomy mathemathical problem I presented in part 1.)
Due to the complexity and hefty size of new knowledge in astronomy, the Officer was no longer able to perform the duty as a space observer. I presumed that astronomy had formed its own branch. Fanye (398-455), author of Houhanshu, might not have adequate knowledge about astronomy, therefore he did not understand the language of Sima Qian, Bangu. Fanye himself had started a movement of reasoning about concepts and names of areas that many of later scholars from Viet Nam or China had followed suit, believed 100 percent in what was written. In the story of Nanman (the Barbarians in the South), post Han era, Fanye wrote: “The Book of Orders (Liji) called the people in the South “The Barbarians”. They used tattoo, and their big toes from both feet almost touch each other. In their traditions, boys and girls could bath in the same river. We called them Jiaozhi.” Fanye’s explanation was outdated and used a lot of deductions, he only edited what Jiajuanzhi spoke in Hanshu: “In Luoyue (Lạc Việt), father and children used to bathe in the same river.” Judging with the spirit of Chinese Confuciannism, Fanye could not understand how the father and children of Luoyue were so equal, therefore he substituted the picture with boys and girls. To violate the rule “Boy and Girl should never be close” was still better than violate “The Five Rules”.
It is too easy to say everyone was wrong. Occasionally, in books published during generations after Houhanshu, we still found Jiaozhi being used as a concept, with its original meaning, although at that time Jiaozhi obviously was a defined area. Lidaoyuan wrote in Shijingzhu (completed in the year 515): “King Hanwudi expanded the border Shuo (North) Fang (Direction) Northward, and also explored Jiaozhi (land at the border of the South) to establish a foundation for his offsprings.” A perceptive reader will notice the pairs of concept North – South used in place of Shuofang – Jiaozhi, not much different from the pair Shuofang – Nanjiao that was quoted in Shangshu.
There may be another way to explain. The Chinese made no mistakes, they intentionally caused confusion and gave the wrong meaning to the word Jiaozhi. This is the literary aspect as part of the whole strategy of Han’s colonialism. The Han also attacked using language. A case in point, they used the Viet with subset “go” for the name Viet Nam, yet the name for the people in Guangdong was written with a subset “grains”, although the native people lived in Guangdong, Guangxi and Viet Nam were both Luoyue (Lạc Việt). The policy of divide to manage had always been a hidden agenda of any countries in power, from the past until now. With this background, we may now realize the greatness of the heroes in Viet Nam such as Lư thường Kiệt, Nguyễn Huệ, Nguyễn Ánh … On the contrary, the faculty of History in Viet Nam should change its work habits.
B. The Roots of The Viet People
1. Theory “Eden in The East” and waves of migration.
Theory “Eden in the East” believed mankind evoluted from the monkey in Africa. Waves of migrations had spread mankind all over the world. I would like to use Spencer Wells’ genetic studies as foundation for this essay [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1212_021213_journeyofman.html]. Although there are many other opinons from other human genetic scientists, they all had questions only about the time frame of migrations. I would use logical reasoning based on cultures, archeology, and history to rub on Wells’ Genetic Theory, hoping to come up with a proposed assumption.
Based on Spencer Wells’ conclusion, I found out: The first migration from Africa took place 60,000 years ago. People moved along the South Asia Ocean to Southeast Asia. Here a stone civilization was established. From 9,000 to 12,000 years before, the geographic structure of Indonesia’s volcanic zone with tidal waves, and landslides had drowned the pre southeast Asia civilization. The survivors had divided into two groups, the first came to Australia, the second went northward, then stopped for a long time on the south bank of Changjiang (Yangzi) river. Prior to this time, it was possible that the pre south east Asia civilization had waves of migrations northward and southward, but rare and slow since at the end of the Ice Age, the further away from the equator, the colder it became. The second migration also originated from Africa, about 45,000 years ago. They came to the middle east, then from the middle east two groups was formed, moving toward India and northwest China. The third migration (not discussed in this essay) happened 40,000 years ago, they came to middle Asia then to Europe.
Why did they migrate? All prehistoric civilizations worshipped the Sun. All of man’s first form of writing shared a surprisingly same word “the sun”: a circle with a dot in the middle. The Egypt’s god of the sun is Ra, the Mesopotamia’s is Samat, the Japanese‘s is Amaterasu O Mikami ( God’s General, The Sun’s Goddess). Kings of China and even the Inca in America all believed they were children of God or of the Sun’s god. The image of the sun on Dong Son Drums is very impressionable. Scientifically, the sun is the source of life for the earth, it provides energy for all changes. Migrating toward the east means to move closer to the Mother Sun. There is no other scenario that can compare to the beauty of this: Mankind follow the sunlight to spread out all over the earth.
Why did the first migration of the people of pre-southeast Asia civilization stop at the bank of Changjiang river and not farther to the north? Changjiang is a very dangerous, very broad river, that has somehow obstructed the way. Moreover, according to the studies of water body, under the coriolis effect, the north bank of Changjiang is getting corroded, while the south bank is being piled up with rich soil. The agricultural people tended to settle on fertile land for a longer time. They only moved northward when facing problems with population or other reasons.
The second group migrated to the middle part of Huanghe River by crossing the Gansu walk way, forming a civilization that we temporarily name Huaxia. There archeological items found from the Stone Age with clear connection established the triangle for center of Huaxia civilization: Dadiwan (over 8000 years), on the right bank of Qingshui River, Qinan, Gansu; Banpo (about 6,000 years) in Xian, Shaanxi; and Jiahu (over 8,000 years) in Henan. Banpo and Jiahu both were on the south bank of Huanghe river. Besides, on the north bank of Huanghe, they have just found a wall 130m long, 4500 years old [http://www.china.org.cn]. It showed the development of Huaxia civilization in the beginning. Items found from Huaxia civilization proved that it had no connection to the people on the south bank of Changjiang river, at that time. The seasonal planting in its agricultural productions and the community life styles in primitive cities also were the unique characters of Huaxia civilization. Therefore, that the Huaxia civilization formed the primitive nation of Xia, about 2200 BCE, had partly been confirmed. Archeologists also believed that at this time, the martriachal system of Huaxia gradually was replaced by a patriarchal one. Chinese legendary stories about transferring power to the good man outside of the families, then later power being transferred to brother, and eventually to the eldest son, subscribed to that changing process. Even the story of Yushun - who was Qingyao’s son in law – received the power from Qingyao was reflecting some recessing martriachal traits.
2. The formation and disintegration of Shennong Civilization
During the period on the bank of Changjiang River, the immigrants of pre southeast Asia had established a rather vast area for their immense culture and heritage: to the south was the Ca River Delta, Ma River Delta (Viet Nam today), to the west was the TibeQin plateau, to the east was the Pacific Ocean. I temporarily name this Shennong civilization.
I have considered two different names for Shennong civilization, which are Changjiang civilization and Yangzi civilization. This is the common way to name in history. For example, we have the Mesopotamia Civilization, the Huanghe civilization. However, the name Shennong is most logical, although it may trigger debates about the Vietnamese of Chinese roots of the word Shennong. Please undersQind the meaning of Shen (God) Nong (Agriculture) as “the best farmers that were as powerful as god.” Speaking of Shennong civilization is nothing better than talking about the simple people of the rice paddies. Civilization always belongs to the community of people who built it up with their sweat, tears, and even blood throughout the whole length of history.
Geography and general climate of the area established the unique characters of this civilization: made their living by farming, mostly rice, tamed cattles to use their strong force, studied astronomy and changes in nature to make calendar for their farming, used irrigational system, used herbal medicines and gave birth to Oriental Medicine; mastered the use of boat and aquatic transportations, fishing, took advantage of products from the sea; they chewed betelnut with pupupu leaves, dyed their teeth, used body tattoo, kept hair short, wore shirts with buttons on the left…
Shennong civilization developed consQintly, with many achievements but had two main setbacks: no writing (or at least, some form of notation or marks convenient to use); due to self efficient life styles that directly attached to hard labor on rice paddies, they were very conventional, thus missed the chance to progress from martriachal to partriachal to take their society to the next step. Consequently, Shennong civilization stayed for a long time in families, tribal forms, or limited groups of tribes, instead of extending into a primitive government format.
After a long period developing in one place, people of Shennong civilization were able to cross Changjiang river. They moved north, exchanged with Huaxia civilization which was on its way southward. Please undersQind these exchanges included lots of disagreements, conflicts, fightings, and could not happen without wars. Chinese legends had a story about the war between King Huang and Shuaiyou (offspring of Shennong) illustrated this.
Huaxia civilization and Shennong civilization met in the middle of the land between Huanghe River and Changjiang River, contributed to the formation of a new civilization which began to have written history, the civilization of Zhongyuan – Huaxia (Zhonghua / China). Huaxia Civilization had features that supplement the lacking parts of Shennong civilization. It absorbed the essence of Shennong civilization to progress, then turned around to suppress its own parents who was Shennong. However, it also inducted the image of Shennong into its legend “Three Lords, Five Kings” which describes the beginning of Huaxia. The name “China” (Central State) was born. Originally, it meant a nation in the middle of the world, since knowledge at that time only had two civilization, two main races of Shennong and Huaxia. Only part of the land with Shennong civilization was added to the land of Huaxia. A large part that remained due to the fact that it spread over a very vast area, all along the Changjiang River, especially the south bank of Changjiang. This area was actually the area of Hundreds of Yue (Baiyue, Bach Viet), as the Chinese used to call them.
The most successful combination of Shennong and Huaxia was in the Chu period, populated, prosperous, large in land, and very advanced in knowledge. At one time Chu was the Lord of all groups, posing threat to the Shenzhou dynasty (which was only a frame after Chu was established). Chu also was the country next to last among the six countries invaded by Qin, causing Qin to loose a large amount of its own army and people, although Chu was right next to Qin. However, not even 13 years after the country was taken, a hero - whose ancestors were generals of Chu - named Hangwu, had risen to power with the logo “revive Chu” destroyed Qin, divided its land to people and called himself “Xi Chu Bo Wang” [ Lord of hundreds in the West – named Chu]. In the year 202 BCE, Hangwu was defeated by Liubang. Liubang of Han also was from Chu. The valiant history of Chu after 500 years then closed for ever.
History of Chu began with Chengwang’s appointment of Meiyuxiong to the rank “Zi” from the Chu, in the southern border of Chu. Yuxiong had contributed a lot to the Chu. Until the time of Xiongcong, offspring of Yuxiong (about the early Dongzhou, period of Wanwang, 719 – 697 BCE), Chu had eliminated and absorbed many countries next to it, expanded to the Changjiang River delta. Although he was not recognized by Wanwang, Xiongcong appointed himself Zhouwuwang and had power over all small countries in the east. Xiongcong passed away, his son Xiongchi took power and together with later generations, expanded Chu territory farther into the Southeast, crossing beyond the challenging Changjiang River.
3. The primitive government of Wenlang (Văn Lang).
Historical events that happened on the land of VietNam have been rather clear since the time of the Me Linh Heroines. The oldest history book written by the Vietnamese that was kept till today appeared at the end of the 14th century. However, there is a legend that has been told again and again. This legend was about the ancestor of King Duong Vuong was the 4th generation of Shennong. Kinh Duong Vuong married to Long Nữ at Lake Động Đ́nh, they had a son named Lạc Long Quân. Lạc Long Quân married Âu Cơ and gave birth to a bag with 100 eggs, which hatched into 100 children. They split peacefully afterward: Âu Cơ took 50 children to the mountains, Lạc Long Quân led the other 50 toward the sea. The nation of Văn Lang was established by King Hùng, the first son of Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ. King Hung placed his capital at Phong Châu – a middle area that was rather flat, in the Hong river delta.
Obviously there was a migration hidden in the above legend. The distance between lake Đong Đinh and Phong Chau is almost 1000km. Moreover, conferred with Binh Nguyen Loc, I think the above legend of 100 eggs talked about the split of the Shennong heredity into two main groups: Xiou (Tây Âu) and Luoyue (Lac Viet). The Xiou people went westward to the mountains, with some changes in their original traditions from their Shennong civilization. The Luoyue group stayed or moved eastward and was able to keep most of their traditions. Both Xiou and Luoyue continued to divide into many sub groups. The number 100 eggs, surprisingly, fit exactly to the name “Baiyue, Bách Việt” [one hundred Việt] used by the Chinese to call small groups of people living along the south, middle, and lower bank of Changjiang. This cleary marked the cultural exchange between Shennong and Huaxia civilization. Jingshi (Book of Poems) has a sentence “Wishing you [to have] 100 sons”, therefore, one hundred or “bai” means “many”.
If we agreed to the area of the legend that Kinh Dương Vương had Lạc Long Quân in the Ngũ Lĩnh mountains (the mountains south of lake Động Đ́nh), then we can explain “the Yin’s enemy” in another legend: “Thánh Gióng”. That’s true! Yin – Shang lost their countries to the Zhou in 1066 BCE. The fact that they moved southward before or in exile after the year 1066 BCE, thus got into a fight with Luoyue, completely was based on a strong foundation. Archeology had confirmed the location of the capital of Yin – Shang to be in Henan province, a few hundreds km away from lake Động Đ́nh. It is very possible that the group of martriachal families Văn Lang, the seed of Shennong and Lạc Việt, started from the area of Ngũ Lĩnh mountains to the south bank of Changjiang with the center at lake Động Đ́nh, after the birth of Yin – Shang (about 1700 BCE). [7] I presumed one King Hung was in power for an average of 25 years, the Thánh Gióng story happened in 1066 BCE, therefore King Hung 18 was crowned in 741 BCE. The year 741 BCE is very convincing, because it is not very far from the time that Chu was formed and expanded southward. Đại Việt Sử Kư toàn thư recorded that the first year of the Hồng Bàng was Nhâm Tuất 2879 BCE. My reasoning came up that the Văn Lang era also started in a year Nhâm Tuất, but it was Nhâm Tuất 1199BCE.
As Chinese civilization expanded southward, the brave people who did not surrender to loose their traditions in the process of adapting Chinese culture had left. The ones who stayed mixed with the newcomers to form the country of Chu. Being people who lived on rice, efficient with aquatic transportations, they had two main ways to migrate: walking or by boat. They divided into many small groups of families moving toward the west – the east – the south, or follow Changjiang river to the ocean. Their first goal was to find another river delta to re settle. The best groups always travel the farthest, to the best land, and they eventually had come to the north Vietnam area of today. Facts in the 21 century had proved this, the offspring of the groups who left their country behind now formed Viet Nam, the only nation among 100 Việt that kept their racial identity, not being absorbed by the Han. The road they used was from lake Động Đ́nh, passed the narrow Xijiang river delta, Guangxi, to reach the Hong river delta. There were not a small amount of the people from Văn Lang stayed on the Xijiang river delta. They also established a form of primitive government as Văn Lang Động Đ́nh Hồ with King Hùng as the leader. I called this Xijiang civilization.
The Hong river delta at that time might already had people lived there. However, it ought to be not populated, full of swamps, tropical forest, and flooding in the rainy season. Because of this, the area chosen for settlement was Phong Châu, at a higher altitude. Taking with them the essence of Văn Lang, these indomitable people who loved peace and freedom continued to call their new found home “Văn Lang”. Their leader called himself King Hùng, rightfully taking after King Hung of Văn Lang at lake Động Đ́nh. The journey to find Phong Châu still left some of its image in the legend Sơn Tinh – Thuy Tinh (Fight between God of the mountains and God of the Sea.), in the period of King Hung 18.
Artifacts found by archeologists in Vietnam cannot ignore this assumption about migrations: Phung Nguyen of 3500 years (no copper products yet), Đong Đau over 3000 years (copper products very small like arrows, axes…), Go Mun in century 8 BCE , Đong Son century 7 BCE. Especially, all items found in the dry and high areas, which confirmed the geographical aspect of the assumptions.
The earliest age of bronze drums found in Viet Nam and China also were very close: about century 7 – century 8 BCE [Xiaorong Han, Who invented the Bronze Drum? Nationalism, Politics, and a Sino - Vietnamese Archaeological Debate of 1970s and 1980s. Asian Perspectives, Vol.43, Spring 2004.] . The main areas where bronze drums were found are very vast. It includes north Vietnam, Sichuan, Yunnan, Kuizhou, Guangxi, and Guangdong. Three areas with the most amount of drums found were Đong Son (Thanh Hoa, Viet Nam), Wanjiaba (Yunnan), and the area of the Zhuang (Guangxi). Remarkably, the most exquisite drums were the oldest ones. My assumption explained this: at the height of their culture, the primitive government Van Lang at lake Đong Đinh was under a lot of pressure from the Chinese and was unable to progress any further, had disintegrated into many small groups of families migrating away. The essence of their copper art moved with the migrations. Regretfully, since then their special civilization was regressing, and the bronze drums lost their original beauty.
A very strange thing was the similarity between the middle parts of the Hong river and the Xijiang river. Xijiang flows through Guangzhou city with the name Zhoujiang, before it reaches the ocean. Shuijingzhu by Lidaoyuan remarked about Yeyouhe (Yeyou river) that the source of the river started from Yunnan, ran through Jiaozhi [district or province?] then became three branches flowing eastward. It is very difficult to guess if Yeyouhe was Hong river or Xijiang river. This may be a reason why Van Lang Phong Chau and Van Lang Xijiang resemble each other not only due to the same racial roots, but also similarly described in its geography by books as well as folk songs and stories.
Van Lang Phong Chau, to a degree, is a step backward compared to Van Lang Đong Đinh. The Van Lang man had lost so much on his way to the Hong river delta. The connections between families became less and less, small population spreading on a larger area, affecting by floods and storms, gradually the leaders lost their power, became a pure spiritual symbol. The real image of King Hung was gone from real life, however, it stays forever in the Viet Van Lang’s subconscious, reminding them of a glorious past that never fade away.
----------- Color contexts are editted and pinyinize by the author.