This lesson looks at the history of Vietnam and Southeast Asia during Period III of World History (600-1450CE); it looks at Vietnam’s selective Sinification–both its adoption of Chinese values, political systems, and culture as well as its rebellions against Chinese hegemony.
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Below is the outline of the slides used in the lesson:
Indochina
Part Six of a Six-Part Series on East Asia in the Post-Classical Period
Southern Connections
Intermarriage and contact between the Khmer and Tai peoples to the south and east
Different language family from Chinese
Southern border of Viet border line between the Indian and Chinese spheres of influence
Vietnamese Society and Culture
Local control—autonomous villages
Smaller, nuclear families
Less patriarchal
Vietnamese women were very powerful in markets and trade
Adopted Buddhism more organically and at the local level—not as a state religion
Selective Sinification
Sinification—adopting Chinese culture, STEM, etc.
The peoples of early Vietnam first show up in recorded history as the “Nam Viet”—Chinese for “the southern people”
Qin Dynasty of Shi Huangdi raided the kingdom of Viet in the 220s BCE
Selective Sinification
Profitable trade between Viet and China
Woods
Silks
Shells
Spices
Pearls
Feathers
Viet defeated Qin feudal lords in the middle 200s CE and established an independent kingdom
Sinification: Cultural Conquest
111BCE: The Han decided to conquer Viet
Co-opting local lords and convincing them to adopt Chinese ways
Development of schools
Introduction of Confucianism
Transfer of agricultural skills and technology
Selective Sinification: Political Changes
Adoption of bureaucracy meant a more organized government and military
Chinese military strategy gave the Viet advantages over the Khmer, Tai, and other people to the west and south
Resistance
The Chinese saw everyone else as barbarians, including the Viets
The Viet had a tradition of being a very proud, tough people
Viet lords grew angry at Chinese attitudes
39CE: Trung sisters led a rebellion against the Han
Resistance
Viet women fought back, in part, because of Confucian patriarchal values
Confucian polygamy was especially odious to the Vietnamese nuclear family and women’s power
Independence
Geography and terrain
Disease like malaria
Climate
Weak sinification and trade links
Independence in 939CE after the fall of Tang in 907
Independent until French colonization in the 1800s
Independence
980CE: the Le Dynasty was the first independent dynasty in almost 1,000 years
Continued to build Chinese-style palaces
Continued to use a Chinese-style bureaucracy and civil service exams
Independence
Scholar-gentry were more aligned with local villages than the emperor of Vietnam
Closer links between powerful Buddhist monks and the peasants
Local autonomy—helped Vietnam against the French and the Americans
Southern Conquests and Division
The Viet expanded southward against the Cham peoples as well as the Khmer
Helped by Chinese military strategy against the Indian-style armies of the south
Geography again divided northern control from southern populations
Empire split into a northern kingdom ruled by the Trinh Dynasty and a southern kingdom ruled by the Nguyen
Remain that way until the French invaded with conversion to Catholicism on their minds
Final Thoughts
The last three lessons have shown you two models of how the Core/Periphery Model usually works out:
Japan and Vietnam: selective adoption of the core state’s culture, STEM, political values, etc. with varying levels of independence
Korea: complete adoption of the core state’s culture, STEM, political values and the elites’ alignment with the core state to turn the periphery state into a place for the core state to exploit natural resources extraction
Lesson Completed
