Lạc Việt
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The Lạc Việt or Luoyue ( or ; ←
Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese language, Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expande ...
: *''lɑk̚-ɦʉɐt̚'' ←
Old Chinese Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...
*''râk-wat'') were an ancient conglomeration of peoples inhabiting northern Vietnam, particularly the ancient
Red River Delta The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta () is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Bình River in Northern Vietnam. ''Hồng'' (紅) is a Sino-Vietnamese word for "red" or "crimson". T ...
, from approximately 700 BC to 100 AD, during the last stage of the
Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
and the beginning of the period of classical antiquity. They spoke Kra-Dai and
Austroasiatic The Austroasiatic languages ( ) are a large language family spoken throughout Mainland Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Asia. These languages are natively spoken by the majority of the population in Vietnam and Cambodia, and by minority popu ...
languages. From archaeological perspectives, they were known as the Dongsonian. The ''Lạc Việt'' were known for casting large Heger Type I bronze drums, cultivating paddy rice, and constructing dikes. The Lạc Việt who owned the
Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
Đông Sơn culture The Dong Son culture, Dongsonian culture, or the Lạc Việt culture (named for modern village Đông Sơn, a village in Thanh Hóa, Vietnam) was a Bronze Age culture in ancient Vietnam centred at the Red River Valley of northern Vietnam ...
, which centered at the
Red River Delta The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta () is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Bình River in Northern Vietnam. ''Hồng'' (紅) is a Sino-Vietnamese word for "red" or "crimson". T ...
(in
Northern Vietnam Northern Vietnam or '' Tonkin'' () is one of three geographical regions in Vietnam. It consists of three geographic sub-regions: the Northwest (Vùng Tây Bắc), the Northeast (Vùng Đông Bắc), and the Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng Sôn ...
), are hypothesized to be the ancestors of the modern
Kinh Vietnamese The Vietnamese people (, ) or the Kinh people (), also known as the Viet people or the Viets, are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day northern Vietnam and southern China who speak Vietnamese, the most widely spoken Austroa ...
. Another population of Luoyue, who inhabited the
Zuo river The Zuo River (,) is a river of Guangxi, China. It begins from the confluence of the Bằng River and Kỳ Cùng River near Longzhou and joins the You River ("Right River") near Nanning to form the Yong River. These rivers form part of the P ...
's valley (now in modern
Southern China Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions that display certain differences in terms of their geography, demographics, economy, and culture. Extent The Qinling–Daba Mountains serve as the transition zone between ...
), are believed to be the ancestors of the modern
Zhuang people The Zhuang (; ; , , Sawndip: 佈獞) are a Tai-speaking ethnic group who mostly live in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in Southern China. Some also live in the Yunnan, Guangdong, Guizhou, and Hunan provinces. They form one of the 56 ...
;"The Rock Painting of the Mountain Huashan - UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List"
Archived fro
original
/ref> additionally, Luoyue in southern China are believed to be ancestors of the Hlai people.


Etymology

The etymology of the ethnonym ''Lạc'' applied to this people is uncertain. Based on Chinese observers' remarks that the ''Lạc'' people's paddies depended on water-control systems like tidal-irrigation & draining, so that the floody, swampy
Red River Delta The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta () is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Bình River in Northern Vietnam. ''Hồng'' (紅) is a Sino-Vietnamese word for "red" or "crimson". T ...
might be suitable for agriculture, many scholars opted to find its etymology in the semantic field "water". Japanese scholar Gotō Kimpei links ''Lạc'' to Vietnamese noun(s) ''lạch'' ~ ''rạch'' "ditch, canal, waterway". Vietnamese scholar Nguyễn Kim Thản (apud Vũ Thế Ngọc, 1989) suggests that ''Lạc'' simply means "water" and is comparable to phonetically similar elements in two compounds ''nước rạc'' (lit. "ebbing (tidal) water") & ''cạn rặc'' (lit. "utterly dried up f water). On the other hand, French linguist
Michel Ferlus Michel Ferlus (; 1935 – 10 March 2024) was a French linguistics, linguist who specialized in the historical phonology of languages of Southeast Asia. In addition to phonological systems, he also studied writing systems, in particular the evoluti ...
proposes that 駱/雒 (OC *''rak'') is monosyllabified from the areal ethnonym ''*b.rak'' ~ ''*p.rak'' by loss of the first element in the iambic cluster. The ethnonym ''*b.rak'' ~ ''*p.rak'' underlies *''prɔːk'', ethnonym of the
Wa people The Wa people ( Wa: Vāx; , ; ; ''Wáa'') are a Southeast Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in Northern Myanmar, in the northern part of Shan State and the eastern part of Kachin State, near and along Myanmar's border with China, as well as ...
, *''rɔːk'', ethonym of a Khmu subgroup, and possibly the ethnonym of
Bai people The Bai or Pai (Bai language, Bai: , ; zh, c=白族, p=Báizú), are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan, Yunnan Province, Bijie area of Guizhou, Guizhou Province, and Sangzhi C ...
(白族 ''Báizú''). Ferlus also suggests that ''*b.rak'' ~ ''*p.rak'' underlies 百越 '' Bǎiyuè'' (< OC*''prâk''-''wat'')'s first syllable 百 ''Bǎi'' (< OC *''prâk''), initially just a phonogram to transcribe the ethnonym ''*p.rak'' ~ ''*b.rak'' yet later reconstrued as "hundred". Ferlus etymologises 百 ''bǎi'' < *''p.rak'' and 白 ''bái'' < *''b.rak'', used to name populations south of China, as from etymon *''p.ra:k'' "
taro Taro (; ''Colocasia esculenta'') is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, stems and Petiole (botany), petioles. Taro corms are a ...
> edible
tuber Tubers are a type of enlarged structure that plants use as storage organs for nutrients, derived from stems or roots. Tubers help plants perennate (survive winter or dry months), provide energy and nutrients, and are a means of asexual reproduc ...
", which underlies Kra-Dai cognate words meaning "taro" (e.g. Thai เผือก ''pʰɨakD1'', Lakkia ''ja:k'', Paha ''pɣaːk'', etc.); and Ferlus additionally proposes that *''p.ra:k'' was used to by rice-growers to designate taro-growing horticulturists.


History

According to a legend recorded in the '' Lĩnh Nam chích quái'', the Lạc Việt founded a state called Văn Lang in 2879 BC. They formed a loose circle of power led by Lac lords and princes, the territory is subdivided into fiefs governed by hereditary chiefs. Their leaders were called Lạc kings (Hùng kings) who were served by Lạc marquises and Lạc generals. According to the ''
Records of the Grand Historian The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st ce ...
'' by
Sima Qian Sima Qian () was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China cov ...
,
Âu Lạc Âu Lạc (chữ Hán: 甌貉 (Peripheral Records/Volume 1:6a): "王既併文郎國,改國號曰甌貉國。""The King then annexed the Văn Lang nation, changed the nation's name to Âu Lạc nation."/甌駱; (Volume 113): "且南方卑濕� ...
was referred as the "Western Ou" (v. Tây Âu) and "Luo" (v. Lạc) and they were lumped into the category of
Baiyue The Baiyue, Hundred Yue, or simply Yue, were various ethnic groups who inhabited the regions of southern China and northern Vietnam during the 1st millennium BC and 1st millennium AD. They were known for their short hair, body tattoos, fine swo ...
by the Sinitic
Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...
peoples to the north of them. The
Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...
's encyclopedia ''
Lüshi Chunqiu The ''Lüshi Chunqiu'' (), also known in English as ''Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals'', is an encyclopedic Chinese classic text compiled around 239BC under the patronage of late pre-imperial Qin Chancellor Lü Buwei. In the evaluati ...
'' mentioned the name ''Yueluo'' 越駱 (SV: ''Việt Lạc''), which the Han historian and philosopher Gao You asserted to be a country's name (國名). However, neither ''Lüshi Chunqiu'' nor Gao You indicated where Yueluo was located. Sinologists Knoblock and Riegel propose that ''Yueluo'' 越駱 was probably a mistake for ''Luoyue'' 駱越. According to a fourth century chronicle, Thục Phán (King An Dương) led the Western Ou (Âu) tribe or the
Âu Việt The Âu Việt or Ouyue () were an ancient conglomeration of Baiyue tribes living in what is today the mountainous regions of northernmost Vietnam, western Guangdong, and northern Guangxi, China, since at least the third century BCE. They were b ...
subdued the Luo tribes and formed the kingdom of
Âu Lạc Âu Lạc (chữ Hán: 甌貉 (Peripheral Records/Volume 1:6a): "王既併文郎國,改國號曰甌貉國。""The King then annexed the Văn Lang nation, changed the nation's name to Âu Lạc nation."/甌駱; (Volume 113): "且南方卑濕� ...
in around 257 BC. The new Âu overlords established their headquarters in Xiwu (Tây Vu), where they built a large citadel, known to history as Cổ Loa or Cổ Loa Thành, "Ancient Conch Citadel." When
Zhao Tuo Zhao Tuo (), rendered as Triệu Đà in Vietnamese language, Vietnamese, was a Qin dynasty Chinese general and first emperor of Nanyue. He participated in the conquest of the Baiyue peoples of Guangdong, Guangxi and Northern Vietnam. After ...
, founder of
Nanyue Nanyue ( zh, c=南越 or 南粵, p=Nányuè, cy=, j=Naam4 Jyut6, l=Southern Yue, , ), was an ancient kingdom founded in 204 BC by the Chinese general Zhao Tuo, whose family (known in Vietnamese as the Triệu dynasty) continued to rule until ...
, conquered Âu Lạc and established his rule over the region in 179 BC, these Lac princes became his vassals. In 111 BC, a militarily powerful
Western Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and a warring in ...
conquered Conquest involves the annexation or control of another entity's territory through war or coercion. Historically, conquests occurred frequently in the international system, and there were limited normative or legal prohibitions against conquest ...
Nanyue Nanyue ( zh, c=南越 or 南粵, p=Nányuè, cy=, j=Naam4 Jyut6, l=Southern Yue, , ), was an ancient kingdom founded in 204 BC by the Chinese general Zhao Tuo, whose family (known in Vietnamese as the Triệu dynasty) continued to rule until ...
and
annexed Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held to ...
the lands of the Lac Viet into the Han empire, and established the
Jiaozhi Jiaozhi (standard Chinese, pinyin: ''Jiāozhǐ''), or , was a historical region ruled by various Chinese dynasties, corresponding to present-day northern Vietnam. The kingdom of Nanyue (204–111 BC) set up the Jiaozhi Commandery (; , ch� ...
,
Jiuzhen Jiuzhen (Vietnamese: Cửu Chân, Chinese: 九真) was a Chinese commandery within Jiaozhou. It is located in present-day Thanh Hóa Province, Vietnam. Michel Ferlus (2012) and Frédéric Pain (2020) propose that 九真 Old Chinese *''kuˀ-ci ...
and Rinan commanderies. Reacting against a Chinese attempt to colonialize and civilize, the Trung sisters revolted against the Sinitic ruling class in 39 AD. After gaining a brief independence amid the
Trung sisters' rebellion The Trưng sisters' rebellion was an uprising in the Jiaozhi province of Han dynasty (today Northern Vietnam) between 40 CE and 43 CE. In 40 CE, the Lạc Việt leader Trưng Trắc and her sister Trưng Nhị rebelled against Chinese auth ...
, Lac chiefs along with its social elites were massacred, deported, and forced to
adopt Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...
Han cultures in a reactionary military response led by Chinese general
Ma Yuan Ma Yuan may refer to: * Ma Yuan (Han dynasty) (馬援; 14 BC – 49 AD), general of the Han dynasty * Ma Yuan (painter) (馬遠; 1160–1225), painter of the Song dynasty * Ma Yuan (judge) (:zh:馬原 (政治人物), 馬原; born 1930), a former V ...
. Later, Chinese historians writing of Ma Yuan's expedition referred to the Lac/Luo as the "Luoyue" or simply as the "Yue." Furthermore, there is no information and record about the Lac after 44 AD. Some of them were hypothesized to have fled to the southern hinterlands.


Language and genetics

The linguistic origins of the Lạc Việt have continued to remain controversial as they were generally believed to be
Austroasiatic The Austroasiatic languages ( ) are a large language family spoken throughout Mainland Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Asia. These languages are natively spoken by the majority of the population in Vietnam and Cambodia, and by minority popu ...
speakers. Specifically, they are thought to be Khmer-speaking by Sinologist Edward Schafer. French
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
Michel Ferlus Michel Ferlus (; 1935 – 10 March 2024) was a French linguistics, linguist who specialized in the historical phonology of languages of Southeast Asia. In addition to phonological systems, he also studied writing systems, in particular the evoluti ...
in 2009 draws his conclusion that they were northern Vietic (Viet–Muong) speakers and believes that the Vietnamese are direct descendants of the Dongsonians (i.e. Lac Viet). Keith Taylor (2014) speculates that, the Lac Viet were either Proto-Viet-Muong speakers or Khmuic speakers, another Austroasiatic group who inhabit northwest Vietnam and northern Laos. James Chamberlain (2016), on the other hand, proposes that the Lac Viet were ancestors to
Central Tai The Central Tai languages include southern dialects of Zhuang, and various Nung and Tày dialects of northern Vietnam. Central Tai languages differ from Northern Tai languages in that Central Tai distinguishes unaspirated and aspirated onse ...
speakers and
Southwestern Tai The Southwestern Tai or Thai languages are a branch of the Tai languages of Southeast Asia. Its languages include Central Thai (Siamese), Northern Thai (Lanna), Lao (including Isan), Shan and others. Classification The internal classificatio ...
-speakers (including
Thai people Thai people, historically known as Siamese people, are an ethnic group native to Thailand. In a narrower and ethnic sense, the Thais are also a Tai peoples, Tai ethnic group dominant in Central Thailand, Central and Southern Thailand (Siam prope ...
); however, based on layers of Chinese
loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...
s in proto-
Southwestern Tai The Southwestern Tai or Thai languages are a branch of the Tai languages of Southeast Asia. Its languages include Central Thai (Siamese), Northern Thai (Lanna), Lao (including Isan), Shan and others. Classification The internal classificatio ...
and other historical evidence, Pittayawat Pittayaporn (2014) proposes that the southwestward migration of southwestern Tai-speaking tribes from the modern Guangxi to the mainland of Southeast Asia must have taken place sometimes between the 8th–10th centuries CE at the earliest, long after 44BCE, when the Luoyue had been last mentioned. Archaeological evidence reveals that during the pre-Dongson period, the
Red River Delta The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta () is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Bình River in Northern Vietnam. ''Hồng'' (紅) is a Sino-Vietnamese word for "red" or "crimson". T ...
was prominently Austroasiatic: for instance, genetic samples from the Mán Bạc burial site (dated 1,800 BC) have close proximity to modern Austroasiatic speakers, and then during the Dongson period, genetic examples yield to a significant proportion of Tai stocks (known as Au, Li-Lao) possibly living along with Vietic speakers.


Culture and society

Lạc lords were hereditary aristocrats in something like a feudal system. The status of Lạc lords passed through the family line of one's mother and tribute was obtained from communities of agriculturalists who practiced group responsibility. In Lạc society, access to land was based on communal usage rather than individual ownership and women possessed inheritance rights. While in Chinese society men inherited wealth through their fathers, in Lạc society both men and women inherited wealth through their mothers. Ancient Han Chinese had described the people of Âu Lạc as barbaric in need of civilizing, regarding them as lacking morals and modesty. Chinese chronicles maintain the native people in the
Hong River Delta The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta () is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Bình River in Northern Vietnam. ''Hồng'' (紅) is a Sino-Vietnamese word for "red" or "crimson". T ...
were deficient in knowledge of agriculture, metallurgy, politics, and their civilization was a by-product of Chinese colonization. They denied ''
in situ is a Latin phrase meaning 'in place' or 'on site', derived from ' ('in') and ' ( ablative of ''situs'', ). The term typically refers to the examination or occurrence of a process within its original context, without relocation. The term is use ...
'' cultural evolution or social complexity, attributing any development to Sinicization, though they were aware of this "stable, structured, productive, populous, and relatively sophisticated" society they encountered. A record from the 220s BCE reported "unorthodox customs" of inhabitants in parts of the region:"To crop the hair, decorate the body, rub pigment into arms and fasten garments on the left side is the way of the
Baiyue The Baiyue, Hundred Yue, or simply Yue, were various ethnic groups who inhabited the regions of southern China and northern Vietnam during the 1st millennium BC and 1st millennium AD. They were known for their short hair, body tattoos, fine swo ...
. In the country of Xiwu () the habit is to blacken teeth, scar cheeks and wear caps of sheat atfishskin stitched crudely with an awl." Hou Hanshu described the region as thick with dense forests, and full of ponds and lakes, with countless wild animals like elephants, rhinoceros and tigers, while the locals earned their living by hunting and fishing, using bows propelling poisoned arrows, tattooing themselves, and wearing chignon and turbans. They also are said to know how to cast copper implements and pointed arrowheads, chewing betel nuts and blackening their teeth. However, such descriptions of the kingdom bear little resemblance to what we know: not a place of fertile cultivation or habitation on a large scale. Some of the descriptions may apply rather well to the region of present-day
Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...
and
Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...
, which remain inhospitable for many years to come, evident in census of the year 2 AD. Women enjoyed high status in Lạc society. Such a society is a matrilocal society, a societal system in which a married couple resides with or near the wife's parents. Thus, the female offspring of a mother remain living in (or near) the mother's house, forming large clan-families couples after marriage would often go to live with the wife's family. It has also been said that Proto-Vietnamese society was
matrilineal Matrilineality, at times called matriliny, is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which people identify with their matriline, their mother's lineage, and which can involve the inheritan ...
. The status of Lạc lords transferred through the mother's lineage while women possessed inheritance rights. In addition, they also practiced
levirate Levirate marriage is a type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his brother's widow. Levirate marriage has been practiced by societies with a strong clan structure in which exogamous marriage (i.e. marriage ou ...
, meaning widows had a right to marry a male relative of her late husband, often his brother, to obtain heirs. This practice provided an heir for the mother, protecting widows' interests and reflecting female authority, although some patriarchal societies used it to keep wealth within the male family bloodline. The economy was characterized by agriculture with wet rice cultivation, draft animals, metal plowshares, axes and other tools, as well as irrigation complexes. The cultivation of irrigated rice may have started in the beginning of the second millennium BCE, evidenced by findings from palynological sequences, while metal tools were regularly used before any significant Sino-Vietic interaction. Chapuis (1995) also suggested the existence of line fishing and some specialization and division of labor. The region was also a major node or hub of interregional access and exchange, connected to other area through an extensive extraregional trade network, since well before the first millennium BC, thanks to its strategic location, enjoying access to key interaction routes and resources, including proximity to major rivers or the coast and a high distribution of copper, tin, and lead ores. Kim (2015) believed its economic and commercial value, including its location and access to key waterways and exotic tropical goods, would have been main reasons the Chinese conquered the region, giving them unrestricted access to other parts of Southeast Asia.


Contested ancestors and nationalism

The Lạc Việt's vague identity and heritage are claimed today by from both those in China and Vietnam. Nationalist scholarships from both sides misinterpret the Lạc Việt/Luoyue as a distinct ancient ethnic group with direct unbreakable connections to modern
Vietnamese people The Vietnamese people (, ) or the Kinh people (), also known as the Viet people or the Viets, are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day northern Vietnam and Dongxing, Guangxi, southern China who speak Vietnamese language, Viet ...
(Kinh people) in Vietnam and
Zhuang people The Zhuang (; ; , , Sawndip: 佈獞) are a Tai-speaking ethnic group who mostly live in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in Southern China. Some also live in the Yunnan, Guangdong, Guizhou, and Hunan provinces. They form one of the 56 ...
in
Southern China Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions that display certain differences in terms of their geography, demographics, economy, and culture. Extent The Qinling–Daba Mountains serve as the transition zone between ...
. Several Vietnamese scholars from the 1950s have argued that the Lạc Việt/Luoyue were exclusively ancestors of the Vietnamese Kinh people. On the Chinese side, the Lạc Việt/Luoyue are remembered as an ancient Zhuang kingdom and ancestors of the Zhuang. ''Lạc Việt/Luoyue'' however was a merely xenonym used by ancient
Han Empire The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...
scribers to refer the tribal confederation in ancient
Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...
and
Northern Vietnam Northern Vietnam or '' Tonkin'' () is one of three geographical regions in Vietnam. It consists of three geographic sub-regions: the Northwest (Vùng Tây Bắc), the Northeast (Vùng Đông Bắc), and the Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng Sôn ...
whom they believed to be a variety of the Yue. These Yue and Luoyue likely refer to diverse groups of peoples speaking different languages who perhaps shared certain cultural practices, rather than to a clearly defined ethnic group speaking a single language.


See also

* An Dương Vương *
Âu Lạc Âu Lạc (chữ Hán: 甌貉 (Peripheral Records/Volume 1:6a): "王既併文郎國,改國號曰甌貉國。""The King then annexed the Văn Lang nation, changed the nation's name to Âu Lạc nation."/甌駱; (Volume 113): "且南方卑濕� ...
*
Âu Việt The Âu Việt or Ouyue () were an ancient conglomeration of Baiyue tribes living in what is today the mountainous regions of northernmost Vietnam, western Guangdong, and northern Guangxi, China, since at least the third century BCE. They were b ...
*
Đông Sơn culture The Dong Son culture, Dongsonian culture, or the Lạc Việt culture (named for modern village Đông Sơn, a village in Thanh Hóa, Vietnam) was a Bronze Age culture in ancient Vietnam centred at the Red River Valley of northern Vietnam ...
* History of Vietnam *
Hồng Bàng dynasty The Hồng Bàng period (), also called the Hồng Bàng dynasty,Pelley, p. 151 was a legendary ancient period in Vietnamese historiography, spanning from the beginning of the rule of Kinh Dương Vương over the kingdom of Văn Lang (initia ...
* Hundred Yue *
Nam Việt Nanyue ( zh, c=南越 or 南粵, p=Nányuè, cy=, j=Naam4 Jyut6, l=Southern Yue, , ), was an ancient kingdom founded in 204 BC by the Chinese general Zhao Tuo, whose family (known in Vietnamese as the Triệu dynasty) continued to rule until ...
*
Triệu dynasty The Triệu dynasty or Zhao dynasty (; ; 茹趙) ruled the kingdom of Nanyue, which consisted of parts of southern China as well as northern Vietnam. Its capital was Panyu, in modern Guangzhou. The founder of the dynasty, Zhao Tuo (Triệu Đ� ...


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lac Viet 3rd-century BC Asian people Ancient peoples of China Ancient Vietnam Baiyue History of Guangxi Hong River Delta Nanyue