The Triệu dynasty or Zhao dynasty (; vi, Nhà Triệu, links=no; 茹趙) ruled the kingdom of

Nanyue Nanyue (), was an ancient kingdom ruled by Chinese monarchs of the Zhao family that covered the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, Macau, southern Fujian and central to northern Vietnam. Nanyue was establis ...

, which consisted of parts of southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

as well as northern

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

. Its capital was

Panyu Panyu, alternately romanized as Punyu, is one of 11 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, China. It was a separate county-level city before its incorporation into modern Guangzhou in 200 ...

, in modern

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, sou ...

. The founder of the dynasty,

Zhao Tuo Zhao Tuo () or Triệu Đà (Chữ Hán: 趙佗); 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 the fall of the Qin, he ...

(Triệu Đà), was a Chinese general from

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...

and originally served as a military governor under the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...

. He asserted his independence in 207 BC as the Qin dynasty was collapsing. The ruling elite included both native Yue and immigrant Han peoples.Snow, Donald B.,
Cantonese as written language: the growth of a written Chinese vernacular
' (2004), Hong Kong University Press, p. 70. Zhao Tuo conquered the Vietnamese state of Âu Lạc and led a coalition of Yuè states in a

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

against the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...

, which had been expanding southward. Subsequent rulers were less successful in asserting their independence and the Han dynasty finally conquered the kingdom in 111 BC.

Historiography

The scholar Huang Zuo produced the first detailed published history of Nanyue in the fifteenth century.Yoshikai Masato, "Ancient Nam Viet in historical descriptions",
Southeast Asia: a historical encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor
', Volume 2, ABC-CLIO, 2004, p. 934. Chinese historians have generally denounced Nanyue as separatists from the

(206 BC – 220 AD), but have also praised them as a civilizing force. A particularly strident denunciation was produced by poet Qu Dajun in 1696.Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt, Wolfgang Schluchter, Björn Wittrock,
Public spheres and collective identities
', Transaction Publishers, 2001, p. 213. Qu praised

Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of " king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Empero ...

as a model of how to uphold the purity of Chinese culture, and compared Zhao Tuo unfavorably to the emperor. A more positive view of Nanyue multiculturalism was presented by

Liang Tingnan Liang Tingnan (; 1796–1861), courtesy name Zhangran (), was a Chinese scholar and writer. A native of Guangdong, he compiled an index on coastal defence in the region and advised numerous state officials. He later led a number of schools and acad ...

in ''Nányuè Wŭ Zhǔ Zhuàn'' (南越五主傳; "Biographies of the Five Lords of Nanyue") in 1833. Cantonese refer to themselves as ''Yuht'', the Cantonese pronunciation of Yuè/Việt. In modern times, the character (yuè) refers to Cantonese while (yuè) refers to Vietnamese. But historically, these two characters were interchangeable. Meanwhile, Vietnamese historians have struggled with the issue of whether to regard the Triệu dynasty heroically as founders of Vietnam, or to denounce them as foreign invaders. For centuries afterward, Zhao Tuo was a folk hero among the Viets, and was remembered for standing up to the Han Empire. After Lý Bí drove the Chinese out of northern Vietnam, he proclaimed himself "Emperor of Nam Việt" (''Nam Việt đế''; 南越帝) in 544, thus identifying his state as a revival of the Nanyue, despite obvious differences in terms of location and ethnic makeup. In the thirteenth century,

Lê Văn Hưu Lê Văn Hưu (1230–1322) was an historian of the Trần dynasty. He is best known for his work the '' Đại Việt sử ký'', the first comprehensive historical record of the history of Vietnam. Although the book was lost during the Fourth Ch ...

wrote a history of Vietnam that used the Triệu dynasty as its starting point, with Zhao Tuo receiving glowing praise as Vietnam's first emperor. In the 18th century, Ngô Thì Sĩ reevaluated Zhao Tuo as a foreign invader. Under the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (chữ Nôm: 茹阮, vi, Nhà Nguyễn; chữ Hán: 阮朝, vi, Nguyễn triều) was the last Vietnamese dynasty, which ruled the unified Vietnamese state largely independently from 1802 to 1883. During its existence, ...

, Zhao Tuo continued to receive high praise, although it was acknowledged that the original Nanyue was not in fact a Vietnamese state. The current Communist government of Vietnam portrays Zhao Tuo negatively as a foreign invader who vanquished Vietnam's heroic King An Dương despite there being a campaign to reconsider the role of Zhao Tuo due to rising tensions between Vietnam and China. Modern Vietnamese are descended from the ancient Yue of northern Vietnam and western Guangdong, according to Peter Bellwood.

History

Zhao Tuo

Zhao Tuo (r. 204–136 BC), also called Triệu Đà, the founder of the dynasty, was an ethnic Chinese born in the

State of Zhao Zhao () was one of the seven major states during the Warring States period of ancient China. It was created from the three-way Partition of Jin, together with Han and Wei, in the 5th century BC. Zhao gained significant strength from the mil ...

, now

province. He became military governor of Nanhai (now

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

) upon the death of Governor Ren Xiao in 208 BC, just as the

was collapsing. The Qin governor of Canton advised Zhao to found his own independent kingdom since the area was remote and there were many Chinese settlers in the area. He asserted Nanhai's independence declared himself the king of Nam Việt in 204 BC, established in the area of

Lingnan Lingnan (; Vietnamese: Lĩnh Nam) is a geographic area referring to the lands in the south of the Nanling Mountains. The region covers the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as modern nort ...

, the modern provinces of comprises Guangdong,

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ...

, south

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangx ...

, south

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

and other nearby areas.Chapius, Oscar,
A history of Vietnam: from Hong Bang to Tu Duc
' He ruled Nanyue and committed acts of defiance against

Emperor Gaozu of Han Emperor Gaozu of Han (256 – 1 June 195 BC), born Liu Bang () with courtesy name Ji (季), was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty, reigning in 202–195 BC. His temple name was "Taizu" while his posthumous name was Emper ...

and he severed all ties with the

, killed many Han employees appointed by the central government and favored local customs. Being a talented general and cunning diplomat, he sought a peaceful relationship with both the Qin dynasty and the succeeding Han dynasty. In 196 BC, the Emperor Gaozu of Han sent the scholar Lu Jia to the court of Zhao Tuo.Taylor, Keith Weller,
The Birth of Vietnam
', p. 24. University of California Press, 1991. On this occasion, Zhao Tuo squatted and wore his hair in a bun, in the Yuè manner. "You are a Chinese and your forefathers and kin lie buried in Zhending in the land of Zhao", Lu told the king.Sima Qian, Burton Watson, ''Records of the Grand Historian: Han Dynasty I'', pp 224–225. . "Yet now you turn against that nature which heaven has given you at birth, cast aside the dress of your native land and, with this tiny, far-off land of Yue, think to set yourself up as a rival to the

Son of Heaven Son of Heaven, or ''Tianzi'' (), was the sacred monarchical title of the Chinese sovereign. It originated with the Zhou dynasty and was founded on the political and spiritual doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven. Since the Qin dynasty, the secu ...

and an enemy state....It is proper under such circumstances that you should advance as far as the suburbs to greet me and bow to the north and refer to yourself as a 'subject'." After Lu threatened a Han military attack on Nanyue, Zhao Tuo stood up and apologized. Lu stayed at Panyu for several months and Zhao Tuo delighted in his company.Sima Qian, p, 226. "There is no one in all Yue worth talking to", said the king, "Now that you have come, everyday I hear something I have never heard before!" Lu recognized Zhao Tuo as "King of Yue". An agreement was reached that allowed legal trade between the Han dynasty and Nanyue, as the people of Nanyue were anxious to purchase iron vessels from the Han dynasty.Wicks, Robert S.,
Money, markets, and trade in early Southeast Asia: the development of indigenous monetary systems to AD 1400
', SEAP Publications, 1992. p. 27. When Lu returned to

Chang'an Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin ...

, the Emperor Gaozu of Han was much pleased by this result. Lü Zhi, the Han empress dowager, banned trade with Nanyue in 185 BC. "Emperor Gaozu set me up as a feudal lord and sent his envoy giving me permission to carry on trade," said Zhao Tuo. "But now Empress Lü... streating me like one of the barbarians and breaking off our trade in iron vessels and goods." Zhao Tuo responded by declaring himself an emperor and by attacking some border towns. His imperial status was recognized by the

Minyue Minyue () was an ancient kingdom in what is now the Fujian province in southern China. It was a contemporary of the Han dynasty, and was later annexed by the Han empire as the dynasty expanded southward. The kingdom existed approximately fro ...

, Western Ou ( Âu Việt), and the Luolou.Wicks, p. 28. The army sent against Nanyue by Empress Lü was ravaged by a cholera epidemic. When Zhao Tuo was reconciled with the Han Empire in 180 BC, he sent a message to the

Emperor Wu of Han Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), formally enshrined as Emperor Wu the Filial (), born Liu Che (劉徹) and courtesy name Tong (通), was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of ancient China, ruling from 141 to 87 BC. His reign last ...

in which he described himself as, "Your aged subject Tuo, a barbarian chief". Zhao Tuo agreed to recognize the Han ruler as the only emperor. Mawangdui Military Map

Peace meant that Nanyue lost its imperial authority over the other Yue states. Its earlier empire had not been based on supremacy, but was instead a framework for a wartime military alliance opposed to the Han. The army Zhao Tuo had created to oppose the Han was now available to deploy against the Âu Lạc kingdom in modern-day northern Vietnam. This kingdom was conquered in 179–180 BC. Zhao Tuo divided his kingdom into two regions: Cửu Chân and

Giao Chỉ Jiaozhi ( standard Chinese, pinyin: ''Jiāozhǐ''), or Giao Chỉ (Vietnamese), 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 C ...

. Giao Chỉ now encompasses most of northern Vietnam. He allowed each region to have representatives to the central government, thus his administration was quite relaxed and had a feeling of being decentralized. However, he remained in control. By the time Zhao Tuo died in 136 BC, he had ruled for more than 70 years and outlived his sons. In modern Vietnam, Zhao Tuo is best remembered as a character in the "Legend of the Magic Crossbow". According to this legend, Zhao Tuo's son Trong Thủy married Mỵ Châu, the daughter of King An Dương of Âu Lạc, and used her love to steal the secret of An Dương's magic crossbow. Wendi xingxi 2

Zhao Mo

Zhao Tuo died in 136 BC and was succeeded by his grandson Zhao Mo (; vi, Triệu Mạt). He was 71 years old at the time of ascending to the throne. In 135 BC, the

attacked and Zhao Mo requested the assistance of the Han Empire.Taylor, p. 27. The Emperor Wu of Han offered to "help" by sending his army, ostensibly to suppress the assist Nanyue, but with an eye of seizing the country should an occasion arise. Crown Prince Zhao Yingqi was sent to live and study in the Han court. Zhao Mo took this as a gesture of goodwill by the Emperor Wu of Han, whom he viewed as a brother, to strengthen the relationship between Han and Nanyue. Zhao Mo died in 124 BC. His mausoleum was found in

in 1983.

Zhao Yingqi

Zhao Yingqi (, vi, Triệu Anh Tề, r. 124–112 BC) was the crown prince when his father, Zhao Mo, died. Zhao Yingqi's appointment to kingship was a conciliatory measure to the Han emperor in

as a sign of respect. This crowned prince, Zhao Yingqi, lived most of his life in the Han dynasty where he had fathered a son by an ethnic Chinese woman surnamed Jiu (); In one popular theory, she was Emperor Wu's own daughter. He named the son Zhao Xing. Only when his father, Zhao Mo, died did Zhao Yingqi receive permission to go home for his father's funeral. This happened in 124 BC. Zhao Yingqi then ascended the throne of Nanyue. Not much is known about Zhao Yingqi's reign, probably because it is a short one and he was subservient to the Han emperor. His son, Zhao Xing, was only about 6 years old when he died. Owing to Zhao Xing's extreme youth, his mother Lady Jiu, became the Empress Dowager. Zhao Yingqi's death precipitated the events that would lead to the seizure and domination of Nanyue by the Han forces.

Zhao Xing

Zhao Xing (r. 113–112 BC), also called Triệu Hưng, was just 6 years old when he ascended the throne. Soon thereafter, Emperor Wu of Han summoned him and his mother, Lady Jiu, to an audience to pay homage in the Han court. The Han dynasty held Lady Jiu and Zhao Xing under the pretext that the young king needed their protection. By acquiescing to this gesture, both the empress dowager and the young emperor gave the public the impression that they were just puppets in the hands of the Han court. With Zhao Xing in their hands and the queen dowager beheaded, the Han dynasty prepared their army for an invasion. In 112 BC, the emperor sent two of his commanders, Lu Bode and , along with 5,000 of his best soldiers to invade Nanyue.

Zhao Jiande

Nanyue's senior

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

, Quan Thai-pho, Lü Jia sent out the army to meet the Han at the border to repel the invasion. The army was strong, but smaller in number. Meanwhile, inside the country, the word has spread that Zhao Xing was in the hand of the Han dynasty. The Nanyue feared that if they resist, their king would be harmed by the Han dynasty. The country was now in a state of chaos. When the Han kept sending more and more reinforcements for his army at the border, the Nanyue's army was unable to hold their position. Lü Jia saw that Nanyue must have a new king in order to calm its people and to stir up Nanyue patriotism to fight. Zhao Jiande (also called Triệu Kiến Đức), Zhao Yingqi's eldest son from one of his

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

s, took the burden of leading his people to war.

Decline of the dynasty

dispatched soldiers against Nanyue. With its king being too young and inexperienced and leading an untrained, however brave army, Nanyue was only able to keep their stronghold for a while. Han crushed the Nanyue army along with Lü Jia and his King ( Zhao Jiande), both resisted until the end. Based on many temples of Lü Jia, his wives and soldiers scattering in

Red River Delta The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta ( vi, Châu thổ sông Hồng) 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 ...

of modern-day northern Vietnam, the war might last until 98 BC. After the fall of

, Tây Vu Vương (the captain of Tây Vu area of which the center is Cổ Loa) revolted against the First Chinese domination from

Western Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a war ...

. He was killed by his assistant Hoàng Đồng (黄同). Afterwards, Nanyue territory was divided into nine districts and incorporated into the Han dynasty as the prefecture of

Jiaozhi Jiaozhi (standard Chinese, pinyin: ''Jiāozhǐ''), or Giao Chỉ (Vietnamese), 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 Co ...

(Giao Chỉ). Han dynasty would dominate Jiaozhi until the revolt of the Trưng Sisters, who led a revolt in AD 40.

List of monarchs

Nanyue culture

There was a fusion of the Han and Yue cultures in significant ways, as shown by the artifacts unearthed by archaeologists from the tomb of Nanyue in Guangzhou. The Nanyue tomb in Guangzhou is extremely rich. There are quite a number of bronzes that show cultural influences from the Han, Chu, Yue and Ordos regions.''Guangzhou Xi Han Nanyue wang mu bo wu guan'', Peter Y. K. Lam, Chinese University of Hong Kong. Art Gallery – 1991 – 303 pages – Snippet vie

/ref>

Gallery

File:Zhao Tuo(Heyuan).JPG, State of King

(Triệu Đà) File:LBW-M1-bronze wine vessel.jpg, Bronze wine vessel File:LBW-M1-bronze drum.jpg, Đông Sơn bronze drum File:LBW-M1-bronze disk.jpg, Bronze disk File:Brozen house.jpg, Bronze house model File:Guangzhou Xihan Nanyuewang Bowuguan 2012.11.16 15-29-00.jpg, Mausoleum of King

Triệu Mạt ; , posthumous name = ; vi, Triệu Văn Đế , predecessor = Zhao Tuo , successor = Zhao Yingqi , birth_date = 175 BC , death_date = 124 BC (aged 51) , dynasty = Nanyue } Zhao Mo (; vi, Triệu Hồ) was the gr ...

(Zhao Mo) File:Wendi xingxi 3.jpg, Gold seal File:Jiaoxing yubei.JPG, Jiaoxing yubei File:Chengpan gaozu bei.JPG, Chengpan gaozu bei File:Si lü yu yi.JPG,

Jade burial suit A jade burial suit () is a ceremonial suit made of pieces of jade in which royal members in Han dynasty China were buried. Structure Of the jade suits that have been found, the pieces of jade are mostly square or rectangular in shape, thoug ...

of King Zhao Mo (Triệu Mạt) File:Museum of the Mausoleum of the Nanyue King 150.JPG, Đông Sơn bronze jar File:Bronze mortar and pestle.jpg, Bronze mortar and pestle File:Bronze and silver mirror from the tomb of the King of Nanyue.jpg, Bronze mirror inlaid with silver File:6 crystal Liubo game pieces.jpg, Game of

Liubo ''Liubo'' () was an ancient Chinese board game played by two players. The rules have largely been lost, but it is believed that each player had six game pieces that were moved around the points of a square game board that had a distinctive, sym ...

File:6 jadeite Liubo game pieces.jpg, Game of

File:Nanyue Armour.JPG, Armour with reconstructed replica File:Tomb of Prime Minister Lu Gia and General Nguyen Danh Lang (Lăng mộ Thừa tướng Lữ Gia và tướng Nguyễn Danh Lang).jpg, Tomb of Prime minister Lü Jia (Lữ Gia) and General Nguyễn Danh Lang

Citations

References

:: ::Taylor, Keith Weller. (1983)
''The Birth of Vietnam''
(illustrated, reprint ed.). University of California Press. . Retrieved 7 August 2013. ::''Viet Nam Su Luoc'' by

Trần Trọng Kim Trần Trọng Kim (Chữ Nôm: ; 1883 – December 2, 1953), courtesy name Lệ Thần, was a Vietnamese scholar and politician who served as the Prime Minister of the short-lived Empire of Vietnam, a state established with the support of Imper ...

::''Viet Su Toan Thu'' by Pham Van Son {{DEFAULTSORT:Trieu Dynasty History of China Ancient Vietnam States and territories established in the 3rd century BC 207 BC 200s BC establishments

111 BC States and territories disestablished in the 2nd century BC 2nd-century BC disestablishments 1st-millennium BC disestablishments in Vietnam