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Vietnam Chinese Cultural Impact
In order to facilitate administration of their new
territories, the Chinese built roads, waterways, and harbors,
largely with corvee labor (unpaid labor exacted by government
authorities, particularly for public works projects). Agriculture
was improved with better irrigation methods and the use of
ploughs and draft animals, innovations which may have already
been in use by the Vietnamese on a lesser scale. New lands were
opened up for agriculture, and settlers were brought in from
China. After a few generations, most of the Chinese settlers
probably intermarried with the Vietnamese and identified with
their new homeland.
The first and second centuries A.D. saw the rise of a HanViet ruling class owning large tracts of rice lands. More than
120 brick Han tombs have been excavated in northern Vietnam,
indicating Han families that, rather than returning to China, had
become members of their adopted society and were no longer,
strictly speaking, Chinese. Although they brought Chinese
vocabulary and technical terms into their new culture, after a
generation or two, they probably spoke Vietnamese.
The second century A.D. was a time of rebellion in Giao Chi,
Cuu Chan, and Nhat Nam, largely due to the declining quality of
the Han administrators, who concentrated their energies on making
their fortunes and returning north as soon as possible. Revolts
against corrupt and repressive Chinese officials were often led
by the Han-Viet families. The fall of the Han dynasty in China in
220 A.D. further strengthened the allegiance of the Han-Viet
ruling elite to their new society and gave them a sense of their
own independent political power. Meanwhile, among the peasant
class there was also a heightened sense of identity fostered by
the spread of Buddhism by sea from India to Vietnam by the early
third century. The new religion was often adapted to blend with
indigenous religions. Buddhist temples were sometimes dedicated
to the monsoon season, for example, or identified with the
guardian spirit of agricultural fertility. Although ruling-class
Vietnamese tended to cling to Confucianism, various local rulers
patronized the Buddhist religion, thus helping to legitimize
their own rule in the eyes of the common people.
After the demise of the Han dynasty, the period of the third
to the sixth century was a time of turbulence in China, with six
different dynasties in succession coming to power. The periods
between dynasties or the periods when dynasties were weak in
China were usually the most peaceful in Vietnam. When dynasties
were strong and interfered with local rule, the Vietnamese
aristocracy engaged in a series of violent revolts that weakened
China's control over its southern territory. A rebellion led by
the noblewoman Trieu Au (Lady Trieu) in A.D. 248 was suppressed
after about six months, but its leader earned a place in the
hearts and history of the Vietnamese people. Despite pressure to
accept Chinese patriarchal values, Vietnamese women continued to
play an important role and to enjoy considerably more freedom
than their northern counterparts.
Data as of December 1987
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