Chinese Influence on Vietnam
China
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Vietnam
Chapter 13 (3 of 3)
Vietnamese a Distinct Culture
Unlike the Koreans
who seemed content
to be dominated by
Chinese culture, the
Vietnamese did not
want to lose their
own culture by being
conquered by China
Chinese First Meet the Viets
1st encounter in 220s
B.C.E. when Qin
Dynasty of China
invaded Vietnam (and
later in 111 B.C.E. the
Han continue fight and
conquer Vietnam)
After the invasion,
trade increased b/t
China and Vietnam
(Viets got silk for ivory,
pearls, and aromatic
woods
Did You Know….
The Chinese named the
Vietnamese people. They called
them Nam Viets, which meant
“People of the South” since
Vietnam is south of China
Chinese Officials and
Directly Rule Vietnam
Viet elites accepted
Chinese rule b/c
they knew they
could learn a lot
from the Chinese
Eventually
Vietnamese elites
were even allowed
into the Han
bureaucracy
China’s Positive Influence
Red River
Thanks to learning Chinese
farming techniques,
Vietnamese agriculture
becomes best in S.E. Asia
As a result of good crop
production, Vietnam has a
high population density (had
enough food to support many
people) with most people
living along the Red River
China’s Positive Influence
Red River
China’s influence on Vietnamese politics and military gave
Vietnam an advantage over it rivals, which were mostly
influenced by India
But Vietnamese Culture Different From Chinese
• Vietnamese strong tradition of village autonomy (self-rule)
• Vietnamese lived with nuclear family
• Vietnamese women had better status than Chinese
• Vietnamese language different and unrelated
• Vietnamese had cockfights
• Vietnamese chewed betel nuts (Chinese thought gross)
• Vietnamese blackened teeth (Chinese also thought gross
• Vietnamese art and literature different
• Vietnamese even more attached to Buddhism than Chinese
Vietnamese
Resist
Chinese Rule
While Viets learned from the
Chinese, they resented the
Chinese who thought the Viets
were a backwards people
Trung Sisters = led uprising
against Chinese rule in 39 C.E.
(showed how Vietnamese women
disliked China b/c women in
China subordinate to men)
Vietnamese Struggle for Independence
Vietnamese took
advantage when there
was turmoil in China
(nomadic invasions
and civil wars)
Main Chinese cities
far from Vietnam
(and separated by
mountains)
Vietnamese fought
for centuries against
Chinese rule before
finally getting
independence
Independence Won!
In 939 C.E. Vietnam finally
gains independence (shortly
after the Tang Dynasty fell
from power
For the next
thousand years,
Vietnam had to
fight off the
Chinese and
Mongols to remain
independent
Vietnamese
built Chinesestyled cities
and copied
Chinese
bureaucracy
(including the
exam system)
Bureaucrats
studied
Confucianism
and had high
status in
society (similar
to China),
though they
never gained as
much power as
in China
Chinese Cultural Influence Still
Seen After Independence
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Local rulers sided with peasants over the
scholar elites who were ruling the country
(local leaders even assisted in peasant revolts)
Vietnamese Expansion
Once free from China, the
Vietnamese drive south
to conquer more land
Vietnamese Defeat
Chams and Khmers to
Gain Territory in South
They were successful
largely thanks to political
and military tactics
learned from China
(people they fought had
learned from India)
Vietnam Expansion Divides People
Capital of Vietnam was
up north in Hanoi
Hanoi leaders found it
difficult to rule far
away areas down south
Over time, people in
south intermarried
with Chams and
Khmers and developed
distinct culture (which
north Vietnamese
thought inferior
Hanoi
Southern leaders
begin disobeying
Vietnamese leaders
in Hanoi (ex: stop
sending tax
payments up north)
The Trinh Dynasty ruled
north Vietnam (Hanoi)
Red River
Valley
Nguyen Dynasty rises to
power to rule south Vietnam
Mekong Delta
A long civil war breaks out, making Vietnam vulnerable
for the French to takeover in the 1800s