On Some Local Chiefdoms during the Chinese Tang's Colonization of Vietnam

Abstract

This article aims to highlight the activity of some local chiefdoms, mainly those living in the northwestern mountains areas of what is today Northern Vietnam, between the late eight to the early tenth centuries. The basis of existence and development of those chiefdoms was the power of controlling the local inhabitants in their areas. In order to consolidate their governance as well as to maintain the autonomy of their community, some chiefdoms cooperated with the Chinese rulers who also needed to rely on those local chiefdoms to stabilize the situation in the remote areas in order to protect their colonization of Vietnam. This cooperation was in fact always of dual nature and contained unresolved contradictions.

From a historical perspective, the activity of those local chiefdoms between during the period under research reflected the gradual maturity of the local elite class. This can be regarded as a preparation for the recovery of the national independence after over one thousand years under the Chinese colonization.

(First part)