Ethnic origin of Vietnamese

Introduction

The origin of Vietnamese can be grouped into three eras with completely different ethnic origins. These eras are grouped into Tai-Kadai, Han Chinese and Viet-Muong kingdoms.

Earliest Tai kingdom

The original Vietnamese were called Lac Viet (駱越) and they are the natives of Red River Delta.

The earliest Chinese history book on Red River Delta was 'Record of the Outer Territory of Jiao region' written in late 3rd century AD. Thuc Phan, who came from modern-day Sichuan province, led 30,000 troops to attack the Lac kings (which is not the same as Hung kings) in 258 BC.

The Vietnamese history book "Complete Annals of Đại Việt"《大越史記全書》was written by Ngo Si Lien in 1479 AD which coincided with aftermath of Ming China's invasion of Vietnam. He created an idealized fictitious dynasty of Van Lang kingdom, Hong Bang and Hung kings spanning almost 3000 years for nationalistic purpose to distance itself from China. There are no archaeological proof to support this.

Furthermore, the earliest Vietnamese history books i.e. 13th century AD "Records of Viet"《越志》and 14th century AD "The Concise Records of Annam"《安南志略》 also didn't mention anything about the existence of a Van Lang kingdom and Hung kings before Ngo Si Lien's history book.

The natives are Tai tribes and not Austro-Asiatic tribes as commonly mistaken because the Zhuang people in Guangxi who are part of Tai people also call themselves Lac Viet. A list of unique cultural elements to verify their ethnic group is published in another article called 'Origin of Tai culture' in this blog.

Due to the advancing Han Chinese to be discussed in the next section, the surviving Lac Viet natives migrated from Red River Delta to the mountains in northern provinces of Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Lang Son, Bac Kan in Vietnam where they still live today as ethnic Tày.

Evidence of this migration came from the fact that traditionally, all ethnic Tai tribes choose to live in the fertile valleys of rivers such as Red River basin where they can plant rice in paddy fields which they call 'naa'. These tribes wouldn't want to live in the mountains if they have a choice.

Earliest Han Chinese kingdoms

Thuc Phan (蜀泮) aka An Dương Vương (安陽王) was a king from ancient Shu state (古蜀) whose homeland is around Sichuan in China. He was a descendant of Bieling (鱉靈), a person from the neighboring Han-Chinese Chu kingdom, who founded the Kai-Ming (開明) dynasty in 666 BC.

He conquered Lac Viet territory (Southern Guangxi and Northern Vietnam), which combined with another Au Viet territory (Northern Guangxi) conquered earlier, and renamed the combined territory as Au Lac state. He established the Thuc dynasty (蜀朝) and ruled from 257–207 BC.

Au Lac state was then conquered by the Qin (秦) army general Zhao Tuo (趙佗) aka Trieu Da in Vietnamese. He was an ethnic Han Chinese who established the Trieu dynasty (趙朝) from 207–111 BC and named his kingdom Nan Yue (南越) aka Nam Viet.

After this period, Vietnam was a province of China for more than 1000 years and the details will be on another article.

Formation of ethnic Kinh

After independence from China in 938 AD, Vietnam was named Dai-Viet for most of Vietnam’s dynasties.

Vietnam has some full or mixed blood Han Chinese emperors such as

• Ngo dynasty (吳朝) 939–965 AD
• Dinh dynasty (丁朝) 968–980 AD
• Early Lê dynasty (前黎朝) 980-1009 AD
• Later Ly dynasty (李朝) 1009-1225 AD 
• Tran dynasty (陳朝) 1225-1400 AD 
• Ho dynasty (胡朝) 1400-1407 AD 

During the Tran dynasty in 1256 AD, the people in Vietnam were first grouped into two main categories which are Kinh 京 (capital city) and Trai 塞 (outlier region).

Kinh people were mainly these Han Chinese immigrants living in Red River plain and the lowlands of southernmost provinces of North Vietnam. In other words, ethnic Kinh is not the same ethnic group as the ancient Lac Viet people.

Muong kingdom

Trai people refer to the tribes that lived in the uplands and foothills of southernmost provinces of North Vietnam and were proto-Muong people.

These proto-Muong people who are genetically and linguistically Austroasiatic, lived in the provinces of Tranh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh (near Champa border) during Ming dynasty.
The proto-Muong homeland is in the Annamese mountains in central Laos bordering Nghe An.

Le Loi who is an ethnic proto-Muong led an army to gain independence from Ming China in 1428 AD. He then established the Later Le Dynasty (後黎朝) which lasted from 1428-1788 AD and he was gradually sinicised.

His dynasty expanded southwards towards Austroasiatic territory as shown in the map below. The natives of central and southern Vietnam are Austroasiatic people unlike northern Vietnam.  Le Loi's Muong tribe is related to the other Austroasiatic tribes.

Conclusion

There were three main ethnic groups in early Vietnamese history which shaped the modern Vietnamese society.

The natives of Red River delta in North Vietnam were ethnic Tai and were the original Vietnamese. The native Vietnamese are most closely related to the ethnic Zhuang people in Guangxi in China.

Lac Viet

Ethnic Kinh are the descendants of early Han Chinese immigrants. A certain percentage of Han Chinese men intermarried with the native Lac Viet girls.

Ethnic Muong people are not the natives of Red River delta, they came from central Laos and first settled in the mountainous area of central Vietnam. They were known as Trai tribe and not Kinh in the past.

Many people mix up the origin of the Kinh and the native Tai and Muong when they are completely different people.

This article is just a broad overview and more details are available in other articles listed below.

Related links

• Origin of Vietnamese language

http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2017/07/origin-of-vietnamese-language.html

• Ethnic origin of Zhuang (Lac Viet)

http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.my/2017/12/ethnic-origin-of-zhuang.html

• Ethnic origin of Kinh in Vietnam

http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2018/05/ethnic-origin-of-kinh-in-vietnam.html

• Main ethnicities in Vietnam

http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2017/07/main-ethnicities-in-vietnam.html

• Origin of Nguyen surname

http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2018/06/origin-of-nguyen.html

• Origin of Tai (Lac Viet) culture

http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2018/06/origin-of-name-giao-chi.html

• Ethnic origin of Muong in Vietnam

http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2018/11/ethnic-origin-of-muong.html

• Ethnic origin of Jing in China

http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2018/05/ethnic-origin-of-jing-in-china.html

Sources

Proof 1: Kinh and Trai are different ethnicities
A History of the Vietnamese. Author: Keith Taylor, pgs. 113, 177, 186.

Proof 2: Au Lac people and Viet-Muong people have different homelands
According to the paper by Chamberlain below, the original Vietnamese in Red River Delta were Tai speaking whereas the proto-Viet-Muong people migrated from central Laos.

• Chamberlain, James R. (2000). "The origin of the Sek: implications for Tai and Vietnamese history". In Burusphat, Somsonge. Proceedings of the International Conference on Tai Studies, July 29–31, 1998 (PDF). Bangkok, Thailand: Institute of Language and Culture for Rural Development, Mahidol University. pp. 97–127. Section 4.3, The Vietic homeland.. ISBN974-85916-9-7. Retrieved 29 August 2014.

• Tai words and the place of the Tai in the Vietnamese past. By Liam Kelley.
• https://kknews.cc/history/393mrvg.html
• Shu kingdom. https://kknews.cc/zh-hk/history/vl2kk5y.html

Last updated: 28 Jan 2022
Copyright © eastasiaorigin.blogspot 2017-2022. All rights reserved.