Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [335]
At around the same time, another Indianized kingdom was developing along the narrow coastal plains of central Vietnam. Little is known about the origins of Champa, but Chinese records indicate the creation of a “barbarian” state in the area towards the end of the second century. Champa’s subsequent history is a complicated tale of shifting allegiances between its Chinese, Khmer and, later, Vietnamese neighbours (See "The kingdom of Champa"). For most of its existence, however, Champa was a Hindu kingdom, based on wet-rice farming and maritime trade, ruled over by divine kings who worshipped first Shiva and later embraced Buddhism. Until the late tenth century, Champa extended from the Hoanh Son Mountains, north of Dong Hoi, down to the Mekong Delta. Their power base was largely the territory around today’s Da Nang, and their spiritual heartland the temple complex of My Son. Cham kings sponsored a vast array of sacred buildings, and the red-brick ruins of their towers and temples can be seen all along the coast of south-central Vietnam. While they never attained the magnificence of Angkor, their greatest legacy was a striking architectural style characterized by a wealth of exuberant sculpture.
In general, the Chinese tolerated the relatively weak kingdom on their borders, though they exacted tribute and plundered Champa on several occasions. After the mid-tenth century, however, Vietnamese independence changed the situation dramatically as the Viets, in search of new land, turned their attention southwards. By the end of the eleventh century Champa had lost its territory north of Hué, and four centuries later the whole kingdom became a vassal state under Viet hegemony. For a while Cham princes continued as nominal rulers until the state was finally absorbed into Vietnam in the nineteenth century.
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History |
Independent Vietnam
The period immediately following independence from Chinese rule in 939 AD was marked by factional infighting. Ngo Quyen died after only five years on the throne and Nam Viet dissolved in anarchy while twelve warlords disputed the succession. In 968 one of the rivals, Dinh Bo Linh, finally united the country and secured its future by paying tribute to the Chinese emperor, a system which continued until the nineteenth century. Dinh Bo Linh took the additional precaution of moving his capital south to the well-defended valley of Hoa Lu, where it remained during the two short-lived Dinh and Early Le dynasties.
These early monarchs laid the framework for a centralized state. They reformed the administration and the army, and instigated a programme of road building. But it was the following Ly Dynasty, founded by Ly Thai To in 1009, that consolidated the independence of Dai Viet (Great Viet) and guaranteed the nation’s stability for the next four hundred years. One of the first actions of the new dynasty was to move the capital back into the northern rice-lands, founding the city of Thang Long, the precursor of modern Hanoi.
Ly Thai To’s successor, Ly Thai Tong (1028–54), carried out a major reorganization of the national army, turning it into a professional fighting force, able to secure the northern borders and expand southwards. So confident was this new power that in 1076 the army of Dai Viet, under the revered General Ly Thuong Kiet, launched a pre-emptive strike against the Sung Chinese and then held off their counter-attack.
Having ousted the declining Ly clan in 1225, the following Tran Dynasty won spectacular military victories against the Mongol invasions of 1257, 1284 and 1288. On the first two occasions, Mongol forces briefly occupied the capital before having to withdraw, while the last battle is remembered for a rerun of Ngo Quyen’s ploy in the Bach Dang River. This time it was General Tran Hung Dao, a prince in the royal family, who led Viet forces against the far superior armies of Kublai