The Baiyue (Chinese: 百越; pinyin: Bǎiyuè), Hundred Yue or Yue (越) is a loose term denoting various partly Sinicized or un-Sinicized peoples who inhabited southern China and northern Vietnam between the first millennium BC and the first millennium AD.[1][2] In the warring states period, the word "Yue" referred to the State of Yue in Zhejiang. The later kingdoms of Minyue in Fujian and Nanyue in Guangdong are both considered Baiyue states. Chinese writers depicted the Yue as barbarians who had tattoos, lived in primitive conditions, and lacked such technology as bows, arrows, horses and chariots. The Baiyue have been compared to the lost tribes of Israel, with a great deal of speculation among Chinese historians concerning who they were and what happened to them.[3] Many of the ethnic groups now inhabiting southern China and northern Vietnam are thought to be descendants of the Baiyue or have some connection to the ancient Baiyue.[3][4] Variations of the name are still used in both the name of Vietnam (Chinese: 越; Vietnamese: Việt) and the abbreviation for Guangdong (Chinese: 粤; Cantonese Yale: Yuht).
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The word "Yue" (Chinese: 越 or 粵; pinyin: Yuè; Cantonese Yale: Yuht; Wade-Giles: Yüeh4; Vietnamese: Việt; Zhuang: Vot; Early Middle Chinese: wuat) comes from the Old Chinese wjat.[5] It was first written using the pictograph "戉" for an axe (a homophone), in oracle bone and bronze inscriptions of the late Shang dynasty (ca. 1200 BC), and later as "越".[6] At that time it referred to a people or chieftain to the northwest of the Shang.[1] In the early 8th century BC, a tribe on the middle Yangtze were called the Yángyuè, a term later used for peoples further south.[1] Between the 7th and 4th centuries BC "Yue" referred to the state of Yue in the lower Yangtze basin and its people.[1][6]
From the 3rd century BC the it was used for the non-Chinese populations of south and southwest China and northern Vietnam, with particular states or groups called Mǐnyuè, Nányuè, Luòyuè (Vietnamese: Lạc Việt), etc., collectively called the Bǎiyuè ("Hundred Yue").[1][6] The term "Baiyue" (Chinese: 百越; pinyin: Bǎiyuè; Cantonese Yale: Baak Yuht; Vietnamese: Bách Việt; Zhuang: Bouxvot) first appears in the encyclopedia Lüshi Chunqiu compiled around 239 BC.[7]
In ancient China, the characters 越 and 粵 (both yuè in pinyin) were used interchangeably. But in modern Chinese, they are differentiated:
Ancient texts mention a number of Yue peoples. Most of these names survived into early imperial times:
| Chinese | Hanyu Pinyin | Yale | Vietnamese | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 於越/于越 | Yūyuè | Yūyuht | Ư Việt | Yue |
| 揚越/扬越 | Yángyuè | Yèungyuht | Dương Việt | Yang Yue |
| 干越 | Gānyuè | Gonyuht | Cán Việt | Gan Yue |
| 閩越/闽越 | Mǐnyuè | Mànyuht | Mân Việt | River Yue |
| 夜郎 | Yèláng | Yehlòng | Dạ Lang | Night Yue |
| 南越 | Nányuè | Naàhmyuht | Nam Việt | Southern Yue |
| 山越 | Shānyuè | Saānyuht | Sơn Việt | Mountain Yue |
| 雒越 | Luòyuè | Lokyuht | Lạc Việt | Sea Bird Yue |
| 甌越/瓯越 | Ōuyuè | Āuyuht | Âu Việt | (East) Valley Yue |
| 滇越,盔越 | Diānyuè, Kuīyuè | Dīnyuht, Kwaīyuht | Điền Việt, Khôi Việt | Heavenly Yue, Basin Yue |
Historian Luo Xianglin has suggested that these peoples shared a common ancestry with the Xia Dynasty. There is little evidence, however, that the Yue peoples held any common identity.
In the 5th millennium BC, the lower Yangtze area was already a major population centre, occupied by the Hemudu and Majiabang cultures, who were among the earliest cultivators of rice. By the 3rd millennium BC, the successor Liangzhu culture shows some influence from the Longshan culture of the North China Plain.[8]
From the 9th century BC, two northern Yue peoples, the Gou-Wu and Yu-Yue, were increasingly influenced by their Chinese neighbours to their north. These two states were based in the areas of what is now southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang respectively. Their aristocratic elite learned the written Chinese language and adopted Chinese political institutions and military technology. Traditional accounts attribute the cultural change to the Grand Earl of Wu (吳太伯), a Zhou prince who had fled to the south. The marshy lands of the south gave Gou-Wu and Yu-Yue unique characteristics. They did not engage in extensive agrarian agriculture, relying instead more heavily on aquaculture. Water transport was paramount in the south, so the two states became advanced in shipbuilding and developed riverine warfare technology. They were also known for their fine swords.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, the two states, now called Wu and Yue, were becoming increasingly involved in Chinese politics. In 512 BC, Wu launched a large expedition against the large state of Chu, based in the Middle Yangtze River. A similar campaign in 506 succeeded in sacking the Chu capital Ying. Also in that year, war broke out between Wu and Yue and continued with breaks for the next three decades. In 473 BC, the Yue king Goujian finally conquered Wu and was acknowledged by the northern states of Qi and Jin. In 333 BC, Yue was in turn conquered by Chu.[9] After the fall of State of Yue, the ruling family moved south to what is now Fujian and established the Minyue kingdom.
The kings of the state of Yue, and therefore its successor state Minyue, claimed to be descended from Yu the Great of the Chinese Xia dynasty.[10] According to Sima Qian, Wu was founded by Wu Taibo, a brother of King Wu of the Zhou dynasty.
After the unification of China by Qin Shi Huang, the former Wu and Yue states became incorporated into the Chinese empire. The Qin armies also advanced south along the Xiang River to modern Guangdong and set up commanderies along the main communication routes. "In the south he seized the land of the hundred tribes of the Yue and made of it Guilin and Xiang provinces, and the lords of the hundred Yue bowed their heads, hung halters from their necks, and pleaded for their lives with the lowest officials of the Qin," wrote Sima Qian.[11]
The "Treatise of Geography" in the Han Shu (completed 111 AD) describes the Yue lands as stretching from Kuaiji (in modern Zhejiang) to Jiaozhi (modern northern Vietnam).[9] Throughout the Han Dynasty period two groups of Yue were identified, that of the Nanyue in the far south, who lived mainly in the area of what is now Guangdong, Guangxi, and Vietnam; and that of the Minyue to the southeast, centred on the Min River in modern Fujian. The kings of Minyue claimed to be descended from Yu the Great of the Chinese Xia dynasty.[10]
The kingdom of Nanyue was founded at the collapse of the Qin Dynasty in 204 BC by the local Qin commander Zhao Tuo. At its height, Nanyue was the strongest of the Baiyue states, with Zhao Tuo declaring himself emperor and receiving the allegiance of neighbouring kings.[12] The dominant ethnicities of this kingdom were the Han and Yue, who held all the most important positions in the kingdom.[13] Intermarriage was encouraged and was very common among the commoners, and it happened even in the royal family of Nanyue, the last king was descendant of Han and Yue. The kingdom of Nanyue was destroyed in 111 BC by an army of Emperor Wu of Han.
Sinification of these peoples was brought about by a combination of imperial military power, regular settlement and Chinese refugees. According to one Chinese immigrant of the second century BC, the Baiyue "cut their hair short, tattooed their body, live in bamboo groves with neither towns nor villages, possessing neither bows or arrows, nor horses or chariots."[14] The difficulty of logistics and the malarial climate in the south made the displacement and eventual sinification of the Yue peoples a slow process. When the Chinese came into contact with local Yue peoples, they often wrested control of territory from them or subjugated them by force. When a serious rebellion broke out in 40 AD led by the Trung Sisters in what is now modern Vietnam, a force of some 10,000 imperial troops was dispatched under General Ma Yuan. Between 100 and 184 AD no less than seven outbreaks of violence took place, often answered with strong action by the Chinese.
As Chinese migrants gradually increased, the Yue were gradually forced into poorer land on the hills and in the mountains. Unlike the nomadic peoples of Central Asia, such as the Xiongnu or the Xianbei, however, the Yue peoples never posed any serious threat to Chinese expansion or control. Sometimes they staged small scale raids or attacks on Chinese settlements – termed "rebellions" by traditional historians.
Most Yue peoples were eventually sinicized, and continue to live in Zhejiang and Guangdong,[15][16] the Kam–Tai (Tai–Kadai): Zhuang, Buyi, Dai, Sui (Shui), Kam (Dong), Hlai (Li), Mulam, Maonan, Ong-Be (Lingao), Thai, Lao, Shan, and Vietnamese people retained their ethnic identities. Some of these peoples migrated to Mon–Khmer areas after ruled by officials of Han Chinese emperors.[17]
Our knowledge of Yue speech is limited to fragmentary references and possible loanwords in other languages, principally Chinese. The longest is the "Song of the Yue boatman" (Chinese: 越人歌; pinyin: Yuèrén Gē), a short song transcribed phonetically in Chinese characters in 528 BC and included, with a Chinese version, in the Shuoyuan compiled by Liu Xiang five centuries later.
There is some disagreement about the languages they spoke, with candidates drawn from the non-Sinitic language families still represented in areas of southern China, the Tai–Kadai, Miao–Yao (Hmong–Mien) and Austro-Asiatic. Chinese, Tai–Kadai, Miao–Yao and the Vietic branch of Austro-Asiatic have similar tone systems, syllable structure, grammatical features and lack of inflection, but these are believed to be areal features spread by diffusion rather than indicating common descent.[18]
Jerry Norman and Mei Tsi-Lin presented evidence that at least some Yue spoke an Austro-Asiatic language:[6][19][20]
They also provide evidence of an Austro-Asiatic substrate in the vocabulary of Min Chinese dialects.[6][21] Norman and Mei's hypothesis is widely quoted, but has recently been criticized by Laurent Sagart.[22]
Scholars in China often assume that the Yue spoke an early form of Tai–Kadai. The linguist Wei Qingwen gave a rendering of the "Song of the Yue boatman" in the Zhuang language. Zhengzhang Shangfang proposed an interpretation of the song in written Thai (dating from the late 13th century) as the closest available approximation to the original language, but his interpretation remains controversial.[22][23]
The fall of the Han Dynasty and the succeeding period of division sped up the process of sinification. Periods of instability and war in northern China, such as the Northern and Southern Dynasties and during the Song Dynasty led to mass migrations of Chinese.[24] Intermarriage and cross-cultural dialogue has led to a mixture of Chinese and non-Chinese peoples in the south. By the Tang Dynasty (618–907), the term "Yue" had largely become a regional designation rather than a cultural one. A state in modern Zhejiang province during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, for example, called itself "Wu-Yue". Likewise, the "Viet" in "Vietnam" (literally, "Viet South") is a cognate of the "Yue".
The impact of Yue culture on Chinese culture has not been determined authoritatively but it is clear that it is significant. The languages of the ancient states of Wu and Yue had significant influence on the modern Wu language and to some extent of the Min languages of Fujian. Linguistic anthropologists have also determined that a number of Chinese words can be traced to ancient Yue words, such as the word jiāng (river) mentioned above. To some extent, some remnants of the Yue peoples and their culture can also be seen in some minority groups of China and in Vietnam.