From Ancient Legend to Modern Molecular Biology Evidence
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Asia-Pacific Social Science Review 20(3) 2020, pp. 32–41 RESEARCH ARTICLE Annals of the Hoồng Bàng Clan: From Ancient Legend to Modern Molecular Biology Evidence Hoang Huu Phuoc Hue University of Education, Vietnam [email protected] Abstract: The biography of the Hồng Bàng Clan is considered as a legend, a semi-historical document and an important part of the Viet’s cultural heritage. According to this work, the Viet people are the descendants of Shen Nong (an ancestor of the Han Chinese), migrating from China to the Red River Delta. A large number of scholars have built a Hundred Viet/ 百越 hypothesis, also known as “migration-from-the-north hypothesis” from this document. Throughout the long history, Hồng Bàng legend has created popular misunderstandings of the Viet about their origin and misconceptions for later researchers of various subjects, such as literature, linguistics, history, and ethnology. By using the interdisciplinary and ethnographic methodology, this research provides an overview of the Hồng Bàng legend, points out illogical statements, and gives a plausible hypothesis for it. In addition, by analyzing ancient historical documents and examining modern molecular biology, this paper supplies the supportive arguments for “migration-from-the-south hypothesis” which plays a crucial role in determining Vietnamese ancient history. Keywords: Hồng Bàng, Viet, legend, ethnic origin, molecular biology evidence. An Overview of Hồng Bàng Legend and Thần Nông (Shen Nong/ 神農) sired Đế Nghi (Di Hundred Viet Hypothesis Yi/ 帝仪). He then toured the south and obtained the Vụ Tiên/ Wu Xian maiden, who gave birth to Kinh In an official historical document named Đại Dương. Đế Minh thereupon appointed Đế Nghi as Việt Sử Kí toàn thư (大越史記全書 - Complete heir apparent to rule over the north, and invested as Annals of Dai Viet) from Ngo et al. (2012, pp. 1–3), king Kinh Dương to rule over the south, where it 赤鬼 Hồng Bàng legend consists of three parts, was called the Xích Quỷ (Chi Gui/ ) Kingdom. (Ngo et al., 2012, p. 1) including: In Part 2, King Lạc Long (Hao Long/ 貉龍): The Part 1 is about Lord Kinh Dương (Jing Yang / king (Kinh Dương) married [...] the daughter of Lord 涇陽). In 2879 BC, Đế Minh (Di Ming/ 帝明), a Động Đình (Dongting/ 洞庭), who gave birth to Lạc third-generation descendant of the Fiery Emperor Long. [...] Lord [Lạc Long] married […] Âu Cơ Copyright © 2020 by De La Salle University Annals of the Hoồng Bàng Clan: From Ancient Legend to Modern Molecular Biology Evidence 33 Being influenced by the Hồng Bàng legend and Sinocentrism, some outstanding scholars such as Đào Duy Anh (2012, p. 84), Meacham (1996, p. 97), Qin Shengmin (Yu et al., 1988, p. 181), Barlow (1997, p. 12) and Trần Ngọc Thêm (2004, p. 87) have supported Hundred Viet/ 百越 hypothesis, also known as “migration from the north hypothesis.” This states that ancient Viet people originated in the southern coastal areas of Yangtze/ 长江 River, then the Han Chinese invasion resulted in a mass migration of the Viet people to northern Vietnam. They cited the scientific model of the multilateral evolutionary hypothesis constructed in 1984 by Alan Thorne, Milford H. Wolpoff, and Wu Xinzhi. They have believed that the first modern human appeared in three major regions, including China (Wolpoff et al, 1991; Frayer et al, 1993). Wu, a Chinese paleoanthropologist, even built a China- Figure 1. The Redrawn Map of Xích Quỷ Kingdom specific Multiregional model called “Continuity with (Ha, 2016). [Incidental] Hybridization”. He claimed that “while there were migrations outside of Africa within the (Yu Ji/ 嫗姬) (some folklore researchers said that she last 100,000 years, these did not replace the human was the embodiment of a god bird), who gave birth population already settled in China.” (Wu, 2006) to one hundred sons. These were the ancestors of the Historians, culturalists, ethnographers, and others Hundred Viet. One day Lạc Long Quân said to Âu Cơ who supported the Hundred Viet theory believe that “I am of dragon stock and you are of immortal stock. the Viet people originated from Chinese. This belief Just as water and fire annul each other, so would it colored their judgment and led them to fail to explain be truly difficult for us to be together.” He thereupon historical events or cultural context. For example, parted with her. Fifty sons were divided off to follow they could not explain why the original Vietnamese their mother and return to the mountains, while the language is similar to other Austroasiatic languages other fifty followed their father to […] the Southern and not similar to Chinese. They could not understand Sea. He invested his eldest son as King Hùng (Xiong/ why artifacts created by ancient Southeast Asian people 雄) and passed the sovereign throne on to him. were found in Vietnam, such as bronze drums and wet Part 3 states that King Hùng: The ruler of each rice farming tools. generation was called the Hùng king. The capital These scholars believe that this legend was certainly was at Phong Region. [...] The princess was called created by Vietnamese ancestors. “If Hồng Bàng Mỵ Nương (Mei Niang/ 媚 娘). [...] Hồng Bàng clan legend was a foreign legend, it would be rejected. period was about 2,622 years [2879-258 BC]. (Ngo et However, the fact is that it has been in existence over al., 2012, pp. 2–3) hundreds of years” (Tran, 2004). In this paper, I will This legend was also written in official historical provide scientific evidence against this. When the books of Vietnamese people since the 15th century, illogical statements of Hồng Bàng legend are pointed such as Khâm định Việt sử Thông giám cương mục out and explained, the paper will raise the level of (欽定越史通鑑綱目 - Imperially Commissioned awareness on the main studies carried out in the field Itemized Summaries of the Comprehensive Mirror of of Vietnamese ancient history and ethnography, and Viet History) written by Dai Viet national institute of their corresponding findings. As a result, the article will history in 1881; Việt Nam sử lược (越南史略 - Outline help researchers and scholars in the fields of history History of Vietnam) written by Trần Trọng Kim in and ethnography to have a clearer view of this concept 1919; and Lịch sử cổ đại Việt Nam (Ancient Vietnamese that, in turn, will contribute to the related accumulated History) written by Đào Duy Anh in 1956. knowledge in these two important fields. 34 H.H. Phuoc This paper is discussed with respect to three strengths nothing about this legend was mentioned in previous of ethnographic methodology: (1) gathering valid history books, like Đại Việt Sử Kí (大越史記 - data, (2) understanding data within social-historical Annals of Đại Việt) published in 1272 and An Nam contexts, and (3) building theory productively. Chí Lược (安南志略 - Abbreviated Records of An Nam) published in 1335. Examining other traditional The Illogical Points of the Hồng Bàng Legend genres (folk poetry, folk music, and proverbs), I could not find the information related to the Kinh First, regarding history, contradictory events Dương period. were recorded in both Vietnamese and Chinese Second, regarding linguistics, names that appeared documents. in this legend were completely written in Chinese characters, not Vietnamese. However, Chinese belongs Chinese History/Legends Did Not Mention the Key to the Sino-Tibetan languages, whereas Vietnamese Points in the Hồng Bàng Legend belongs to the Austroasiatic languages (Gordon, 2005, In Chinese history, the fourth descendant of Thần p. 12). Hồng Bàng is an indigenous legend of the Viet Nông (Shen Nong/ 神農) is Emperor Di Zi / 帝 釐, people, but the names and grammatical structures in not Di Yi / 帝 仪 as in Vietnamese history (Szu-ma, this legend are in Chinese. Some typical examples are 2018, p. 18; Ngo et al., 2012, pp. 2–3). In addition, listed in Table 1. no documents concerning the brotherhood between Third, regarding culture, according to the Wu King Kinh Duong and Di Zi/Di Yi were found in Xing (五行 - five elements) theory, fire and water Chinese history. Lastly, Xích Quỷ (Chi Gui/ 赤鬼) are interactive elements that destroy each other. It was not mentioned in any Chinese historical records, is worth noting that the Fiery Emperor Shen Nong although it occupied more than half of mainland China (炎帝神農) belongs to the fire element, whereas Lạc (according to Vietnam legend). Long Quân, a grandchild of Shen Nong and the Lord of the Southern Sea, belongs to the water element. History/Legend Books of Vietnam are Inconsistent Therefore, this is unreasonable and contrary to the According to the Hồng Bàng legend, King Kinh Sinosphere philosophy that ancient legends dutifully Dương (half-brother of Di Yi / 帝 仪, an ancient followed. Chinese emperor) was crowned in 2879 BC, becoming Finally, regarding biology, modern genetic evidence is the first emperor of the Vietnamese. However, as completely against the ancient legend. In 1998, Chu and reported by other Vietnamese history books, two ethnic his research team collected Y-chromosomes specimens groups sharing a common ancestor did not recognize from over 12,000 males around China. The analytical each other. An Nam Chí Lược (安南志略 - Abbreviated results show that: “Nevertheless, genetic evidence does Records of An Nam) wrote: “in the reign of Zhou not support an independent origin of Homo sapiens in Cheng Wang/ 周 成 王 (? - 1020 BC), when Viet clan China. The phylogeny also suggested that it is more paid tribute to him it took nine times to translate to likely that ancestors of the populations currently understand the Chinese language” (Le, 2001, p. 50). residing in East Asia entered from Southeast Asia.” Lĩnh Nam chích quái (嶺南摭怪 - The Arrayed Tales of (Chu et al., 1998, p.