Fourth Chinese domination of Vietnam


The fourth Chinese domination was a period of the history of Vietnam, from 1407 to 1427 during which the country was invaded and ruled by the Chinese Ming dynasty. It was the result of the conquest of the region in 1406 to 1407. The previous periods of Chinese rules, collectively known as the Bắc thuộc periods in Vietnam, were longer-lasting, constituting much of Vietnam's history from 111 BC to 939 AD. The fourth Chinese occupation of Vietnam was eventually ended with the establishment of the Lê dynasty.

History

Ming invasion of Vietnam

The former ruling dynasty of Đại Việt, the Trần, had relations with the Yuan and Ming Empire as a tributary. However, in 1400, Hồ Quý Ly deposed and massacred the Trần house before usurping the throne. After taking the throne, Hồ renamed the country from Đại Việt to Đại Ngu. In 1402, he abdicated the throne in favor of his son, Hồ Hán Thương.
In October 1404, Trần Thiêm Bình arrived at the Ming imperial court in Nanjing, claiming to be a Trần prince. He notified the court of the treacherous events that had taken place and appealed to the court for the restoration of his throne.
The Yongle Emperor of the Ming Empire issued an edict reprimanding the usurper and demanding the restoration of the Tran throne, a pretext to the annexation of Vietnam. As the party crossed the border into Lạng Sơn, Hồ's forces ambushed them and killed the Trần prince that the Ming convoy were escorting back.
In the winter of 1406, the Ming armies began their invasion. Zhang Fu and Mu Sheng departed from Guangxi and Yunnan respectively to launch a pincer attack into enemy territory. On 19 November 1406, they captured the two capitals and other important cities in the Red River Delta. Hồ Quý Ly and his son were captured on 16 June 1407, they were caged and brought as prisoners to the Yongle Emperor in Nanjing.

Revolt of Trần aristocrats

There was several revolts among the Vietnamese people against the Ming authorities, but they all proved unsuccessful. Among the people who led the rebellion were, Trần Ngỗi, a young son of the late Trần emperor Trần Nghệ Tông and Trần Quý Khoáng, a nephew. These revolts were short-lived and poorly planned but they helped lay some of the groundwork for Lê Lợi's war for independence.

Lam Sơn uprising

, one of Vietnam's most celebrated heroes, is credited with rescuing the country from Ming domination in 1428. Born of a wealthy landowning family, he served as a senior scholar-official until the advent of the Ming, whom he refused to serve.
The Ming dynasty crushed Lê's rebellion at first but court debates concluded that Vietnam was an unnecessary distraction and the Ming decided to withdraw their armies from Vietnam, long before the rebels started scoring any victories. When Lê offered to become a vassal of China, the Ming immediately declared him as ruler of Vietnam. Le Loi then ascended the Vietnamese throne, taking the reign name Lê Thái Tổ and establishing the Lê dynasty.

Sinicization

An entry in the Ming Shilu dated 15 August 1406 recorded an imperial order from Emperor Yongle that instructed for Vietnamese records such as maps and registers to be saved and preserved by the Chinese army:
己未敕征討安南總兵官成國公朱能等曰師入安南下郡邑凡得文籍圖志皆勿毀。
In addition, according to , on August 21, 1406, the Yongle Emperor issued an order to Ming soldiers in Annam:
兵入。除釋道經板經文不燬。外一切書板文字以至俚俗童蒙所習。如上大人丘乙已之類。片紙隻字悉皆燬之。其境內中國 所立碑刻則存之。但是安南所立者悉壞之。一字不存。
"Once our army enters Annam, except Buddhist and Taoist text; all books and notes, including folklore and children book, should be burnt. The stelae erected by China should be protected carefully, while those erected by Annam, should be completely annihilated. Do not spare even one character."
On the 21st day of the 5th lunar month of the following year, Emperor Yongle issued another order to Ming soldiers in Annam:
屢嘗諭爾凡安南所有一切書板文字。以至俚俗童蒙所習。如上大人丘乙已之類。片紙隻字及彼處自立碑刻。見者即便毀壞勿存 。今聞軍中所得文字不即令軍人焚毀。必檢視然後焚之。且軍人多不識字。若一一令其如此。必致傳遞遺失者多。爾今宜一如前敕。號令軍中但遇彼處所有一應文字即便焚毀。毋得存留。
"I have repeatedly told you all to burnt all Annamese books, including folklore and children books and the local stelae should be destroyed immediately upon sight. Recently I heard our soldiers hesitated and read those books before burning them. Most soldiers do not know how to read, so it will be a waste of our time. Now you have to strictly obey my previous command, and burn all local books upon sight without hesitation.
After the annexation of Đại Ngu into Ming territory, the Ming government imposed cultural regulations and enforced Han culture onto the Vietnamese natives. Men were to keep their hair long, as per Confucian teachings, instead of the short hairstyles of previous Lý and Trần Dynasties. Women were also prohibited from practicing teeth blackening. Ming administrators said their mission was to civilized the unorthodox Vietnamese barbarians. A royal edict was issued by Vietnam in 1474 forbidding Vietnamese from adopting foreign languages, hairstyles and clothes like that of the Lao, Champa or the "Northerners" which referred to the Ming. The edict was recorded in the 1479 Complete Chronicle of Dai Viet of Ngô Sĩ Liên.

Economy

The Ming government began a harsh rule of both colonization and sinicization. Valuable artifacts such as gems, jade, gold, pieces of art as well as craftsmen were transported to China. The Chinese had greatly encouraged the development and the use of gold and silver mines. But right after the silver and gold were extracted they impounded them and sent a fraction of these minerals to Beijing. They also imposed salt taxes, but a slightly heavier tax against those who produced salt in Annam.

Military and administration

It was instructed that the Ming army should free the prisoners from various countries who were taken captive by so-called Li bandits in Vietnam.
To keep the people under control in Vietnam, the Ming government issued, and utilized the "So Ho" system, at the lowest village community level. Whenever there was a change in a family, a change in the book was recorded and approved. Based on this information, they created a systematic military service enrollment process for all young men deemed fit enough to serve in the future for the Imperial Chinese Army. This process was no different than what other governments did to subjugated areas, nonetheless, this had created a negative feeling against the Chinese government.
In addition, many talented Vietnamese individuals with varying trades and backgrounds who could make significant contributions were allowed to become government officials in China where they served in the Chinese imperial government.
The Ming's ethnic Vietnamese collaborators included Mac Thuy whose grandfather was Mạc Đĩnh Chi who was a direct ancestor of Mạc Đăng Dung.
Vietnam received firearms from Ming dynasty rule over Vietnam.
The conquest of Champa was enabled when Vietnam's north received gunpowder weapons from the Ming dynasty along with Neo-Confucianist thought.
It was recorded that the union of Vietnamese women and Chinese men produced offspring which were left behind in Vietnam, and the Chams, Cẩu Hiểm, Laotians, these people, and Vietnamese natives who collaborated with the Ming were made into slaves of the Le government in the Complete Annals of Đại Việt.
There was no mandatory required reparation of the voluntarily remaining Ming Chinese in Vietnam. The return of the Ming Chinese to China was commanded by the Ming and not Le Loi. The Trai made up the supporters of Le Loi in his campaign. He lived among the Trai at the border regions as their leader and seized the Ming ruled lowland Kinh areas after originally forming his base in the southern highland regions. The southern dwelling Trai and Red River dwelling Vietnamese were in effect locked in a "civil war" during the anti Ming rebellion by Le Loi.
The leader Lưu Bác Công in 1437 commanded a Dai Viet military squad made out of ethnic Chinese since even after the independence of Dai Viet, Chinese remained behind. Vietnam received Chinese defectors from Yunnan in the 1400s.