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42-621: According to traditional Vietnamese histories, An Dương Vương came from the Kingdom of Shu (in modern Sichuan ), which was conquered by King Huiwen of Qin in 316 BCE. Many chronicles including Records of the Outer Territories of the Jiao province , the Đại Việt sử lược , and Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư state that he was a Shu prince (ms. "蜀王子", literal meaning: "son of the Shu king") or

84-506: A Qin governor. In 311 BCE an official named Chen Zhuang revolted and killed Yaotong. Sima Cuo and Zhang Yi again invaded Sichuan and killed Chen Zhuang. Another Kaiming called Hui was made Marquis. In 301 BCE he was involved in an intrigue and chose suicide when confronted with Sima Cuo's army. His son, Wan, the last Kaiming marquis, reigned from 300 until 285 BCE when he was put to death. (Some say that An Dương Vương in Vietnamese history

126-516: A minor difference in spelling. Historical accounts claim, after purportedly taking power, Kinh An Dương ordered to construct a fortified settlement in Tây Vu known to history as Cổ Loa as his seat of power. It looked like a snail shell design (its name, Cổ Loa 古 螺 , means "old snail": according to Đại Việt Sử Ký Toàn Thư , the citadel is shaped like a snail). The events associated with the construction of this spiral-shaped citadel are remembered in

168-451: A style distinct from objects found from further north. This culture is suggested by many archaeologists to be that of the Shu kingdom. There are very few mentions of Shu in the early Chinese historical records until the 4th century BCE. Although there are possible references to a "Shu" in Shang dynasty oracle bones inscriptions that indicate contact between Shu and Shang, it is not clear if

210-468: A warlike people on the border of Chu. During the conquest Chu was still tied up in the east with the annexation of Yue . In 312 BCE Qin and Chu troops clashed on the upper Han River. Zhang Yi used a mixture of threat and bluff to block any interference from Chu. Later a Chu general named Zhuang Qiao pushed west and occupied the tribal territory south of the Yangtze south of Shu. In 281 BCE Sima Cuo crossed

252-419: Is a mythical golden turtle god appearing in several Vietnamese legends. In one legend, he appears to the early Vietnamese ruler An Dương Vương (d. 179 BC) and gives him one of his golden claws as a trigger for a magical crossbow with which An Dương Vương can kill 300 enemies with one shot. With it he is able to protect the kingdom. Later on, however, An Dương Vương's daughter marries his enemy's son and betrays

294-562: The Minyue , the Western Ou , and the Luo into submission. However, the campaign inspired a legend whose theme is the transfer of the turtle claw-triggered crossbow from King An Duong to Zhao Tuo. According to the myth, ownership of the crossbow conferred political power: "He who is able to hold this crossbow rules the realm; he who is not able to hold this crossbow will perish." Unsuccessful on

336-649: The Sichuan Basin was isolated from what was then a Bronze Age civilization that was centered in the Yellow River basin to the northeast. The discovery of Sanxingdui in 1987 was a major surprise since it indicated a major culture in Neolithic China that was previously unknown. Circa 2050–1250 BCE the site of Sanxingdui 40 km north of Chengdu appears to have been the center of a fairly extensive kingdom. Objects found in two treasure pits are in

378-698: The Stone Cattle Road was built over the mountains to connect Qin and Shu. About 316 BCE the Marquis of Zu, who held part of the Stone Cattle Road, became involved with Ba and quarreled with his brother, the twelfth Kaiming King. The Marquis was defeated and fled to Ba and then to Qin. Zhang Yi proposed that Qin should ignore these barbarians and continue its eastward expansion onto the central plain. Sima Cuo proposed that Qin should use its superior army to annex Shu, develop its resources and use

420-454: The legend of the golden turtle . According to this legend, when the citadel was being built, all the work done was mysteriously undone by a group of spirits led by thousand-year-old white chicken seeking to avenge the son of the previous king. In response to the king's plea, a giant golden turtle suddenly emerged from the water, and protected the King until the citadel's completion. The turtle gave

462-755: The Chinese and establish the Later Lê dynasty . After his victory, Kim Quy appeared to Lê from out of the lake to take back the sword for the Dragon King. The emperor hands over the sword and Kim Quy disappears into the lake, which has ever since been called The Lake of the Returned Sword ( Hoàn Kiếm Lake ). The lake was, until very recently, home to the Hoan Kiem turtle , but the last one died in late 2015 or early 2016. The Turtle Tower on an island in

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504-716: The Han dynasty compilation Chronicle of the Kings of Shu  [ zh ] and the Jin dynasty Chronicles of Huayang . There are a few names of semi-legendary kings and emperors, such as Cancong  [ zh ] (meaning "silkworm-bush", claimed to be the founder of silkworm cultivation in Sichuan), Boguan  [ zh ] ("cypress-irrigator"), Yufu  [ zh ] ("cormorant"), and Duyu  [ zh ] ("cuckoo"). According to Chronicles of Huayang , Cancong

546-592: The King one of his claws before leaving and instructed him to make a crossbow using it as a trigger, assuring him he would be invincible with it. A man called Cao Lỗ (or Cao Thông) was tasked to create that crossbow . It was then called "Saintly Crossbow of the Supernaturally Luminous Golden Claw" (靈光金爪神弩; SV: Linh Quang Kim Trảo Thần Nỏ ) ; one shot could kill 300 men. In 204 BCE, in Panyu (now Guangzhou ), Zhao Tuo established

588-634: The Kingdom of Nanyue , made a push south of the Yangtze River and a little later Sima Xiangru pushed into the hill country west of Sichuan. These campaigns into tribal territory proved more expensive than they were worth and in 126 BCE they were both cancelled to shift resources to the Xiongnu wars in the north. In the same year Zhang Qian returned from the west and reported that it might be possible to reach India from Sichuan. An attempt to do this

630-532: The Proto-Vietnamese. According to Stephen O'Harrow, the exact origin of An Dương Vương might not have been Shu but somewhere else even further away. Due to the gap in time between the origin of the story and when it was recorded, the location could have been changed out of contemporary considerations, or simply mistaken due to an error in geographical knowledge. In the Khâm định Việt sử Thông giám cương mục ,

672-740: The Shu mentioned refer to the kingdom in Sichuan or other different polities elsewhere. Shu was first mentioned in Shujing as one of the allies of King Wu of Zhou who helped defeat the Shang in 1046 BCE at the Battle of Muye . However, shortly after Zhou's conquest, it was mentioned in Yizhoushu that a subordinate of King Wu led an expedition against Shu. After the battle of Muye, northern influences on Shu seem to have increased and then decreased while

714-533: The Shu remained culturally distinct; archaeology suggests contacts with Shu in the late Shang and early Zhou period, but little evidence of influence from later Zhou. The expulsion of the Zhou from the Wei River valley in 771 BCE probably increased Shu's isolation. Written accounts of Shu are largely a mixture of mythological stories and historical legends found in local annals and miscellaneous notes, which include

756-576: The Yangtze and cut him off from Chu. He responded by declaring himself an independent king and he and his troops gradually blended into the local population. Starting in 280 BCE or before general Bai Qi pushed down the Han River and took the Chu capital (278 BCE). In 277 BCE the Three Gorges area was taken. The effect was to create a new Qin frontier east of Sichuan. Sichuan remained quiescent during

798-566: The added strength for a later attack eastward. Sima Cuo's proposal was accepted and both advisors were sent south as generals. The two armies met near Jaimeng on the Jialing River in Ba territory. The Kaiming king lost several battles and withdrew southward to Wuyang where he was captured and killed. Qin then turned on its allies and annexed Ba. In 314 BCE the late Kaiming king's son was appointed Marquis Yaotong of Shu to rule in conjunction with

840-515: The battlefield, Zhao Tuo asked for a truce and sent his son Zhong Shi to submit to King An Dương and serve him. There, he and King An Duong's daughter, Mỵ Châu, fell in love and were married. A vestige of the matrilocal organization required the husband to live in the residence of his wife's family. As a result, they resided at An Duong's court until Zhong Shi discovered the secrets and strategies of King An Dương. Meanwhile, King An Duong mistreated Cao Lỗ, and he left. Zhong Shi had Mỵ Châu showed him

882-403: The crossbow, at which point he secretly changed its trigger, neutralizing its special powers and rendering it useless. He then asked to return to his father, who thereupon launched a new attack on Âu Lạc and this time defeated King An Dương. History records that, with his defeat, the King was told by the turtle about his daughter's betrayal and killed his daughter for her treachery before going into

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924-544: The inside, of rectangular shape. The moats consist of a series of streams, including the Hoang Giang River and a network of lakes that provided Cổ Loa with protection and navigation. Kim estimated the population of Cổ Loa possibly ranged from 5,000 to around 10,000 inhabitants. Shu (kingdom) Shu ( Chinese : 蜀 ; Pinyin : Shǔ ; former romanization: Shuh ), also known as Ancient Shu (Chinese: 古蜀 ; pinyin: Gǔ Shǔ ) in historiography,

966-534: The investigation could not confirm whether or not this was true since the person who owned Lã Văn Lô's text had died. As such, some historians doubt the story's validity as a historical document. There is no extant copy of the original Tày version of the story. The title in Tày is Cẩu chủa chenh vùa but with the exception of "Cẩu"("nine" in Tai languages ), the rest of the words are simply Vietnamese words with different tones or

1008-458: The king of Shu. Some historians doubt the authenticity of this origin. The kingdom of Shu was conquered by the Qin in 316 BCE, making An Dương Vương's position as either king or prince of Shu chronologically tenuous. However the connection between Proto-Vietnam and a region to their northwest may have some merit. There is solid archaeological evidence linking the culture of Yunnan in southwest China to

1050-414: The kingdom of Nanyue . Taylor (1983) believed that when Nanyue and Âu Lạc co-existed, Âu Lạc temporarily acknowledged Nanyue to show their mutual anti-Han sentiment, and this did not imply that Nanyue exerted any real authority over Âu Lạc. Nanyue's influence over Âu Lạc waned after relationship with Han dynasty become normal. The army Zhao Tuo had created to oppose the Han was now available to deploy against

1092-589: The ocean. In another legend, Kim Quy appears to the Vietnamese emperor Lê Lợi (r.1428–1435) in The Green Water Lake in what is now Hanoi . Lê Lợi had led the Lam Sơn uprising against the Ming Dynasty, who had occupied Vietnam. According to the legend, the Dragon King (Long Vương), a local god, had aided Lê with a magical sword, Heavens’ Will ( Thuận Thiên ), with which Lê was able to drive out

1134-468: The secret of the crossbow. Her husband secretly switches the trigger so that the crossbow no longer has any magical powers, and when his father attacks, An Dương Vương is forced to flee with his daughter. He flees far to the south, but always feels the enemy is right at his back. Kim Quy appears to him and tells him that his own daughter, riding on the horse behind him, is his enemy. An Dương Vương executes his daughter for her betrayal before drowning himself in

1176-554: The wars before and after the Qin dynasty indicating the Qin policy of assimilation had been successful. Archaeological remains in Shu from this period are very similar to those of northern China, while the Ba area remained somewhat distinct. When Liu Bang launched his campaign to found the Han dynasty Sichuan was an important supply base. In 135 BCE, under the expansionist Emperor Wu of Han , general Tang Meng, attempting an indirect approach to

1218-399: The watery realm. Vietnamese historians typically view the main events of the era as having roots in historical fact. However concordance of the history with Soviet doctrine of history was incomplete in the 1950s. The capital of King An Dương, Cổ Loa , was the first political center of the Vietnamese civilization pre-Sinitic era. The site consists of two outer sets of ramparts and a citadel on

1260-480: The writers expressed doubts about An Dương Vương's origin, claiming it was impossible for a Shu prince to cross thousands of miles, through forests, and many kingdoms to invade Văn Lang. However in the 1950s, historians Trần Văn Giáp and Đào Duy Anh argued that An Dương Vương's Shu origin was in fact true. In 1963, an oral tradition of Tày people in Cao Bằng titled Cẩu chủa cheng vùa "Nine Lords Vying for Kingship"

1302-729: The Âu Lạc. Details of the campaign are not authentically recorded. Zhao Tuo 's early setbacks and eventual victory against King An Dương were mentioned in Record of the Outer Territory of Jiao Region (交州外域記) and Records of the Taikang Era of the Jin (晉太康記). Records of the Grand Historian mentioned neither King An Duong nor Zhao Tuo's military conquest of Âu Lạc only that after Empress Lü 's death (180 BCE), Zhao Tuo used his troops to menace and his wealth to bribe

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1344-472: Was a member of the Kaiming family who led his people southward.) The conquest had more than doubled Qin's territory and gave it an area safe from the other states except Chu, but the land had to be developed before its taxes could be converted into military strength. Shu was made a "jun" or commandery and became a testing ground for this type of administration. Chengdu was surrounded by an enormous wall. Land

1386-596: Was also some Chu influence on the Shu state. In 474 BCE emissaries from the Shu state presented gifts to the Qin state which was the first recorded contact between these two states. Later Shu troops crossed the Qinling Mountains and approached the Qin capital of Yong, and in 387 Shu and Qin troops clashed near Hanzhong on the upper Han river. About 356–338 BCE Shang Yang strengthened the Qin state by centralizing it. In 337 BCE Shu emissaries congratulated King Huiwen of Qin on his accession. At about this time

1428-584: Was an ancient kingdom in what is now Sichuan Province . It was based on the Chengdu Plain , in the western Sichuan basin with some extension northeast to the upper Han River valley . To the east was the Ba tribal confederation . Further east down the Han and Yangtze rivers was the State of Chu . To the north over the Qinling Mountains was the State of Qin . To the west and south were tribal peoples of little military power. This independent Shu state

1470-705: Was blocked by the hill tribes. In 112 BCE Tang Meng resumed his expansionist wars southward. His harsh methods provoked a near mutiny in Sichuan and Sima Xiangru was brought in to enforce a more moderate policy. By this time Chinese expansion across flat agricultural country had reached a natural geographical limit. Expansion into the hill country to the south and west was much slower. Shu is represented by star Alpha Serpentis in asterism Right Wall , Heavenly Market enclosure (see Chinese constellation ), together with Lambda Serpentis in R.H.Allen's works. Kim Quy Kim Quy ( Chữ Hán : 金龜) (“Gold Turtle”, also spelled Kim Qui ) or Thanh Giang sứ giả ( Chữ Hán : 清江使者)

1512-437: Was conquered by the state of Qin in 316 BCE. Recent archaeological discoveries at Sanxingdui and Jinsha thought to be sites of Shu culture indicate the presence of a unique civilization in this region before the Qin conquest. In subsequent periods of Chinese history the Sichuan area continued to be referred to as Shu after this ancient state, and later states founded in the same region were also called Shu. Before 316 BCE,

1554-564: Was published in 1963 as a translation of a Tày story by Lã Văn Lô. In 1969 the Institute of Archaeology attempted to find the origin of this story in Cao Bằng but failed to identify any archaeological evidence for the tale. The investigation did find that the story was originally written down by Lê Đình Sự. Lê Đình Sự was Tày and collected various Tày stories and recorded them in prose. This was supposedly what Lã Văn Lô translated into Vietnamese but

1596-436: Was recorded. According to this account, at the end of Hồng Bàng dynasty , there was a kingdom called Nam Cương (lit. "southern border") in modern-day Cao Bằng and Guangxi . This was a confederation of 10 mườngs , in which the King resided in the central one (present-day Cao Bằng Province). The other nine regions were under the control of nine lords. When King An Dương's father ( Thục Chế  [ vi ] 蜀 制 ) died, he

1638-543: Was redistributed and divided into rectangular plots. Tens of thousands of colonists were brought in from the north. Many were convicts or people displaced by the wars further north. They were marched south in columns supervised by Qin officials. The great Dujiangyan Irrigation System was begun to divert the Min River east to the Chengdu Plain. Qin intervention in Ba was less extensive, apparently to avoid alienating

1680-474: Was still a child; yet, his intelligence enabled him to retain the throne and all the lords surrendered. Nam Cương became more and more powerful while Văn Lang became weak. Subsequently, he invaded Văn Lang and founded the state of Âu Lạc in approximately 257 BCE, proclaiming himself King An Dương (An Dương Vương). The story of An Dương Vương's origin in Nam Cương is considered suspect by some historians. The story

1722-499: Was successful in managing a flood and Duyu then abdicated in his favor. A later account states that the Kaiming kings occupied the far south of Shu before travelling up the Min River and taking over from Duyu. As the state of Chu expanded westward up the Han and Yangtze valleys it pushed the Ba peoples west toward Shu. In the 5th and 4th centuries BCE in Sichuan archaeologists hold that this interaction helped create Ba–Shu culture. There

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1764-505: Was the first of the legendary kings and had protruding eyes, while Duyu taught the people agriculture and transformed into a cuckoo after his death. In 666 BCE a man from Chu called Bieling  [ vi ] ("turtle spirit") founded the Kaiming dynasty which lasted twelve generations until the Qin conquest. Legend has it that Bieling had died in Chu and his body floated upriver to Shu, whereupon he came back to life. While at Shu, he

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