Hùng king (2879 BC – 258 BC; Chữ Hán: 雄王; (雄王) or vua Hùng (𤤰雄); Vương means king and vua means monarch, also commonly translated as emperor or king) is the title given to the ancient Vietnamese rulers of the Hồng Bàng period.
Traditional Vietnamese account
Etymology It is likely that the name Hùng Vương is a combination of the two Sino-Vietnamese words Hùng 雄 "masculine, virile, fierce, powerful, grand" and Vương 王, which means "king". The name Hùng Vương might have originally been a title bestowed on a chieftain. The Hùng Vương was allegedly the head chieftain of Văn Lang which at the time was composed of feudal communities of rice farmers.
Hùng kings' narrative
According to the Hùng kings narrative, the eighteen Hùng kings belonged to the Hong Bang dynasty (2879–258 BCE) that ruled over the northern part of Vietnam and southern part of modern China in antiquity. Their progenitors were Lạc Long Quân and his consort Goddess Âu Cơ who produced a sac containing one hundred eggs from which one hundred sons emerged. Dragon Lord Lạc preferred to live by the sea, and Goddess Âu Cơ preferred the snow-capped mountains. The two separated with half of the sons following each parent. The most illustrious of the sons became the first Hùng king who ruled Văn Lang, the realm of all the descendants of Dragon and Goddess Âu Cơ who became the Vietnamese people, from his capital in modern Phú Thọ Province.
List of Hùng kings King Given name Reign, and line of descent Kinh Dương Vương (涇陽王) Lộc Tục (祿續) 2879 BC – 2794 BC, Càn line (支乾) Lạc Long Quân (貉龍君) Sùng Lãm (崇纜) 2793 BC – 2525 BC, Khảm line (支坎) Hùng Lân vương(雄麟王),Hùng King III Lân Lang 2524 – 2253 BC, Cấn line (支艮) Hùng Diệp Vương(雄曄王),Hùng King IV Bửu Lang 2254 – 1913 BC, Chấn line (支震)Hùng Hy Vương, Hùng King V Viên Lang 1912 – 1713 BC, Tốn line (支巽)Hùng Huy Vương(雄暉王), Hùng King VI Pháp Hải Lang 1712 – 1632 BC, Ly line (支離)Hùng Chiêu vương(雄昭王), Hùng King VII Lang Liêu 1631 – 1432 BC,Khôn line(支坤)Hùng Vĩ vương(雄暐王) Hùng King VIII Thừa Vân Lang 1431 – 1332 BC,Đoài line (支兌)Hùng Định vương(雄定王), Hùng King IX Quân Lang 1331 – 1252 BC,Giáp line (支甲)Hùng Hi vương(雄曦王), Hùng King X Hùng Hải Lang 1251 – 1162 BC,Ất line (支乙) Hùng Trinh Vương(雄楨王), Hùng King XI Hưng Đức Lang 1161 – 1055 BC,Bính line (支丙) Hùng Vũ Vương(雄武王), Hùng King XII Đức Hiền Lang 1054 – 969 BC, Đinh line (支丁)Hùng Việt Vương(雄越王),Hùng King XIII Tuấn Lang 968 – 854 BC,Mậu line (支戊)Hùng Anh Vương(雄英王),Hùng King XIV Chân Nhân Lang 853 – 755 BC, Kỷ line (支己)Hùng Triệu Vương(雄朝王), Hùng King XV Cảnh Chiêu Lang 754 – 661 BC, Canh line (支庚)Hùng Tạo Vương(雄造王),the Hung King XVI Đức Quân Lang 660 – 569 BC,Tân line (支辛)Hùng Nghị Vương(雄毅王), Hung King XVII Bảo Quân Lang 568 – 409 BC,Nhâm line (支壬) Hùng Duệ Vương(雄睿王),the Hung King XVIII Lý Văn Lang or Mai An Tiêm 408 – 258 BC,Qúy line (支癸)
Earliest references
The earliest references to the Hung kings are found in early collections of Records of Nanyue or Nanyuezhi (南越志) in the 978 anthology Extensive Records of the Taiping Era. It said:
Jiaozhi's land was very fertile. After people settled there, they began to cultivate. Its soils are black, its climate gloomy and fierce (慘雄; SV: thảm hùng). So hitherto its fields were called Hùng fields (雄田; SV: Hùng điền) and its people were Hùng people (雄民, SV: Hùng dân). Their leader was Hùng king (雄王; SV: Hùng vương), and his chief advisors were hùng lords (雄侯; SV: Hùng hầu), the lands [were] distributed to Hùng generals (雄將; SV: Hùng tướng).Taiping Guangji, vol 482.
However, the 4th century Almanacs of the Outer Territories of the Jiao province (交州外域記) mentioned Lạc fields, Lạc people, Lạc generals, and Lạc lords, ruled by Lạc king, instead:
During the time before Jiaozhi had commanderies and prefectures, the soil and land had Lạc fields (雒田; SV: lạc điền). These fields followed the flood's ebbs and flows. The people cultivated these fields for foods, so they were called Lạc people (雒民; SV: Lạc dân). The Lạc King (雒王; SV: Lạc vương) and Lạc Lords (雒侯; SV: Lạc hầu) [were] established to govern all those commanderies and prefectures. [In the] prefectures many [were] made Lạc generals (雒將; SV Lạc tướng). Lạc generals [wore] copper seals and blue-green ribbons."Records of the Outer Territories of Jiao Province", as quoted in Li Daoyuan's Commentary on the Water Classic, vol. 37
Therefore, French scholar Henri Maspéro and Vietnamese scholar Nguyễn Văn Tố proposed that 雄 (SV: Hùng) was actually a scribal error for 雒 (SV: Lạc).
The Hùng kings' eighteen generations (or dynasties) were mentioned in Đại Việt sử lược (大越史略 – Great Viet's Abridged History) by an anonymous 14th-century author: In King Zhuang of Zhou's time, in Gia Ninh division (嘉寧部), there was a strange man, [who] could use mystical arts [to] overwhelm all the tribes; he styled [him]self Đối king (碓王, SV: Đối Vương); [His] capital was in Văn Lang, [his state's] appellation was Văn Lang state (文郎國). Their customs were substantively honest; strings and knots [were used] for their regulations. Passing down eighteen generations, all [were] styled Đối kings.Abridged History of Great Viet, Upper Volume (in Chinese)
Chinese historian Luo Xianglin, apud Lai (2013), considered 碓王 (SV: Đối Vương; lit. "Pestle King") to be 雒王 (SV: Lạc Vương) erroneously transmitted.Lai, Ming-chiu (2013). The Rebellion of the Zheng Sisters and the Local Administration of the Han Empire, Page 5. Publisher: Chinese University of Hong Kong – Department of History. full-text, archived June 2, 2018. in Chinese
Another early known reference is purportedly found in a story called "Tale of the Mountain Spirit and Water Spirit' in the 1329 Việt Điện U Linh Tập (Collection of legends and biographies of heroes and founding spirits) compiled by Lý Tế Xuyên, where the Hung King was a mere ruler. The next earliest appearance is in the fourteenth-fifteen century Lĩnh Nam chích quáí (Arrayed Tales of Selected Oddities from South of the Passes), a collection of myths and legends compiled by various authors.
Early 20th century textual references
Textual references in the early 20th century highlight that the Hùng kings were already a key part of the Vietnamese collective memory.
The 1916 Trần Trọng Kim's Elementary Textbook for a Brief History of Annam, the first vernacular history of Vietnam in the Vietnamese alphabet, covered the period from the Hùng kings to colonial times. (Trần Trọng Kim was an official in the education service who later became prime minister of the 1945 Japanese-sponsored Bảo Đại government.) In the book, Trần Trọng Kim uses the expression that has become one of the most popular labels for the Việt connecting them to the Hùng kings – "race of the Dragon and the Fairy", and in his revised 1920 edition, "children of the Fairy, grandchildren of the Dragon" or "the descendants of the Fairy and the Dragon". Trần Trọng Kim's text became a standard textbook until 1954 in all parts of Vietnam.Patrica Pelley, Postcolonial Vietnam: New Histories of the National past. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2002), p. 307; Dror, p. 128. Phan Bội Châu, an early Vietnamese nationalist, wrote a poem in 1910 which glorifies the lineage of "children of the Dragon, grandchildren of the Fairy". Hồ Chí Minh's biography, published in South Vietnam in 1948, mentions Ho recalling the day of the Proclamation of Independence of Vietnam on September 2, 1945, and describing it as a "day to remember for twenty-five million people, the children of the Lạc and the grandchildren of Hồng".
Historicity Developments in the 15th century
Historians studying the Hùng kings have suggested that developments from the 13th to the 15th centuries explain why there was a desire by Đại Việt to incorporate the founding epic of the Hùng kings into its history.
As different groups of local elites in Jiaozhi in the 1000s and worked at the transition to an independent Đại Việt, the question of political legitimisation was an urgent one that needed tackling – especially given the lack of ancient Viet sources to base on, and after about a thousand years of Chinese rule. This explained why it attempted to reach back in time and create a mythic past for itself to serve its present political needs. Although part of the legitimisation process included eliminating colonial (Chinese) influences, ironically, it was this ease with Chinese characters and sources that caused them to utilise Chinese history and sources to validate their own.
Academics have argued that the historicization and utilisation of the Hùng kings epic can be explained by developments from the thirteenth century. Three devastating invasions – by the Mongols in the thirteenth century, the Cham in the fourteenth century, and the Ming in the fifteenth century, corresponded with the myth's emergence and absorption into historiography. By late 1330, with social problems growing in the countryside, the Trần ruler Minh Tông started to move away from Thiền (Zen) Buddhism which did not seem to be working in its integrative function, and looked to Confucianism and antiquity. He brought the Confucian teacher Chu Văn An into the capital, and the latter's emphasis on the classical beliefs of China and its antiquity set the intellectual tone of Thang-long. Antiquity was now seen as providing solutions for the difficult present. The disastrous invasion by the Cham under Chế Bồng Nga destroyed the Trần dynasty, and caused Vietnamese literati to seek desperately for a means to restore harmony. The Ming occupation of 1407–1427 dramatically deepened the influence of the literati through promoting schools and scholarship.
Developments from the thirteenth century then combined to set the stage for the state promotion of the Hùng king founding myth by the 15th century. There was a shift away from a more indigenous, pre-Southeast Asian phase, to the 'Neo-Confucian revolution" of Lê Thánh Tông. This, together with the chaos created by the devastating invasions and internal social problems, encouraged a search for 'Vietnamese Antiquity' modelled on classical Chinese antiquity, in the mythic creation of 'Văn Lang'Nguyen Dieu Thi, p 322. via the Hùng king.
Canonization in Ngô Sĩ Liên's Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư (Complete Book of the Historical Records of Đại Việt)
The canonization of the Hùng kings founding myth was carried out by Ngô Sĩ Liên in his compiling of a new history of the realm under the order of Emperor Lê Thánh Tông (1460–97), drawing upon popular sources. This history, the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư (Complete Book of the Historical Records of Đại Việt), was used by the emperor as a tool to promote Việt 'national feeling'. Thus, Ngô Sĩ Liên was tasked to promote Đại Việt's supernatural and millennial ancestry.Nguyê˜n Quang Ngọc, 'Khuynh hướng trở vềvới cội nguồn dân tọc thời kỳ văn minh Đại Việt và sự ra đời của Đại Viêṭ Sử Ký Ngoại Ký Toàn Thư (Quyên̉ I)' [The movement to return-to-our-people's origins during the period of Đại Việt civilization and the birth of The Complete historical records, External Chapter], in Ngô Sĩ Liên và Đại Viêṭ sử ký toàn thư, pp. 137–138. This marked the first time a Việt state traced its origins back to the first realm of Văn Lang of the Hùng kings, calculated by Ngô Sĩ Liên to be in 2879 BCE. Prior to this, official dynastic histories of the Việt started with Triệu Đà, acknowledging a Qin general as the founder of the Nam Việt. This was done based mostly on da su (chronicles) and in particular, the Arrayed Tales. Court historians in the later dynasties followed Ngô Sĩ Liên's example in integrating the Hùng kings into Việt official historiography.
Dissemination of Hùng kings epic from the 15th century