One Thousand Years: The Stories of Giao Chau, the Kingdoms of Linyi, Funan and Zhenla

During the Vietnam War, the country was divided at the 17th parallel. About 140 kilometers north of this dividing line is a mountain pass called Ngang Pass. The land south of this pass, about 60 percent of present-day Vietnam, was occupied for centuries by the kingdoms of Linyi, Funan, and Zhenla. But most people either have not heard of them or have only vague ideas about them. This book is about these kingdoms. North of Ngang Pass, Giao Châu, was ruled by northern dynasties for nearly a thousand years from the 2nd century BCE to the 10th century CE, barring a few intervals of independence. This volume also tells how the people of Giao Châu came out of this long period to become an independent nation and why they did not want to become part of dynastic China. This is Volume II of the book series, “A Traveller’s Story of Vietnam’s Past”; it continues where Volume I, “The Bronze Drums and The Earrings”, ends. The book contains 73 figures and illustrations. It tells the stories of familiar Vietnamese heroes like the Trưng sisters, Lady Triệu, the Black Emperor, and Ngô Quyền. It also discusses the beginning of Buddhism in Vietnam and the stories of Shi Xie’s clan. The stories of Linyi’s kings and how the bloodthirsty Fan Wen and his successors prevented the Northern Dynasties from going beyond the Ngang pass are also explained. The expansion of the Funan territory from southern Vietnam to the Malay Peninsula by Fan Shiman is included. The little-known Nanzhao-An Nam War is also told with some details. The battle of the Bạch Đằng River in 938, when Giao Châu (Vietnam) gained independence, is recounted. Like Volume I, many places associated with historical events are also described in the book, including the sanctuary of Mỹ Sơn and its donation by King Bhavavarman.