The Biography of the Hồng Bàng Clan as a Medieval Vietnamese Invented Tradition

Abstract

This paper critically examines an account called the “Biography of the Hồng Bàng Clan” in a fifteenth-century text, the Arrayed Tales of Selected Oddities from South of the Passes [Lĩnh Nam chích quái liệt truyện]. This account is the source for the “historical” information about the Hùng kings. Scholars have long argued that this information was transmitted orally from the first millennium BCE until it was finally written down at some point after Vietnam became autonomous in the tenth century. In contrast, this paper argues that this information about the Hùng kings was created after Vietnam became autonomous and constitutes an “invented tradition.”

The Muong Epics of 'The Birth of the Earth and Water' in a Viet-Muong Comparative Perspective: An Alternative Vision of the Common Past

“…Thus, in Muong epics this term is used as a name of their first king -Yit Yang/Dit Dang (Yit/Dit is a Muong variant for Việt) 11 whose palace was built in the lowlands in the area of the capital-city and market-place (Kinh Kỳ Kẻ Chợ). 12 As we have seen, Việt and Mường are historically overlapping categories rather than two which are opposing each other, unlike Kinh and Mường which derived from designating contrasted locations. However, despite all of the constraints mentioned, during the twentieth…”

“…ethnic Vietnamese, and the Thai, for instance) 19 with an egg (or the three last eggs from a thousand / ten thousand eggs) of a pair of birds (Chim Ây and Cái Ứa). 20 While Kelly suggested that many elements of the Vietnamese story of descent are more likely rooted in Chinese written sources than in local oral tradition (Kelley, 2013a), I argue that some of its themes and motifs do have obvious links with common Viet-Muong and, wider, regional lore. First of all, it relates to the motif of origin from egg/eggs.…”

“…Here, again, I refer to such common exonyms of the Vietnamese and the Muong as Cheo/Keo and Nhà Lang that are used by some minority groups of Northern Vietnam 11. Phonetic form of the name depends on the dialect and varies in different versions of Muong epics 12. In the past this expression was used as a folksy designation of the city which is now named Hanoi.…”

What Citizenship for What Transition?: Contradictions, Ambivalence, and Promises in Post-Socialist Citizenship Education in Vietnam

“…Although the concept of identity in the Vietnamese language primarily focuses on the cultural dimensions of what is known as Vietnamese national identity (bản sắc dân tộc), collective political identity is integral to the construction of Vietnamese citizenship. Indeed, the ideas underlying Vietnamese national identity have been grounded in a collective memory of traditions, myths, legends, and history (Pelley, 2002;Kelley, 2012;Grigoreva, 2014). Roger Smith (2001) argued that the formation of collective identity, as a political construct, is central to the processes of building and sustaining a political community.…”

The Muong Epic Cycle of ‘The Birth of the Earth and Water’: Main Themes, Motifs, and Culture Heroes

“…The motif of incest is not implicitly represented in the Vietnamese origin myth which was to a great extent rooted in Chinese written sources (Kelley 2012) and strongly influenced by Confucian ethics. However, some traces of the common Viet-Muong oral tradition are found in the Vietnamese story of descent as well: the Father-Dragon and Mother-Fairy also have to separate and go to opposite directions for some ambiguous reasons.…”