Between two rivers : the Li and Lao chiefdoms from the Han to the T'ang

Abstract

This thesis is an attempt to write a history of the non-Chinese peoples (known variously as Li and Lao) who lived in the country between the Red and Pearl River Deltas, over the period from the third to seventh centuries CE. More bronze drums dating from this era have been found in this region than anywhere else on earth, and yet, little research has been done into the history of the societies that produced them. That the drums were symbols of political authority and legitimacy among the Li and Lao is well-known from written records, but the flourishing of the drum casting tradition during this period, centuries after the Han conquest of the surrounding districts, points towards a growth in the wealth and prestige of their native rulers that is at odds with the oft-repeated linear narratives of 'Sinification' or 'Sinicization': the absorption of non-Chinese groups into the Chinese state through their acculturation to Chinese linguistic, cultural and political norms. The thesis discusses the various interactions of the Li and Lao chieftains with the Chinese empires of the time, through trade, administrative relationships and armed conflict, investigating what effect these had on Li and Lao societal structure and economic systems. It argues that at up until the seventh century, interactions with the Chinese states actually encouraged the growth of non-Chinese polities cementing local dynastic families in power over ever-larger areas and populations. The result of this growth was that by the seventh century even the large, powerful empires of the Sui and T'ang found it was necessary to install members of these families as provincial governors if they wished to have control over the area. The story of the Li and Lao not only offers a new perspective on the southern expansion of Chinese states and the nation-centred narrative of Chinese history, it is also a challenge to the nation-centred narratives of Vietnamese history from the same period. Living to the north-east of the Red River plain, the Li and Lao helped to isolate it from direct overland contact with the rest of the Chinese empires, and were, the thesis argues, an unrecognised contributing factor to the political autonomy of the area. Show more