Frank Muyard
The Integration of Southern China and Northern Vietnam in the Metal Age
South China Sea Trade Network
ABSTRACT
This paper aims to review recent discoveries and discussions about the interactions between the polities and communities of southern China and northern Vietnam and the South China Sea trade network. Southern coastal China and Tonkin (Jiaozhi) are known since late Antiquity as the main gates for import of southern exotica and natural products to the northern Chinese courts. Desire to control this lucrative trade is seen as a main factor for the invasion by the Qin and later Han imperial armies of south China and north Vietnam. These regions were populated by non-Chinese people with ancient connections with Taiwan and Southeast Asia, and long retained actual autonomy and cultural specificities even after their formal inclusion in Chinese empires. During the Metal Age, several important ports and cities developed out of the maritime trade with the south, like Jiaozhou, Hepu, or Guangzhou (Panyu). Some were also important centers for sophisticated craft productions (bronze, glass, jade, ceramics) with specific local characteristics, going back for Dongson bronze drums to 500 BC, or to the turn of the common era for Guangxi glassware. Some of the products, as well as Han-era ceramics, also travelled southward to Southeast Asia and are found as far as the Thai-Malay peninsula and Indonesia. However, most of the literature is concerned by the relationships between southern China/ northern Vietnam and northern Chinese culture and powers, and little detail is known about the links between these coastal localities and groups and the South China Sea Maritime network, or even their own maritime abilities. Based on the review of current historical and archaeological materials, this research will try to highlight the nature and intensity of the interactions with the South China Sea trade and the "Austronesian Maritime Route", their impacts on these communities, as well as their level of involvement in long-distance travel at this time.