Vietnamese Early History
Việt Origins (Nguồn gốc người Việt) – 2021 Version
The topic of Việt origins is one that many people find interesting. However, it is a topic that requires that one constantly update one’s knowledge.
Vietnamese Prehistory and International Scholarship – Part 3: Sauer, Solheim & Hòa Bình
The late archaeologist Wilhelm Solheim would probably be very surprised to find that statements he made way back in 1971 are cited today as “evidence”
Vietnamese Prehistory and International Scholarship – Part 2: Thought & Solheim
In 1971, archaeologist Wilhelm “Bill” Solheim made some comments in the magazine National Geographic about the origins of agriculture. His comments were premature, and turned
Vietnamese Prehistory and International Scholarship – Part 1: Introduction
For the past half century or so there has been an idea circulating in the Vietnamese world that holds that the ancestors of the Vietnamese
Tiền sử Việt Nam và học thuật quốc tế (phần 1)
This is my first attempt at making a video in Vietnamese. . . You gotta start somewhere. . . In recent years some Vietnamese people
Snakes and Clothing in the Ancient Red River Delta
I was reading the Annotated Classic of Waterways (Shuijing zhu 水經注), a sixth century text that contains information about the Red River Delta region and
Updating the Trưng Sisters
Here are updated versions of the final two videos that I made about the Trưng Sisters in 2014. Part 3: Part 4:
The Red River Delta’s Limited Rice Supply in the First Century AD
As far as I know, no one has ever written a history of rice cultivation in the Red River Delta. Instead, I think most people
Lạc Fields and Tidal Irrigation in Early Vietnam
The earliest record that tells us something about life in the Red River Delta in ancient times is Li Daoyuan’s sixty-century Shuijing zhu 水經注 (Annotated
1. Going Backwards: The Aquatic Culture Myth
In his 1983 work, The Birth of Vietnam, Keith Taylor argued that Vietnamese “mythical traditions. . . reveal a sea-oriented culture coming to terms with
What Language(s) did the Ancient Yue Speak?
In the first millennium BC, “Chinese” writers recorded information about various peoples who lived to their south. These people were called by various names such
Updating the Trưng Sisters
In 2014, as I saw how fast YouTube was transforming the way that so many people access information, I decided to learn how to make
Tạ Đức, Cao Sơn, Bronze Drums, Nationalism and History
A friend recently scanned and sent me some pages from a new book by Vietnamese author Tạ Đức on bronze drums in Vietnam called The
Đại Việt Man Meets Đông Sơn Man
I’ve always wondered what would have happened if someone from the Đông Sơn period (that is, the time at the end of the first millennium
Streaming From Saigon: Hoàng Vân Nội’s Migration Theory
This is a video about a book that was published in South Vietnam in 1974 about the origins of the Vietnamese people.
Lý Đông A, Kim Định and a Mid-20th–Century Unorthodox Version of Early Việt History
I’ve written quite a lot on this blog about the South Vietnamese philosopher, Lương Kim Định, and his ideas about history. What was Kim Định’s
Conquest and Intermarriage in the Formation of the Annam Race
The concept of race is a concept that Vietnamese only came to learn about in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Once they had,
Filial-Romantic-Marxist-Wartime Nationalism and Early Vietnamese History
In the 1950s, scholars in North Vietnam started drafting a new history. They ran into troubles, however, in trying to write about early history because
The Ancient Vietnamese Matriarchy and Western Theory
I keep coming across writings that claim that there was a matriarchal society in the Red River Delta at some point in the distant past
The Mường Story of the 100 Eggs
The story of Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ is a very famous story in Vietnam today. In this story Lạc Long Quân and Âu
