Triệu dynasty
The Triệu dynasty or Zhao dynasty (; ; 茹趙) ruled the kingdom of Nanyue, which consisted of parts of southern China as well as northern Vietnam. Its capital was Panyu, in modern Guangzhou. The founder of the dynasty, Zhao Tuo (Triệu Đà), was a Chinese general from Hebei and originally served as a military governor under the Qin dynasty. He asserted the state's independence in 207 BC as the Qin dynasty was collapsing. The ruling elite included both native Yue and immigrant Han peoples. Zhao Tuo conquered the Vietnamese state of Âu Lạc and led a coalition of Yuè states in a war against the Han dynasty, which had been expanding southward. Subsequent rulers were less successful in asserting their independence and the Han dynasty finally conquered the kingdom in 111 BC. Historiography The scholar Huang Zuo produced the first detailed published history of Nanyue in the fifteenth century. Chinese historians have generally denounced Nanyue as separatists from the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), but have also praised them as a civilizing force. A particularly strident denunciation was produced by poet Qu Dajun in 1696. Qu praised Qin Shi Huang as a model of how to uphold the purity of Chinese culture, and compared Zhao Tuo unfavorably to the emperor. A more positive view of Nanyue multiculturalism was presented by Liang Tingnan in Nányuè Wŭ Zhǔ Zhuàn (南越五主傳; "Biographies of the Five Lords of Nanyue") in 1833. Cantonese refer to themselves as Yuht, the Cantonese pronunciation of Yuè/Việt. In modern times, the character (yuè) refers to Cantonese while (yuè) refers to Vietnamese. But historically, these two characters were interchangeable. Meanwhile, Vietnamese historians have struggled with the issue of whether to regard the Triệu dynasty heroically as founders of Vietnam, or to denounce them as foreign invaders. For centuries afterward, Zhao Tuo was a folk hero among the Viets, and was remembered for standing up to the Han Empire. After Lý Bí drove the Chinese out of northern Vietnam, he proclaimed himself "Emperor of Nam Việt" (Nam Việt đế; 南越帝) in 544, thus identifying his state as a revival of the Nanyue, despite obvious differences in terms of location and ethnic makeup. In the thirteenth century, Lê Văn Hưu wrote a history of Vietnam that used the Triệu dynasty as its starting point, with Zhao Tuo receiving glowing praise as Vietnam's first emperor. In the 18th century, Ngô Thì Sĩ reevaluated Zhao Tuo as a foreign invader. Under the Nguyễn dynasty, Zhao Tuo continued to receive high praise, although it was acknowledged that the original Nanyue was not in fact a Vietnamese state. The current Communist government of Vietnam portrays Zhao Tuo negatively as a foreign invader who vanquished Vietnam's heroic King An Dương despite there being a campaign to reconsider the role of Zhao Tuo due to rising tensions between Vietnam and China. Modern Vietnamese are descended from the ancient Yue of northern Vietnam and western Guangdong, according to Peter Bellwood. History Zhao Tuo Zhao Tuo (r. 204–136