The kingdom of Nanzhao and Thai history

I would also like to know more about Nanzhao. I know it was a rather large state for a long time, but its borders changed constantly because it was land-locked. I have a map somewhere that should show how far south it reached at its greatest extent, but I can't find it right now. Here's what Wikipedia says about Nanzhao:

"Originally, there were several Bai tribes that settled on the fertile land around Erhai lake. These tribes were called Mengshe (蒙舍), Mengsui (蒙嶲), Langqiong (浪穹), Dengtan (邆賧), Shilang (施浪), and Yuexi (越析). Each tribe had its own 'kingdom' known as a 'zhao'. In 649 AD the chieftain of the Mengshe tribe, Xinuluo (細奴邏) founded a kingdom (Damengguo 大蒙國) in the area of Lake Erhai. In the year AD 737, with the support of the Tang Dynasty of China, Pileguo united the six zhaos in succession, establishing a new kingdom called Nanzhao. The Nanzhao kingdom maintained close links with the Tang Dynasty ('Nan' is Chinese for south), and it was made up of both Bai and Yi nationalities. Some historians believe that the majority of the population was Bai, but that the elite was Yi. In any case, the capital was established in 738 at Taihe (modern day Taihe village, a few miles south of Dali). Located in the heart of the Erhai valley, the site was ideal: it could be easily defended against attack, and it was in the midst of rich farmland.

From 680 CE it came under Tibetan control. The Tibetans recognised their suzerainty after 703 and then took it under their control again from 750-794, when Nanzhao turned on their Tibetan overlords and helped China defeat their armies."

and

"In 750, Nanzhao rebelled against the Tang Dynasty. In retaliation, the Tang sent an army against Nanzhao in 751, but this army was soundly defeated at Xiaguan. (It was in the same year that the Tang suffered another serious defeat at the hands of the Arabs at the Battle of Talas in Central Asia; these defeats weakened the dynasty both internally and externally.) Today the General's Cave (two km west of Xiaguan), and the Tomb of Ten Thousand Soldiers (in Tianbao Park) bear witness to this great massacre. In 754 another army was sent, this time from the north, but it too was defeated. Bolstered by these successes, Nanzhao expanded rapidly, first into Burma, then into the rest of Yunnan, down into northern Laos and Thailand, and finally, north into Sichuan. In 829, Chengdu was taken; it was a great prize, as it enabled Nanzhao to lay claim to the whole of Sichuan province, with its rich paddy fields. This was too much for the Chinese, who lost no time in counterattacking."

This is really interesting. I always thought Nanzhao was just a breakaway Chinese kingdom, but it turns out it was ruled by the "hill tribes" who still live in Yunnan today! I' wonder if the Thai were just another of the Yunnanese tribes at the time, like the Bai or the Yi or whoever, and just happened to be the ones to move into Thailand at the right time to build their own powerful kingdom.

I would say the first place to look for what Nanzhao culture was like would be to find out more about the modern Bai and Yi.


Edited by jdalton - 31-Oct-2007 at 22:13

The Chinese took control of Yunnan in the 2nd century. The Chinese described the people they found there as "Black Barbarians" (Wu Man) and report they spoke a Tibeto-Burmese language. It was the Wu Man who controlled the city of Nan Zhao in the 7th century.

Originally posted by Sarmat12 Besides, I strongly doubt that the fraze "Wu Man" can be translated as "Black Barbarians" from Chinese. At least it sounds totally different in modern pronouncation.

This is just a guess, my Chinese is not very good, but could "wu man" be 烏蠻?