Jiaozhi (standard Chinese, pinyin: Jiāozhǐ), or
Giao Chỉ,
was a historical region ruled by various Chinese dynasties, corresponding to present-day northern Vietnam. The kingdom of Nanyue (204–111 BC) set up the Jiaozhi Commandery (; Quận Giao Chỉ, chữ Hán: 郡交趾) an administrative division centered in the Red River Delta that existed through Vietnam's first and second periods of Chinese rule. During the Han dynasty, the commandery was part of a province of the same name (later renamed to Jiaozhou) that covered modern-day northern and central Vietnam as well as Guangdong and Guangxi in southern China. In 670 AD, Jiaozhi was absorbed into the Annan Protectorate established by the Tang dynasty. Afterwards, official use of the name Jiaozhi was superseded by "Annan" (Annam) and other names of Vietnam, except during the brief fourth period of Chinese rule when the Ming dynasty administered Vietnam as the Jiaozhi Province.
Chinese chroniclers assigned various folk etymologies for the toponym.
In Book of Rites's subsection Royal Regulations, 交趾 was used to describe the physical characteristics of Nanman - southern neighbours of the Zhou. Late Eastern Han scholar Zheng Xuan (127 - c. 200 CE) interpreted 交趾 as "the appearance of feet turning in towards each other". 交趾 was subsequently translated as either "feet turned in towards each other" (James Legge) or "toes... crossed" (James M. Hargett).
Book of Later Han also quoted the same passage from Book of Rites yet gave 交趾's etymology as: "[According to] their customs, men and women bathe in the same river; hence the appellation Jiāozhǐ".
Tang period's encyclopedia Tongdian also stated that: "The southernmost people [have] tattooed foreheads (題額) and intersecting toes (交趾); [according to] their customs, men and women bathe in the same river. [By] tattooed foreheads (題額) it means they engrave their flesh with blue/green dye; [by] crossed toes (交趾), it means that each foot's big toe is spread widely outwards and crosses one another when [a person] stands [with feet] side-by-side.
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
The Parthian Empire (ˈpɑrθiən), also known as the Arsacid Empire (ˈɑrsəsɪd), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquering the region of Parthia in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province) under Andragoras, who was rebelling against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I (171-132 BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids.
Buddhism in Vietnam (Đạo Phật 道佛 or Phật Giáo 佛教 in Vietnamese), as practiced by the Vietnamese, is mainly of the Mahayana tradition and is the main religion, a combination of Pure Land and Zen (Thiền). Buddhism may have first come to Vietnam as early as the 3rd or 2nd century BCE from the Indian subcontinent or from China in the 1st or 2nd century CE. Vietnamese Buddhism has had a syncretic relationship with certain elements of Taoism, Chinese spirituality, and Vietnamese folk religion.
Tai peoples are the populations who speak (or formerly spoke) the Tai languages. There are a total of about 93 million people of Tai ancestry worldwide, with the largest ethnic groups being Dai, Thais, Isan, Tai Yai (Shan), Lao, Tai Ahom, and Northern Thai peoples. The Tai are scattered through much of South China and Mainland Southeast Asia, with some (e.g. Tai Ahom, Tai Khamti, Tai Phake, Tai Aiton) inhabiting parts of Northeast India. Tai peoples are both culturally and genetically very similar and therefore primarily identified through their language.