Yue (peoples)
Yue (; also seen as Yueh, Yuet, Việt) refers to ancient semi-Sinicized or non-Sinicized
Chinese peoples of southern
China, originally those along the eastern coastline of present-day
Zhejiang province and
Shanghai. In archaic Chinese, a number of characters (越, 粵, 鉞) were often used interchangeably to represent the same meaning.
In ancient times, the Chinese referred to the peoples to their south collectively as the Yue. Historical texts often refer to the
Hundred Yue tribes (; Vietnamese: Bách Việt). Historian
Lo Hsiang-lin has suggested that these peoples shared a common ancestry with the
Xia Dynasty. There is little evidence, however, that the Yue peoples held any common identity. The "Treatise of Geography" in
Han Shu notes: "In the seven or eight thousand miles from Jiaozhi (northern
Vietnam) to Kuaiji (southern
Jiangsu or northern
Zhejiang), the Hundred Yue are everywhere, each with their own clans." Just as the term
Celt was used by the
Greeks to describe what they perceived to be a broad cultural group, so the term Yue was a culturally relative term for the ancient Chinese. Also like "Celt", Yue is now used in a number of different ways. (see
Modern usage below).
Ethnolinguists have suggested that the pronunciaton of Yue may be related to a type of hemp produced in what is now Zhejiang. The character itself is related to the character for "ceremonial axe" (鉞), usually considered a symbol of royal or imperial authority. A number of stone axes have been found in the area of
Hangzhou, and there is evidence that the ceremonial axe was a southern invention.
Ancient texts mention a number of Yue peoples, including the Gou-Wu (句吳), Yu-Yue (于越), Yang-Yue (揚越), Min-Yue (閩越), Nan-Yue (南越), Dong-Yue (東越), Shan-Yue (山越), Luo-Yue ('越, now the Vietnamese) and Ou-Yue ("越). Most of these names survived into early imperial times and can be roughly construed as cultural groupings.
From the Ninth century BC, two northern Yue peoples, the Gou-Wu and Yu-Yue, were increasingly influenced by their Chinese neighbours to their north. These two states were based in the areas of southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang respectively. Their aristocratic elite learnt the written
Chinese language, adopted Chinese political institutions and military technology. Traditional accounts attribute the cultural change to the Grand Earl of Wu (吴太伯), a
Zhou prince who had fled to the south. The marshy lands of the south gave Gou-Wu and Yu-Yue unique characteristics. They did not engage in extensive agrarian agriculture, relying instead more heavily on
aquaculture. Water transport was paramount in the south, so the two states became advanced in shipbuilding and developed riverine warfare technology. They were also known for their fine swords.
In the
Spring and Autumn Period, the two states, now called
Wu and
Yue, were becoming increasingly involved in Chinese politics. In 512 BC, Wu launced a large expedition against the large state of
Chu, based in the Middle
Yangtze River. A similar campaign in 506 succeeded in sacking the Chu capital Ying. Also in that year, war broke out between Wu and Yue and continued with breaks for the next three decades. In 473 BC, the Yue king
Goujian finally conquered Wu and was acknowledged by the northern states of
Qi and
Jin. In 333 BC, Yue was in turn conquered by Chu.
After the unification of China by
Qin Shi Huang, it became incorporated into the Chinese empire. The Qin armies also advanced south along the
Xiang River to modern Guangdong and set up commanderies along the main communication routes. Throughout the
Han Dynasty period two groups of Yue were identified, that of the Nan-Yue in the far south, who lived mainly in the area of Guangdong,
Guangxi, and
Vietnam; and that of the Min-Yue who lay to the northeast, centred on the
Min River in modern
Fujian.
Sinification of these peoples was brought about by a combination of imperial military power, regular settlement and Chinese refugees. The difficulty of logistics and the
malarial climate in the south made the displacement and eventual sinification of the Yue peoples a slow process. When the Chinese came into contact with local Yue peoples, they often wrested control of territory from them or subjugated them by force. When a serious rebellion broke out in 40 AD by the
Trung Sisters in modern Vietnam, a force of some 10,000 imperial troops was dispatched under General
Ma Yuan. Between
100 and
184 no less than seven outbreaks of violence took place, often calling for strong defensive action by the Chinese.
As Chinese migrants gradually increased, the Yue were gradually forced into poorer land on the hills and in the mountains. Unlike the nomadic peoples of
Central Asia, such as the
Xiongnu or the
Xianbei, however, the Yue peoples never posed any serious threat to Chinese expansion or control. Sometimes they staged small scale raids or attacks on Chinese settlements - termed "rebellions" by traditional historians. The Chinese for their part regarded them as being highly uncivilised and prone to fight one another.
While most Yue peoples were eventually assimilated into Han Chinese culture, the
Vietnamese people retained their ethnic identity and eventually broke free from Chinese rule in the
10th century.
The fall of the Han Dynasty and the succeeding period of division speeded up the process of sinification. Periods of instability and war in northern China, such as the
Northern and Southern Dynasties and during the
Song Dynasty led to mass migrations of Chinese. Intermarriage and cross-cultural dialogue has led to a mixture of Chinese and non-Chinese peoples in the south. By the
Tang Dynasty, the term "Yue" had largely become a regional designation rather than a cultural one. A state in modern Zhejiang province during the
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, for example, called itself "Wu-Yue". Likewise, the "Viet" in "Vietnam" (literally, "south of Viet") is a
cognate of the "Yue".
The impact of Yue culture on Chinese culture has not been determined authoritatively but it is clear that it is significant. The languages of the ancient states of Wu and Yue form the basis the modern
Wu language and to some extent the
Min languages of Fujian.
Linguistic anthropologists have also determined that a number of Chinese words can be traced to ancient Yue words. An example is the word "jiang" (江), meaning river. To some extent, some remnants of the Yue peoples and their culture can also be seen in some
minority groups of China.
In modern Chinese, the characters of "越" and "粵" are differentiated. The former is used to refer to the original territory of the
Yue Kingdom, the area of northern
Zhejiang and
Shanghai, especially the areas around
Shaoxing and
Ningbo. The opera of Zhejiang, for example, is called "Yue Opera" (
yueju, 越劇). The second character "粵" (yuè) is associated with the southern province of Guangdong and is commonly used as an abbreviation.
Yue language (粵語) is a subdivision of the
Chinese language popularly called "Cantonese". Its standard form and regional dialects are spoken in
Guangdong,
Guangxi,
Hong Kong,
Macau and in many
overseas Chinese communities around the world. 越 also refers to Vietnam.
*
Chinese people**
Cantonese people**
Southern Min ("Fujianese" and "Taiwanese" people)
**
Hakka people
**
Teochiu (Teochew) people
*
Vietnamese people*
Introduction to Yuet Culture 
