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Naming the Red River — becoming a Vietnamese river

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2021

Hieu Phung
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Abstract

This study of river names seeks to deepen our understanding of the pre-modern environmental history of northern Vietnam. A performative practice, naming places often reveals the transformation of a physical environment into a cultural one. By analysing the names given to antecedents of the Red River in northern Vietnam, this article argues that each historical name reflected its users’ perception of their relationship with a respective river. Toponyms like Lô, Phú Lương, Nhị, and ‘Great River’, therefore, did not simply represent the present-day Red River — a geographical unit that dates to the French colonial period.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , December 2020 , pp. 518 - 537
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Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore, 2021

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Footnotes

The author would like to thank the organisers of the 2017 International Water History Conference, especially Professor Philip C. Brown of The Ohio State University, for which this article was prepared. She is also grateful for the anonymous readers’ insightful comments and suggestions, which helped improve this article. The maps used in this article have been created by the author using some Natural Earth data in QGIS 3.10.12.

References

1 It is unclear where and when the name ‘Red River’ was first recorded. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the following terms seemed to be equivalents across texts written in different languages: ‘Le fleuve Rouge’ in French, ‘Hồng Hà’ (紅河) in classical Chinese (hà, 河 means river), and ‘sông Hồng Hà’ in Romanised Vietnamese (sông means river). Since the late twentieth century, the Vietnamese have unanimously used the toponym ‘sông Hồng’, a direct translation of ‘Hồng Hà’. As people shifted from ‘Hồng Hà’ to ‘sông Hồng’, they considered Hồng as a proper noun that did not need translating. Today, three common English renderings of this river name include the Red River, the Sông Hồng, and the Hồng River.

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4 The Han-Chinese character used to record the toponym Lô was 瀘, but its homophone, 盧, was used sometimes. Although there are etymological differences between giang (江) and hà (河), they both mean river. It is customary to refer to the Lô and the Phú Lương respectively as the Lô Giang (瀘/盧江) and the Phú Lương Giang (富良江), and to the Nhị/Nhĩ as the Nhị/Nhĩ Hà (珥河). Many rivers elsewhere in Southeast Asia have multiple names, although the subject needs more study. See, for instance, Smith, Helen L., ‘Geographical nomenclature in Siam’, Geographical Review 36, 2 (1946): 264–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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6 The administrative border of Hanoi expanded in 2008 to include some areas on the right bank of the Red River. Today the Red River runs through the national capital (see the shaded part of fig. 1).

7 Vietnamese literati also used Phú Lương as an alternative name for the Nhị in the late 18th and 19th centuries, although no clear explanation for this adoption has been found.

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12 Baron, Samuel and Borri, Christoforo, Views of seventeenth-century Vietnam: Christoforo Borri on Cochinchina and Samuel Baron on Tonkin, introduced and annotated by Dror, Olga and Taylor, K.W. (Ithaca, NY: SEAP, Cornell University, 2006), p. 204CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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14 Li Daoyuan (?–527 CE), Shuijing zhu 水經注 [Water classic commentaries]. For a discussion of the information in the Shuijing zhu that relates to the Red River, see: Đào Duy Anh, Đất nước Việt Nam qua các đời: Nghiên cứu địa lý lịch sử Việt Nam [Vietnam throughout history: A study of Vietnamese geographical history] (Hanoi: Văn Hoá Thông Tin, 2005[1964]): 37–48.

15 Lê Văn Hưu, Phan Phu Tiên, Ngô Sĩ Liên, et al., Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư 大越史記全書 [The complete book of the historical records of Đại Việt], Paris.SA.PD.2310, prelims, Bản kỷ 5, 33 a–b, Bản kỷ 11, 90a, Bản kỷ 13, 17a. The 1697 version covers Vietnamese history until 1675.

16 Việt sử lược 越史略 [Concise summary of the Vietnamese historical records], reproduced in the online version of the Siku quanshu [The complete library of four treasuries] in the Kanseki Repository, Kyoto University's online database of premodern Chinese texts, http://www.kanripo.org/text/KR2i0023/ (accessed 22 Feb. 2020). This version is divided into three volumes and an appendix. I use consecutive numbers to refer to these volumes, instead of their original references as the upper (上), the middle (中), and the lower (下) volumes.

17 Recent studies have suggested its original title as Đại Việt sử lược 大越史略 [Concise summary of the historical records of Đại Việt]. See Sijia, Cheng, ‘Xiancun zuizao de Yuenan gudai shiji: Dayue shilue ruogan wenti de zai tantao’, Zhonguo dianji yu wenhua 3 (2017): 26–36Google Scholar.

18 Lê Trắc, An Nam chí lược 安南志略 [Brief records of Annam], reproduced in the online version of the Siku quanshu [The complete library of four treasuries] in the Kanseki Repository, Kyoto University's online database of premodern Chinese texts, http://www.kanripo.org/text/KR2i0020/ (accessed 22 Feb. 2020), 20, 4a–6a. All quotes of the Brief records in this article are from this version. Notes will be provided when a different version is cited.

19 Lê Trắc, An Nam chí lược, ed. Trần Kinh Hoà (Hue city: Viện Đại học Huế - Uỷ ban Phiên dịch sử liệu Việt Nam, 1961), Appendix, p. 4.

20 Ibid., pp. vii–xii.

21 Concise summary, 2, 4a; Complete book, Bản kỷ 2, 5a. The Concise summary and the Complete book slightly differ from one another in their descriptions of the location of the Hàm Quang basilica. Hàm Quang basilica is situated at the ‘Lô Eastern Pier’ (瀘東步; Lô Đông Bộ) in the former, and only as ‘the Pier [or a pier] of the Lô River’ (盧江步頭; Lô Giang bộ đầu) in the latter. Despite the fact that all other references to the Pier in the Complete book consistently use the term 瀘, its homophone, 盧, was used in this case. On the translation of điện (殿) as basilica, see: Victor Cunrui Xiong, Sui-Tang Chang'an: A study in the urban history of late medieval China (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 2000), p. xiii.

22 Trần Quốc Vượng and Vũ Tuấn Sán, ‘Xác định địa điểm Đông Bộ Đầu’ [Identifying the location of the Eastern Pier], Nghiên Cứu Lịch Sử 77, 8 (1965): 56–9.

23 ‘帝御含光殿觀競舟.’ Complete book, Bản kỷ 2, 5a. Although there is evidence that Vietnamese rulers adopted titles such as ‘đế’ (帝) or ‘hoàng đế’ (皇帝) (both translatable as ‘emperor’) since the late 10th century, whether their rule was imperial is an open question, particularly prior to the 15th century. I will generally refer to these early Vietnamese rulers as ‘kings’, instead of ‘emperors’.

24 ‘此後每歲八月競舟設宴, 以為常.’ Ibid., Bản kỷ 3, 19b.

25 ‘移造靈光殿於東步頭, 號風水殿. 凡車駕所幸, 駐蹕於此, 百官迎送, 必献檳榔及茶, 故俗呼茶殿.’ Ibid., Bản kỷ 5, 11a. The literal meaning of Phong Thuỷ is ‘wind and water’.

26 Concise summary, 2, 16a.

27 Complete book, Bản kỷ 6, 4a–b.

28 Michael Vickery, ‘Champa revised’, The Cham of Vietnam: History, society and art, ed. Tran Ky Phuong and Bruce Lockhart (Singapore: NUS Press, 2011), pp. 389–94.

29 ‘王至自占城, 次朝東津. 詔有司肅軍容盛陳儀衛. 上御寳車, 羣臣皆騎馬導引. 占城王第矩戴麻骨冠, 著白氎衣, 以絹繫腰. 令興武都五人牽之, 繫其黨屬以從.’ Concise summary, 2, 20b. I am unable to decipher what a ma cốt hat is; điệp is likely a fine cotton-like cloth.

30 Complete book, Bản kỷ 5, 22a–23a.

31 ‘十二日, 賊犯嘉林, 武寕, 東岸. 獲我軍, 皆墨刺殺韃二字於臂. 大怒, 殺之甚眾. 遂至東步頭建大旗.’ Ibid., Bản kỷ 5, 45b.

32 ‘上相光啓, 懷文侯國瓚, 及陳聰, 阮可臘, 與弟阮傳, 率諸路民兵敗賊于京城, 章陽等處. 賊軍大潰. 太子脱驩, 平章阿剌等奔過瀘江.’ Ibid., Bản kỷ 5, 48b–49a. Chương Dương, a port on the Red River, was located near Thăng Long.

33 ‘十三日, 丙戌, 世子守瀘江, 又潰, 走. 鎮南王渡江, 宴其宫庭, 獻俘受馘.’ Brief records, 4, 2b.

34 Ibid., 4, 3b.

35 ‘順流明字陳嗣慶與阮字會於朝東步, 誓為刎頸交, 盡忠報國, 共平禍亂. 乃分大江之兩岸, 各自統率. 自土塊至那岸沿北江道, 及陸路鄉邑, 屬於嗣慶. 自京岸至烏鳶, 屬於字. 期以三月會攻烘人.’ Concise summary, 3, 35a. The title of Minh Tự was awarded for those held as an exemplar. The Facing-East Pier was another name of the Eastern Pier. Bắc Giang was a province-like unit north of Thăng Long. Instead of directly referring to the royal capital, this quote mentions a place called ‘kinh ngạn’ (京岸). This term is probably not a toponym but a characterising phrase referring to the riverbank where the royal capital was situated.

36 Texts such as Concise summary and Brief records record the Hồng region as ‘Hồng lộ’ (烘路); lộ (circuit) was a late-10th-century administrative jurisdiction originating in Song China. By contrast, the Complete book records the area as ‘Hồng châu’ (洪州); châu can be translated as region or prefecture, depending on historical contexts. These texts also differ in their use of the Chinese term for Hồng. Here, I opt to use ‘region’ as a neutral term for a territorial jurisdiction.

37 Complete book, Bản kỷ 5, 9b–10a.

38 My suggestion for reconstructing this sentence is ‘瀘江水自三帶江, 至羅城曰瀘, 又通于海.’ My translation reflects this reconstruction. Thus far, there are three versions of this passage, and they all contain certain textual omissions. 1. ‘瀘江: 水曰三帶江至羅城, 白瀘又通于海.’ (Brief records, 1, 8b); 2. ‘瀘江水: 三帶江至羅城, 自瀘又通于海.’ (Lê Trắc, An Nam chí lược, ed. Trần Kinh Hoà, Appendix, 24); and 3. ‘瀘江水曰三帶江. 至羅城曰瀘, 又通於海.’ (Annan zhilue [i.e., An Nam chí lược], ed. Wu Shangqing (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2000), pp. 27–8).

39 ‘三帶江: 歸化江水自雲南, 宣化江水自特磨道, 陀江水自撞龍, 因名焉.’ Brief records, 1, 9a.

40 ‘北江路: 在羅城東岸, 瀘江水分, 通于海. 江有十橋, 皆傑麗.’ Lê Trắc, An Nam chí lược, ed. Trần Kinh Hoà, Appendix, p. 19. The Siku quanshu version excludes the word ‘水’ (thuỷ, meaning water); see: Brief records, 1, 2b.

41 ‘而國威人亦率其徒屯於西結, 文雷寨人屯於拖幕江. 自此道路阻絶, 舟船不通.’ Concise summary, 3, 27a.

42 Concise summary, 3, 38a; Complete book, Bản kỷ 5, 22a–b and 49a.

43 The Hoàng River is sometimes translated as the Hoàng Giang River. Some later sources referred to it as the Đại Hoàng (lit., Great Hoàng) River.

44 ‘軍發瀘江, 至黄江已遇賊矣. 渴真觀無可戰之地, 退守海潮江.’ Complete book, Bản kỷ 8, 16a.

45 Ibid., Bản kỷ 8, 17a–b.

46 ‘漢蒼令各鎮源頭納樁木, 武寧州許取古法陵烏米木送各軍植諸海口及大江要處, 以防北寇.’ Ibid., Bản kỷ 8, 48a. The ô mễ wood probably refers to the Chinese sweet gum species.

47 Ibid., Bản kỷ 8, 52a–b. ‘Lỗ Giang’ is a curious name. The Han-Chinese character used to record Lỗ in this record was a variant of 嚕. However, it was probably a Nôm term; that is, it was used only to record a ‘Vietnamese’ sound. Meanwhile, the Complete book mentions a place named Lỗ Giang several times, albeit using a different Han-Chinese character, 魯 (Lỗ). Plus, it is not clear if these records referred to a river or a territory. The Records of Annam also speaks of a certain Lỗ Giang. There must be some connection between these places, if they were not the same. Hence, these toponyms deserve further research.

48 Ibid., Bản kỷ 8, 52b–54a.

49 Some 20th-century scholars mistook the title of this source as An Nam chí nguyên. Zhang Xiumin argued that the original title of the Records of Annam should have been Jiaozhi zongzhi 交阯總志 (Vietnamese: Giao chỉ tổng chí) [Comprehensive gazetteer of Jiaozhi]. See: Zhang Xiumin, ‘Yongle Jiaozhi zongzhi de faxian [The discovery of the Jiaozhi gazetteer in the Yongle era]’, Lanzhou Daxue Xuebao 1 (1981): 53–5.

50 ‘富良江, 宋郭逵敗交阯處.’ Brief records, 1, 9a. See also, ibid., 4, 14b–15b.

51 Complete book, Bản kỷ 3, 9b; Concise summary, 2, 24a–b.

52 Hoàng Xuân Hãn, ‘Lý Thường Kiệt: Lịch sử ngoại giao và tông giáo triều Lý’ [Lý Thường Kiệt: A political and religious history of the Lý dynasty], La Sơn Yên Hồ Hoàng Xuân Hãn, vol. 2, ed. Hữu Ngọc and Nguyễn Đức Hiền (Hanoi: Giáo Dục, 1998), p. 420.

53 This naming pattern in the official histories of the Yuan and Ming dynasties, such as the Yuanshi (元史) and the Ming shilu (明實錄), requires further research. Both texts are patchwork compilations, requiring the reader to be mindful about the dating of each individual piece of information. See: Frederick W. Mote, ‘A note on traditional sources for Yüan history’, The Cambridge history of China, vol. 6, ed. Herbert Franke and Denis Twitchett (Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 689–726; Geoff Wade, ‘The Ming Shi-lu as a source for Southeast Asian history’, in Southeast Asia in the Ming shi-lu: An open access resource (Singapore: Asia Research Institute and National University of Singapore), accessed 22 Feb. 2020, http://www.epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/ming-shi-lu-source-study-southeast-asian-history.

54 ‘瀘江, 一名富良江, 在東關縣. 上接三帶州白鶴江, 經本府城東, 汪洋浩渺, 下通大黃江, 入于海.’ An Nam chí (nguyên) 安南志(原) [Records of Annam], reproduced in Ngan-Nan tche yuan: Texte chinois édité et publié sous la direction de Léonard Aurousseau, ed. E. Gaspardone (Hanoi: Imprimerie d'Extrême-Orient, 1932), p. 41.

55 Ibid., p. 42.

56 ‘海潮江, 在快州, 自河魯江分流.’ Ibid., p. 47.

57 Examples of post-1500 Chinese sources on Vietnam include Li Wenfeng's Yue qiao shu 越嶠書 [Book of the mountainous land of Yue/Việt] and Li Xiangen's Annan shi shi jiyao 安南使事紀要 [Notes of a mission to Annam].

58 There were already doubts about the original meaning of ‘Nhị’ in the 19th century. See, for instance, Nguyễn Văn Siêu and Bùi Quỹ, Đại Việt địa dư toàn biên 大越地輿全編 [Complete book of geography of Đại Việt], A.72, print (1900), 4, 38b–39b.

59 ‘仕宦三朝備省官, 蒼頭白髮未還山. 焚香坐對珥河月, 惆悵煙溪峽石間.’ Phạm Sư Mạnh, ‘Chu trung tức sự’ 舟中即事 [Immediate thoughts in my boat], in Thơ văn Lý Trần [An anthology of the Lý and Trần dynasties], vol. 3, ed. Đào Phương Bình et al. (Hanoi: Khoa Học Xã Hội, 1977), pp. 85–6.

60 Trần Nguyên Đán, ‘Canh Đồng tri phủ Hữu ti Mai Phong Lê công vận’ 賡同知府右司梅峰黎公韻 [A companion piece for a poem of Prefect-cum-Right official Lê whose penname is Mai Phong], in Thơ văn Lý Trần, p. 165.

61 ‘今龍肚之地, 傘圓之山, 瀘珥之河, 髙深平闊.’ Complete book, Bản kỷ 8, 28b.

62 On the Great River, see: Complete book, Bản kỷ 10, 39a.

63 One needs to be cautious in reading two other records of a river also called Lô in 1596–97, because this same name began to be associated with the largest river crossing the Tuyên Quang region sometime between the 15th and 18th centuries. See: Complete book, Bản kỷ 17, 57a, 61a.

64 In a forthcoming study, I will delineate the transition from the Nhị/Nhĩ to the Red River from since the 1400s. Although the French helped popularise the name Red River, my research shows that the conception that treated this river as an interconnected network of various streams had emerged gradually prior to the 19th century.