Lý Thái Tổ (974-1028) was the founder and first emperor of Vietnam’s Lý Dynasty (1009-1225). After ascending the throne, he moved the capital to Đại La (which he renamed as Thăng Long) in 1010, which in the end becomes present day Ha Noi.
The Ly Thai To statue above is located at Indira Gandhi Park, nearby Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi to commemorate the Vietnamese emperor.
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the statue looks like a chinese emperor.
Vietnam used to be called Indo ‘China’.
agree with kyon, lol.
Indochina is just a geographic reference… the China-Vietnam relationship could be dated far back before the name Indochina was coined.
Both nations have been interacting for thousand of years… if it’s not for the bravery of the ancient Vietnamese, we could very well be seeing Vietnam as part of China now. It has been a love-hate relationship for centuries.
Lots of the Southeast Asian culture are influenced by both China and India, and later the Islamic influence… and Hanoi being that close to the Chinese border, will certainly see lots of similarities with the Chinese in terms of lifestyle and tradition.
It’s not just Hanoi’s culture but Vietnam’s as a whole. That’s what happens after 1,000 years of rule.
And that costume the emperor is wearing looks Chinese but it is accurate, in fact pretty much the exact same costume was also worn by emperors in Japan and Korea.
Vietnamese culture has many of its indigenous distinctions however. Much of the Chinese influence is surface-level.
Thanks for the note John. I guess the Chinese influence in just the basic; the Vietnamese culture must have evolved quite a lot over the years.
Yein Jee and John,
Thank you very much for sharing the history of China and Viet Nam. As you have stated, Viet Nam was part of the Southern China Kingdom for thousand year and also adapted the Han character.
If one to visit the Vietnamese Imperial Palace or the First Univeristy of Viet Nam in Ha Noi, it is all in Chinese Characters.
Simply put it, Viet Nam and China are like a younger and older brother within 1-2 years apart, and always fighting over something but when someone come to attack one or the other, they will join up together to defend their common values and history. Of course there is jealous among the siblings too…
Ly is a chinese name. the first rulers of vietnam were chinese
chris… ancient Vietnam used Chinese words before switching to the current Latin system, presumably during French occupation.
Most if not all of the ancient Vietnamese emperors would have Chinese names, but that doesn’t mean that they were Chinese.