The 'Vietnamese people' (
Vietnamese: ''người Việt'' or ''người Kinh'') are an
ethnic group originating from what is now northern
Vietnam and southern
China. They are the
majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the
1999 census, and are officially known as 'Kinh' to distinguish them from other
ethnic groups in Vietnam.
In the
People's Republic of China, they are among the recognized minority groups based especially in or around
Guangxi Province and are known in
Mandarin Chinese through their derivative name
'Jing/Gin' (京) or "Jingzu"/"Ginzu" (京族).
Although geographically and linguistically labeled as Southeast Asians, long periods of
Chinese domination and influence have placed them culturally closer to East Asians, or more specifically their immediate northern neighbours, the Southern Chinese and other tribes within the proximity of
South China.
Origins
According to legend, the first Vietnamese descended from the
dragon lord
Lạc Long Quân (雒龍君) and a heavenly spirit
Âu Cơ (嫗姬). They married and had one hundred eggs, from which hatched one hundred children. Their eldest son
Hùng Vương ruled as the first Vietnamese king. The predecessors of the Vietnamese people emigrated from present southern China to the
Red River Delta and mixed with the indigenous population.
In
258 BC, An Dương Vương founded the kingdom of Âu Lạc (甌雒) in what is now northern Vietnam. In
208 BC,
Chao Tuo (known as Triệu Đà 趙佗 in Vietnamese), a former
Qin Dynasty general from China, allied with the leaders of the
Yue peoples in what is now modern-day
Guangdong and declared himself King of
Southern Yue. He defeated An Dương Vương and then combined Âu Lạc with territories in southern China and named his kingdom
Nam Việt, or Southern Yue (南越; ''Nam'' means "south"). Việt is cognate to
yuet 越, which is the pronunciation of Yue in ancient Chinese and some modern southern Chinese dialects. The term was used in ''bai yue'' ("hundred Yue") for the various peoples in what is now southern China, including the regions of northern Vietnam.
Distribution
Originally from northern Vietnam and southern China, the Vietnamese have conquered much of the land belonging to the
Champa Kingdom and
Khmer Empire over the centuries. They are the dominant ethnic group in most provinces of Vietnam, and constitute a significant portion of the population of
Cambodia. Under the
Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, they were the most persecuted group. Tens of thousands were murdered in regime-organized massacres. Most of the survivors fled to Vietnam.
During the
sixteenth century, some Vietnamese migrated into
Thailand and China. In Thailand, they are mostly distributed in
Isan provinces such as
Nakhon Phanom or
Mukdahan. In China, although somewhat more sinicized, their descendants still speak Vietnamese and form the
Gin people of China.
They are among the recognized minority groups in the People's Republic of China based especially in or around
Guangxi Province.
When the
French left Vietnam in
1954, some Vietnamese immigrated to France. However, there already have been ethnic Vietnamese residing and/or studying in France at least since the end of
World War I. As a result of the partition of
North and
South Vietnam, nearly one million Vietnamese fled the North for the South to escape persecution. Meanwhile, a much smaller number of southerners joined the north.
The end of the
Vietnam War prompted many others to flee the country. The six countries that accepted the bulk of the
refugees were the
United States,
Canada,
Great Britain,
France,
West Germany, and
Australia. Tens of thousands had been sent to work or study in
Central and
Eastern Europe and later settled there, the vast majority among those from the north or those who stayed in reunified Vietnam after
1975.
See also
References
★ Ōuyáng Jiàoyà 欧阳觉亚, Chéng Fāng 程方, Yù Cuìróng 喻翠容: 'Jīngyǔ jiǎnzhì' 京语简志 (Mínzú chūbǎnshè 民族出版社 1984). On the language of the Gin in China.
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