The changing names of Hà Nội
12/03/2010
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07:57:00
VGP - Thăng Long (Hà Nội) has been the capital city through out most of Việt Nam’s history. Before it became the capital of the Đại Việt Kingdom in 1010, Hà Nội had severed as the administrative headquarters of Chinese governors in Việt Nam during the Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-907) Dynasties. Since its founding, the city has been called by many different names.
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A corner
of Sword Lake in Hà Nội - Illustration photo
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The following gives a
rough chronological order.
*Official names:
These are names found
in historical records and used by various dynasties.
1. Long Đỗ
Legend has it that the
Tang Dynasty Governor Gao Pian dreamed he saw a genie called Long Đỗ
while building the Đại La Citadel on the current site of Hà Nội. Based
on this story, Hà Nội is sometimes called Long Đỗ in historical records.
For example, in 1397, under Trần Thuận Tông’s reign, Hồ Quý Ly wanted to
move the capital Thăng Long to Thanh Hóa Province because he intended to
usurp the throne.
2. Tống Bình
The Chinese used Hà Nội
as their administrative headquarters to rule over Việt Nam and called
the city Tống Bình during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Before that, their
headquarters had been located in Long Biên (across the river from
present-day Hà Nội).
3. Đại La
The capital used to
have three encircling walls. Within the inner wall was the Purple
Citadel or the Forbidden Citadel, where the King and royal family lived.
The area between the inner and the middle walls was called Kinh Thành
(the Royal Capital), and the area between the middle and outer walls was
called the Đại La Citadel. In 866, Gao Pian enlarged and reinforced the
Đại La Citadel. From then on, the capital was officially called Đại La.
For instance, King Lý Thái Tổ’s Royal Edict on the Transfer of the
Capital in 1010 said, “The Đại La Citadel, Governor Gao Pian’s old
capital lies in the centre of the universe…”
4. Thăng Long
Meaning “Rising
Dragon,” this is the most literary and meaningful name among the names
of Hà Nội. According to The Complete History of Đại Việt (printed
the first time in 1697), “In July, Canh Tuất Year (1010), King Lý Thái
Tổ transferred the capital from Hoa Lư to the Đại La Citadel. When his
boat stopped outside the citadel, he saw a golden dragon appearing above
the royal boat. He then decided to change the capital’s name to Thăng
Long.”
5. Đông Đô
The Complete History of
Đại Việt says, “In April of the Đinh Sửu Year (1397), General Hồ Hán
Thương was appointed to rule the area called Đông Đô.” Or, as a Nguyễn
Dynasty writer explained in An In-depth History of Việt Nam, “By
then Thanh Hóa was called Tây Đô (Western City), and Thăng Long, Đông Đô
(Eastern City).”
6. Đông Quan
The Ming Dynasty of
China called Hà Nội “Đông Quan” to humiliate Việt Nam after they
defeated Hồ Quý Ly in 1408. Đông Quan means “the eastern gate” of the
Chinese empire.
7. Đông Kinh
The Complete History of
Đại Việt relates: “In April of the Đinh Mùi Year (1427), King Lê Lợi
moved from the Bồ Đề Place to Đông Kinh (the Eastern Capital). He named
his reign “Thuận Thiên” and the country “Đại Việt” (Great Việt), and
used Đông Kinh as the capital. On the 15th day, he acceded to
the throne in Đông Kinh, also known as Thăng Long.
Since Thanh Hóa already
had Tây Đô, Thăng Long was then called Đông Kinh.”
8. Bắc Thành
During the Tây Sơn
period, under the rule of Nguyễn Huệ (Quang Trung), 1787–1802, the
capital was located in Phú Xuân (present-day Huế). Thăng Long was
renamed Bắc Thành (the Northern Citadel).
9. Thăng Long
In The History of the
Hà Nội Capital (1960), Trần Huy Liệu wrote: “In 1802, King Gia Long
decided to continue to use Phú Xuân as the capital instead of Thăng
Long. He appointed Nguyễn Văn Thành as Governor of the North, and turned
Thăng Long into a regional citadel to control the North. However, King
Gia Long decided to keep the name Thăng Long unchanged as it was very
popular among the people. He therefore, in 1805, changed only the word
“Long” (Dragon) into its homophone “Long” (Prosperity) [written with a
different Chinese character]. His argument was that the King no longer
lived there, so “Long” (Dragon), which was the King’s symbol, could not
be used.” Gia Long also ordered the size of the Hà Nội Citadel to be
reduced, because it was too large and grand for a regional city.
10. Hà Nội
The History of the Hà
Nội Capital
also explains, “In 1831, King Ming Mạng merged Thăng Long
with surrounding districts such as Từ Liêm, Ứng Hòa, Lý Nhân and Thường
Tín to establish the province of Hà Nội, and used the former area of
Thăng Long as the provincial capital.
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Illustration
photo
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* Unofficial names
These include names
used in literary works, popular sayings and spoken Vietnamese to refer
to Thăng Long (Hà Nội).
1. Trường An (or Tràng
An)
Trường An (in Mandarin,
“Chang’an”) was the capital of China during the powerful Han and Tang
dynasties (present day Xi’an, Shanxi Province). Vietnamese Confucian
scholars therefore used Tràng An to denote “the capital.” Common in
popular sayings and proverbs to refer to Thăng Long (Hà Nội), such as
the following:
Nothing can equal the
fragrance of jasmine flowers
No one can surpass the
refined lifestyle of the people of Tràng An
2. Phượng Thành (or
Phụng Thành)
Doctoral laureate
Nguyễn Thanh Giản Thanh wrote a famous poem in Nôm script about Thăng
Long in the early 16th century entitled The Spring Scenery of
Phượng Thành (Phoenix Citadel). The name Phoenix Citadel was therefore
used in Vietnamese literature to refer to Thăng Long.
3. Long Biên
From the 3rd
to 6th centuries, Chinese rulers used Long Biên as their
administrative headquarters for governing Việt Nam. The name “Long Biên”
continued to be used in literary works to refer to Thăng Long–Hà Nội.
King Tự Đức expressed his grief at the death of Hà Nội governor and
doctoral laureate Trần Bích San (1838-1877) in The Book of Royal
Examinations as follows:
I still remember you
had just returned to the capital from the Long Biên Citadel.
I was about to summon
you to a discussion in the court when you suddenly parted forever.
4. Long Thành
Long Thành (Dragon
Capital) is an acronym for the City of the Flying Dragon (Thành phố
Thăng Long). A Tây Sơn Dynasty poet, Ngô Ngọc Dụ, followed his paternal
grandfather to Thăng Long where the family opened a school and practiced
traditional medicine. After witnessing King Quang Tring’s great victory
over the Qing invaders in Đống Đa, Ngọc Hồi in 1789, Ngô Ngọc Dụ wrote
The Notes on the Restoration of the Dragon Capital (Hà Nội).
5. Hà Thành
Similar to Long Thành,
this is an acronym for the City of Hà Nội. It was frequently used in
literary works to refer to Hà Nội, such as in the anonymous Song of
the Fall of the Capital, and The Song of the Indomitable Capital
by Nguyễn Văn Giai.
6. Hoàng Diệu
The name of commander
Hoàng Diệu, who led his soldiers to defend the Hà Nội Citadel against
the French attackers in 1882, was sometimes used to refer to Hà Nội
immediately after the August 1945 Revolution.
7. Kẻ Chợ, Thượng Kinh,
Kinh Kỳ, and Kinh
These are other
informal names for Thăng Long – Hà Nội sometimes found in literary works
and popular sayings. There are many other names for Hà Nội of this type,
of which this is only a partial list.
By Tường Minh