Grand Historian
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Han was a ethnoym of the Sinitic speakers in the central plains ever since the Northern Wei,for the Tang it was applied that Han meant the Tang dynasty while Fan are foreign states though not in the sense of ethnicity but nationality,during the Ming it was applied to both Northern and Southern Chinese,and the Qing made "Han" the official term for the Sinitic people they conquered while Hua was applied to Manchus and other minorities.that is your view not mine. As you know, first, Han people do not mean Chinese in China. I´ve learned from a Chinese member, the term "Han" is more a cultural umbrella than a definition of ethnics. The Vietnamese elites under the Nguyen dynasty saw themselves as Han, they did not say they were Chinese. That is the difference. Vietnam was and is still a confucism state.
Second, for almost 1,000 years (many Chinese members here on the forum like to mention it at every opportunity), VN had been a province, a part of Imperial China, the Viet/Yue people were Chinese. So being a Chinese means Chinese. People in Jiaozhi (Vietnam) were no difference to the ones of Canton or Beijing. 1,000 years! that period is longer than history of most countries in the world today. Even after being as independent nation in year 939, under the first ruler of Ngo dynasty, Vietnamese have kept this as part of their identities till today. As for vassal state, Vietnam paid tributes, but never followed orders from China.
Third, as you mentioned it, the myth the creation of Vietnam, Hung Vuong, is indeed disputed.
If theoretically Taiwan declares independent, the Taiwanese will become to what the Viets today.
a little bit off-topic
What I'm trying to establish is that Han was used to mean either as a toponym(Central Plains),the common Chinese man(regardless of ethnicty) or the native Sinitic speakers.
The Nguyen were identifying themselves as "Chinese" in culture.
For more information about the Han ethnicity read:
Critical Han Studies: The History, Representation, and Identity of China's Majority
Becoming Zhong Guo,Becoming Han: Tracing and Re-conceptualizing in Ancient Northern China , 770 B.C.- A.D. 581
Fan and Han: The Origins and Uses of a Conceptual Dichotomy in Mid-Imperial China,ca. 500-1200
No,it is unknown what ethonym the non Sinitic speakers of Southern China called themselves,they differed in language family and often warred with each other.
Furthermore the people of Northern Vietnam called themselves and were written as men of Jiao Zhi/Giao Chi they did not reuse the term Yue whether it be 越 or 粵 as an ethonym.
Despite the misconception that Vietnam was always struggling to break away from Chinese rule there was periods of relative peace such as rule by Shi Xie,so Northern Vietnamese only rebelled when there was a harsh governor,the regions of Guangxi and Guangdong were not pacified and heavily settled with Chinese until Tang.
Even Ly Bi called his kingdom Wan Quan/Van Xuan not Dai Viet,hell the Cantonese state of Southern Han was previously named Da Yue.
You should realize that the Vietnamese language has a lot of native Vietnamese words(I'm not talking about Sino-Vietnamese) that are Chinese in origin one theory is that Northern Vietnamese switched from a Sinitic language to a Muong language
Laqured Words : The Evolution of Vietnamese Under Sinitic Influences From the 1st Century BCE Through the 17th Century CE
There is no dispute,there is absolutely no historical or archaeological proof to back up the Xich Quy or Van Lang existence
I still find it hilarious how some Vietnamese use it as an excuse that they owned Southern China or that China was influenced by Vietnam.
The problem with your analogy is that the overwhelmingly majority of the ethnic Han population of Taiwan are descendants of those that migrated either during the Qing as farmers/merchants or arrived later due to the KMT fleeing to Taiwan.
Furthermore the theory that Taiwanese Han are actually sinicized aborigines is a minority view.
Since I can't post links to sources due to insufficient permissions, pm me if you need them.
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