Nan Chao (น่านเจ้า, 南诏)

Thai-Chinese name of a well-organized, quasi military polity, that flourished during the 8th and 9th centuries, in what is now part of southern China and northern Southeast Asia. It was centred around present-day Yunnan and made up of an enormous variety of ethnic and linguistic groups, including a mixture of Tai and Miao-Yao people, who inhabited the southeastern part of that region. When the Chinese of the Han Dynasty in the 2nd century AD moved westward in their quest to open land communication with India, they took control over the region and absorbed it in their kingdom. They called the bewildering assortment of people that they found there mán (蛮), which means ‘barbarians’. The western and southwestern part of that region was inhabited by another group of people, with a much darker skin and who spoke a vernacular belonging to the linguistic group of Tibeto-Burman languages. Due to their darker complexion, the latter were referred to as wū mán (乌蛮), i.e. ‘black barbarians’, and it was this group of people who in the 7th century formed the basis around which the state of Nan Chao was formed. After the fall of the Han Dynasty in the 3rd century, China became divided into the Three Kingdoms, each headed by an emperor who claimed legitimate succession from the Han Dynasty, and Chinese control over the Yunnan region faded. It was not until the first half of the 7th century, that the Chinese under the Tang Dynasty regained control over about half of Yunnan, their rule extending as far as the Mekhong River, but soon after they were put on the defensive against an expanding Tibet and abandoned their attempts of direct rule in the region, now shifting to alliances with local principalities. One such ally was Pí Luō Gé (皮罗阁), in Thai also known as Khun Borom (ขุนบรม), who in the 730s united six small states in western Yunnan under his rule, which in 738 gained Chinese recognition as Nan Chao, literally ‘Jurisdiction of a Chao’ or ‘Territory of a Prince’. In 739 a first capital is established at T'ai-ho or Tài Huó (大和). Though relations with China were friendly at first, they rapidly deteriorated in the 750s, under Pí Luō Gé's son, Gé Luō Fèng (阁罗凤). Nan Chao's growing power eventually resulted in outright rebellion against the Tang Dynasty, who between 752 and 754 in retaliation sent up to four Chinese armies against Nan Chao, which were each time defeated by the armies of Gé Luō Fèng. After this, Nan Chao extended its control over the rest of Yunnan and into Burma, northern Laos and northern Thailand, and when Chinese pressure eased, the foundations of the new empire were firmly consolidated and a secondary capital was established at present-day Kunming. The Nan Chao Kingdom flourished for almost 2 centuries, until it began slowly to decline towards the end of the 9th century, due to new developments in the region, and in 902, the Nan Chao Dynasty was overthrown. Nan Chao is considered the cultural precursor of the later Kingdom of Yonok in present-day northern Thailand. Note that Nan Chao rulers followed a patronymic linkage system of their names, in which the first Chinese character of each ruler's name is the same as the last character of his father's name, or in other words (and for the names in transliteration) the last syllable of each king's name is the same as the first syllable of the name of his son. This pattern is common among peoples of the Tibeto-Burman language group, but unknown among the Tai, hence suggesting that the influence of the Tai in Nan Chao history is probably less significant than is sometimes claimed. In the lineage of the Nan Chao Dynasty, this pattern of patronymic linkage was only on occasion interrupted, because the rulers in question were not an immediate or direct foreseeable heir to the throne and became king under special circumstances. This was the case with Yán Gé (炎阁), who was a grandson of a former king; Shèng Luó Pí (盛逻皮), who was the younger brother of a king and was preceded by Yán Gé; and with Shì Lóng (世隆), who was the son of a king, who himself had succeeded two of his brothers. Alternatively transcribed Nanzhao and also spelled Nanchao. See List of NAN CHAO KINGS. 回