Crisis and Renewal: Comparing the Dai Viet and Dali Kingdoms on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion

James Anderson will speak on Dai Viet and Dali Kingdoms at Columbia University as part of their Premodern China Lecture Series.

The influences of dissimilar political cultures contributed significantly to both the dissolution of the Dali kingdom (937-1253) and the survival of the Dai Viet (1225-1400) during the 13th –century Mongol conquest of modern-day Southwest China. The Dali leadership was not heavily influenced by Sinitic political practices, and the kingdom collaborated with its frontier communities in the manner of a Southeast Asian mandala state. The neighboring Dai Viet, on the other hand, had adopted various “best practices” from northern (Chinese) regimes, and so the Dai Viet frontier clan leaders received titles and administrative responsibilities within a political order centered on the court at Thang Long (modern-day Hanoi). Over time the Dai Viet frontier leaders were granted increasingly important positions within the general administration of the kingdom, and these leaders would remain loyal to the Tran court when it faced invasions from combined Mongol/ Chinese forces. The survival of the Dai Viet in this period owes a great deal to the participation of its frontier allies.