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Ancient tiles found in Fuzhou (Minyue state)

The Baiyue (Chinese: 百越; pinyin: Bǎiyuè), Hundred Yue or Yue (越) is a loose term denoting various partly Sinicized or un-Sinicized peoples who inhabited southern China and northern Vietnam between the first millennium BC and the first millennium AD.^[1][2] In the Warring States period, the word "Yue" referred to the State of Yue in Zhejiang. The later kingdoms of Minyue in Fujian and Nanyue in Guangdong are both considered Baiyue states. Chinese writers depicted the Yue as barbarians who had tattoos, lived in primitive conditions, and lacked such technology as bows, arrows, horses and chariots. The Baiyue have been compared to the lost tribes of Israel, with a great deal of speculation among Chinese historians concerning who they were and what happened to them.^[3] Connecting them to existing peoples in South China led to questions concerning the Chinese character of the South, while connecting them to the Vietnamese might validate nationalistic Vietnamese views.^[3] Many of the ethnic groups now inhabiting southern China and northern Vietnam are thought to be descendants of the Baiyue or have some connection to the ancient Baiyue.^[3][4] Variations of the name are still used in both the name of Vietnam (Chinese: 越; Vietnamese: Việt) and the abbreviation for Guangdong (Chinese: 粤; Cantonese Yale: Yuht).

Name[link]

The modern term "Yue" (Chinese: 越 or 粵; pinyin: Yuè; Cantonese Yale: Yuht; Wade-Giles: Yüeh⁴; Vietnamese: Việt; Zhuang: Vot; Early Middle Chinese: Wuat) comes from Old Chinese *wjat.^[5] It was first written using the pictograph "戉" for an axe (a homophone), in oracle bone and bronze inscriptions of the late Shang dynasty (ca. 1200 BC), and later as "越".^[6] At that time it referred to a people or chieftain to the northwest of the Shang.^[1] In the early 8th century BC, a tribe on the middle Yangtze were called the Yángyuè, a term later used for peoples further south.^[1] Between the 7th and 4th centuries BC "Yue" referred to the state of Yue in the lower Yangtze basin and its people.^[1][6]

From the 3rd century BC the it was used for the non-Chinese populations of south and southwest China and northern Vietnam, with particular states or groups called Mǐnyuè, Nányuè, Luòyuè (Vietnamese: Lạc Việt), etc., collectively called the Bǎiyuè ("Hundred Yue").^[1][6] The term "Baiyue" (Chinese: 百越; pinyin: Bǎiyuè; Cantonese Yale: Baak Yuht; Vietnamese: Bách Việt; Zhuang: Bouxvot) first appears in the book Lüshi Chunqiu compiled around 239 BC.^[7]

In ancient China, the characters 越 and 粵 (both yuè in pinyin) were used interchangeably. But in modern Chinese, they are differentiated:

• The former is used to refer to the original territory of the Yue Kingdom, based in present-day northern Zhejiang Province, especially the areas around Shaoxing and Ningbo. The opera of Zhejiang, for example, is called "Yue Opera" (yuèjù, 越劇). The character "越" is also used to write Vietnam, a word adapted from Nányuè (Vietnamese: Nam Việt).
• The latter character "粵" (yuè) is associated with the southern province of Guangdong. Both the regional dialects of Yue Chinese and the standard form, popularly called "Cantonese", are spoken in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau and in many Cantonese communities around the world.

Ancient Yue peoples[link]

Ancient texts mention a number of Yue peoples. Most of these names survived into early imperial times:

Historian Luo Xianglin has suggested that these peoples shared a common ancestry with the Xia Dynasty. There is little evidence, however, that the Yue peoples held any common identity.

Peoples of the lower Yangtze[link]

In the 5th millennium BC, the lower Yangtze area was already a major population centre, occupied by the Hemudu and Majiabang cultures, who were among the earliest cultivators of rice. By the 3rd millennium BC, the successor Liangzhu culture shows some influence from the Longshan culture of the North China Plain.^[8]

From the 9th century BC, two northern Yue peoples, the Gou-Wu and Yu-Yue, were increasingly influenced by their Chinese neighbours to their north. These two states were based in the areas of what is now southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang respectively. Their aristocratic elite learned the written Chinese language and adopted Chinese political institutions and military technology. Traditional accounts attribute the cultural change to the Grand Earl of Wu (吳太伯), a Zhou prince who had fled to the south. The marshy lands of the south gave Gou-Wu and Yu-Yue unique characteristics. They did not engage in extensive agrarian agriculture, relying instead more heavily on aquaculture. Water transport was paramount in the south, so the two states became advanced in shipbuilding and developed riverine warfare technology. They were also known for their fine swords.

In the Spring and Autumn Period, the two states, now called Wu and Yue, were becoming increasingly involved in Chinese politics. In 512 BC, Wu launched a large expedition against the large state of Chu, based in the Middle Yangtze River. A similar campaign in 506 succeeded in sacking the Chu capital Ying. Also in that year, war broke out between Wu and Yue and continued with breaks for the next three decades. In 473 BC, the Yue king Goujian finally conquered Wu and was acknowledged by the northern states of Qi and Jin. In 333 BC, Yue was in turn conquered by Chu.^[9] After the fall of State of Yue, the ruling family moved south to what is now Fujian and established the Minyue kingdom.

The kings of the state of Yue, and therefore its successor state Minyue, claimed to be descended from Yu the Great of the Chinese Xia dynasty.^[10] According to Sima Qian, Wu was founded by Wu Taibo, a brother of King Wu of the Zhou dynasty.

Sinification and displacement[link]

Qin empire and Yue peoples, 210 BC

After the unification of China by Qin Shi Huang, the former Wu and Yue states became incorporated into the Chinese empire. The Qin armies also advanced south along the Xiang River to modern Guangdong and set up commanderies along the main communication routes. "In the south he seized the land of the hundred tribes of the Yue and made of it Guilin and Xiang provinces, and the lords of the hundred Yue bowed their heads, hung halters from their necks, and pleaded for their lives with the lowest officials of the Qin," wrote Sima Qian.^[11]

The "Treatise of Geography" in the Han Shu (completed 111 AD) describes the Yue lands as stretching from Kuaiji (in modern Zhejiang) to Jiaozhi (modern northern Vietnam).^[9] Throughout the Han Dynasty period two groups of Yue were identified, that of the Nanyue in the far south, who lived mainly in the area of what is now Guangdong, Guangxi, and Vietnam; and that of the Minyue to the southeast, centred on the Min River in modern Fujian. The kings of Minyue claimed to be descended from Yu the Great of the Chinese Xia dynasty.^[10]

The kingdom of Nanyue was founded at the collapse of the Qin Dynasty in 204 BC by the local Qin commander Zhao Tuo. At its height, Nanyue was the strongest of the Baiyue states, with Zhao Tuo declaring himself emperor and receiving the allegiance of neighbouring kings.^[12] The dominant ethnicities of this kingdom were the Han and Yue, who held all the most important positions in the kingdom.^[13] Intermarriage was encouraged and was very common among the commoners, and it happened even in the royal family of Nanyue, the last king was descendant of Han and Yue.^{[citation needed]} The kingdom of Nanyue was destroyed in 111 BC by an army of Emperor Wu of Han.

Sinification of these peoples was brought about by a combination of imperial military power, regular settlement and Chinese refugees. According to one Chinese immigrant of the second century BC, the Baiyue "cut their hair short, tattooed their body, live in bamboo groves with neither towns nor villages, possessing neither bows or arrows, nor horses or chariots."^[14] The difficulty of logistics and the malarial climate in the south made the displacement and eventual sinification of the Yue peoples a slow process. When the Chinese came into contact with local Yue peoples, they often wrested control of territory from them or subjugated them by force. When a serious rebellion broke out in 40 AD led by the Trung Sisters in what is now modern Vietnam, a force of some 10,000 imperial troops was dispatched under General Ma Yuan. Between 100 and 184 AD no less than seven outbreaks of violence took place, often answered with strong action by the Chinese.

As Chinese migrants gradually increased, the Yue were gradually forced into poorer land on the hills and in the mountains. Unlike the nomadic peoples of Central Asia, such as the Xiongnu or the Xianbei, however, the Yue peoples never posed any serious threat to Chinese expansion or control. Sometimes they staged small scale raids or attacks on Chinese settlements – termed "rebellions" by traditional historians.

Most Yue peoples were eventually sinicized, and continue to live in Zhejiang and Guangdong,^[15][16] the Kam–Tai (Tai–Kadai): Zhuang, Buyi, Dai, Sui (Shui), Kam (Dong), Hlai (Li), Mulam, Maonan, Ong-Be (Lingao), Thai, Lao, Shan, and Vietnamese people retained their ethnic identities. Some of these peoples migrated to Mon–Khmer areas after ruled by officials of Han Chinese emperors.^[17]

Language[link]

Our knowledge of Yue speech is limited to fragmentary references and possible loanwords in other languages, principally Chinese. The longest is the "Song of the Yue boatman" (Chinese: 越人歌; pinyin: Yuèrén Gē), a short song transcribed phonetically in Chinese characters in 528 BC and included, with a Chinese version, in the Shuoyuan compiled by Liu Xiang five centuries later.

There is some disagreement about the languages they spoke, with candidates drawn from the non-Sinitic language families still represented in areas of southern China, the Tai–Kadai, Miao–Yao (Hmong–Mien) and Austro-Asiatic. Chinese, Tai–Kadai, Miao–Yao and the Vietic branch of Austro-Asiatic have similar tone systems, syllable structure, grammatical features and lack of inflection, but these are believed to be areal features spread by diffusion rather than indicating common descent.^[18]

Jerry Norman and Mei Tsi-Lin presented evidence that at least some Yue spoke an Austro-Asiatic language:^[6][19][20]

• Zheng Xuan (127–200 AD) wrote that (Chinese: 扎; pinyin: zā) was the word used by the Yue people (越人) to mean "die". Norman and Mei reconstruct this word as OC *tsət and relate it to Austro-Asiatic words with the same meaning, such as Vietnamese chêt and Mon chɒt.
• According to the Shuowen Jiezi (100 AD), "In Nanyue, the word for dog is (Chinese: 撓獀; pinyin: náosōu; EMC: nuw-ʂuw)". (Sōu is "hunt" in modern Chinese.)
• The early Chinese name for the Yangtze (Chinese: 江; pinyin: jiāng; EMC: kœ:ŋ; OC: *kroŋ) was later extended to a general word for "river" in south China. Norman and Mei suggest that the word is cognate with Vietnamese sông (from *krong) and Mon kruŋ "river".

They also provide evidence of an Austro-Asiatic substrate in the vocabulary of Min Chinese dialects.^[6][21] Norman and Mei's hypothesis is widely quoted, but has recently been criticized by Laurent Sagart.^[22]

Scholars in China often assume that the Yue spoke an early form of Tai–Kadai. The linguist Wei Qingwen gave a rendering of the "Song of the Yue boatman" in the Zhuang language. Zhengzhang Shangfang proposed an interpretation of the song in written Thai (dating from the late 13th century) as the closest available approximation to the original language, but his interpretation remains controversial.^[22][23]

Legacy[link]

The fall of the Han Dynasty and the succeeding period of division sped up the process of sinification. Periods of instability and war in northern China, such as the Northern and Southern Dynasties and during the Song Dynasty led to mass migrations of Chinese.^[24] Intermarriage and cross-cultural dialogue has led to a mixture of Chinese and non-Chinese peoples in the south.^{[citation needed]} By the Tang Dynasty (618–907), the term "Yue" had largely become a regional designation rather than a cultural one. A state in modern Zhejiang province during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, for example, called itself "Wu-Yue". Likewise, the "Viet" in "Vietnam" (literally, "Viet South") is a cognate of the "Yue".

The impact of Yue culture on Chinese culture has not been determined authoritatively but it is clear that it is significant. The languages of the ancient states of Wu and Yue had significant influence on the modern Wu language and to some extent of the Min languages of Fujian.^{[citation needed]} Linguistic anthropologists have also determined that a number of Chinese words can be traced to ancient Yue words, such as the word jiāng (river) mentioned above. To some extent, some remnants of the Yue peoples and their culture can also be seen in some minority groups of China and in Vietnam.

See also[link]

• Zhonghua Minzu
• Chinese people

References[link]

External links[link]

• The power of language over the past: Tai settlement and Tai linguistics in southern China and northern Vietnam
• Dr.Hui Li, A Genetics Anthropologist on Daic populations

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. It includes attribution to IMDb, which may not be a reliable source for biographical information. Please help by adding additional, reliable sources for verification. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2008)

Jeff Chang (born Jeffrey Chang Shin-Che on 26 March 1967) is a Taiwanese male singer, who performs sentimental Mandarin pop ballads.

Chang was born in Yunlin, Taiwan. He started off his showbiz career by winning a singing competition while in college. Since 1989 he has released a string of highly successful albums and is known as the "Prince of Love Ballads" in the Chinese pop world. His name is well known across Taiwan, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and mainland China.

Besides singing, Chang's interests include arts, antiques, traveling and water sports.

Albums[link]

• (2011): 花季末了
• (2010): Genesis 初
• (2008): Escape 逃生
• (2007): Autumn Snow 雪國八月(Cantonese Album)
• (2006): Be Your Man 做你的男人
• (2005): Jeff Chang's Special Collection 張信哲Jeff情歌精選
• (2004): The Next Eternity 下一個永遠
• (2002): From Beginning Until Now 從開始到現在
• (2001): I Really Miss 我好想
• (2000): Faith 信仰
• (1999): Come Back 回來
• (1998): Dao Chu Liu Qing 到處留情(Cantonese Album)
• (1998): The Best Collection of Jeff Chang 張信哲收藏精選 (Cantonese Album)
• (1997): Intuition 直覺
• (1997): Jeff Chang's Compilation 選哲 (精選輯)
• (1997): Zhi Ai 摯愛 (Adore)
• (1996): Miss 思念 (Cantonese Album)
• (1996): Dream 夢想
• (1996): The Color of the Night 夜色(英文專輯)
• (1995): Shen Qing 深情(Deep love) (Cantonese Album)
• (1995): Generosity 寬容
• (1995): Zui Xin 醉心
• (1995): Yong You 擁有
• (1995): SomeWhere In My Broken Heart 心碎深處(英文專輯)
• (1994): Waiting 等待
• (1993): Xin Shi 心事(Mind)
• (1992): Know 知道
• (1992): My Eyes Adore You 永遠·摯愛(英文專輯)
• (1989): Forget 忘記
• (1989): Melancholy 憂鬱
• (1989): Lie 說謊

Films[link]

• (2007): 明明 Ming Ming
• (2006): 不完全戀人 Stand in Love
• (2002): 停車暂借問 (烟雨紅顏) A Pinwheel Without Wind

References[link]

• IMDB entry (English)
• Official blog (Chinese)
• Official website (Chinese)
• Jeff Chang's albums lyrics, pinyin lyrics, english translation (English)

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Li Xiaopeng
Personal information
Full name	Li Xiaopeng
Country represented	People's Republic of China
Born	(1981-07-27) July 27, 1981 (age 30) Changsha, Hunan
Height	5'3"
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior
Eponymous skills	"Li Xiaopeng hop" in vault and "Li Xiaopeng arm hang"
Medal record Artistic Gymnastics Olympic Games Gold 2000 Sydney Team competition Gold 2000 Sydney Parallel Bars Gold 2008 Beijing Team competition Gold 2008 Beijing Parallel Bars Bronze 2004 Athens Parallel Bars World Championships Gold 1997 Lausanne Team competition Gold 1999 Tianjin Team competition Gold 1999 Tianjin Vault Gold 2002 Debrecen Vault Gold 2002 Debrecen Parallel Bars Gold 2003 Anaheim Team competition Gold 2003 Anaheim Vault Gold 2003 Anaheim Parallel Bars Silver 1997 Lausanne Parallel Bars Silver 2005 Melbourne Parallel Bars Bronze 1997 Lausanne Floor World Cup Gold 1998 Sabae Parallel Bars Gold 1998 Sabae Floor Gold 2002 Stuttart Parallel Bars Gold 2006 Sao Paulo Parallel Bars

Li Xiaopeng (simplified Chinese: 李小鹏; traditional Chinese: 李小鵬; pinyin: Lǐ Xiǎopéng; July 27, 1981 in Changsha, Hunan) is a male Chinese gymnast, who specializes in parallel bars and vault. He currently holds 16 world titles, more than any other gymnasts in China.^[1] On 29 August 2009, he was the torch bearer for the torch relay of the East Asian Games in Hong Kong.

Early years[link]

He began gymnastics training at Changsha Spare-time Sports School in Hunan Province at the age of 6 and was a member of the Hunan provincial team at 12. Li's diligence and skill soon set him apart from his peers, which could be proved by his several provincial titles. At the age of 15, he was selected into the national team.

National team[link]

At 16, Li Xiaopeng became China's youngest world (team) gymnastics champion ever when he and his teammates won the men's team final at the 1997 Lausanne World Championships. At the same event, Li also received a silver medal for parallel bars, just second to his teammate Zhang Jingjin, and a bronze for floor exercise.

At the 1999 Tianjin World Championships, Li was part of the Chinese team to become men's team champion. Individually, he won his first gold medal in vault. However, his failure in parallel bars left something to be desired, which pushed him to train harder for the Sydney Olympics.

At the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, Li and his teammates gave an outstanding performance, earning them the gold medal at the prestigious men's team event, a first for Chinese gymnasts. Li also won an individual gold medal in parallel bars.

At the 2003 Anaheim World Championships, Li Xiaopeng was the only person to win three gold medals, namely for men's team final, vault and parallel bars. Thus he was voted as the 2003 World Gymnast of the Year.^[2]

However, due to a severe foot injury, Li's performance at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games was unsatisfactory. China finished 5th at the men's team final, and Li could only get a bronze in parallel bars, after being undefeated in major competitions since 2000. He was the fourth athlete to compete in the vault event finals, but unfortunately shuffled during the initial sprint and fell on the first jump.

Li had been suffering from a chronic ankle injury and had an operation in 2005. He rested for that whole year, refraining from participating in any competitions.

In 2006, he made a successful comeback by winning a gold in parallel bars at the São Paulo World Cup Series Final. By then he had tied with his idol, China's gymnastic legend Li Ning, by winning a record of 14 world titles.^[3]

In 2008, after suffering from toe injury, he came back and won titles for parallel bars at the two gymnastics World Cups, Cottbus and Tianjin.

After winning two gold medals for men's team and parallel bars at the Beijing Olympics, he surpassed Li Ning by holding 16 world titles, more than any other gymnasts in China.

Competitive highlights[link]

Influences[link]

The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique has named two routines after Li. They are "Li Xiaopeng hop" in vault, and "Li Xiaopeng arm hang" in parallel bars.

Personal life[link]

Since 2003, Li has been dating Chinese-American model Li "Angel" Anqi, daughter of former gymnasts Li Xiaoping and Wen Jia. The couple married in LA on June 5, 2010. and plans to hold a second marriage ceremony in Beijing on July 11, 2010. Due to a problem with the visa of Li's parents, they were unable to attend the LA wedding ceremony. They will, however, attend the Beijing ceremony.^[4]

External links[link]

• Li Xiaopeng at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique

References[link]

Gymnastics portal