Sip Song Chau Tai

The Sip Song Chau Tai[nb 1] ("Twelve Tai cantons"; Vietnamese: Mười hai xứ Thái; Thai: สิบสองจุไทย or สิบสองเจ้าไท; Lao: ສິບສອງຈຸໄຕ or ສິບສອງເຈົ້າໄຕ; Chinese: 泰族十二州) was a confederation of Tai Dam ("Black Tai"), Tai Dón ("White Tai") and Tai Daeng ("Red Tai") chiefdoms in the mountainous north-west of today's Vietnam, dating back at least to the 17th century.[1]

Tai Federation

Sip Song Chau Tai
before 17th century–1954
Flag
Coat of arms
The later Tai Federation, 1950, based on the Sip Song Chau Tai
StatusFrench protectorate, part of French Indochina (1889–1948)
Autonomous federation within the French Union (1948–50)
Crown domain of the Vietnamese Emperor (1950–54)
Capitalnone (before 1948)
Lai Châu (1948–54)
Common languagesFrench, Vietnamese, Tai languages
Historical eraNew Imperialism
• Established
before 17th century
• Disestablished
1954
CurrencyFrench Indochinese piastre
Succeeded by
North Vietnam
Today part ofNorthwest region, Vietnam

It became an autonomous part of the French protectorate of Tonkin, and thereby of French Indochina, in 1889. In 1948, during the period of the First Indochina War, it was transformed into the Tai Federation (French: Fédération Thaï) that was recognized as an autonomous component of the French Union.[2] In 1950 it was made a crown domain of Vietnamese emperor Bảo Đại without being integrated into the State of Vietnam.[3][4] It was dissolved after the Geneva Agreements of 1954.

Name

The number Sip Song is Tai language for twelve, as with Thai "twelve" (12, ๑๒, สิบสอง, sip song, Thai pronunciation: [sìp sɔ̌ːŋ]). A parallel etymology with the number twelve can also be found in the place name Sip Song Panna (Xishuangbanna) in China. Chau is land (similar to sino-Vietnamese 州 and not to be confused with similar sounding Thai chau, lord) and Tai (ไต๋, Chinese 傣).[5]

Early history

Tai peoples have settled in the northwestern parts of what now is Vietnam since the early first millennium CE or, at the latest, the 5th to 8th century. They mainly settled along the Black River (Sông Đà). One Black Tai chiefdom—located at the place today known as Điện Biên Phủ—was named Muang Thaeng, just like the legendary kingdom of Khun Borom, protagonist of a Tai creation myth and believed to be the progenitor of the Lao, Thai, Shan and other Tai peoples, who later spread to the territories of modern Laos, Thailand, Burma, northeast India and the south of China's Yunnan province.[6]

Like in other Tai societies, the core social units of the Tai Dam, Tai Dón and Tai Daeng were the village (ban) and the chiefdom (mueang, Vietnamese mường), each consisting of several villages and ruled by a feudal lord (chao). Their base of life was wet rice cultivation, which is why the Tai settled in valleys alongside the course of rivers. A number (perhaps 12) of these mueang, situated in the modern-day provinces of Điện Biên, Lai Châu, Sơn La as well as western parts of Lào Cai and Yên Bái grouped together and formed a long-term alliance, called Sip Song Chau Tai. Usually one of the lords was considered senior to the others, but each of them maintained the power over his chiefdom. The alliance has been formalized since at least the 17th century,[1] but the chiefdoms never merged into one homogenous state.[7] The number of mueangs belonging to the confederation altered during the course of time, but the number "twelve" was kept in the name for symbolic reasons.

In premodern Southeast Asia's complex political geography, Sip Song Chau Tai lay at the intersection of several larger mandalas (circles of influence): At different times, it had to pay tribute to China, Vietnam, Lan Xang/Luang Phrabang (in today's Laos) and/or Siam (Thailand). Nevertheless, the Tai chiefdoms always maintained their autonomy in internal affairs.

French Indochina

Even though the upland Tai had stronger ethnic and cultural ties to Laos, Sip Song Chau Tai was incorporated into the French protectorate of Tonkin—and therefore French Indochina—after 1888. This was arranged by the French explorer and colonial representative Auguste Pavie who signed a treaty with Đèo Văn Trị, the White Tai lord of Muang Lay (Lai Châu) on 7 April 1889.[8] Thereby the Sip Song Chau Tai accepted the French overlordship, while the colonial power promised to respect the positions of the Tai lords and their autonomy in internal affairs.

At that time the 12 principalities were:

  1. Mường Tè
  2. Mường So (now Phong Thổ District)
  3. Mường Sat
  4. Mường Ma
  5. Mường Lay
  6. Mường Chien
  7. Mường Chan
  8. Mường Than
  9. Mường Quài (now Tuần Giáo District)
  10. Mường Thanh
  11. Mường Muoi (now Thuận Châu District)
  12. Mường Lo

Following Đèo Văn Trị's death, leadership of the White Tai passed to his third son Đèo Văn Long, passing over the second son. After the Japanese coup of 1945, Đèo Văn Long fled Lai Chau with retreating French units. On his return, with the assistance of a Eurasian agricultural official named Louis Bordier, Đèo Văn Long was reestablished, and the French agreed to honor the terms of Pavie's 1889 agreement with Long's father. Bordier married Long's daughter and as his son-in-law proceeded to direct military operations of the White Tai against the Black Tai at Son La who supported the Viet Minh. Several Tai companies fought alongside the French in the First Indochina War, against both the communist Viet Minh and the nationalist Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (VNQDD),[9] probably motivated by their distrust vis-à-vis the lowland Vietnamese and their wish to retain the autonomy they enjoyed under the French.

Tai Federation

In 1948, the French colonial administration declared the Tai Federation (French: Fédération Thaï, native name: Phen Din Tai, Vietnamese: Khu tự trị Thái; by that time consisting of 19 Tai states in then three Vietnamese provinces of Lai Châu, Sơn La and Phong Thổ) to be an independent component of the French Union. It had its own flag, constitution and parliament.[2] Đèo Văn Long was appointed president for life and Lai Châu was chosen as the capital.[10]

The Tai Federation was however not only populated by Tai peoples, but also other "hill tribes" (montagnards), including Hmong, Yao, Yi (Lolo) and Khmu. They were labeled as "sub-minorities" and treated inferior to the Tais.[2] Đèo Văn Long monopolized all the state power in his person and family, as well as the opium trade (which was tolerated by the French).[11] In 1950, the Tai Federation was made a crown domain of the French-installed Vietnamese emperor Bảo Đại, but not an integrated part of the State of Vietnam. Bảo Đại refrained from delegating a governor to Lai Châu, but rather left the power in the hands of Đèo Văn Long and the Tai lords. The emperor visited his domain only once, in 1952.[3]

Many of the subjugated groups supported the Viet Minh on their advance to the Northwest starting in 1952. There were also rising tensions between the different Tai groups and their lords. Đèo Văn Long had simply dismissed the Black Tai lord of Muang Thaeng (Dien Bien Phu), Lò Văn Hặc, and replaced him by his own son. The disempowered chief and many members of his tribe joined forces with the Viet Minh to both seek retaliation against the Đèo family and to dislodge the dominance of the White Tai.[12] Following the death of Đèo Văn Long's oldest son, his third son Deo Van Un took command of 4,000 White Tai partisans, but was killed at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu of March to May 1954.[13] This was a decisive battle of the Indochina War and sealed the defeat of the French. Đèo Văn Long was evacuated by helicopter to Hanoi, then departed to Laos and finally went into exile in France. The Geneva Agreements of July 1954 awarded the whole of North Vietnam to the communist-led Democratic Republic (DRV) and dissolved the autonomous Tai Federation, marking the end of the centuries-old rule of the feudal lords.[11] Thousands of Tais left their native land and emigrated to France, Australia and the United States (mainly settling in Iowa).

Democratic Republic of Vietnam

In order to avoid ethnic tensions, the DRV designated its northwestern provinces of Lai Châu, Sơn La and Nghĩa Lộ as the "Tai-Meo [i.e. Hmong] Autonomous Region" (Vietnamese: Khu Tự trị Thái-Mèo), modeled on the national autonomies of communist China. It was renamed the "Northwest Autonomous Region" (Khu Tự trị Tây Bắc) in 1961, in order to not highlight just two of the many ethnic groups in this zone. The autonomy was rescinded after the Vietnamese reunification of 1975.[14][15]

Following Đèo Văn Long's death in 1975, his title and position among the exile community of the "Pays Taï" passed to his daughter Deo Nang Toï, who has lived in Paris until her death in 2008.

Notes
  1. Other spellings include: Sip Song Chau Thai, Sipsong Chuthai, Sipsong Chu Tai, Sip Song Chu Tai, Sipsongchuthai, Sip Song Chu Thai, Sipsong Chau Tai, Sip Song Chao Thai, Sipsong Chao Tai, Sipsongchutai, Sipsong Chao Thai.

References
  1. Jean Michaud (2000). "A Historical Panorama of the Montagnards in Northern Vietnam under French Rule". In Michaud, Jean (ed.). Turbulent Times and Enduring Peoples: Mountain Minorities in the South-East Asian Massif. Curzon Press. pp. 53–54. ISBN 0-7007-1180-5. In the north-western highlands ... the loose federation of Sip Song Chau Tai, the Twelve Tai Cantons, had been formalized around it [Muang Lay (Lai Châu)] since at least the 17th century.
  2. Jean Michaud (2000). "A Historical Panorama of the Montagnards in Northern Vietnam under French Rule". In Michaud, Jean (ed.). Turbulent Times and Enduring Peoples: Mountain Minorities in the South-East Asian Massif. Curzon Press. p. 67. ISBN 0-7007-1180-5. An accord was finally promulgated in July 1948, creating an independent Tai Federation in the Union française, a Federation grouping together the provinces of Lai Chau, Phong Tho and Son La.
  3. Virginia Thompson; Richard Adloff (1955). Minority Problems in Southeast Asia. Stanford University Press. p. 216.
  4. Andrew Hardy (2003). State Visions, Migrant Decisions: Population Movements since the End of the Vietnam War. Postwar Vietnam: Dynamics of a Transforming Society. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 134.
  5. 臨溪路 Issue 70, editor 鹿憶鹿 2006 Page 84 "西雙版納(傣文意為十二州國)未成為台灣報導的旅遊名勝前,在我們心目中仍相當陌生,出發前的心情是恐懼多於好奇。"
  6. David K. Wyatt (2004). Thailand: A Short History (2nd ed.). Silkworm Books. p. 6. ISBN 974-9575-44-X.
  7. Joachim Schliesinger (2001). Tai Groups of Thailand. Volume 1: Introduction and overview. White Lotus Press. p. 32.
  8. Jean Michaud (2000). "A Historical Panorama of the Montagnards in Northern Vietnam under French Rule". In Michaud, Jean (ed.). Turbulent Times and Enduring Peoples: Mountain Minorities in the South-East Asian Massif. Curzon Press. p. 59. ISBN 0-7007-1180-5. [Pavie] signed with Deo Van Tri .. a Protectorate treaty on 7 April 1889 ... The hereditary leader of the Sip Song Chau Tai was from now on to be referred to in French official documents as the Seigneur de Lai Chau, the Lord of Lai Chau, after the name of the town lying at the heart of his domain.
  9. Virginia Thompson; Richard Adloff (1955). Minority Problems in Southeast Asia. Stanford University Press. p. 213. The initiator and intermediary of this new agreement was a Eurasian named Bordier, formerly an official of the Agricultural Service, who later married Deo Van Long's daughter and became organizer of the Thai partisans.
  10. Virginia Thompson; Richard Adloff (1955). Minority Problems in Southeast Asia. Stanford University Press. pp. 214–215.
  11. Jean Michaud (2006). "Tai Federation". Historical Dictionary of the Peoples of the Southeast Asian Massif. Scarecrow Press. pp. 228–229.
  12. Jean Michaud (2000). "A Historical Panorama of the Montagnards in Northern Vietnam under French Rule". In Michaud, Jean (ed.). Turbulent Times and Enduring Peoples: Mountain Minorities in the South-East Asian Massif. Curzon Press. p. 69. ISBN 0-7007-1180-5. Traditional sovereignty over Dien Bien Phu ... was claimed by Black Tai leaders long installed in its surroundings as well as in the Son La area, on which the Lord of Lai Chau's supremacy had been imposed by the colonial power. Deo Van Long thus quite simply removed the local Black Tai leader Lo Van Hac and installed his own son in his place. The staunch French support of this sort of White Tai hegemonic power ... alienated the Black Tai to the colonial cause. Their main leaders joined Lo Van Hac and retaliated by defecting to the Viet Minh in the early 1950s.
  13. Jean Clauzel (2003). La France d'outre-mer (1930-1960). p. 563. Ils ont surtout été sacrifiés après la chute de Dien Bien Phu, où leur chef, Deo Van Un, troisième fils de Deo Van Long, est mort. Il avait pris le commandement des quelque 4,000 partisans thaï blancs, après la mort tragique de son frère aîné...
  14. Bruce M. Lockhart; William J. Duiker (2006). "Tây Bắc". The A to Z of Vietnam. Scarecrow Press. pp. 355–356.
  15. Jean Michaud (2006). "Tay Bac Autonomous Region". Historical Dictionary of the Peoples of the Southeast Asian Massif. Scarecrow Press. pp. 232–233.
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