Trade Relations between the Ðại Việt Kingdom and the Song Empire in the Long Twelfth Century

Abstract

This article conducts a preliminary examination of the “Long Twelfth Century” to gain a better understanding of the dynamic nature of the network and mechanism whereby trade overland and by sea was conducted in this important contact zone between China and Vietnam. Court-based tribute relations served as a focal point around which traditional Sino-Vietnamese political, economic, and cultural exchange revolved. With the shift from sea routes to overland connections in this period, it was trade issues, not tributary protocol, that would drive official Sino-Vietnamese exchanges in the early period of asserting and securing Vietnamese independence. Indeed, it was trade that stimulated relations throughout the period of the Song dynasty’s decline.