Bình Ngô đại cáo
Encyclopedia
Bình Ngô đại cáo or Cáo bình Ngô was an announcement written by Nguyễn Trãi in 1428 after the order of Lê Lợi to proclaim the total pacification of the Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

 and affirm the independence of Đại Việt to its people. Considered the second declaration of independence
Declaration of independence
A declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...

 of Vietnam after the poem Nam quốc sơn hà, Bình Ngô đại cáo is highly appreciated not only for its value of propaganda and history but also for its fine literary quality.

Naming

Bình Ngô đại cáo literally means Great Proclamation upon the Pacification of the Wu in which Wu (吳, Ngô) was the ancestors's land (now Fengyang County
Fengyang County
Fengyang County is a county of Anhui Province, China. It is under the administration of Chuzhou prefecture-level city.-Historical sites:During the Xia, Shang and early Zhou dynasties, the Dongyi peoples inhabited this area and were collectively known as the Huaiyi after the Huai River...

, Anhui
Anhui
Anhui is a province in the People's Republic of China. Located in eastern China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, it borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny...

) of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. In 1356, Zhu Yuanzhang himself took the title Duke of Wu (吳國公) and later King of Wu (吳王, in Vietnamese: Ngô Vương). Therefore one could reason that Nguyễn Trãi named his work Pacification of the Wu instead of Pacification of the Ming in order to subtly emphasize the victory of Đại Việt and the failure of the Ming Dynasty which was called by its origin's name Wu in the proclamation. The second part of the name, đại cáo (大誥) is commonly understood as the denotement of its literary genre, a great edict (cáo), or the announcement's great scale (đại cáo). The former was the name of a chapter in the book Classic of History
Classic of History
The Classic of History is a compilation of documentary records related to events in ancient history of China. It is also commonly known as the Shàngshū , or simply Shū...

in which great edict was a special form of an edict. But during the time of the early Ming Dynasty, great edict was used by Hongwu Emperor
Hongwu Emperor
The Hongwu Emperor , known variably by his given name Zhu Yuanzhang and by his temple name Taizu of Ming , was the founder and first emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China...

 for his official documents of imperial laws and thus became a symbol of power and authority of the Ming emperor. For this reason, there was an opinion that Nguyễn Trãi named his announcement đại cáo for the purpose of reversing the meaning of great edict from the symbol of Ming emperor to the representation of Đại Việt victory over his very own army.

Background

In 1427, Lê Lợi led the Lam Sơn uprising
Lam Sơn uprising
In 1405 the Chinese Ming Dynasty invaded Dai Viet in northern Vietnam on the pretext of settling a succession dispute. Within a year the previously independent kingdom had been reduced to a province of China...

 to the ultimate victory over the Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

 which put an end to the Fourth Chinese domination in Vietnam. As a result, in 1428 Lê Lợi ordered Nguyễn Trãi to write an announcement for people in the country about the total pacification of the Ming Dynasty and the affirmation of the independence of Đại Việt. From that demand, Nguyễn Trãi wrote Bình Ngô đại cáo which not only proclaimed the independence of the country but also claimed the equality of Đại Việt with China during the long history and expressed many own ideas of Nguyễn Trãi about the fairness, the role of people in history of the country and the way to win a war of independence. Besides, Nguyễn Trãi used Bình Ngô đại cáo to prove the just cause of the Lam Sơn uprising and why Lê Lợi's army could drive out the Ming Dynasty with its policies of relying on people to fight against the invaders. After it was announced, the proclamation was considered a success, while Nguyễn Trãi became one of the most crucial figures of the royal court after the coronation of Lê Lợi, now Lê Thái Tổ. However Nguyễn Trãi was finally executed in 1442 during the political struggle in the royal court and royal family of the early Lê Dynasty. The earliest version of Bình Ngô đại cáo that remains today was found in the 1697 edition of Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư which was compiled by Ngô Sĩ Liên
Ngô Sĩ Liên
Ngô Sĩ Liên was an historian of the Lê Dynasty. He is best known for being the principal compiler of the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, a comprehensive chronicle of the history of Vietnam and the oldest official historical record of a Vietnamese dynasty that remains today...

.

Content

Bình Ngô đại cáo is an edict-like announcement written in the literary form of parallel constructions (văn biền ngẫu). The proclamation was divided in four parts:
  • The first part demonstrated the history of Đại Việt with its identity and tradition of fighting against Chinese dynasties for the purpose of independence and equal position as China.
  • The second part denounced the conspiracy and truculent crime of the Ming Dynasty during their domination in Đại Việt when they enslaved the people and deprived resources of the country.
  • The third part narrated the Lam Sơn uprising from the hard beginning to the final victories.
  • The fourth part summarized the lesson from history and reaffirmed that the righteousness would win.


Originally, Bình Ngô đại cáo was written in Hán tự, it was translated into Vietnamese
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...

 by several scholars such as Ngô Tất Tố, Bùi Kỷ or Trần Trọng Kim
Tran Trong Kim
Trần Trọng Kim was a Vietnamese scholar and politician who served as the Prime Minister of the short-lived Empire of Vietnam, a puppet state created by Imperial Japan in 1945...

, the translated version by Trần Trọng Kim in his Việt Nam sử lược
Việt Nam sử lược
Việt Nam sử lược was the first Quoc Ngu history text compiled by Vietnamese historian Trần Trọng Kim. It covered the period from Hồng Bàng Dynasty to the time of French Indochina. The book was first published in 1921 and reprinted many times to this day...

and the revised version by Bùi Kỷ are considered the more popular and included in the schoolbook in Vietnam.
Bình Ngô đại cáo in Hán tự (read from right to left), collected into Hoàng Việt văn tuyển which was published in 1825.

Significance

Bình Ngô đại cáo is considered the second declaration of independence of Vietnam after the poem Nam quốc sơn hà which was written by Lý Thường Kiệt in the early Lý Dynasty
Lý Dynasty
The Lý Dynasty , sometimes known as the Later Lý Dynasty , was a Vietnamese dynasty that began in 1009 when Lý Thái Tổ overthrew the Prior Lê Dynasty and ended in 1225 when the queen Lý Chiêu Hoàng was forced to abdicate the throne in favor of her husband, Trần Cảnh. They ruled Vietnam for a...

. The proclamation is highly appreciated not only for its value of propaganda and history but also for its fine literary quality which is praised as the "Incomparably powerful writing document" (Thiên cổ hùng văn) in the History of Vietnam
History of Vietnam
The history of Vietnam covers a period of more than 2,700 years. By far Vietnam's most important historical international relationship has been with China. Vietnam's prehistory includes a legend about a kingdom known as Van Lang that included what is now China's Guangxi Autonomous Region and...

. With Bình Ngô đại cáo, Nguyễn Trãi asserted the obvious independence and equal status of Vietnam with China and more importantly, reckoned that independence could be achieved only when the rulers had concern for their people and made decision for the interest of the mass. Today, Bình Ngô đại cáo is taught in both secondary
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

 (grades 6–9) and high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

(grades 10–12) in Vietnam.
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