Linyi (林邑; Viet, Lâm Ấp) is the name of a kingdom that appears in Chinese sources in the first few centuries AD in the area of what is now central Vietnam.
There has been a scholarly debate or disagreement about where exactly it was located, and if it was “Champa” or a kingdom that was separate from another state that we should view as “Champa.”
I recently read a 2019 chapter by epigrapher Anton O. Zakharov (“Was the Early History of Campā Really Revised? A Reassessment of the Classical Narratives of Linyi and the 6th–8th-Century Campā Kingdom”) in which he wrote the following:
Campā and Linyi always were different kingdoms and the information in Chinese sources about Linyi does not concern Campā history. Since Rolf Stein has shown that the kingdom of Linyi should have been situated to the north of the Hải Vân pass (1947), it should be freely admitted that the Thu Bồn valley had no direct connection with Linyi. But British, Japanese and Vietnamese archaeologists continue to be attached to the idea that the sites excavated in this valley, Trà Kiệu among them, belong to Linyi. (149)
I then saw in the recently published A Maritime Vietnam: From Earliest Times to the Nineteenth Century (2024), by historian Li Tana, the following related passage:
Earlier twentieth-century scholars were uncertain whether the southern border of Rinan commandery, and therefore of the Han Empire, lay at the Hai Van Pass, a formidable mountain pass that hugs the coast of Central Vietnam, just north of the present-day city of Da Nang, or whether it extended further south into the Thu Bon River valley of Quang Nam. Archaeological discoveries in Quang Nam in the 1990s put an end to that doubt. Now it is certain that during the first century BCE, bronze mirrors and vessels, iron knives, ceramics and coins of Chinese origin arrived the Thu Bon valley, where a trading centre for Indian, Chinese and inland goods developed. This proves Dao Duy Anh’s view that the center of Rinan’s southmost district, Xianglin (V. Tuong Lam, ‘elephant forest’), lay in Tra Kieu, now a village in Quang Nam province about 25 kilometres inland from the sea in the heart of the Sa Huynh cultural zone. (83-84)
So, there you have it. Two views. They can’t both be right.
That being the case, I translated (or Gemini 3 did and I checked) the section on Linyi in the History of the Jin (Jinshu, 晉書). This is the official history of the Jin Dynasty (265-420), a dynasty that was in power during the early years of Linyi’s existence.
Maybe seeing a full passage like this, rather than a scholar’s argument, can help people decide if Linyi was north or south of the Hai Van Pass.
Let me know which side you take.
(晉書／列傳 凡七十卷／卷九十七 列傳第六十七 四夷／南蠻／林邑國)
林邑國
林邑國本漢時象林縣，則馬援鑄柱之處也，去南海三千里。後漢末，縣功曹姓區，有子曰連，殺令自立為王，子孫相承。其後王無嗣，外孫范熊代立。熊死，子逸立。其俗皆開北戶以向日，至於居止，或東西無定。人性凶悍，果於戰鬭，便山習水，不閑平地。四時暄暖，無霜無雪，人皆倮露徒跣，以黑色為美。貴女賤男，同姓為婚，婦先娉壻。女嫁之時，著迦盤衣，橫幅合縫如井欄，首戴寶花。居喪翦鬢謂之孝，燔尸中野謂之葬。其王服天冠，被纓絡，每聽政，子弟侍臣皆不得近之。
The Kingdom of Linyi
The Kingdom of Linyi was originally Xianglin District during the Han dynasty; it is the very place where Ma Yuan erected his [bronze] pillars, located three thousand leagues from Nanhai.
At the end of the Later Han dynasty, [an administrative clerk in] the District Labor Section surnamed Ou/Qu had a son named Lian. [Lian] killed the district magistrate and established himself as king, and his descendants succeeded one another. Later, the king had no heir, so his maternal grandson, Fan Xiong, succeeded him. When Xiong died, his son Yi succeeded him.
Their custom is to open doors on the north side to face the sun. As for their dwellings, they have no fixed orientation, facing either east or west. The nature of the people is fierce and aggressive; they are decisive in battle. They are at ease in the mountains and accustomed to the water, but they are not comfortable on flat land.
The climate is warm throughout the four seasons, with neither frost nor snow. The people all go naked and barefoot, and they consider black to be beautiful. They value women and look down on men; those of the same surname marry, and the woman’s family first proposes marriage to the man.
When a woman marries, she wears a jiapan [迦盤, “kaban”?] garment, consisting of a horizontal width of cloth with joined seams resembling a well-curb, and she wears jeweled flowers on her head. During mourning, they cut their hair and call this “filial piety,” and they burn the corpse in the open fields and call that “burial.”
Their king wears a celestial crown with tassels. Whenever he holds court to administer the government, neither his sons and brothers nor his attendant officials are permitted to approach him.
自孫權以來，不朝中國。至武帝太康中，始來貢獻。咸康二年，范逸死，奴文篡位。
文，日南西卷縣夷帥范椎奴也。嘗牧牛澗中，獲二鯉魚，化成鐵，用以為刀。刀成，乃對大石嶂而呪之曰：「鯉魚變化，冶成雙刀，石嶂破者，是有神靈。」進斫之，石即瓦解。文知其神，乃懷之。隨商賈往來，見上國制度，至林邑，遂教逸作宮室、城邑及器械。逸甚愛信之，使為將。文乃譖逸諸子，或徙或奔。
Since the time of Sun Quan [of the Three Kingdoms period], they did not pay court to the Central Kingdom [China]. It was not until the Taikang era of Emperor Wu [280–289 AD] that they began to come and offer tribute. In the second year of Xiankang [336 AD], Fan Yi died, and his slave, Wen, usurped the throne.
Wen was originally a slave of Fan Zhui, a barbarian commander in Xijuan District, Rinan Commandery. Once, while grazing buffaloes in a mountain stream, he caught two carp, which transformed into iron. He used this to forge swords. When the swords were finished, he faced a large rocky cliff and swore an oath to them, saying: “Carp transformed and smelted into twin swords—if this rock shatters, then you possess a divine spirit.” He advanced and struck it, and the stone immediately crumbled like tiles.
Knowing they were divine, Wen concealed them on his person. He traveled back and forth with merchants and observed the institutions of the Superior Kingdom [i.e., the Middle Kingdom]. Upon arriving in Linyi, he taught [King] Yi how to build palaces, fortifications, and weaponry. Yi favored and trusted him greatly, appointing him as a general. Wen then slandered Yi’s sons, causing them to be either exiled or to flee.
及逸死，無嗣，文遂自立為王。以逸妻妾悉置之高樓，從己者納之，不從者絕其食。於是乃攻大岐界、小岐界、式僕、徐狼、屈都、乾魯、扶單等諸國，并之，有眾四五萬人。遣使通表入貢於帝，其書皆胡字。至永和三年，文率其眾攻陷日南，害太守夏侯覽，殺五六千人，餘奔九真，以覽尸祭天，鏟平西卷縣城，遂據日南。告交州刺史朱蕃，求以日南北鄙橫山為界。
When [Fan] Yi died, leaving no heir, Wen subsequently established himself as king. He took all of Yi’s wives and concubines and placed them in a high tower; those who submitted to him, he accepted, while those who refused, he cut off from food.
Thereupon, he attacked the various kingdoms of Great Qijie, Minor Qijie, Shipu, Xulang, Qudu, Qianlu, and Fudan, annexing them all, and possessing a multitude of forty to fifty thousand people. He sent envoys to present a memorial and offer tribute to the Emperor; the documents were all written in barbarian script.
In the third year of Yonghe [347 AD], Wen led his forces to attack and capture Rinan. He killed the governor, Xiahou Lan, and killed five or six thousand people; the survivors fled to Jiuzhen. He used Lan’s corpse as a sacrifice to Heaven, leveled the citadel of Xijuan to the ground, and subsequently occupied Rinan. He then notified Zhu Fan, the regional inspector of Jiaozhou, requesting that the Heng/Hoành mountains [usually understood to mean the area of Đèo Ngang, or Ngang Pass, between Hà Tĩnh and Quảng Bình] on the northern border of Rinan be established as the boundary.
初，徼外諸國嘗齎寶物自海路來貿貨，而交州刺史、日南太守多貪利侵侮，十折二三。至刺史姜壯時，使韓戢領日南太守，戢估較太半，又伐船調枹，聲云征伐，由是諸國恚憤。且林邑少田，貪日南之地，戢死絕，繼以謝擢，侵刻如初。及覽至郡，又耽荒於酒，政教愈亂，故被破滅。
Initially, the various kingdoms beyond the frontiers used to bring treasures by sea to trade. However, the regional inspectors of Jiaozhou and the governors of Rinan were often greedy for profit; they bullied and encroached upon the traders, taking a cut of twenty to thirty percent.
When it came to the time of Regional Inspector Jiang Zhuang, he appointed Han Ji to serve as the governor of Rinan. Ji assessed the value of goods [for taxation] at more than half. Furthermore, he fell timber for boats and requisitioned signaling drums, claiming he was going to launch a punitive expedition. Because of this, the various kingdoms were resentful and indignant.
Moreover, Linyi lacked [arable] land and coveted the territory of Rinan. After [Han] Ji died, he was succeeded by Xie Zhuo, whose encroaching and harsh nature was just as bad as [Han Ji] before.
When [Xiahou] Lan arrived at the commandery, he too indulged excessively in wine, and the administration and its moral teachings fell into even more disorder. Consequently, they were destroyed.
既而文還林邑。是歲，朱蕃使督護劉雄戍於日南，文復攻陷之。四年，文又襲九真，害士庶十八九。明年，征西督護滕畯率交廣之兵伐文於盧容，為文所敗，退次九真。其年，文死，子佛嗣。
Shortly thereafter, [Fan] Wen returned to Linyi. Within that same year, Zhu Fan sent Protector-general Liu Xiong to garrison Rinan, but Wen attacked and captured it again.
In the fourth year [of Yonghe, 348 AD], Wen raided Jiuzhen again, killing eight or nine out of every ten officials and commoners.
The following year [349 AD], the protector-general of the Western Expedition, Teng Jun, led troops from Jiaozhou and Guangzhou to attack Wen at Lurong. However, he was defeated by Wen and retreated to station at Jiuzhen.
In that same year, Wen died, and his son, Fo, succeeded him.
升平末，廣州刺史滕含率眾伐之，佛懼，請降，含與盟而還。至孝武帝寧康中，遣使貢獻。至義熙中，每歲又來寇日南、九真、九德等諸郡，殺傷甚眾，交州遂致虛弱，而林邑亦用疲弊。
佛死，子胡達立，上疏貢金盤椀及金鉦等物。
At the end of the Shengping era [approx. 361 AD], the regional inspector of Guangzhou, Teng Han, led a force to attack them. [Fan] Fo was frightened and begged to surrender. Han concluded a covenant with him and returned.
During the Ningkang era of Emperor Xiaowu [373–375 AD], they sent envoys to offer tribute.
However, by the Yixi era [405–418 AD], they came every year to raid the commanderies of Rinan, Jiuzhen, and Jiude. They killed and wounded a great number of people. Consequently, Jiaozhou was rendered weak and depleted, though Linyi was also exhausted by the effort.
When Fo died, his son Huda succeeded him. He submitted a memorial and offered tribute consisting of gold plates and bowls, gold gongs, and other items.
Thanks for the translation. Zakharov does not read classical Chinese, hence he relied on Stein, whose work is not accessable outside of the major academic libraries. Li Tana in theory is versed in Chinese, but given the many instances where she is making things up, is not trustworthy either. Someone wrote a few pages on her book on academia.edu, if I remember correctly, and they were not happy with it.
Thanks for the comment. However, I just used those two as examples. I could have used Stein vs. Yamagata. The point is that people have not been able to agree on where Linyi was, and yes, the fact that plenty of people who have written about this can’t read the sources is one key reason for that. That’s why I’m making the sources accessible. Scholarship will never advance as long as scholars keep regurgitating Pelliot, Stein et al., and/or leaving their work behind paywalls.