In the mountainous south of China, bordering the countries of Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar, lies the province of Yunnan. Chinese presence in this inaccessible region can be traced back to over 2000 years ago, but their control wouldn’t be permanent. Between the 8th and 10th centuries the local tribes inhabiting the area were united into one state, and being a strong military power, it managed to withstand several Chinese invasions, and conquer areas from its neighbors in all directions. It also boasted an advanced system of government, its own brand of Buddhism, and monumental works of architecture. Its name was the kingdom of Nanzhao. The origins of the state can be traced to the fertile area surrounding lake Erhai, located deep in the highlands of Yunnan. By the 7th century, this region was controlled by 6 tribes, each with its own kingdom, or, zhao, as they were known locally. Bordering them to the northeast and west were the two great powers of the time, the Tibetan Empire and the Chinese Tang Dynasty. It was the rivalry between these nations that would lead to the creation of Nanzhao. At the turn of the 8th century Tibetan power was growing in Yunnan, turning evermore of the tribes into tributaries. The Chinese were thus in dire need of an ally to counter this expansion, and eventually found one in Piluoge, the chieftain of the Mengshe tribe. Although he had previously been a Tibetan tributary, and fought for them in wars, he now offered to switch sides if he’d be granted permission to conquer his regional rivals. This offer was accepted, and by 737 he had managed to unite the remaining five Zhao into one kingdom, loyal to the Tang. Since the Mengshe was the southernmost of them, his new state became known as the Nan (or southern) Zhao. Its capital was established a year later at Taihe, not far from modern day Dali. Located in the heart of the Erhai valley, the site was ideal, as it could be easily defended against attack, while also being surrounded by rich farmland. That same year, Pilouge was recognized by the Chinese as king of Yunnan, and given the name of Meng Guiyi, meaning “the one who dedicates himself to righteousness”. The Kingdom that he had founded was home to many different peoples, but its exact ethnic and linguistic makeup has been debated for over a century. Some claim that it was primarily inhabited by the Bai people who still live in the area today, but that the elite spoke a variant of Nuosu, a language closely related to Burmese. Others however, believe that the Thai people, who later moved south into Thailand and Laos made up a large part of its population. Following the death of Piluoge in 748, the country became ruled by his son, Geluofeng, and his reign would see the end of the alliance with the Tang dynasty. As the young kingdom had begun to expand, the Chinese, seeking to dominate the region, started viewing Nanzhao as problematic. This led them to try to diminish its autonomy, a move which strained relations between the two. Finally, when the Chinese prefect of Yunnan attempted to rob Nanzhao envoys in 750, Geluofeng decided to revoke his tributary status. He then launched an attack, killing the prefect and seizing nearby Tang territory. It wouldn’t be long before the Chinese retaliated. In 751 the governor of Jiannan, or roughly what is now Sichuan Province, sent an army of 80,000 soldiers to punish him. The force ultimately suffered a crushing defeat however, having been decimated by disease. A second attempt was made a few years later, now with an army numbering as high as 100,000 men, but this force too was defeated. The An Lushan Rebellion which broke out the next year would leave the Tang dynasty struggling for its own survival, and thus, the Kingdom of Nanzhao was safe for now. But, to prevent further invasions later down the line, Geluofeng established an alliance with the Tibetans, that would last until the end of the century. In exchange for becoming a tributary, he was awarded the title of “tsanpo chung”, meaning royal brother, given an official seal of the Tibetan empire, and even granted the title of "Eastern Emperor". Bolstered by the victory against the Chinese, his successors would launch a number of military campaigns against their neighbours. The first major ones took place in the 820s, and were directed south, to the Pyu city-states. Having first emerged about a thousand years earlier, the cities of the Pyu people were dotted along the Irrawaddy River and its tributaries, making up the heartland of what is now Myanmar, or Burma. Contemporary Tang records describe them as an essentially peaceful and humane people. To them war was virtually unknown, and they went as far as refusing to wear silk, as they didn’t want to kill the silk-worms used in its production. Whatever the degree of truth may be in this, they did prove unable to defend against the Nanzhao raids, and had by 832 been completely overrun. Although in most cases this didn’t lead to permanent occupation, it would have a profound impact on Burmese history. With the Pyu-states now severely weakened, one of the peoples living in Nanzhao began migrating south to fill the power-gap. Their name was the Bamar, or Burmese people, and over the following centuries they would gradually assimilate the Pyu, and for the first time unify the area under the mighty Pagan empire. Around the same time, attacks were also being launched on the Chinese front. Even though Nanzhao had reverted to being a Tang tributary some years before, this didn’t stop them from taking advantage of China when it was weakened. And so in 829, they attacked and managed to capture the city of Chengdu. This was a major victory, as it was considered the second most prosperous city in the entire empire, and enabled Nanzhao to lay claim to the whole of Sichuan province, with its rich paddy fields. This was completely unacceptable for the Tang Dynasty though, and they lost no time launching a counterattack, which the following year succeeded in taking back the city. Despite this setback, the kingdom continued to expand, gobbling up parts of what is now northern Laos and Thailand, and launching raids on the Chinese province of Annam, roughly corresponding to northern Vietnam. In the 860s, a Nanzhao king called Shilong even managed to occupy this region for three years, but was ultimately beaten back. He also launched a renewed attempt to capture Chengdu, which proved unsuccessful. Nanzhao wasn’t all about war however, and also left a rich cultural legacy. Because of its geographical location it was able to dominate the East-West trade routes between China and India, and through its salt and gold mines also had access to a considerable wealth of its own. This allowed it to produce impressive works of architecture, like the Three Pagodas near Dali. Although two of them are of slightly later date, the central and largest one was built from 823-840 by king Quan Fengyou. According to local legend, the reason for their construction was to keep away dragons. Having inhabited the area long before humans arrived, they tried to get rid of these intruders by creating various natural disasters. But as it turned out, the dragons revered pagodas, and so they were built to deter them. Made out of mud-covered brick, the structure boasts sixteen stories and reaches a height of roughly 70 meters, making it one of the tallest of its kind in Chinese history. It is believed to have been inspired by the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, built about a century earlier in the Tang capital of Chang'an. This is also likely where the building’s designers came from. The kingdom also borrowed heavily from China in its administration, using much the same system of the six ministries, as was employed in the Tang dynasty. Since a large portion of its ruling class had been educated in Chengdu, they also brought back with them many aspects of Han culture. For example, the Nanzhao aristocracy were introduced to Chinese poetry, and some of their works would be included in the Quan Tangshi, a great collection of Tang era poetry commissioned by the Kangxi Emperor in 1705. With things like music, dance, or sculpture however, Nanzhao retained its own, distinct style. In terms of religion, the influences were more varied. The kingdom was predominantly Buddhist, but there existed various schools. Chinese schools like Chan (or Zen as it’s known in Japanese) existed among the upper classes, but the most prominent version of the religion would be the native Azhaliism. It was founded by an Indian monk called Candragupta. Travelling through Tibet, he arrived in the country in 839, and the tradition that he started would turn out to be a hybrid of Tibetan, Chinese and Burmese influences. Taoism and Nestorian Christianity also existed to some degree, as well as various folk religions. The decline of Nanzhao began in the second half of the 9th century. In the 870s, they began to be beaten back from neighboring Chinese provinces, after which the kingdom rapidly declined. In 902, it came to a bloody end when the chief minister murdered all of the key members of the royal family, leading to a period of instability, where three different dynasties would follow each other in quick succession. By 937, power had fallen into the hands of a man called Duan Siping, whose Kingdom of Dali would rule the area for the coming two centuries.
