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How did the ancient Dian Kingdom get its name?
Dian (Chinese: 滇) was an ancient kingdom established by the Dian people, a non-Han Chinese metalworking civilization that inhabited around Dian Lake. Dian 滇 was a non-Chinese kingdom in the region of modern Yunnan. It flourished during the Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE). The earliest archaeological traces of Dian date from the late Spring and Autumn period 春秋 (770-5th cent. BCE), and it was only until the 1st century CE iron tools were more widespread.
The cultural relics of Dian are on the one side influenced by the bronze tools of the regional states of China proper, and on the other side show connections to the bronze cultures of northern Vietnam. The cultural centre of the kingdom of around Lake Dian 滇池.
Bronze figurines show that males used to knot their heir, while females used to wear their hair open. Adornments and clothes were different from that of the Chinese. The people of Dian engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding, but also fishing and hunting. They did apparently not yet know to plough the fields but used hoes instead. The craftsmen of Dian produced bronze objects, gold and silver objects and polished stones.
Historians believe that there are two main sources of the name of the Dian Kingdom: one is that the name of the Dian Kingdom is derived from the name of Dianchi Lake; the other is that the name of the Dian Kingdom is derived from the name of the leader of the Diqiang, or the descendants of the Diqiang – Jinbai and Yi peoples.
The language “Dian”, “Zeng” (Pingba) means. Scholar Huang Yilu believes that the word Dian comes from the Vietnamese language, which is the original meaning of the “shrine” of the Yue people; when the Dian Kingdom was born, the Han people had not yet entered, and after the arrival of the Han people, they were translated into Chinese characters in the local Vietnamese language. The country was built next to the lake, so there was the Dian Kingdom first, and then there was the Dianchi Lake.
There were many tribes calling themselves “Dian” in the ancient Dianchi Lake area.
Archaeological data confirm that the Dian Kingdom appeared no later than the early Warring States Period.
During the Spring and Autumn Period around the 7th century BC, the state machinery of the Dian Kingdom had become sound and complete.
In 278 B.C., Zhuang Qiao, a general of Chu, led his army to the Dianchi Lake area. The purpose was to conquer the local Dian people to join the Chu State. Later, because the way back was cut off by the Qin State, he stayed in the Dianchi Lake area and established the Dian State in accordance with local customs.
In 223 BC, the grandson of Zhuang Qiao moved the capital of Dian Kingdom from Chenggong to Jinning District.
In 122 BC, the envoys of the Han Dynasty began to pass through the Dian Kingdom, and the King of Dian left the Han envoys to send people for them to find the way to the west, hoping to get through the poisonous country.
In the second year of Yuanfeng in the Western Han Dynasty (109 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han army approached the Dian Kingdom. The Dian King surrendered and invited officials to enter the dynasty. Therefore, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty gave the King of Dian the seal to restore his people. After that, there is no record of the Dian Kingdom in historical materials.
