Level I

Chapter 9
Reading

English | Vietnamese Section

English | Vietnamese
IC3, IT, TOEFL, Best Answer
Self- and Teacher Evaluation

Topic: Art and Culture: Drums and Identity

Guiding Question
Which traditions and customs have shaped your culture?

Câu hỏi hướng dẫn:
Những truyền thống và phong tục tập quán nào định hình nền văn hoá nước bạn?

Skills:  

In this chapter you will do these things:  

English Language Skills:

• Guessing Meaning From Context Strategy Guide
• How to Read an Essay
• Reading Academic Essay Practice
• Introduction to Citing Resources

Vietnamese Language Skills:

• Reading About Vietnamese Sayings
• Vocabulary for Comprehension
• Translating the Western Sayings

English Language Lesson

Back to Top

Introductory Motivation and Focus: Reading and/or activity for motivation

• Does this bird mean something to you? If so, what?
• Where does it come from?
• What is its significance?

Read this and discuss the answers to the questions above:

Vietnamese have long taken history very seriously. At the state level, chronicles began to be compiled and dynastic histories written from the 13th century. From the 15th century the state incorporated myths and folklore about bronze-age peoples who pre-dated the millennium of Chinese rule that ended in the 10th century. In the 1920s, the French unwittingly bolstered these myths by unearthing sophisticated bronze artifacts at a village called Dong Son, the name which came to represent a culture extending across present-day southern China and northern Thailand as well as northern and north-central Vietnam.

When scores of additional bronze-age sites were discovered in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) from the 1960s onward, the communist party eagerly declared them to be proof of a Vietnamese national identity stretching back 4000 years. Disputes quickly arose among Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai (and western) archaeologists about who possessed the oldest bronze-age sites. Hanoi took to using the top of a Dong Son bronze drum to symbolize timeless Vietnamese patriotism and resistance to foreign aggression. Years later, at a quieter academic level, some Vietnamese archaeologists came to admit that Vietnam had no monopoly on Dong Son culture. Some historians went further, arguing that Vietnamese identity is better dated from the 10th century AD, being a unique synthesis of early bronze-age and later Chinesecolonialelements.

(from: “Vietnamese Historigraphy, Past and Present,” by David G. Marr, Australian National University http://nias.ku.dk/activities/publications/niasnytt/2002-4/vietnamese.htm)

Vocabulary Words & Exercises:

Guessing Meaning From Context Strategy Guide

Throughout this curriculum we have tried to provide students with strategies for identifying the vocabulary needed by each student and strategies to learn that vocabulary. Much has been said about guessing the meaning of words from context and strategies for learning vocabulary without relying heavily on dictionaries. In this chapter, we provide a strategy guide for guessing meaning from context. This guide provides 10 strategies for finding meaning to words you do not know. Some of these strategies we have used in previous chapters, but here we put all the strategies together.

The more strategies you are able to use, the more chances are that you’ll be able to guess the meaning. Read the whole paragraph for context. Look for details. Read the sentences before and after the word. Look for affixes, prefixes and suffixes in the word (see Chapter 5 for suffixes). Look at punctuation marks (see Chapter 2) Look at parallel structures.* Look at parts of speech. Look for definitions given within the sentence or paragraph (see Chapter 2—the verb “to be”). Look for root origins in words. *Parallel structures are repeated grammatical structures that indicate that sentences or phrases are related. For example: “When reading, notice what is repeated and what is omitted.” (Notice how “what” is repeated here.) Another example: “As President Kennedy once said: ‘Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.' (Notice how Kennedy changed the order of ask, you , can and do in the last part of the sentence – thus emphasizing his point.)

How many of the strategies above do you already use? Emphasis on these strategies will continue throughout the curriculum.

In small groups: Read the two paragraphs above again and use the strategies to find the meanings of words and phrases in context. Some words are selected below which you can find in the paragraphs. Underline them. You may also work on other words you may not know.

chronicles	to compile	to incorporate
bronze-age peoples	to pre-date	to bolster
to unearth	sophisticated	artifacts
scores	proof	to stretch
disputes	sites	timeless
foreign aggression	monopoly	synthesis
quieter academic level	Chinesecolonialelements	Historigraphy

Explanation of Reading Study Skill A (Academic Reading Skill):

Thus far, we have learned how to skim and scan reading material for the main ideas (Chapter 7). You, as the academic reader must decide when such skills are helpful and when you need to read more intensely for detail. In this chapter, we focus on how to read an essay but you are not being told when you should scan, when do you skim and when do you read more intensely for comprehension, learning, and detail.

How to Read an Essay

(source: http://www.studygs.net/reading_essays.htm)  

Note: this process can be applied to books, chapters in books, articles, and all manner of reading.  

1. What is the title?

1. Do you know anything about the state of the historical literature on the subject at that time?
2. What does it tell you about what the essay is about?
3. What do you already know about the subject?
4. What do you expect the essay to say about it--especially given when it was written and who the author was (see next questions)?
5. What pictures or visuals are in the essay? What do they illustrate?

2. When was the essay written?

1. Do you know anything about the state of the historical literature on the subject at that time?
2. If so, what do you expect the essay to say?

3. Who wrote it?

1. What do you expect him or her to say?
2. What are the author's credentials, or affiliations?
3. What are his/her prejudices?
4. Are you familiar with the authors' other work related to the subject?

4. Read the essay, marking the information that is crucial to you.

1. When the text gives you crucial information, mark and note it:
2. What exactly is the subject?
3. How does it correspond to the title?
4. What are the main points--the theses?
5. What is the evidence that the author gives to sustain the thesis or theses?
6. Are there pictures, visuals or graphs that help your understanding of the essay?

5. What is the factual information that you want to retain?

1. Is there a good description of something you knew, or did not know, that you want to remember its location? If so, mark it. If for research, make out a research note on it.
2. Does the author cite some important source that you want to retain for future reference?
3. If so, mark it. If for research, make out a bibliographic note either now or on reviewing the article for such citations.
4. Does the author include illustrations or visuals that you want to retain for future reference?
5. If so, mark it. If for research, make out a bibliographic note either now or on reviewing the article for such citations.

6. Once you have finished the article, reflect on:

1. What have you learned?
2. How does it relate to what you already know?
3. Did you find the argument convincing on its own terms?
4. Given what you know about the subject, do you think the main point(s) might be correct even if the argument was not convincing?
5. Can you think of information that makes you doubt the main point(s), even if the essay argued it well?
6. How does the essay relate to other things you have read--that is, how does it fit in the historical literature?

---

Exercises and Activities for Skill A:  

Exercise #1: Skim, Scan, Intensive Reading, Knowledge or Research Required? Look at the questions in the Skill section above. Answer the following questions:

A. Which questions require that you skim the essay to find the answer? For example 4-d requires that you skim for the main idea—the theses

B. Which questions require that you scan the essay to find the answer? For example: 2 requires that you find the title, and 3 requires that you see when it is written. Also, 4-e requires that you look for the support to the thesis

C. Which questions require that you read the essay intensely to find the answer? For example: 4-a requires that you read for detail

D. Which questions require that you use your previous knowledge to find the answer? For example: 1-a asks what you already know about the subject

E. Which questions require that you do some research to find the answer? For example: 3-b may require that you find out more about the author by research

F. Which questions require that you evaluate the importance this essay has for you to find the answer? For example: 6-a asks if you learned anything

Exercise #2: Read and Answer

By using the following questions, read the essay below. Write down your answers. Skim, scan, read intensely, research, use knowledge and evaluate to answer the questions.

1. What is the title?

1. Do you know anything about the state of the historical literature on the subject at that time?
2. What does it tell you about what the essay is about?
3. What do you already know about the subject?
4. What do you expect the essay to say about it--especially given when it was written and who the author was (see next questions)?
5. What pictures or visuals are in the essay? What do they illustrate?

2. When was the essay written?

1. Do you know anything about the state of the historical literature on the subject at that time?
2. If so, what do you expect the essay to say?

3. Who wrote it?

1. What do you expect him or her to say?
2. What are the author's credentials, or affiliations?
3. What are his/her prejudices?
4. Are you familiar with the authors' other work related to the subject?

4. Read the essay, marking the information that is crucial to you.

1. When the text gives you crucial information, mark and note it:
2. What exactly is the subject?
3. How does it correspond to the title?
4. What are the main points--the theses?
5. What is the evidence that the author gives to sustain the thesis or theses?
6. Are there pictures, visuals or graphs that help your understanding of the essay?

5. What is the factual information that you want to retain?

1. Is there a good description of something you knew, or did not know, that you want to remember its location? If so, mark it. If for research, make out a research note on it.
2. Does the author cite some important source that you want to retain for future reference?
3. If so, mark it. If for research, make out a bibliographic note either now or on reviewing the article for such citations.
4. Does the author include illustrations or visuals that you want to retain for future reference?
5. If so, mark it. If for research, make out a bibliographic note either now or on reviewing the article for such citations.

6. Once you have finished the article, reflect on:

1. What have you learned?
2. How does it relate to what you already know?
3. Did you find the argument convincing on its own terms?
4. Given what you know about the subject, do you think the main point(s) might be correct even if the argument was not convincing?
5. Can you think of information that makes you doubt the main point(s), even if the essay argued it well?
6. How does the essay relate to other things you have read--that is, how does it fit in the historical literature?

---

Reading :

Two sections of the following article appear here. A third portion is found in the IC3 section. To read the entire article, go to the website.

The Present Echoes of the Ancient Bronze Drum:
Nationalism and Archeology in Modern Vietnam and China

by Xiaorong Han
http://www.vietnamjournal.org/article.php?sid=12

Introduction

Bronze drums are one of the most important archaeological artifacts to be found in southern China and Southeast Asia. Their use by many ethnic groups in that area has lasted from pre-historical times to the present. Northern Vietnam and southwestern China (especially Yunnan Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region) are the two areas where the majority of bronze drums have been discovered. According to a 1980 report, China has stored about 1460 bronze drums.[1] The Provincial Museum of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region actually boasts the largest collection of Bronze drums in the world. The total number of bronze drums discovered in Vietnam reached about 360 in the 1980s, among which about 140 were Dong Son drums.[2]

The earliest historical records about bronze drums appeared in the Shi Ben, a Chinese book written in the 3rd century BC or earlier. The book is no longer extant, however a small portion of it appears in another classic, the Tongdian by Du You.[3] The Hou Han Shu, a Chinese chronicle of the late Han period compiled in the 5th century AD, describes how the Han dynasty general Ma Yuan collected bronze drums from Jiaozhi (northern Vietnam) to melt down and then recast into bronze horses. From that point on, many official and unofficial Chinese historical records contain references to bronze drums. In Vietnam, two 14th century literary works written in Chinese by Vietnamese scholars, the Viet Dien U Linh and the Ling Nam Chich Quai, record many legends about bronze drums. Later works such as the Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu, a historical work written in the 15th century, and the Dai Nam Nhat Thong Chi, a book about the historical geography of Vietnam compiled in the late 19th century, also have records about bronze drums.[4] Further, there is also a wooden tablet from the early 19th century found in Vietnam which describes the discovery of some bronze drums.[5]

Modern archaeological research on the bronze drum did not begin until the late 19th century, after the arrival of Westerners in the region. Before the 1950s, almost all of the important works on the bronze drum were written by western scholars. Notable works from this period are F. Heger's Alte metalltrommeln aus Sudost Asien (Leipzig, 1902), F. Hirth's Alte bronze Pauken aus Ostasien (Vienna, 1891), A.B. Meyer and W. Foy's Bronze-Pauken aus Sudost-asien (Dresden, 1897), and B. Karlgren's The Date of the Early Dong-son Culture (Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 1942).[6] Due to the social-political circumstances, few Vietnamese scholars were able to engage in research on the bronze drum during those years. In China, a monograph entitled Tonggu kaolue (A Brief Introduction to the Bronze Drum), written by Zheng Shixu, was published in Shanghai in 1936. Although some famous Chinese scholars, such as the historians Xu Songshi and Luo Xianglin, also showed interest in the bronze drum, no other significant Chinese works on bronze drums were produced during that period.

After the establishment of the PRC in 1949 and the division of Vietnam in 1954, Vietnamese and Chinese scholars began to dominate research on the bronze drum. In the 1950s and 1960s, many excavation reports and some general studies on the bronze drum were published. However, on the whole, the bronze drum did not attract serious attention in either country. Moreover, although China and Vietnam maintained good bilateral relations during that period, very little academic exchange took place between the bronze drum experts from the two countries. It was not until the mid-1970s, shortly before the break-up of the Sino-Vietnamese alliance, that several important articles began to be published in both countries. The late 1970s and early 1980s then saw the publication of many more books and articles on the topic in both China and Vietnam, and heated debates between Vietnamese and Chinese scholars ensued. In March 1980, the first Chinese symposium on the ancient bronze drum was held in Nanning, the capital city of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. The Chinese Association for Ancient Bronze Drum Studies was formed immediately following the conference. Another symposium was held in Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnan Province, in late 1984.[7] In 1987, Vietnamese scholars summed up their views in a book called Trong Dong Son (The Dong Son Drum).[8] The following year, the Chinese Association for Ancient Bronze Drum Studies (ZGTY) also completed a conclusive monograph entitled Zhongguo Gudai Tonggu (The Ancient Bronze Drums of China). In October 1988, Vietnamese and Chinese archaeologists finally met at the International Symposium on The Bronze Drum and Bronze Culture of South China and Southeast Asia to discuss their differences. The publication of the above-mentioned two books and this symposium actually put an end to the protracted controversy. Since then, no important works on the bronze drum have been published in either Vietnam or China.

The timing of this Vietnamese and Chinese research on the bronze drum indicates much about its political implications. The recent boom in bronze drum research started when Sino-Vietnamese friendship was about to turn sour, and it ended when the two countries were ready to seek a solution for their problematic relations. The political influence on research is also reflected in the issues that the Vietnamese and Chinese archaeologists chose to address in the 1970s and 1980s. While in the previous period, scholars had tended to give more or less equal attention to the classification, dating, origin, functions, and other issues relating to the bronze drum, in the 1970s and 1980s, scholars paid much more attention to the geographic and ethnic origins of the bronze drum than to other issues. Where the first bronze drum was made and who made it were the core issues in the controversy between Chinese and Vietnamese scholars during that period. The answers to these questions seem to have been largely determined by the nationality of the scholars concerned. Hence the Vietnamese scholars unanimously claimed that the bronze drum was invented in the Red and Black River valleys in northern Vietnam by the Lac Viet, the remote ancestors of the Vietnamese people, and then spread to other parts of Southeast Asia and southern China. Meanwhile, Chinese archaeologists declared that the real inventor of the bronze drum was the Pu, an ancient ethnic group who inhabited southern China. Chinese scholars argued that the Pu first made the bronze drum in central Yunnan in southwestern China, and that the technique was then adopted by other ethnic groups living in the surrounding areas, including the Lac Viet in the Red River delta.

In this article, I intend to make a brief review of the major works on the bronze drum published in Vietnam and China in the 1970s and 1980s, and will demonstrate how nationalism predetermined the positions of the scholars researching the issue of the origin of the bronze drum. I will also discuss how their theories about the origin of the bronze drum in turn influenced their understanding of other aspects of the bronze drum, such as its typology, dating and decoration. My chief concern here is not to prove which side is right or wrong, but to try to explain why the issue of the origins of the bronze drum became so important to the Vietnamese and Chinese scholars during this period, and why no scholars expressed different views from those of their compatriots.

Interpretation of the Decoration

The decoration of the bronze drum is another major field of controversy between Vietnamese and Chinese scholars. Decoration is important because it is believed to reflect the social and spiritual life of the people who invented and used the drum, and thus, can help determine its ethnic and geographical affiliations. The most popular motifs on the early drums (Heger's first two types plus the Wanjiaba) include various species of birds and other animals, as well as boats, shining entities, and geometrical lines.

A flying bird with a long beak and long feet appeared very frequently on the early drums, and a good deal of scholarly attention was devoted toward trying to determine what kind of bird it was. Dao Duy Anh, the Vietnamese historian, believed that it was the legendary "lac bird," the symbol of the ancient Viet people.[41] Dao Tu Khai, however, argued that the bird was not a lac bird because the lac bird was a magpie or some other species whose appearance was rather different from that of the bird on the bronze drum. According to Dao Thu Khai, the bird was instead a heron.[42] Still other scholars argued that the lac bird and the heron were the same.[43] What is more, it was argued that herons lived in every part of Vietnam, and the ancient Viet people regarded it as the symbol of the laborious peasants because it was believed to be diligent. As one Vietnamese scholar put it, " We believe that since the bronze drum is a product of Vietnam made by the Viet people, it should reflect something real in the Vietnamese landscape. The flying bird on bronze drums should be something that the Viet people were very familiar with, and it should have a Vietnamese name. We believe that our interpretation of the bird with its long beak and long feet on bronze drums as a heron is in conformity with the reality of Vietnamese history and culture.[44]"

Some western scholars have also suggested a connection between this and other birds on the bronze drum and the Vietnamese identity, however they base their argument on a different logic. For example, according to Taylor (1983:7; 313), the motifs of sea birds and amphibians surrounding boats bearing warriors gave visual form to the idea of an aquatic spirit as the source of political power and legitimacy, which is the earliest hint of the concept of the Vietnamese as a seaborne, distinct, and self-conscious people.[45]

Figure III: Flying Birds on Bronze Drums[46]

 

Most Chinese scholars also believe that the bird is a heron. However, they do not agree that the heron is a symbol of the ancient Vietnamese peasants. Instead, they interpret it more as a result of Chinese influence. They argued that the heron is considered to be the spirit of the drum in the Central Plain of China. This belief first spread to the Chu area in southern China and then reached other ethnic groups living to the south of Chu. According to the Chinese Association of Bronze Drum Studies, "The flying heron is the major motif onShizhaishan drums (Dong Son drums). There is a long tradition of decorating drums with the motif of herons in the Central Plain. The feather drums excavated from the Chu tombs in Xinyang, Henan and Jiangling, Hubei and the Zenghouyi tomb in Suixian, Hubei are all decorated with the motif of the heron...there is clear evidence to support the idea that the motif of the flying heron on the Shizhaishan drums originated in the Chu area."[47]

Figure IV: Frogs or toads on a Dong Son drum[48]

In addition to the bird motifs, there are also small three-dimentioned animals on the face of some Dong Son (Shizhaishan) drums and other types of drums which archaeologists had argued are either frogs or toads. Chinese scholars argued that they were frogs and explained them as decorations without special meaning,[49] or something related to the ceremony of rain-seeking, or the frog-worshipping custom, of the ancient Yue people of southern China, a group believed to be related to the ancient Viet people.[50] Edward Schafer (1967:254) agreed that the animals were frogs, "for the drum embodied a frog spirit--that is a spirit of water and rain--and its voice was the booming rumble of the bullfrog." He retold a story of the Tang period recorded in a Chinese source to show that the drum could even take the form of a living frog. According to the story, a frog pursued by a person leaped into a hole, which turned out to be the grave of a Man (barbarian) chieftain containing a bronze drum with a rich green patina, covered with batrachian figures. The bronze drum was believed to be the reincarnation of the frog.[51] Vietnamese scholars initially agreed that the animals were frogs in the 1970's,[52] but later interpreted them as toads because "a widely known popular saying in Vietnam calls the toad 'the uncle of the heavenly god' and maintains that rain will inevitably fall when the toad raises his head and croaks." [53]

Figure V: Boats on bronze drums[54]

The motif of a long boat is another very popular decoration on the surface of the Dong Son (or Shizhaishan) drums. Usually the two ends of the boat are decorated with the head and tail of a bird. In the boat are numerous ornamented human figures. There are fish under the boat and birds around the boat. Following Goloubew, Dao Duy Anh believed this was the "golden boat" described in the belief system of the Dayak people of Kalimantan in Indonesia that carries the spirits of dead people to heaven, which is in turn symbolized by the birds. He further concluded that there was a possible blood relationship between the Dayaks and the Lac Viet, and that the ancient Lac Viet could be the ancestors of the Dayaks.[55]

Feng Hanji, a Chinese archaeologist, did not agree. He believed the motif of the long boat was a reflection of the popular custom of boat racing in southern China. According to Feng, the boat does not have an outrigger, thus, it could only have been used in rivers or small inner waters like the Dian Lake. Further, to decorate boats with birds was also an old tradition in China. He also believed that the motif might indicate some connections with the Chu. Ling Shunsheng, a Chinese ethnologist, wrote in 1950 that the motif of the long boat was a direct reflection of the custom of boat racing in ancient Chu.[56] Although legend has it that the custom was to pay tribute to the memory of Qu Yuan, a Chu poet from the 3rd century BC, Ling argued that the custom had an even earlier origin.[57] Chinese scholars later pointed out that the boats on bronze drums were involved in four different kinds of activities which were all popular in ancient southern China, namely, fishing, navigating, boat racing and offering sacrifices to the spirits of the river.[58]

Vietnamese scholars later accepted the idea that the motif was about boat racing. However, they interpreted it as a part of the ancient Viet ceremony for seeking rain and water.[59]

Figure VI: Shining entities on bronze drums[60]

As for the shining entity located in the center of the surface of the bronze drum, some scholars have interpreted this as a star, while others have viewed it as the sun. Vietnamese scholars have taken the position that this reflects the ancient Viet custom of worshipping the sun.[61] Meanwhile, Chinese scholars have argued that many ancient ethnic groups in China, such as the Shang (or Yin), the Chu, and other southern peoples, all worshipped the sun. Moreover, rulers tended to use the sun as a symbol of themselves.[62]

The two most common geometric motiffs on bronze drums are believed to represent clouds and thunder, respectively. According to Chinese scholars, the same motifs can be found on the ancient carved-motif pottery of southern China, as well as the bronze wares of the Central Plain. "They [the motifs] prove the uniformity and continuity of the cultural development of ancient southern China and the frequent cultural exchange between southern China and the Central Plain."[63] They also reflect the custom of worshipping clouds and thunder in ancient China. These motifs appear only occasionally on Dong Son drums, but can be frequently seen on Heger's type II drums, most of which have been found in southern China, especially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Vietnamese scholars did not openly object to the Chinese claim that such motifs reflect Chinese influence, however, they strongly rejected the idea that such an influence proves that the bronze culture of the south developed under Chinese influence, and that drums bearing such motifs are the most ancient.[64]

In sum, Vietnamese scholars tend to view the decorations of early bronze drums, especially the Dong Son drums, as a reflection of the special cultural characteristics of the ancient Viet people. They believe that the various motifs on the bronze drum describe the various aspects of the life of the ancient agrarian Viet culture of the Dong Son age.[65] They therfore argue that the decorations prove that the Dong Son drum belonged to the ancient Viet people. However, Chinese scholars interpret the decorations as a reflection of the cultural exchange between interior China and China's frontier, arguing that they represent the cultural features of the various peoples living in that area, and not just the Lac Viet. They do not deny the affiliation between the Dong Son drum and the Lac Viet, but they believe the same type of drum was also used by other ancient ethnic groups such as the Dian, the Laojin, the Mimo, the Yelang and the Juding, who are believed to be the relatives of the Lac Viet. They thus contend that the earliest type drum was invented in a region belonging to modern China. According to them, "the Dong Son drum is a developed form of the imported Chinese Shizhaishan drum, which spread from Yunnan to Vietnam along the Red River."[66] Citing both historical records and archaeological findings, Chinese scholars have tried to prove that the earliest drum was invented by the Pu-Liao groups, which included the Dian from the Dian Lake area of Yunnan, the Yeyu and Mifei of the Chuxiong and Erhai areas of Yunnan, the Yelang and Juding of western Guizhou, and the Qiongdu of southwestern Sichuan. According to Chinese scholars, the bronze drum was first invented by the Pu-Liao people on the eastern Yunnan plateau, and then spread to the surrounding areas.[67] Chinese scholars have proposed that the Lac Viet also belonged to this Pu-Liao group, and have cited the similarities between the Dian culture in Yunnan and the Dong Son culture of Vietnam as evidence.[68]

[1]Zhongguo Gudai Tonggu Yanjiuhui, Zhongguo gudai tonggu (The Ancient Bronze Drums of China), Beijing: Wenwu Press, 1988, 8. Hereafter, ZGTY. According to the book, the numbers of bronze drums stored in various provinces and cities are as follows: Guangxi: 560; Guangdong: 230; Shanghai: 230; Yunnan: 160; Guizhou: 88; Beijing: 84; Sichuan:51; Hunan: 27; Shandong: 8; Hubei: 6; Zhejiang: 6; Liaoning: 4. The total number of bronze drums stored in China remained unchanged in 1995. See Xin Hua News Agency, "Nanfang tonggu wenhua yanjiu you chengguo" (Results have been achieved in the Study of the bronze drums of southern China), January 12, 1995.

[2]Nguyen Duy Hinh, "Bronze Drums in Vietnam," The Vietnam Forum, No. 9 (1987) : 4-5; Pham Huy Thong, Dong Son Drums in Vietnam, Hanoi: The Vietnam Social Science Publishing House, 1990, 265. Some more Dong Son drums have been found in Vietnam since then. For example, in 1994, a Dong Son drum later named a Ban Khooc drum was found in Son La Province in northwestern Vietnam. Pham Quoc Quan and Nguyen Van Doan, "Trong Dong Son La" (The Son La Bronze Drum), Khao Co Hoc, No.1 (1996):10.

[3]Xu Songshi, Baiyue xiongfeng lingnan tonggu (The Masculine Spirit of the Hundred-Yue and the Bronze Drums of Southern China), Asian Folklore & Social Life Monographs 95, Taibei: The Orient Cultural Service, 1977, 7-8)

[4]Nguyen Duy Hinh, "Trong dong trong su sach" (The Bronze Drums in Historical Records), Khao Co Hoc, No. 13 (1974):18-20.

[5]Jiang Tingyu, Tonggu shihua (History of the Bronze Drum), Beijing, Wen Wu Press, 1982, 18.

[6]For a comprehensive introduction to and list of Western archaeological works on the bronze drum, see, Pham Minh Huyen, Nguyen Van Huyen & Trinh Sinh,Trong Dong Son (The Dong Son Drums), Hanoi: Nha Xuat Ban Khoa Hoc Xa Hoi, 1987, 12-14; 306-309; ZGTY, 10-12.

[7]Wenwu Bianji Weiyuanhui (Editorial Board of Cultural Relics), Wenwu kaogu gongzuo shinian: 1979-1989 (A Decade of Work in the Field of Cultural Relics and Archaeology: 1979-1989), Beijing, Wenwu Press, 1990, 376;380.

[8]Pham Minh Huyen et al..

[41]Quoted from Dao Tu Khai, "Chim Lac hay con co? Ngoi sao hay mat troi?"(Lac Bird or Heron? Star or Sun?), Khao Co Hoc, No.14 (1974 ): 27.

[42]Dao Tu Khai, 27.

[43]Vu The Long, "Hinh va tuong dong vat tren trong va cac do dong Dong Son" (The Motifs and Figurines of Animals on Drums and Other Dongsonian Bronze Artifacts), Khao Co Hoc, No. 14 (1974): 9.

[44]Dao Tu Khai, 28-29.

[45]Taylor Keith Weller, The Birth of Vietnam, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983, 7;313.

[46]ZGTY, 157.

[47]ZGTY 1988:233.

[48] Pham Huy Thong, "Trong Dong" (The Bronze Drum), Khao Co Hoc, No. 13(1974): 9-11. It was reported in the 1980s that 14 type III drums and 6 type IV drums had been found in Vietnam. Nguyen Duy Hinh, 4.

[49] Wen You,Gu tonggu tulu (Collected Pictures of the Ancient Bronze Drums), Beijing: Zhongguo gudian yishu Press, 1957; Huang Zengqing, "Guangxi tonggu chutan" (The Bronze Drums of Guangxi), Kaogu, No. 11 (1964); Hong Sheng, "Guangxi gudai tonggu yanjiu" (The Ancient Bronze Drums in Guangxi), Kaogu Xuebao, No. 1 ( 1974 ): 45-90. Wen You worked in Sichuan as a University professor for more than ten years before he moved to Beijing in the mid-1950s. He wrote in 1956 that he first became interested in the bronze drum when he saw a beautiful bronze drum in Hanoi more than a decade earlier. Wen You, preface.

[50]ZGTY, 160-161.

[51]Schafer Edward, The Vermilion Bird, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967, 254.

[52]Vu The Long, 17.

[53]Pham Huy Thong, (1990), 268.

[54] Tong Enzheng, "Shilun zaoqi tonggu" (On the Early Bronze Drums), Kaogu Xuebao, No. 3 (1983). In Tong Enzheng, Zhongguo xinan minzu kaogu lunwenji (Collected Essays on the Ethnoarchaeology of Southwestern China), Beijing: Wenwu Press, 1990, 178.

[55]Quoted from Chen Guoqiang, Jiang Binzhao, Wu Mianqi & Xing Tucheng, eds., Baiyue minzu shi (A History of the Hundred-Yue), Beijing: China Social Science Press, 1988, 335.

[56]Feng Hanji, " Yunnan jinning chutu tonggu yanjiu" (A Study of the Bronze Drums of Jinning, Yunnan),Wen Wu, No. 1(1974): 56-58.

[57]Ling Chunsheng, "Ji benxiao er tonggu jianluan tonggu de qiyuan he fenbu" (On the Two Bronze Drums Stored at National Taiwan University and the Origin and Distribution of the Bronze Drums),Guoli Taiwan daxue xuebao, No. 1 (1950).

[58]ZGTY, 175-181.

[59]Pham Minh Huyen et al, 239.

[60]ZGTY, 152.

[61]Dao Tu Khai, 30.

[62]ZGTY, 151.

[63]ZGTY, 154.

[64]Nguyen Duy Hinh (1979), 23.

[65]Tran Quoc Vuong, "Trong dong va tam thuc Viet co" (The Bronze Drum and the Mentality of the Ancient Viet People), Khao Co Hoc, No. 3 (1982): 25; Dao Tui Khai, 28-29.

[66]ZGTY, 127-129.

[67] Wang Ningsheng, "Shilun zhongguo gudai tonggu" (On the Ancient Bronze Drums of China),Kaogu Xuebao, No.2 (1978). In Wang Ningsheng, Minzu kaoguxue lunji (Collected Eaasys on Ethnoarchaeology), Beijing: Wenwu Press, 1989, 305; Tong Enzheng, 181.

[68]Tong Enzheng, 173-174.

References are found in Skill B with an explanation for how to read references

Dr. Xiaorong Han teaches at the University of Hawaii-West Oahu. His research interests include: Peasants and Ethnic Minorities, Modern China and Southeast Asia; Nationalist and Communist Movements, Modern East and Southeast Asia; Sino-Vietnamese Relations:

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Explanation of Reading Study Skill B:

Introduction to Citing Resources: Footnotes, References, Bibliographies, etc.:

In all forms of writing, it is important that all books, articles, websites, interviews, etc. are acknowledged and given credit for the idea. This is called a citation. A citation may be in the form of a footnote, a bibliography or a reference. If the author does not use citations and uses the ideas of others, then the author is guilty of plagiarism which is not accepted in academic work in the West.

Basic elements of information necessary to make a proper citation is the following:

Books	Articles	Electronic Citations	Interviews
Author(s) or Editor(s)	Author(s)	Web Site Address	Name of Interviewee
Title	Article Title	Database Name	Date of Interview
Publication Date	Journal Title	Database Vendor	Place of Interview
Publication City	Volume/Issue Number	Date Accessed
Publisher	Publication Date
Page Number of a quotation or idea cited	Page Numbers

For example: Here is an article citation from this chapter’s reading:

Here is a book citation:

The citations found in this chapter’s reading are footnotes. That is to say that when the cite is found within the written text, it is marked with a number. The number indicates that a corresponding footnote at the end of the text will give a citation and (sometimes) explanation.

For example: From the reading:

A flying bird with a long beak and long feet appeared very frequently on the early drums, and a good deal of scholarly attention was devoted toward trying to determine what kind of bird it was. Dao Duy Anh, the Vietnamese historian, believed that it was the legendary "lac bird," the symbol of the ancient Viet people.[41] Dao Tu Khai, however, argued that the bird was not a lac bird because the lac bird was a magpie or some other species whose appearance was rather different from that of the bird on the bronze drum.

In the footnotes section of the article, you find the corresponding citation where we are told where we can find the reference of the Vietnamese historian, Dao Duy Anh and his idea of the legendary “lac bird.”

[41] Quoted from Dao Tu Khai, "Chim Lac hay con co? Ngoi sao hay mat troi?"(Lac Bird or Heron? Star or Sun?), Khao Co Hoc, No.14 (1974 ): 27.  

One more note about footnotes: When the source has been cited once, the entire citation need not be written for each time it is used in the essay. We resort to abbreviated citations:

This is the first citation:

[1]Zhongguo Gudai Tonggu Yanjiuhui, Zhongguo gudai tonggu (The Ancient Bronze Drums of China), Beijing: Wenwu Press, 1988, 8. Hereafter, ZGTY.

This source is cited many times in this essay and appears like this:

[58]ZGTY, 175-181.  

Exercises and Activities for Reading Study Skill B (comprehension):

Name the parts to these citations:

[51]Schafer Edward, The Vermilion Bird, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967, 254.

[65]Tran Quoc Vuong, "Trong dong va tam thuc Viet co" (The Bronze Drum and the Mentality of the Ancient Viet People), Khao Co Hoc, No. 3 (1982): 25

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