page_title: Nanyue
section_title: With Changsha
hierarchical_section_title: Nanyue / Diplomacy / With Changsha
caption_attribution_description: A Chinese topographic map (with the south positioned at the top) from Mawangdui tomb 3; dated to the early Western Han period (183&#8211;168 BC); length is 96 cm; width is 96 cm; the map is made of ink on silk. It is now housed in the Hunan Provincial Museum, Changsha. The map depicts a large territory in southern China spanning from the imperial fiefdom of Changsha (a semi-autonomous kingdom within the Han Empire, now modern-day Hunan) to the independent and sometimes hostile Kingdom of Nanyue in what is now modern-day Guangdong and northern Vietnam.
context_page_description: Nanyue, also called Southern Yue or Nam Viet, was an ancient kingdom that covered the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as parts of southern Fujian and northern Vietnam. Nanyue was established by Zhao Tuo, then Commander of Nanhai, in 204 BC after the collapse of the Qin dynasty. At first, it consisted of the commanderies Nanhai, Guilin, and Xiang.
  In 196 BC, Zhao Tuo paid obeisance to the Emperor Gaozu of Han, and Nanyue was referred to by Han leaders as a "foreign servant", i.e. a vassal state. Around 183 BC, relations between the Nanyue and the Han dynasty soured, and Zhao Tuo began to refer to himself as an emperor, suggesting an equal status between Nanyue and the Han dynasty. In 179 BC, relations between the Han and Nanyue improved, and Zhao Tuo once again made submission, this time to Emperor Wen of Han as a subject state. The submission was somewhat superficial, as Nanyue retained autonomy from the Han, and Zhao Tuo was referred to as "Emperor" throughout Nanyue until his death. In 113 BC, fourth-generation leader Zhao Xing sought to have Nanyue formally included as part of the Han Empire.
context_section_description: Changsha Kingdom was, at the time, a feudal kingdom that was part of Han China. Its territory comprised most of modern Hunan Province and part of Jiangxi Province. When Emperor Gaozu of Han enfeoffed Wu Rui as the first King of Changsha, he also gave him the power to govern Nanhai, Xiang, and Guiling Commanderies, which caused strife between Changsha and Nanyue from the start.  The Han China-Nanyue border was essentially that of Changsha, and therefore was constantly fortified on both sides.  In terms of policies, because the Kingdom of Changsha had no sovereignty whatsoever, any policy of the Han court toward Nanyue was by default also Changsha's policy.
caption: An early Western-Han silk map found in Tomb 3 of Mawangdui Han tombs site, depicting the Kingdom of Changsha and Kingdom of Nanyue (note: the south direction is oriented at the top).
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