Relations between Funan and China from the 1st to the 7th century

Abstract

History of the Funan kingdom is an inseparable part of the Vietnam’s past. In recent years, historians have made many efforts to reconstruct the kingdom’s history and achieved many new research results. Funan’s foreign relations, including the diplomatic exchanges with China, although having received some attention, has not been fully and systematically investigated. Through examining ancient Chinese sources, this article focuses on researching, systematizing documents and reconstructing the relationship between Funan and China during the period between the 1st and 7th centuries with three major areas of exchanges: tribute activities, trade, and cultural and religious interactions.