Person
Nham Dien
Governor of Cuu Chan early in the Jianwu reign, placed by the Book of the Later Han in its chapter of good officials: he had farm tools cast, spread the fields, and ordered people matched by age, so that more than two thousand married at one time. He held office for four years; the officials and people of Cuu Chan built a shrine to him while he still lived.
At a glance
- Also known as
- Courtesy name Changsun1
- Dates
- Summoned to be governor of Cuu Chan early in the Jianwu reign, that is, from the year 25 onward, and held office for four years; the book does not say which four years they were1
- Role
- Governor of Cuu Chan: he had farm tools cast and taught people to clear new land; he ordered men of 20–50 and women of 15–40 to be matched to one another by age, and more than two thousand people married at one time; he stood down his scouts and garrison troops1
- Origin
- From Wan, in Nanyang commandery1
- Family
- When he took up the post, the emperor had his wife and children stay behind in Luoyang1
- End
- Summoned back to Luoyang, he lingered on account of illness and was demoted to magistrate of Suiyang district; after that he was appointed governor of Wuwei1
- Earliest record
- Fan Ye's Book of the Later Han, fifth century — a life of his own in book 76, Biographies of Good Officials; also a forty-character sentence shared with Tich Quang in book 8612
- Worshipped at
- The officials and people of Cuu Chan built a shrine to him while he still lived1
Life
The old chronicles say
His life describes the land he went to: the people of Cuu Chan lived by hunting, did not know how to plough with oxen, and always had to buy grain from Giao Chi, constantly in want. Nham Dien had them cast farm tools and taught them to clear new land; the fields spread wider every year, and the people had enough to eat. Read closely, this says far less than the summary in book 86. The book does not say the people of Cuu Chan did not know how to farm, only that they did not know how to plough with oxen, and that they bought grain from Giao Chi, which means that right next door people were already growing grain to sell. By book 86 that has become taught the people to plough and plant, credited to him and Tich Quang alike.12
The book writes that the Lac Viet had no rites or rules of marriage, no proper pairing, and knew nothing of the bond between father and son or the way of husband and wife. The governor's answer was a piece of official paper sent down to the districts: men from twenty to fifty years old and women from fifteen to forty should all be matched to one another by age; those too poor for the betrothal gifts were helped by officials from the senior clerks downward, who cut their own salaries. More than two thousand people married at one time. The book records that those who had children said the child was thanks to Lord Nham, and many named their children Nham. The passage does not say what those two thousand and more people thought as they were paired off by age.1
Everything that made his name in Cuu Chan fits inside four years: Dien held office for four years. The book says only that he was appointed early in the Jianwu reign, not which four years they were; anyone who gives a precise run of years is calculating, not quoting. In his closing assessment of the chapter on good officials, Fan Ye ranks Nham Dien and Tich Quang as the men whose usefulness was most plainly seen, because they transformed the customs of the frontier. His life does record fields spreading and the people having enough to eat, but in the final summing up, what is called the greatest achievement is that they changed the customs.13
Mentioned in
- Episode 1Ma Yuan's bronze pillars and the policy of assimilation16 min
- Episode 3Tich Quang, Nham Dien, To Dinh12 min
Sources for this page
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