Nhìn lại việc Tây Sơn Nguyễn Văn Huệ sang Trung Hoa triều cận và thuyết giả vương

Abstract

Nguyễn Văn Huệ was the first and also the only Vietnamese monarch personally recorded in Chinese history as having traveled to China for a court audience. However, due to discrepancies between Chinese and non-Chinese sources, scholars have been divided into two opposing schools of thought: the “real king” theory and the “pretender king” theory. This study revisits several early historical records concerning the theory of the pretender king, examining how this interpretation has been constructed and developed in scholarly writings-starting from the idea that the impersonator was a military general or subordinate official, and later evolving into claims that he was a relative of the monarch. Such transformations reflect the way historical sources  have  been  understood  and  reinterpreted.  The  study  argues  that  Nguyễn  Văn  Huệ  indeed  sent someone to impersonate him in China, but that impersonator was in fact a military general or an official. Both Nguyễn Quang Thực and Nguyễn Văn Trị were simply different names used for the same impostor.