Phản biện Thành Tư Giai: Nhìn lại việc Tây Sơn Nguyễn Văn Huệ sang Trung Hoa triều cận và thuyết giả vương

Abstract

This article examines and critiques the “proxy-king” hypothesis proposed by Associate Professor Cheng Sijia, which argues that the person who traveled to the Qing court to attend the Qianlong Emperor’s 80th birthday celebration in the year of Gengxu (1790) was not Quang Trung Nguyen Hue himself, but an impersonator. The author contends that Cheng Sijia’s argument relies heavily on secondary sources such as Đại Nam thuc luc (Chronicle of Greater Vietnam), Hoàng Lê nhất thống chí (Records of the Unification of Imperial Lê), and scattered anecdotal accounts that are shaped by political bias and post–Nguyễn dynasty psychological narratives. In contrast, this study emphasizes the decisive role of primary sources—particularly Qing archival materials (including Imperially Commissioned Summary of Annam, Records of Annam, Imperial Edicts, etc.) and writings of direct Tây Sơn officials such as Phan Huy Ích and Ngô Thì Nhậm. These sources clearly demonstrate that Nguyen Hue’s personal diplomatic mission to the Qing court was a historically documented event, situated within the complex diplomatic negotiations between Tây Sơn and the Qianlong court following the military campaign of the year of Jiyou (1789). The article argues that the “proxy-king” narrative originated primarily from the Nguyễn dynasty’s historiographical discourse that sought to diminish the Tay Son regime, combined with later popular mythologization of Quang Trung and the influence of Ming - Qing historical romance literature. Consequently, the author asserts the need to reinterpret this event within the broader context of late 18th-century Qing - Tây Sơn diplomatic relations, emphasizing archival evidence and contemporary diplomatic mechanisms rather than speculative reconstructions and folkloric narrative.