Khuc Hao

Background The date of birth of Khúc Hạo was unknown but he came from the Khúc family which was a powerful clan with long history and tradition in Hồng Châu, Cúc Bồ (now Ninh Giang, Hải Dương, Vietnam). In early 10th century, the head of Khúc family Khúc Thừa Dụ succeeded in taking over the control of Tĩnh Hải quân (now the northern part of Vietnam) and became the first Jiedushi of native origin that marked the beginning of the independence of Vietnam, because while the country still nominally belonged to the Tang dynasty, it had now a status of autonomy with a native ruler who could decide matters without any interference from China.

History As the son of Khúc Thừa Dụ, Khúc Hạo began to hold the position Jiedushi in 907 after his father's death and continue to consolidate the autonomy of the country. On the other hand, in old historical books such as the Đại Việt sử lược or Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, it was Khúc Hạo, instead of Khúc Thừa Dụ, who was mentioned as the first member of the Khúc family holding the position Jiedushi, according to Đại Việt sử lược, he succeeded this title from the Chinese Jiedushi named Độc Cô Tồn while in Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, Khúc Hạo self-entitled him Jiedushi after rising a revolt that took control over Tĩnh Hải quân.

In the position of ruler of Tĩnh Hải quân, Khúc Hạo made several important social and administrative reforms. He decided to change the basic administrative unit from hương (township), which was established during the Tang dynasty, to giáp. For each giáp, Khúc Hạo appointed a quản giáp (supervisor of giáp) and a phó tri giáp (deputy-supervisor of giáp) to keep the control, a system of family register (sổ hộ) was also created in order to collect accurate statistics of population and manpower of the country. Other important social changes initiated by Khúc Hạo were the levelling of cultivated land tax (thuế ruộng) and the abolishment of corvée (lực dịch). However, in the next year, Later Liang appointed Liu Yin, the warlord who ruled Qinghai Circuit (清海, headquartered in modern Guangzhou, Guangdong), as Jiedushi of Tĩnh Hải quân, meaning the Chinese still wanted to regain control of Vietnam. Khúc Hạo assigned his own son Khúc Thừa Mỹ to the position of ambassador in Guangzhou with the mission of not only keeping a good relation with the northern country but also studying the real situation in China at the time.

Khúc Hạo deceased in 917 and was succeeded by his son Khúc Thừa Mỹ who failed to keep the autonomy of Tĩnh Hải quân when he refused to acknowledge allegiance to the newly established kingdom of Southern Han