The
Baiyue,
Hundred Yue or
Yue were various partly or un-
Sinicized peoples who inhabited
South China and northern
Vietnam between the first millennium BC and the first millennium AD. In the
Warring States period, the word "Yue" referred to the
State of Yue in
Zhejiang. The later kingdoms of
Minyue in
Fujian and
Nanyue in
Guangdong are both considered Baiyue states. Although people of Yue had knowledge of agriculture and the technology of shipbuilding, Chinese writers depicted the Yue as
barbarians who had tattoos, lived in primitive conditions, and lacked such technology as bows, arrows, horses and chariots.