complex in terms of ethnolinguistic and cultural origins. The Continuity theory can be easily discredited by linguistic examinations. By the 9th-11th centuries, the northern portion of the Viet-Muong portion of Vietic speakers had just supposedly diverged, and one dialect cluster thereby evolved into Vietnamese. Other theories advocated by John Phan presents evidence of Vietnamese being developed from a creolized language which resulted from a local linguistic shift from Middle Chinese to proto-Vietnamese after Sinitic rule. Beside anachronisms, Vietnamese nationalist scholarship also inserted a Vietnamese resistance myth into history by labeling any rebellious local group in Northern Vietnam during the Han-Tang period as collectively "Vietnamese" who 'were in constant struggles against the Chinese yokes,' in contrast to "corrupt invading Chinese colonizers", generic modern nationalities and ethnicities. The context was heavily entangled with modern perceptions about Vietnam during decolonization and the Cold War. Historians such as Catherine Churchman have criticized attempts of characterizing the past through the lens of modern national boundaries and projecting a "wish for the restoration of long-lost national independence" onto localized dynasties. Founding Prior to independence in the late 9th century, the area that became Đại Việt in northern Vietnam was ruled by the Tang dynasty as Annan. The hill dwellers on the western frontier of Annan and powerful chieftains such as Lý Do Độc allied with the state of Nanzhao in Yunnan and rebelled against the Tang dynasty in the 860s. They captured Annan in three years, forcing the lowlanders to scatter to asylums around the delta. The Tang dynasty turned back and defeated the Nanzhao-indigenous alliance in 866 and renamed the area Jinghai Circuit. A military mutiny forced Tang authorities to withdraw in 880 while loyalist troops left for home on their own initiative. A regional regime led by the Khuc family formed on the Red River Delta in the early 10th century. From 907 to 917, Khúc Hạo and then Khúc Thừa Mỹ was appointed by Chinese dynasties as jiedushi, tributary governors. The Khúc did not try to create any kind of a de jure independent polity. In 930, the neighboring Southern Han state invaded Annam and removed the Khúc from power. In 931, Dương Đình Nghệ, a local chief from Aizhou, revolted and quickly ousted the Southern Han. In 937 he was assassinated by Kiều Công Tiễn, leader of the revanchist faction allied with the Southern Han. In 938, emperor Liu Gong of Southern