Trưng Sisters
The Trưng sisters were Vietnamese military leaders who ruled for three years after rebelling in AD 40 against the first Chinese domination of Vietnam. They are regarded as national heroines of Vietnam. Their names were Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị.
The sisters were born in Giao Chi, in rural Northern Vietnam, a commandery of the Han dynasty. The dates of their births are unknown, but Trưng Trắc was older than Trưng Nhị. The exact dates of their deaths are also unknown but both died around AD 43 after a battle against an army led by Ma Yuan.
The Trưng sisters were highly educated under the watchful eyes of their father; they excelled in both literature and martial arts. Both were in line to inherit their father's land and titles.
Historical background
The former Qin commander Zhao Tuo conquered Âu Lạc, renamed the country Nanyue and established the Triệu dynasty. Emperor Wu of Han dispatched soldiers against Nanyue and the kingdom was annexed in 111 BC during the ensuing Han–Nanyue War. Nine commanderies were established to administer the region, three of which are located in modern-day northern Vietnam. Revolts against the Han began in AD 40 led by the Trưng sisters.''Book of the Later Han'', 5th century
The Chinese traditional historical accounts on the Trưng sisters are remarkably brief. They are found in two different chapters of the Book of the Later Han, the history for the Eastern Han Dynasty, against which the Trưng sisters had carried out their uprising.Chapter eighty-six of the Book of the Later Han, entitled Biographies of the Southern and the Southwestern Barbarians, has this short description:
In the 16th year of Jianwu, Jiaozhiwomen Zhēng Cè and Zhēng Èr rebelled and attacked the commandery capital. Zhēng Cè was the daughter of the sheriff of Mê Linh County, and she married a man named Shi Suo from.... She was a ferocious warrior. Su Ding, the grand administrator of Jiaozhi Commandery, curbed her with laws. Cè became angry and rebelled. The barbarian towns of Jiuzhen, Rinan, and Hepu Commanderies all joined her, and she captured sixty five cities and claimed to be queen. The governors of Jiaozhi Province and the commanderies could only defend themselves. Emperor Guangwu therefore ordered the Changsha, Hepu, and Jiaozhi Commanderies to prepare wagons and boats, to repair the roads and bridges, to open the mountain passes, and to save food supplies. In the 18th year 42, he sent Ma Yuan the General Fubo and Duan Zhi the General Lochuan to lead ten odd thousands of men from Changsha, Guiyang, Linling, and Cangwu Commanderies against them. In the summer of the next year 43, Ma recaptured Jiaozhi and killed Zhēng Cè, Zhēng Èr, and others in battle, and the rest scattered. He also attacked Du Yang, a rebel of the Jiuzhen Commandery, and Du surrendered and was moved, along with some 300 of his followers to Lingling Commandery. The border regions were thus pacified.
Chapter twenty-four, the biographies of Ma and some of his notable male descendants, had a parallel description that also added that Ma was able to impress the locals by creating irrigation networks to help the people and also by simplifying and clarifying the Han laws, and was able to get the people to follow Han's laws.
The traditional Chinese account, therefore, does not indicate abuse of the Vietnamese population by the Chinese officials. It implicitly disavows the traditional Vietnamese accounts of massive cruelty and of the Chinese official killing Trưng Trắc's husband. There is no indication in the Chinese account that the Trưng sisters committed suicide, or that other followers followed their example. Indeed, Ma, known in Chinese history for his strict military discipline, is not believed by the Chinese to have carried out cruel or unusual tactics. That account is in contrast to the Vietnamese.
Excerpts from ''Complete Annals of Đại Việt'', 1479
The third book of Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, published in editions between 1272 and 1697, has the following to say about the Trưng Sisters:Lê Văn Hưu wrote:
Traditional Vietnamese account
The Trưng sisters were born in a rural Vietnamese village, into a military family. Their father was a prefect of Mê Linh, therefore the sisters grew up in a house well-versed in the martial arts. They also witnessed the cruel treatment of the Viets by their Chinese overlords. The Trưng sisters spent much time studying the art of warfare, as well as learning fighting skills. When a neighbouring prefect came to visit Mê Linh, he brought with him his son, Thi Sách. Thi Sách met and fell in love with Trưng Trắc during the visit, and they were soon married.Revolt
With Chinese rule growing extremely exacting, and the policy of forcible cultural assimilation into the Chinese mould during the Southward expansion of the Han dynasty, Thi Sách made a stand against the Chinese. The Chinese responded by executing Thi Sách as a warning to all those who contemplated rebellion. His death spurred his wife to take up his cause and the flames of insurrection spread.In AD 40, Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị, after successfully repelling a small Chinese unit from their village, assembled a large army consisting mostly of women. Within months, they had taken many citadels from the Chinese, and had liberated Nanyue. They became queens regnant of Nanyue and managed to resist subsequent Han attacks on the country for over three years.
During the Trung sisters' rebellion against the Han dynasty's First Chinese domination of Vietnam, the Han Chinese administrator of Jiaozhi, Sū Dìng only managed to escape to China and avoid being discovered by the Vietnamese rebels by shaving his long hair to blend in with Vietnamese along the way since shaving hair was a common custom of Vietnamese men of that era but not of Chinese men as Nguyễn Khắc Thuần recorded.
Defeat
Their reign was short-lived, however, as the Chinese gathered a huge expeditionary army under the veteran general Ma Yuan to suppress the rebellion. The Trưng sisters were defeated in battle in 43 AD. Different accounts regarding the fate of the sisters are recorded in Vietnamese and Chinese sources. The Đại Việt sử lược reports that the sisters were killed by Ma Yuan. According to the Trần Thế Pháp and Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, the sisters died during the fighting after they were deserted by their fellow rebels. The Book of the Later Han states that they were decapitated by Ma Yuan, who sent their heads back to the Han capital. There are also legendary accounts claiming that the sisters fell sick, vanished in the sky, or took their own lives by jumping into a river and drowning. According to one legendary account, when finally overwhelmed by Han China's armies, the sisters threw themselves into the Hat Giang River in order to avoid capture. They then turned into statues. These eventually washed ashore and were placed in Hanoi's Hai Ba Trung Temple for worship.According to legend, Phùng Thị Chính, a pregnant captain of a group of soldiers who were to protect the center of Nanyue, gave birth on the front line. With her baby in one arm she ended the child's life and continued to fight in the war. She later committed suicide along with the Trưng sisters.
According to another oral tradition, the army led by the Trưng sisters was defeated when the Chinese troops decided to fight naked, causing the mostly female army to disperse in embarrassment.
Cultural significance
Nationalism
The Trưng Sisters are highly revered in Vietnam, as they led the first resistance movement against the occupying Chinese after 247 years of domination. Many temples are dedicated to them, and a yearly holiday in February to commemorate their deaths is observed by many Vietnamese. A central district in Hanoi called the Hai Bà Trưng District is named after them, as are numerous large streets in major cities and many schools.The stories of the Trưng Sisters and of another famous woman warrior, Lady Triệu, are cited by some historians as hints that Vietnamese society before sinicization was a matriarchal one, where there are no obstacles for women in assuming leadership roles.
Even though the Trưng Sisters' revolt against the Chinese was almost 2000 years ago, its legacy in Vietnam remains. The two sisters are considered to be a national symbol in Vietnam. They represent Vietnam's independence. They are often depicted as two women riding two giant war elephants. Many times, they are seen leading their followers into battle against the Chinese. The Trưng sisters were more than two sisters that gave their life up for their country, they are powerful symbols of Vietnamese resistance and freedom.
Their strong defiance and devote for Vietnamese freedom nonetheless, has been greatly appreciated by not just Vietnamese but even foreign leaders. The U.S. President Donald Trump has recalled their heroism to be one of the greatest achievement of Vietnamese people during the APEC Vietnam 2017.