Trưng Sisters' Rebellion (AD 40 – AD 43)
In February AD 40, the Trưng Sisters led a successful revolt against Han Governor Su Ding (Vietnamese:Tô Định) and recaptured 65 states (including modern Guangxi). Trưng Trắc, angered by the killing of her husband by Su Dung, led the revolt together with her sister, Trưng Nhị. Trưng Trắc later became the Queen (Trưng Nữ Vương). In 43 AD,Emperor Guangwu of Han sent his famous general Ma Yuan (Vietnamese: Mã Viện) with a large army to quell the revolt. After a long, difficult campaign, Ma Yuan suppressed the uprising and the Trung Sisters committed suicide to avoid capture. To this day, the Trưng Sisters are revered in Vietnam as the national symbol of Vietnamese women.
How Two Vietnamese Sisters Led a Revolt Against Chinese Invaders—in the 1st Century
5/21/2021By | Lakshmi Gandhi , history.com
Long before women revolutionaries like Joan of Arc and Catherine of Aragon, two high-born Vietnamese sisters rallied their people in order to fight against oppression. Known simply as the Trung sisters, Trung Trac and Trung Nhi raised an army and went to battle in order to protect their ancestral homeland in the year 43 AD.
In the 2,000 years since their deaths, the legend of the Trung sisters has come to represent Vietnamese nationalism—and a rare moment in which two young women ruled an independent nation pushing back against colonial repression.
A Childhood Filled with Privilege
Sisters Trung Trac and Trung Nhi had led charmed lives before the violence that led them to organize their people. As daughters of the general who ran the district of Giao Chi (in present-day northern Vietnam), the sisters were tutored in literature and studied martial arts alongside their father.
When the Han Chinese first invaded the area now known as Vietnam in 111 BC, they immediately installed several local rulers to act as conduits for Chinese interests. Among those local leaders was the Trung sisters’ father—who, like several of the other installed rulers, did manage to push back against the Chinese on occasion in order to protect the interests of the local people.
A Tragedy Changed the Course of Their Lives
Sister Trung Trac grew up to marry Thi Sach, a general from a neighboring district. When the ruling Chinese increased taxes on salt and began demanding bribes from local Vietnamese officials, Thi Sach began to organize his fellow aristocrats to rebel against these measures. “It had reached the point where Han people were trying to take authority away from this aristocratic group,” says Taylor. “So this aristocratic class of chieftains and overlords were trying to prevent the Han...from taking that power and control...away from them.”
While Trung Trac is believed by some to have been an integral force in assisting her husband, he was the only one the Chinese captured and executed without trial.
A Call to Revolution
After her husband’s death, Trung Trac, alongside her sister Trung Nhi, began to mobilize local people—both landlords and working farmers—to continue fighting against Chinese rule. To motivate the newly assembled troops before battle, Trung Trac was also believed to have written long patriotic poems that called on them to avenge the life of her husband.
“There were different chieftains who brought their people into the army,” says Taylor. “Oftentimes the chieftain had some kind of obligation to provide soldiers when needed.” The newly formed army would eventually number about 80,000 soldiers who hailed from both the peasantry and the aristocracy. The battalion was also led by 36 women generals, one of whom was reportedly the Trung sisters’ elderly mother.
Armed with swords, bows and arrows, axes and spears, the Trung sisters and their army stormed 65 Chinese-run citadels and the governor’s home, successfully forcing the Chinese leader out of the region.
A Brief but Memorable Reign
After successfully driving the Chinese out, Trưng Trắc was declared queen of a newly created independent country in the formerly occupied region, and ran it alongside her sister. “For two years they were more or less in charge there; they've been considered to be queens,” says Taylor, noting that they ruled their nation with little interference from others.
Everything would change in 41 AD, when Han emperor Guang Wu Di became determined to recapture Vietnam for his empire. Guang sent his general Ma Yuan and his troops south in order to overthrow the Trung sisters. Unlike their earlier battle, the sisters were unprepared to stave off Chinese forces and began losing many of their aristocratic supporters. The pair were defeated in 43 AD, near the site of what is now known as the city of Hanoi.
For the full article featuring more from Keith Taylor, visit History.com
The battle scenes carved in a stone in the Hai Ba Trung Temple in Me Linh, Hanoi. There are many temples dedicated to the queens accross Vietnam to commemorate the sisters' courage and role in fighting for national independence.
The Hai Ba Trung Temple in Me Linh, Hanoi during the annual Trung Sisters festival
