Procession commemorating the Trưng Sisters in the early 20th century
The
Trung Sisters (c. 12 -
AD 43), known in
Vietnamese as
Hai Bà Trưng (literally "the two Ladies Trưng"), and individually as
Trưng Trắc (
徵側) and
Trưng Nhị (
徵貳), were two 1st century
Vietnamese women leaders who successfully repelled
Chinese invasions for three years, and are regarded as national heroines of
Vietnam.
The sisters were born in Northern Vietnam, the dates of their birth are unknown, but Trưng Trắc was older than Trưng Nhị. The exact date of their death is also unknown but both died in AD 43.
Traditional Vietnamese account
The third book of
Đại Việt Sử ký toàn thư (大越史記全書
Complete Annals of Great Viet), published in editions between 1272 and 1697, has the following to say about the Trưng Sisters:
Lê Văn Hưu (one of the historians editing the annals) wrote: Trưng Trắc, Trưng Nhị are women, with a single cry led the prefectures of Cửu Chân, Nhật Nam, Hợp Phố, and 65 strongholds heed their call. They established a nation and proclaimed their rule as easily as their turning over their hands. It awakened all of us that we can be independent. Unfortunately, between the fall of the
Triệu Dynasty and the rise of the
Ngô Dynasty, in the span of more than one thousand years, men of this land only bowed their heads and accepted the fate of servitude to the people from the North (Chinese).
The reign of Trưng Nữ Vương [Trưng Queens], started in the year of Canh Tý and ended in Nhâm Dần, for a total of 3 years (40-42).
Early years
The Trưng sisters were born in a rural Vietnamese village, into a
military family. Their father was a prefect of Mê Linh (
麊泠), 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.
Rebellion
With Chinese rule growing intolerably exacting, and the policy of forcible
assimilation into the Chinese mold, 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 39, 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 back many (about 65) citadels from the Chinese, and had liberated
Nam Việt. They became
queens of the country, and managed to resist all Chinese attacks on Nam Việt for over two years.
Defeat
Their
revolution was short lived however, as the Chinese gathered a huge expeditionary army to crush the native fighters. Legend has it that the Chinese army did this by going into battle unclothed. The enemy's brazenness so shamed the Vietnamese female warriors that they fled the battle scene, leaving the weakened forces easily defeated by the Chinese.
Phung Thi Chinh, a
pregnant noble lady was the captain of a group of soldiers who were to protect the central flank of Nam Việt. She gave
birth on the
front line, and with her baby in one arm, and a sword in the other, continued to fight the battle.
Despite the many heroic efforts, the Trưng sisters realised that they had been defeated and that to fight further would mean death at the hands of the Chinese. Therefore to protect their
honour, and to elude ridicule, the two queens committed
suicide by drowning themselves in the
Hát River in
AD 43. Some of their
loyal soldiers continued to fight to the death, whilst others committed suicide (including Phung Thi Chinh, who also took her newborn baby's life). There is a story of one woman who would randomly charge through Chinese camps, screaming and slaying random men. Finally, after killing many more, she committed suicide in the hope of returning to her respected commanders.
Traditional Chinese account
The Chinese traditional historical accounts on the Trưng sisters are remarkably brief. They are found in two different chapters of
Hou Han Shu, the history for the
Eastern Han Dynasty, against which the Trưng sisters had carried out their uprising.
Chapter eighty six of
Hou Han Shu, entitled
Biographies of the Southern and the Southwestern Barbarians, has this short description:
In the 16
th year of
Jianwu [40],
Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ) [modern northern Vietnam and extreme western
Guangdong and western
Guangxi] women Zhēng Cè (Trưng Trắc) and Zhēng Èr (Trưng Nhị) rebelled and attacked the
commandery capital. Zhēng Cè was the daughter of the sheriff of Miling (Mê Linh; 麊泠) County, and she married a man named Shi Suo (Thi Sách; 詩索) from ....(Chu Diên) She was a ferocious warrior. Su Ding (蘇定), the governor 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 18
th year 42, he sent
Ma Yuan the General Fupuo and Duan Zhi (段志) 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 (都陽), 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. However, it also implicitly disavowed the traditional Vietnamese accounts of massive cruelty and of the Chinese official killing Trưng Trắc's husband. There was further no indication that the Trưng sisters committed suicide, that other followers followed example and did so, or that the Chinese army fought naked to win the battle. Indeed, Ma, known in Chinese history for his strict military discipline, would not have likely carried out cruel or unusual tactics.
Impact
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, occurring in February, to commemorate their deaths is observed by many Vietnamese. A district in
Hanoi called the
Hai Ba Trung district is named after them. In addition, numerous large streets in major cities and many schools are named after them. They are often depicted riding on elephants into battle.
The stories of the Trưng sisters and of another famous woman warrior,
Triệu Thị Trinh, 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.
See also
Footnotes
