Trưng Sisters

The Trưng sisters (c. 12 - AD 43) were leaders who rebelled against Chinese rule for three years, and are regarded as national heroines of Vietnam. Their names were Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị.

The sisters were born in Giao Chỉ in what is now Northern Vietnam. 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.

Historical background
Nanyue (Nam Việt) was a kingdom founded by the former Qin Dynasty commander Zhao Tuo (Triệu Đà). The Han Dynasty Emperor Wu of Han dispatched soldiers against Nanyue, and the kingdom was annexed in 111 BC. Nine commanderies were established to administer the region. Revolts against the Han began in 40 AD, 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 [ 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 (Cửu Chân), Rinan (Nhật Nam), and Hepu (Hợp Phố) 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 (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. 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 example and did so. 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 (Complete Annals of Dai Viet), published in editions between 1272 and 1697, has the following to say about the Trưng Sisters:

Queen Trưng (徵 Zhēng) reigned for three years. The queen was strong and intelligent. She expelled Tô Định (蘇定 Sū Dìng) and established a kingdom as the queen, but as a female ruler could not accomplish the rebuilding of the state. Her taboo name was Trắc (側 Cè), and her family name was Trưng, but was originally Lạc. She was the daughter of General Lạc from Mê Linh from Phong Châu, and she was the wife of Thi Sách (詩索, Chinese Shī Suǒ) from Chu Diên County. Thi Sách was the son of General Lạc's doctor, and they arranged the marriage. (The work Cương mục tập lãm [Gangmu Jilan] erroneously indicated that his family name was Lạc.) Her capital was Mê Linh. [...]

Her first year was Canh Tí [AD 40, Gengzi]. (It was the 16th year of Han Dynasty's Jianwu era). In the spring, the second month, the governor of Wangku Commandery, Tô Định, punished her under the law, and she also hated Định for having killed her husband. She therefore, along with her sister Nhị, rose and captured the commandery capital. Định was forced to flee. Nam Hải, Cửu Chân, Nhật Nam, and Hợp Phố all rose in response to her. She was able to take over 65 cities and declare herself queen. Thereafter, she began to use the family name of Trưng.

Her second year was Tân Sửu [AD 41, Xinchou]. (It was the 17th year of Han Dynasty's Jianwu era). In the spring, the second month, there was a solar eclipse, and the moon was dark. The Han saw that as Lady Trưng had declared herself queen and captured cities, causing much distress in the border commanderies. It thus ordered Trường Sa, Hợp Phố, and our Giao Châu to prepare wagons and boats, repair the bridges and the roads, dredge the rivers, and store food supplies. It commissioned Mã Viện (Ma Yuan) as the General Fupo and Liu Long the Marquess of Fule as his assistant in order to invade.

Her third year was Nhâm Dần [AD 42, Renyin]. (It was the 18th year of Han Dynasty's Jianwu era). In the spring, the first month, Mã followed the coastline and entered Sui Mountain. He went for over a thousand li and reached Lãng Bạc (west of Tây Nhai in La Thành was named Lãng Bạc)  He battled with the queen, who saw that the enemy's army was large. She considered her own army to be ill-trained, and feared that it could not stand. Therefore, she withdrew to Jin (禁) River. (Jin River was referred to in history as Jin (金) River.) Her followers also thought that the queen was a woman and could not be victorious, and therefore scattered. Her kingdom therefore ended. 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).

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 (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 extremely exacting, and the policy of forcible assimilation into the Chinese mold during their expansion southward, 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 many (about 65) citadels from the Chinese, and had liberated Nam Việt. They became queens of the country, and managed to resist subsequent Chinese attacks on Việt Nam for over five years

Defeat
Their rebellion 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 and committed suicide by drowning themselves in the Hát River in AD 43.

According to legend, Phùng Thị Chính, a pregnant captain of a group of soldiers who were to protect the centre of Việt Nam, gave birth on the front line. With her baby in one arm, and a sword in the other, she continued to fight the battle. She committed suicide along with the Trưng sisters and also took her newborn baby's life.

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, occurring in February, to commemorate their deaths is observed by many Vietnamese. A district in Hanoi called the Hai Bà Trưng District is named after them. In addition, numerous large streets in major cities and many schools are named after them.

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.

Even though the Trưng Sisters' revolt against the Chinese was almost 2,000 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 a 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.

Temples
Temples to the Trưng Sisters, as the two Trưng Nữ Vương, are found from as early as the end of the Third Chinese domination of Vietnam. The best known Hai Bà Trưng Temple is in Hanoi near Hoàn Kiếm Lake. Other Hai Bà Trưng temples are found in Mê Linh District (Vĩnh Phúc Province), Phúc Thọ District (Hà Tây) and Hoàng Hoa Thám Street, Bình Thạnh District, Ho Chi Minh City.