This month we look to Vietnam for Kickass Women. The Tru’ung Sisters led a rebellion against the Chinese in Vietnam and ruled for three years. They lived from around AD 12 to AD 43.
This post mentions suicide.
This entry comes with a few caveats. For starters, the history of Vietnam is long and complicated and not something I presume to have digested properly in the time it took to research this post. Secondly, stories about the Tru’ung sisters come from multiple sources, including Vietnamese and Chinese history and legend, all of which put their own political and gendered spin on events. Finally, the names have spelling variations between sources. For instance, I found usage of ‘Tru’ung’, ‘Tru’ng’ and ‘Trung’.
Traditional Vietnamese society was based in clans, in which women had so much power that the clan system is sometimes considered to have been matriarchal. Bloodlines were traced through the mother, not the father. For about a hundred years, the Chinese Han dynasty had a hands-off approach to governing the parts of Vietnam under occupation and allowed the clans to continue fairly autonomously.
Tru’ung Trac and Tru’ung Nhi were born in northern Vietnam during the Eastern Han dynasty, and raised by their mother, a widow who had them trained in martial arts and warcraft as well as domestic duties. Some stories say that their father was still alive and that he trained them. Trac, the older sister, married Thi Sach, who was the lord of the district. The Chinese governor of the area, Su Ding, was ruthless and domineering, raising taxes and demanding bribes. When Thi Sach pushed back against Su Ding, Su Ding had him beheaded without trial.
The Tru’ng sisters launched a rebellion as revenge for Thi Sach’s death. It was the first large-scale rebellion in 250 years of occupation. Their army was made up of women and men, but with far more women, including the legendary warrior Phu’ung Thi Chinh, who rode into battle pregnant, gave birth on the battlefield, and fought her way out with her baby strapped to her back. The army had about 80,000 soldiers and thirty-six female generals, including the mother of the sisters.
The sisters held 65 citadels at the height of their power and ruled as joint queens. In 41AD Han emperor Guang Wu Di launched an offensive against them. The Chinese claim to have captured and executed the sisters and sent their heads to the Han emperor, but according to some legends the sisters avoided this humiliation by drowning themselves in the river.
The Tru’ung sisters remain a powerful symbol of the high status of women at that point in Vietnamese history, as well as an enduring symbol of Vietnamese independence. They reached a mythical state, believed to be the providers of rain. Many poems and stories were written about them and temples and shrines dedicated to them. Their legend inspired many Vietnamese during the years of French colonial rule and during the Vietnam War. Today, Vietnam celebrates Hai Ba Trung Day every Lunar February.
Here are my sources:
Robin Cross and Rosalind Miles, Women At War: 3000 Years of Courage and Heroism, Metro Books, New York, 2011
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Trung-Sisters
https://www.history.com/news/trung-sisters-vietnam-rebellion-han-dynasty
I’m Vietnamese. It’s Trưng
They were literal kick-ass women! It’s so cool that there are records of their deeds from both sides too.