The Trung Sisters, (c.AD 12 - 43), known in Vietnamese as Hai Bà Trưng ("the two Trưng ladies"'), and individually as Trưng Trắc (Traditional Chinese: 徵側; pinyin: Zhēng Cè) and Trưng Nhị (Traditional Chinese: 徵貳; pinyin: Zhēng Èr), were two 1st century women leaders who successfully repelled Chinese invasions for three years, and are regarded as national heroines of Vietnam.

The sisters were born during the thousand-year Chinese occupation of Vietnam. The dates of their birth are unknown, but Trưng Trắc was older than Trưng Nhị. The exact date of their death is unknown but both died in the year AD 43.

The motivation of the Trưng sisters and what happened is open to dispute. The traditional Vietnamese account has been alleged by many to be a highly fictionalized account created in the 14th century to encourage Vietnamese patriotism. The traditional Chinese account, of course, could have been simply a history written by the victors.

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: :Trưng Queen: Ruled for 3 years. The monarch was courageous, having expelled Tô Định (蘇定, Sū Dìng), established a state and declared herself ruler, but being a woman, she wasn't able to sustain the feat. :Her real name was Trắc (側, cè), family name Trưng (徵, Zhēng). Originally from the Lạc (雒, Luò) clan, she was the daughter of the Lạc lord of Mê Linh (麊泠, Mílíng) County, Phong Châu, wife of Thi Sách (詩索, Shī Suǒ) in Chu Diên District (Thi Sách is also the son of a Lạc lord, they are from Lạc families marrying each other. The book Cương mục tập lãm is mistaken to say that their family name is Lạc). The capital was founded in Mê Linh. :Canh Tý, year 1 (40 AD) (16^th year of Jianwu). Spring, second month, because Governor Tô Định had killed her husband used the law to bind her, she together with her younger sister Nhị (貳, Èr) gathered troops and fought the provincial governor. Định fled back to his country. People of Nam Hải, Cửu Chân, Nhật Nam, Hợp Phố, including 65 strongholds in Lĩnh Nam altogether took the opportunity to rebel against imperial rule. Trung proclaimed herself to be queen, of the Trưng family. :Tân Sửu, year 2 (41 AD), (17^th year of Jianwu). Spring, second month, day 30, solar eclipse. The Han Dynasty seeing that Trưng claimed to be ruler, brought troops to retake the fortresses; the border commanderies were to bear the burden of the military reconquest. Trường Sa, Hợp Phố, and Giao Châu were to prepare wagons and boats, repair the roads and bridges, maintain the mountain passes, and supply the troops under Mã Viện, Phù Lạc, and Lưu Long to invade. :Nhâm Dần, year 3 (42 AD), (18^th year of Jianwu). Spring, first month, Mã Viện advanced along the coast, leveling the mountains to build roads of more than a thousand li; he arrived at Lãng Bạc (west of Tây Nhai of La Thành) and fought against the Queen. Seeing the enemy's superior strength, the Queen led the retreat of her troops to Cấm Khê (also written as Kim Khê). However, the troops believed that the Queen was a mere woman, who could not oppose the Chinese - so they disbanded. The country was lost. :Lê Văn Hưu [one of the historians editing the annals] says: Trưng Trắc, Trưng Nhị are women, with a single cry lead 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).

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.

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.

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 (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.

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,<bgref>The use of the word <i>barbarians is historical, and is used to be faithful in translating the Chinese texts. No disrespect is intended in any way.</bgref></i> has this short description:

:In the 16^th year of Jianwu <nowiki>[</nowiki>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, although that appears to be quite likely based on the negative implication from Ma's biography -- if there was nothing wrong with what they were doing, why would Ma need to improve on them in a major manner? 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.

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 is named after them. In addition, numerous large streets in major cities 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.

*History of Vietnam

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* Trung sisters Tuyet A. Tran & Chu V. Nguyen

Trung Sisters Trung Sisters