Trung Trac
Rose in revolt against the Han with her sister, the first large-scale resistance on record.
Life
Lac Viet noble clan
Trưng Trắc came from a Lạc Việt noble clan in Mê Linh County of the Han dynasty's Jiaozhi Commandery. The area, in the Red River basin of what is now northern Vietnam, had long been under the commandery-and-county administration of the Central Plains dynasties since the time of Emperor Wu of Han, while local noble clans still retained considerable hereditary power and influence.
Rose in revolt and declared themselves queens
In 39 CE her husband Thi Sách was killed for resisting the tyrannical rule of Su Ding, the Grand Administrator of Jiaozhi. She and her younger sister Trưng Nhị rose in revolt, and Lạc Việt noble clans everywhere joined them, at one point taking more than sixty cities. She proclaimed herself queen and established a short-lived local regime, the first recorded large-scale uprising in Vietnamese history against rule from the Central Plains.
Defeat and remembrance
The Eastern Han court sent the veteran general Ma Yuan south with a large army, and in 43 CE he defeated the Trưng Sisters' forces at Lãng Bạc and elsewhere. According to tradition, the two sisters drowned themselves in a river after their defeat, and Jiaozhi returned to Han commandery administration. Chinese official histories devote little attention to this episode, treating it merely as a frontier rebellion, but in Vietnam it is revered as the beginning of national resistance to foreign rule, and the sisters have been worshipped for generations as the "Trưng Sisters." The huge contrast between these two narrative perspectives is a classic example of how the same history is given different meanings in the memories of different nations.
Legacy
In Chinese historical records, Trưng Trắc's uprising is recorded as a rebellion in a frontier commandery and the Book of the Later Han says little about it, whereas Ma Yuan's southern campaign and the bronze pillars he erected became widely known. In Vietnam, the Trưng Sisters are honored as national heroes who resisted foreign rule; shrines to them stand throughout the country and many cities have streets named after them. As for their fate, the biography of Ma Yuan in the Book of the Later Han records that they were beheaded and their heads sent to Luoyang, while Vietnamese legend says they drowned themselves in a river to die for their country. The two versions coexist, reflecting different narratives of the same history.
Major works & achievements
- Rose in revolt with her sister Trưng Nhị and took more than 60 cities
- Proclaimed herself queen, with her base at Mê Linh
- The Eastern Han sent Ma Yuan south on campaign, and she was finally defeated
Did you know? The Trưng Sisters Temple in Hanoi was first built in the 12th century under Vietnam's Lý dynasty, and worshippers still burn incense there today.
Key dates
- 20Born c. into a powerful clan of Mê Linh in Jiaozhi
- 39Her husband Thi Sach was killed by the Han governor
- 40Rose in revolt against the Han with her sister Trưng Nhị and proclaimed herself queen
- 41Eastern Han sent Ma Yuan south with an army
- 43Defeated; by tradition she drowned herself in a river