The
Trưng
Sisters

• Posted November 22, 2024

There isn't a more intimidating sight in battle than seeing your enemy approaching on the backs of one of the largest land mammals on earth. But imagine your surprise as the elephants' riders come into focus...and they're women. The Trưng sisters, commonly depicted on the backs of elephants in media, liberated Vietnam from Chinese rule in the first century AD, but there's more to the story than meets the eye. 

The
Trưng
Sisters, Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị, were the daughters of the Giao Chi province's general in modern-day Vietnam. Their father died when they were young, but their mother, Man Thien, raised them with customary Vietnamese valued, which held women unusually higher societally than other Asian cultures at the time. Not only could they own and be the heirs to property, but they could also hold high ranks in politics, military, and mercantilism. These norms had been reversing, however, since the Chinese invasion of Vietnamese territory about 100 years prior. And the Trưng
Sisters' family was not going to put up with it. Both their father and mother were vocally against the Chinese occupation. The Trưng
Sisters' mother actively refused remarriage following her husband's death, much to the dismay of the Chinese. She felt the swellings of tension coming to a head and instead chose to dedicate her time to teaching her daughters "the arts of war: military strategy, martial arts, and sword and bow fighting" (Girls Who Rocked the World). 

The older of the sisters, Trưng Trắc, married a man by the name of Thi
Sách, who shared her family's anti-Chinese sentiments. He is remembered as having "courageous
 strength,
 as
 well
 as
 a
 heroic
 spirit" (Excerpts
from The
Complete
Compilation
of
the
Collected
Writings about
the
Departed
Spirits
of
the
Việt
Realm:
Sovereigns,
The
Trưng
Sisters). The anger boiled over when the Chinese started to demand more money from the Vietnamese people. Trưng Trắc and Thi
Sách then began to rally other Vietnamese leaders to fight the Chinese. The rebellion failed, however and Thi
Sách was murdered in the process. The Chinese governor intended to scare off any future uprisings by displaying Thi
Sách's mutilated body for the public to see, but the Trưng sisters fought back. 

Trưng Trắc chose not to wear mourning clothes following her husband's death to keep morale high as she collected willing volunteers from the Vietnamese people, men and women alike, to fight the Chinese forces. She also reportedly wrote poetry with the goal of leading her troops to revenge for her husband. Out of the 80,000 that signed up to take part in the revolution, the Trưng sisters recruited 36 women, one of which was supposedly the aging Man Thien, the Trưng sisters' mother, to fill the role of general among the volunteers. The two Trưng sisters worked phenomenally together and managed to take back 65 Vietnamese fortresses that had previously fallen under Chinese control. The series of battles ended with the Chinese fleeing Vietnam. Somehow the untrained army had succeeded in the only Vietnamese rebellion against an alien foe.

"All the male heroes bowed their heads in submission. Only the two sisters proudly stood up to avenge the country."
—FIFTEENTH-CENTURY VIETNAMESE POEM

Following the courageous victory against the Chinese, the Trưng sisters named themselves the Queens
of
Việt, a territory that, today, would have reached from southern Vietnam up to the lower part of China, and successfully pushed back Chinese forces for the next few years, ruling an improved Vietnam with removed taxes and many reinstated traditional values and ruling styles. Sadly, Chinese vengeance prevailed. By 43AD, the Queens
of
Việt had lost much of their aristocratic backing support and were unable to defend their newly-acquired nation from the invading forces. The battle was bloody and many Vietnamese troops were killed or taken captive. How the sisters actually died in lost to history. According to certain accounts the Trưng sisters drowned themselves in a river to avoid the necessity of surrendering, but other sources claim they were captured. More legendary sources hold that they simply ascended into the heavens. 

Sources and Images Used in This Article:

Image Citation:

stampguy01. "North Vietnam Stamps: 1959 Trung Sisters. Set of 2. Mint Never Hinged." Ebay, n.d. https://www.ebay.com/itm/115235349848. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.

Source Citations:

Excerpts from The Complete Compilation of the Collected Writings about the Departed Spirits of the Việt Realm: Sovereigns, The Trưng Sisters. (n.d.). In Primary Source Document with Questions (DBQs). Columbia University. https://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/vietnam/trung.pdf

Gandhi, L., & Gandhi, L. (2024, March 27). How two Vietnamese sisters led a revolt against Chinese invaders—in the 1st century. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/news/trung-sisters-vietnam-rebellion-han-dynasty

Publishing, B. W. (2018, March 29). The Trung Sisters: Excerpt from. Beyond Words Publishing. https://beyondword.com/blogs/beyond-words-blog/the-trung-sisters

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (1998, July 20). Trung Sisters | Leaders of Vietnamese rebellion against Han-dynasty overlords. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Trung-Sisters