Lady Triệu
Triệu Thị Trinh (chữ Hán: 趙氏貞), also known as Triệu Ẩu (趙嫗) or Bà Triệu (Lady Trieu) (225 - 248) was a female warrior in 3rd century Vietnam who managed to, for a time, successfully resist the Chinese during their occupation of Vietnam. She is described as the Vietnamese "Joan of Arc".
The traditional Vietnamese account has been alleged by many to be a highly fictionalized account created in the Lê Dynasty to encourage Vietnamese patriotism since no mention of her is ever recorded in historical records written prior to that time.
Complete annals of Great Viet Account
Đại Việt Sử Ký Toàn Thư (大越史記全書 Complete annals of Great Viet), written during the Lê Dynasty [1] has this to say about Triệu Thị Trinh:
The Mậu Thìn year, [248], (11th year of Hán Diên Hy (Han Yanxi (延熙)); 1st year of Xích Ô (Chiwu (赤烏))). The people of Cửu Chân again attacked citadels, the prefecture was in rebellion. The Wu king appointed the "Hành Dương" Imperial Imperial Secretist Lục Dận [Lu Yin] (some books say Lục Thương) to Inspector of Jiaozhou. Dận arrived, used the people's respect for him to call them to lay down arms, people surrendered, numbering more than 30,000 households, and the prefecture was once again peaceful. Afterwards, a woman from the Cửu Chân commandery named Triệu Ẩu assembled people and attacked several commanderies (Ẩu has breasts 3 thước [1.2 m] long, tied them behind her back, often rides elephants to fight). Dận was able to subdue [her]. (Giao Chỉ records only write: In the mountains of Cửu Chân commandery there is a woman with the surname Triệu, with breasts 3 thước long, unmarried, assembled people and robbed the commanderies, usually wearing yellow tunics, feet wearing shoes with curved fronts, and fights while sitting on an elephant's head, becoming an immortal after she dies).
Modern Vietnamese Account
Triệu Thị Trinh was born in Son Trung Village in the Trieu Son District of the Thanh Hoa province (situated in today's northern Vietnam) on the 2nd October AD 225. At this time, the area was under the control of the Eastern Wu Kingdom, one of China's Three Kingdoms. She was orphaned at a young age and lived with her brother Triệu Quốc Đạt (趙國達) and his wife until she was twenty years old. It was said that she was treated like a slave in their home.
When she was twenty, she could no longer stand by and watch Wu dominate her homeland. She fled into the jungle and set up her own military camp where she went on to amass an army of at least a thousand men and women soldiers. When her brother tried to persuade her from rebelling, she told him:
"I will not resign myself to the lot of women who bow their heads and become concubines. I wish to surf the rough waves, ride the strong winds, kill the whales of the East Sea, fight the Wu to gain independence. I have no desire to take abuse."
Triệu Thị Trinh managed to successfully liberate an area of Vietnam which she claimed as her territory and from there set up her own administration. By the time Thị Trinh was 23 she had defeated Wu advances on thirty separate occasions. She managed to defend her territory for several months and it was said that she rode into battle on the back of an elephant, clad in golden armour carrying a sword in each hand.
However in AD 248 Wu managed to defeat Thị Trinh's forces and recaptured the territory which she had previously liberated from them. To protect her honour and to elude death at the hands of the Chinese, she committed suicide by drowning herself in a nearby river. There is another version of her suicide, saying that she was trampled to death by elephants.
Another version claims that Triệu Thị Trinh was a nine-foot tall giantess who rode into battle upon a massive elephant with her pendulous breasts slung over her shoulders and the Chinese at the times exclaimed: "It would be easier to fight a tiger, than to fight the Lady Queen.". It was said that she could not stand even the tiniest bit of dirt so a Chinese general made his troops kick up lots of dust while naked making her flee in disgust so her small army lost upon which she committed suicide. [1]
Historical Controversy
There is some controversy concerning the existence of Triệu Thị Trinh. She is not mentioned in any Vietnamese historical records written before the late Lê Dynasty and she does not appear at all in any Chinese historical records. One example is the famous recorded speech Nguyễn Hue gave to his troops when the Manchu tried to invade Vietnam in 1788. It makes no mention of Trieu Thi Trinh:
"The Qing have invaded our country and occupied the capital city, Thang Long. In our history, the Trưng sisters fought against the Han, Đinh Tien Hoàng against the Song, Trần Hưng Đạo against the Yuan (Mongols), and Lê Lợi against the Ming. These heroes did not resign themselves to standing by and seeing the invaders plunder our country; they inspired the people to fight for a just cause and drive out the aggressors... The Qing, forgetting what happened to the Song, Mongols and Ming, have invaded our country. We are going to drive them out of our territory".
The Sanguozhi (Records of the Three Kingdoms) however does mention of a revolt in the commanderies of Jiaozhi (交趾, Viet: Giao Chỉ) and Jiuzhen (九真, Viet: Cửu Chân) in AD 248 , but there is no mention of Triệu Thị Trinh. Jiaozhi and Jiuzhen were two commanderies set up in North Vietnam. The revolt was put down by Lu Yin (陸胤), a minor Wu officer and junior relative of Lu Xun (陸遜). Here is an excerpt from Lu Yin's Sanguozhi biography concerning about the revolt in 248 AD:
"In the 11th year of Chiwu (赤烏) [248], in Jiaozhi (交趾), Jiuzhen (九真) rebels attacked Mo city which caused a great uproar. Lu Yin was given rank of the Inspector of Jiaozhou . He took his troops and entered the southern border and sent a kind letter to the rebels. He used his craftiness to convince them to accept his terms. Gao Liang (高良), the commander, and Huang Wu (黄武) with 3,000 men came out to surrender. Lu Yin now led the army south. He announced his sincerity to the southerners and he left behind money and valuables. The remaining rebels only had 100 men while Lu Yin's men was now numbering 50,000 [including the people he won over to his side]. The rebels were unruly and deeply secluded. There was no one who didn’t kowtow so the territory was handed over peacefully. At once Lu Yin was given the rank of General who Tranquilizes the South. Again he was sent on a punitive expedition against the rebels in Cang Wu (蒼梧). He defeated them quickly. From start to finish Lu Yin's military troops totaled 8,000. Lu Yin then helped to plant crops and kept the people fed."
Some historians believe that she is an obscure character that was not recorded in earlier history because her revolt was relatively short lived and was quickly put down by the equally obscure Lu Yin, or that her exploits were originally not as successful as they were later made out to be. Others also point to the striking similarities between Triệu Thị Trinh and the traditional Vietnamese account of the Trưng Sisters which has also been alleged by many to be a highly fictionalized account created during the same period. Nevertheless, most Vietnamese consider her to be a real historical figure and revere her as a heroine of Vietnam. She appears in many modern Vietnamese history books.
Impact
The stories of the Triệu Thị Trinh and of other famous women warriors, the Trưng Sisters, 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.
Triệu Thị Trinh is a greatly celebrated Vietnamese heroine and many streets are named after her in Vietnamese cities. She also has a national holiday dedicated to her, and a part of Hanoi with her name.