Lady Triệu

In 226, Sun Quan sent 3,000 troops to reassert direct Chinese control over Jiaozhi and also to eradicate the Shi Xie family. Sun Quan's forces captured and beheaded Shi Hui along with all of his family, then stormed Jiuzhen and killed ten thousand of people, along with surviving members of Shi Xie's family.[3] Sun Quan divided Jiaozhi into two separated provinces, Chiao-chou and Kuangchou.[4] In 231, Eastern Wu again sent a general to Jiuzhen to "exterminate and pacify the barbarous Yueh tribes." The local Lac people, who were identified by Chinese as Yueh, had converted to Buddhism since the reign of Shi Xie.[5]

In 248, the people of Jiaozhi and Jiuzhen districts of Jiaozhou province rebelled against the Wu Chinese. A Lạc Việt woman named Triệu Ẩu in Jiuzhen led a rebellion, followed by a hundred Lac chieftains led fifty thousand families in her revolt.[6] Eastern Wu sent Lu Yin to deal with the rebels, and put Lady Trieu to death after several month of warfare.[7][8] Although Chinese records did not mention lady Trieu, she was described by Le Tac, a 13th-century Vietnamese scholar exiled in Yuan China in his Annan zhilue as a woman who had a yard-long breast and fought on a elephant in battle.[8] Keith Taylor argued that "the resistance of Lady Trieu was for them (Chinese) simply a kind of stubborn barbarism that was wiped out as a matter of course and was of no historical interest."[9]

The earliest mention of Trieu Thi Trinh can be found in the "Jiaozhou Ji"(交州记) written in the Jin dynasty, and collected in the Taiping Yulan .[13] In the book Vietnamese Tradition on Trial, 1920-1945 written by David G. Marr, an American Professor, told the story of Trieu Thi Trinh as follow: Trieu Thi Trinh was a 9-foot-tall (2.7 m) woman who had 3-foot-long (0.91 m) breasts. She also had a voice which sounded like a temple bell, and she could eat many rice pecks and walk 500 leagues per day. Moreover, Trinh had a beauty that could shake any man's soul. Because of repeated altercations, she killed her sister and went to a forest in which she gathered a small army and attacked the Chinese.[14] When her brother tried to persuade her from rebelling, she told him:

I only want to ride the wind and walk the waves, slay the big whales of the Eastern sea, clean up frontiers, and save the people from drowning. Why should I imitate others, bow my head, stoop over and be a slave? Why resign myself to menial housework?[14]

After hearing Trinh's words, her brother decided to join her. At first the Chinese underestimated Trinh for her being a female leader but after some encounters, they feared her because of her gaze.[14] Three centuries later, she still offered spiritual support for male Vietnamese opponent of the Chinese.[14] During the 11th century she was honored by the Ly court with a lot of posthumous titles.[14] During the Lê dynasty, Neo-Confucianism became Vietnam's national ideology and many scholars aggressively tried to bring the practices of Trieu Thi Trinh into conformity with Neo-Confucianism. Nevertheless, she survived all their manipulations.[14]

Most available information comes solely from Vietnamese sources that were written during or after the late Ming dynasty.[8] However, the Sanguozhi (Records of the Three Kingdoms), a classical Chinese historical account, does mention a rebellion at this time in the commanderies of Jiaozhi (交趾; Vietnamese: Giao Chỉ) and Jiuzhen (九真, Vietnamese: Cửu Chân):

In the 11th year of Chiwu (赤烏) [248] in Jiaozhi (交趾), Jiuzhen (九真) rebels attacked walled cities which caused a great uproar. Lu Yin (陸胤) [of Hengyang (衡陽)] was given rank of the Inspector of Jiaozhou by the Sovereign of Wu. He took his troops and entered the southern border and sent word to the rebels. He used his craftiness to convince them to accept his terms. [In] Gaoliang (高涼), the commander Huang Wu (黄吳) with 3,000 households came out to surrender. Lu Yin now led the army south to that region. He announced his sincerity [to the aborigines] and distributed gifts. The [remaining] 100 rebel leaders and 50,000 households, who had been unruly and unapproachable, kowtowed [to Lu Yin]. Thus 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 Cangwu (蒼梧). He defeated them quickly. From start to finish Lu Yin's military troops totaled 8,000. (Later commentaries also cited that Lu Yin then helped to plant crops and kept the people fed.)[15]

Keith W. Taylor, an American professor, explained these differences as following:

Chinese records do not mention Lady Trieu; our knowledge of her comes only from Vietnamese sources. From this it is evident that the events of 248 were remembered differently by the two sides. The Chinese only recorded their success in buying off certain rebel leaders with bribes and promises. The resistance led by Lady Trieu was for them simply a kind of stubborn barbarism that was wiped out as a matter of course and was of no historical interest. On the other hand, the Vietnamese remembered Lady Trieu's uprising as the most important event of the time. Her leadership appealed to strong popular instincts. The traditional image of her as a remarkable yet human leader, throwing her yard-long breasts over her shoulders when going into battle astride an elephant, has been handed down from generation to generation. After Lady Trieu's death, her spirit was worshipped by the Vietnamese. We owe our knowledge of her to the fact that she was remembered by the people.[8]

Triệu Thị Trinh is a greatly celebrated hero and many streets are named after her in Vietnamese cities (there are Bà Triệu streets in Huế, Hà Nội, Ho Chi Minh City, and several other cities).

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  View from outside of the gate of Bà Triệu Temple in Hậu Lộc District, Thanh Hóa Province
• 
  Statue of Bà Triệu inside the temple

On 21 January 2021, Firaxis Games revealed Lady Triệu as the leader of the Vietnamese civilization in the 4X strategy video game Civilization VI, in which she is known as Bà Triệu and has a leader ability that reflects her resistance against Eastern Wu.[16]

• History of Vietnam
• Trưng Sisters
• Bùi Thị Xuân