When Lady Trieu, or Ba Trieu, was 19 years old, she raised an army and led a rebellion against China’s Eastern Wu Dynasty many centuries ago.
At the time, the Eastern Wu Dynasty ruled Vietnam with a heavy hand. Lady Trieu became a legend in Vietnam after going to war, fighting oppression, and showing great strength and bravery.
Lady Trieu was born sometime around 225 C.E. to a family of high status in northern Vietnam. She was possibly orphaned as a toddler and was raised by an older brother.
In 226, the Wu decided to depose the local rulers of Vietnam and killed more than 10,000 Vietnamese people. According to legend, Lady Trieu’s brother tried to stop her from becoming a warrior and wanted her to get married instead.
However, she refused to relegate herself to being a simple housewife. She was determined to take back her homeland.
Some say that Lady Trieu killed her sister-in-law and fled to a nearby mountain. Either way, she trained for months, gathered up an army, and led her troops north from the Cu-Phong District to attack the Chinese.
Over the next two years, she defeated Wu forces in 30 battles, riding on her elephant and wearing a suit of gold armor, one sword in each hand.
She gained the title “The Lady General Clad in Golden Robe.” Chinese sources did document a large uprising in Vietnam, but did not mention that it was headed by a woman.
The Taizu Emperor of Wu resolved to finally squash Lady Trieu and her army in 248 C.E. He sent troops to the Vietnamese frontier and began offering bribes to the Vietnamese to try to turn them against the rebels.
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Several months later, Lady Trieu was defeated. She was killed in the final battle. She was only around 22 or 23 years old. Other versions of the story claimed that she had jumped into a river and taken her own life.
After her death, she became a legend in Vietnam. She inspired people not to give up on their country. As the years passed, Lady Trieu evolved to be superhuman in the folktales. She was reportedly nine feet tall and had a voice as loud as a temple bell.
Long after she died, she was said to have appeared in the dreams of Vietnamese revolutionaries, guiding them and encouraging them to keep fighting.
Later, the Ly Dynasty built a temple in honor of Lady Trieu. Today, many streets in Vietnamese cities are named after her, and there is even a national holiday to celebrate her courage and fortitude.
In the mid-15th century, the Vietnamese government tried to erase Lady Trieu from history. This was when Vietnam accepted the teachings of Confucius, which states that women are inferior to men. However, the memory of Lady Trieu has persisted even after all these years.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
