-^-for posterity-^-

vietnamese folklore:

in every vietamese city, the street names are the same. they all commemorate someone who is either a legendary hero or a revolutionary hero. the street i live on, vo thi sau, is named after a woman who fought against the americans. i'm going to tell the story of the trung sisters. throughout vietnam streets are named 'hai ba trung' or the two trung sister's.

vietnam had been suffering under the harsh rule of the chinese around 40 ad. the chinese were mean conqueres and used their power to rape and pillage the land. there was much resistance and the resistance of the trung sisters is legendary and very matriarchal.

the sisters were daughters of very powerful lords. they lived well and didn't experience the brunt of the chinese rule. they lived at a time when lots of vietnamese women enjoyed unique freedoms at such an early point in history. women could inhered property through their mothers, become political leaders, judges and warriors.

the legend goes on to talk about how the trung sisters gained the support of the general public. one story talks about the sisters going out and killing a man-eating tiger. they took teh skin of the tiger and wrote a proclamation urging people to resist the chinese occupation.

the two sisters gathered an army of around 80,000 people to fight against the chinese. the two sisters chose the 36 generals to lead the army. all of these generals were women including the girl's mother. this army drove the chinese out of vietnam.

one of the sisters then went on to become the she-king of vietnam. during her rule she abolished the much hated tribute tax which had been imposed upon them by the chinese. she also restored a simpler form of government more in line with historic vietnamese culture.

over the next few years, the trung sisters engaged in battles with the chinese. they were out-armed and outnumbered and eventually were defeated in 43 ad. rather than accept defeat, the two sisters committed suicide.