The Trung sisters death is a controversial issue, showing up at the center of many discussions and arguments between numerous historians and researchers. Trung sisters is the common name of Trung Trac and Trung Nhi – two Vietnamese national heroines leading the Me Linh uprising. These leaders marched against the Eastern Han Dynasty of China, founded a nation with its capital at Me Linh and proclaimed themselves Queen of the country. The Trung sisters were originally from the Lac family, a descendant of the general Lac, then Trung Trac married Thi Sach and the two families joined forces in preparing for the uprising.
Source: Dam Sen
Thi Sach was then killed, which sparked the rebellion against the Eastern Han Dynasty in 40 AD. However, there is also some information that Thi Sach actually fought in the uprising, only dying near the end of it, shortly after Trung sisters death. It shows that no matter what, the uprising will still break out, due to the deep hatred of the people for the oppression of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The momentum and strength of the Trung sisters’ army frightened the enemy, making mandarins, including To Dinh, did not dare to resist but fled back to their country. However, after the victory in AD 40, the Eastern Han Dynasty sent an elite army in AD 42, and in AD 43, the uprising was completely defeated and Trung sisters died.
The most common information today about Trung sisters death is that they committed suicide, because they did not want to be caught by the enemy. The controversy here is about the actual reason why they died. There are documents stating that because the Trung sisters were worried that the enemy would find their bodies and cut off their heads, they cut their own necks before drowning. Some people even think that Trung sisters had such magic, that they could hang themselves while jumping into the river. In general, most people and historians assume that Trung sisters commits suicide by jumping in the river, and not doing anything else.
In most of the official historical records of Vietnam, Trung sisters death is written as “failing to resist the Han army, so they committed suicide”. However, there are also historical sources saying that they did not commit suicide, but fought Ma Vien’s army until the end and were killed in the fight. Meanwhile, Chinese history records follow in the direction that the Trung sisters fled the battlefield to the Kim Khe area, then commanded their army to continue to resist for another 2 – 3 years before being killed. There are also documents that say that Trung sisters went to Hy Son mountain and disappeared, or only Trung Trac disappeared, or she died, while Trung Nhi collected the remnants of troops, continued to fight and died later.
The Trung sisters temple in Hanoi – Source: Redsvn
The time of Trung sisters death varied, but the truth is that the uprising still continued until the year 43. Regardless of whether it was commanded or not, the army was entrenched against the elite army led by Ma Vien. This is the point that shows that the Trung sisters rebellion was the crystallization of patriotism, the desire for independence and resistance to the cruelty of the Southern Han Dynasty. This event was the opening for countless fights to regain the country’s independence from the Vietnamese people later, opening a new history page for this country.
Although there are many different theories about the Trung sisters death, when it comes to this, most people are inclined to think that they threw themselves into the Hat Giang river and drowned. Another thing to think about is that because the Trung sisters died in battle, historians believe that the worship of the two heroines in temples and pagodas is also unique. In the temple of the Trung sisters, all worshiping objects are painted black, with absolutely no red paint, even the local people don’t dare to wear red clothes. When coming to the gathering or to pray, everyone who wears a red shirt would take it off, no one dares to offend the prohibition. Legend has it that the Trung sisters death was because of the war, so the people have to abstain from red, which resembles blood.
