Week One --- Vue

Sabrina Vue

        From last week’s readings, the article that I enjoyed the most was the one by Sucheng Chan called “Vietnam before the Mid-nineteenth Century.” I was very surprised to learn that the Vietnamese had dynasties in its history. I was amazed at how many times the Chinese would conquer Vietnam only to lose it back to the Vietnamese. I also really admire and respect the Vietnamese for having so much hope and pride to keep fighting against the Chinese despite their continuous losses. The battle that made the most impression on me was the Trung Sisters, Trung Trac and Trung Nhi. I was amazed at how these two strong women led an army against the Chinese in 39 C.E. and won. Creating their own kingdom and having one of the sisters, Trung Trac, as queen, or ruler. When I read about the sisters and how they are well known in Vietnamese history, I was really shocked that their actions were even recorded. Since from my own experiences, Southeast Asians cultures do not value women. However, I was very displeased with the rumor that said the sisters husbands were killed by the Chinese. Since I felt this was trying to indicate that the sisters only fought out of anger because they lost their husbands and that if it was not for such incident, they would not have been capable of leading an army against the Chinese. But overall, I am just grateful that these two women, the Trung Trac and Trung Nhi, are respected for their actions and for making major differences in Vietnamese history.

Trung Sisters