18. The Badass Warrior Sisters
Badass sisters Trung Nhi and Trung Trac (circa 12 AD – 43 AD) are Vietnam’s national heroines. Vietnam had been groaning under Chinese domination for about a century by the time the Trung sisters were born. Trung Trac, the older sister, was married to a Vietnamese nobleman who resisted Chinese hegemony, and objected to the heavy hand of a particularly oppressive Chinese governor.
For his troubles, Trung Trac’s husband was executed by the Chinese, as a warning to other Vietnamese. In response, the widow and her younger sister rose up in rebellion. The sisters led an independence movement and launched an uprising in 40 AD against Chinese domination of their country. Against great odds, they managed to break the Chinese yoke and established an independent Vietnamese state, which they ruled for three years.