Notable Vietnamese

Triệu Thị Trinh, better known by the honorific Bà Triệu or Lady Triệu, was a Vietnamese warrior who resisted the Eastern Wu occupation of Vietnam in the 3rd century AD. Her fight against the Chinese occupation of her country, which had been annexed by the Han dynasty in the 2nd century BC, had some success in the short term but it remained part of China for a further seven centuries.

Vietnam was under Chinese sovereignty on and off for around 1,500 years. In 1428, Lê Lợi re-established the independent nation of Vietnam under his House of Lê. He was a guerilla leader who drove out the Ming Chinese armies but subsequently proved an astute politician by his diplomatic negotiations with the Ming court, promising loyalty to China in return for political independence. This is he.

Many years of tribal civil wars followed. But they inspired Vietnamese poets such as Nguyễn Du, Đặng Trần Côn and Hồ Xuân Hương. The latter's satirical and erotic oeuvre included such as:

[kids, skip to the end]

"My body is like a jackfruit swinging on a tree,
My skin is rough, my pulp is thick.
Dear prince, if you want me then pierce me upon your stick
Don't squeeze, i'll ooze and stain your hands."
("The Jackfruit")

Because I pitied, this happened,
I wonder if he knows?
Our match had not begun
When fate intervened.
The sin he will have to bear, for a hundred years -
Right now, love's burden is all mine.
("Premarital Pregnancy")

The modern history of this small. much maligned nation began with the oppression of Western Christian religious influence and resulted in French invasion and colonisation. Phan Đình Phùng was a Vietnamese revolutionary who led rebel armies against French colonial forces at the end of the 19th century and is regarded to this day as a revolutionary hero.

In World War II, Japanese invasion and a French Vichy government were overcome by the Allies but in September 1945 Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. His Viet Minh forces defeated the French in 1954. Twenty years of war followed, with first the French seeking to defend its interests and then the USA attempting to stop the spread of communism. Despite this pressure, the communists solidified control over the country and renamed Saigon, the previous South Vietnam capital, as Ho Chi Minh City.

After two thousand years of conflict, Vietnam is now a modern nation, a member of the United Nations since 1977 and currently a member of the UN Security Council. They have one of the fastest growing economies in South East Asia and a poverty rate below 6 per cent. Let's hope the next two thousand years will be peaceful and stable.