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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History class from how

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Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello and welcome to the podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'm Katie Lambert and I'm Sarah Dowdy. And if you

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Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter a missed in History or you're

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Speaker 1: a Facebook fan of ours. I put up an opinion

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Speaker 1: poll the other day asking one if you would marry

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Speaker 1: a dragon lord and two if you would bear him

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Speaker 1: one hundred eggs. There was a reason for that. People

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Speaker 1: were very opinionated about it for one thing, weren't they.

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Speaker 1: But there are a lot of egg opinions, yes, pro

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Speaker 1: and anti egg. You know, if your country's origin mythology

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Speaker 1: includes dragon lords and dynasties that start with the hatching

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Speaker 1: of one hundred sons from one hundred eggs, you have

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Speaker 1: to do something pretty impressive to stand out in history, right, well,

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Speaker 1: like strap on your golden armor, rebel against your Chinese

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Speaker 1: overlords and for your country. Well for why for a while.

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Speaker 1: So our subjects today are the Chung Sisters in their

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Speaker 1: first century Vietnamese heroines and according to Women in History,

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Speaker 1: which was this great brand new multi volume set of

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Speaker 1: encyclopedia as I found at my local library to check

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Speaker 1: it out, they are considered models and inspiration for centuries

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Speaker 1: of Vietnamese resistance against foreign occupation, so pretty tall order,

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Speaker 1: they're right, so why were they rebelling? And to understand that,

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Speaker 1: we have to go way back, although not quite all

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Speaker 1: the way back to those one dred eggs, and instead

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Speaker 1: we'll start with the last member of the egg founded

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Speaker 1: line of kings, the Home dynasty, which supposedly prevailed for

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Speaker 1: centuries until the warlord took Fun overthrew the Home king

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Speaker 1: in either two eight or two fifty seven b C.

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Speaker 1: And took Fun forms a new kingdom and calls it

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Speaker 1: oh Lack. And it's not that long before this kingdom

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Speaker 1: becomes part of a larger kingdom called non viet which

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Speaker 1: is ruled by a former Chinese general. And it's kind

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Speaker 1: of interesting here, but this is where mythology, the the

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Speaker 1: line that descends from those eggs meats recorded history. So

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Speaker 1: despite being Chinese and despite ruling from near Guangjo, the

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Speaker 1: general adopts the native people's customs, so this isn't quite

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Speaker 1: Chinese rule yet, We're going to get to that later.

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Speaker 1: This is this is still an independent kingdom until one

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Speaker 1: eleven b C, when after one years of trouble with

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Speaker 1: the Chinese. Non Viat is finally conquered by the Han Emperor.

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Speaker 1: The Vietnamese remain under Chinese control for ten centuries, always

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Speaker 1: trying to assert themselves and regain their independence. So giving

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Speaker 1: you some more information about the Chinese rule, which is

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Speaker 1: where our story will be set. The Chinese split up

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Speaker 1: the empire into nine military districts, and they do a

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Speaker 1: lot of work to modernize the country, building roads, building

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Speaker 1: harbors and waterways, and they introduced some new useful things

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Speaker 1: for the people, new forms of agriculture, new weaponry, and

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Speaker 1: they don't meddle too much with the local administration, at

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Speaker 1: least at first, so there's there's not that much trouble initially.

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Speaker 1: They're letting the local feudal lords do their ruling just

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Speaker 1: like they had before in the Non Viat kingdom, and

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Speaker 1: they're not trying to make the people Chinese think of

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Speaker 1: this more as a Chinese protectorate. And that lasts until

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Speaker 1: the first century a d. When the Han emperors decide

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Speaker 1: they want more control because this country has some precious

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Speaker 1: resources forests, metals, ivory, pearls, and lots of people who

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Speaker 1: they can tax and make work. But most of all,

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Speaker 1: they want control over the Red River Delta because international

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Speaker 1: trade is picking up and the Chinese want to have

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Speaker 1: control over the resources and the ports. Yeah. So at

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Speaker 1: this point, the Chinese start going about trying to make

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Speaker 1: the Vietnamese people Chinese people. So imagine, it's take our religion,

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Speaker 1: learn our language, follow our customs. Some of this it's

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Speaker 1: okay for your average person, but as a whole people

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Speaker 1: don't go for it. And according to Encyclopedia Britannica, even

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Speaker 1: the educated Vietnamese who started to write only in Chinese

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Speaker 1: still speak their local language in private to these minor

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Speaker 1: acts of rebellion exactly, people, people are not into this.

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Speaker 1: But who is ready to rebel in a much bigger

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Speaker 1: way The Chung Sisters in a D thirty nine and

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Speaker 1: more specifically Chung Check and Chung Ye. So the Chung

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Speaker 1: sisters have a few bones to pick with the Chinese.

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Speaker 1: I would say they have two really good reasons to rebel,

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Speaker 1: and namely their daughters of the nobility and their women.

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Speaker 1: So starting with the nobility point, the sisters are members

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Speaker 1: of the landed aristocracy. They're born in may Lang and

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Speaker 1: their father is a lack lord who's a sort of

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Speaker 1: feudal lord. Their mother is supposedly descended from that Dragon

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Speaker 1: Lord line of kings, so they're very fancy ladies, and

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Speaker 1: they've been trained up to be independent and patriotic and martial,

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Speaker 1: good at good at Dragon r exactly. So the Chinese

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Speaker 1: are obviously clamping down on this landed aristocracy. These are

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Speaker 1: the people who hold the power, and who have held

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Speaker 1: the power for a long time. So they placed Chinese

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Speaker 1: officials in charge, and they pile on taxes. And obviously

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Speaker 1: this is not popular with the lords. And the second

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Speaker 1: reason has to do with their gender. Right, these these

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Speaker 1: policies meant subordinating women, because women had very different places

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Speaker 1: in Vietnamese society than they did in Chinese society. Um

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Speaker 1: For example, in Vietnamese society, they had legal rights. They

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Speaker 1: could take these civil service exam and become bureaucrats or

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Speaker 1: judges or work in trade, and they could inherit property.

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Speaker 1: After Chinese control, a woman's property belonged to her husband,

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Speaker 1: and if the couple didn't have a son, the husband

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Speaker 1: was free to take another wife. I wouldn't stand for

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Speaker 1: that either. So these are obviously some good reasons for

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Speaker 1: the Chung sisters too. I feel like maybe you're rebelling

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Speaker 1: a bit. Well, then things get personal. That's when Chung

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Speaker 1: Check's husband Tsak, who is a chieftain and actually a

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Speaker 1: son of a lack lord as well, is executed by

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Speaker 1: the Chinese governor after he protests yet another tax increase,

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Speaker 1: and his execution makes the local people very very angry,

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Speaker 1: and it makes Chung Check extremely angry. So angry she

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Speaker 1: doesn't have time from mourning, she takes off the traditional

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Speaker 1: morning headdress, skips through the prescribed morning rights, and along

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Speaker 1: with her younger sister, she starts stirring up the nobles

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Speaker 1: and the peasants. Enough is enough, and she writes an oath,

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Speaker 1: which Sarah will read for you. I swear first to

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Speaker 1: avenge the nation, second to restore the Hung's former position, third,

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Speaker 1: to have revenge from my husband. Fourth to carry through

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Speaker 1: to the end of our common task. And remember this

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Speaker 1: is a descendant of a dragon lord, so listen up.

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Speaker 1: She's for real. So the sisters start organizing their army,

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Speaker 1: and they make it from both men and women, and

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Speaker 1: they trained thirty six women as general, including their own mother.

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Speaker 1: So this is a real family affair. One of the commanders,

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Speaker 1: this is just sort of a side note here to

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Speaker 1: give you an idea of what these women were like.

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Speaker 1: One of their commanders, who was a noble woman named

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Speaker 1: Fung Teaching, supposedly gives birth in the middle of a

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Speaker 1: battle keeps on fighting with her baby tied to her back.

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Speaker 1: So for real, I don't know, but still it's a

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Speaker 1: pretty good good story. Well, and how did everyone know

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Speaker 1: that the Chung sisters were legit? According to legend, Chung

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Speaker 1: Check killed a white tiger that no one else could kill,

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Speaker 1: the sword and the tiger, I guess to prove that

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Speaker 1: she was the woman for the job. And what should

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Speaker 1: you do with the skin, of course, but right your

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Speaker 1: rebellious proclamation right on it? Just imagining what if the

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Speaker 1: declaration of independence was written on a And if you

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Speaker 1: want to impress people, of course you have to go

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Speaker 1: all out. When Chung Checks, General till Hua asked if

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Speaker 1: the army could wear mourning clothes, she said absolutely not.

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Speaker 1: Morning could come after the governor is captured. So instead

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Speaker 1: she straps on her gold armor, which is carved with

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Speaker 1: the mailing bird, and puts on her belt trimmed with bells.

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Speaker 1: And supposedly the Chinese soldiers stop in their tracks when

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Speaker 1: they see her, which isn't that hard to believe, right,

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Speaker 1: So obviously the first target is going to be the

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Speaker 1: governor who killed Tea Suck. They attack his home and

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Speaker 1: he flees, and within the year, the Sisters and their

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Speaker 1: allies hold sixty five northern Citadels. They have an army

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Speaker 1: of eighty thousand, and they've defeated the occupying Chinese at Mailane.

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Speaker 1: In the year forty they jointly proclaimed themselves queens of

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Speaker 1: an independent state and rule for two years, freeing the

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Speaker 1: prisoners of the Chinese and giving away the governor's money.

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Speaker 1: But back in China, the emperor is getting ready to

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Speaker 1: take it all back. Obviously, the Chinese emperor is not

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Speaker 1: gonna stand for losing this valuable kingdom, so he puts

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Speaker 1: General ma Yuan in charge. And the general doesn't have

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Speaker 1: that much trouble reconquering the kingdom until he finally runs

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Speaker 1: into the Chung armies southwest of Mailang, and the Chinese,

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Speaker 1: of course have better trained troops and more supplies. Plus

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Speaker 1: the Chung Sisters don't have the same momentum that they

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Speaker 1: started out with. Some of the lords have left them

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Speaker 1: by this point, and so they're defeated near Hanoi, and

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Speaker 1: from there they're either caught by the Chinese and executed

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Speaker 1: or they drown themselves where the Day and the Red

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Speaker 1: Rivers meet in a d forty three. So after crushing

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Speaker 1: the rebellious sisters, the Han Emperor's obviously cracked down on

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Speaker 1: the people of Vietnam and for a time there are

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Speaker 1: only minor uprisings. We don't get our next major rebellion

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Speaker 1: for nearly two hundred years, and this time it's led

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Speaker 1: by Bachu, a nineteen year old noblewoman who is sometimes

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Speaker 1: called the Vietnamese Joan of Arc, But as we were

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Speaker 1: talking about earlier, maybe Joan of Arc should be called

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Speaker 1: the French to you, since this girl obviously pre dates

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Speaker 1: Joan of Arc. But in two forty eight she and

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Speaker 1: her brother raised an army of a thousand fighters, and

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Speaker 1: after her brother is killed in battle, she takes over,

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Speaker 1: fighting in her golden armor on an elephant's back. All

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Speaker 1: these all these women have golden I don't know where

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Speaker 1: they would like. So this resistance movement lasts for six

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Speaker 1: months before it too is crushed by the Chinese, and

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Speaker 1: um Ba to You also kills herself, but none of

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Speaker 1: the subsequent revolts really work much better than that. The

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Speaker 1: Chinese are very hard to get out of your country

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Speaker 1: once there there is occupying forces. So finally, in the

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Speaker 1: tenth century, just as the Tang dynasty that rules China's

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Speaker 1: starting to fall apart, we have a successful rebellion. No

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Speaker 1: Quinn defeats the Chinese at a battle on the Bekdong River,

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Speaker 1: and in nine thirty nine the Vietnamese achieve independence. So

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Speaker 1: what is the legacy of our famous sisters. The sisters

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Speaker 1: are revered, are revered today, and they were revered shortly

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Speaker 1: after their own deaths. Even they helped keep the spirit

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Speaker 1: of the people alive during that nearly thousand year long

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Speaker 1: period of Chinese occupation and during twentieth century conflicts in Vietnam.

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Speaker 1: They became cult figures. Today you'll see a street in

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Speaker 1: Saigon named for them, and people celebrate the anniversary of

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Speaker 1: their deaths, which is kind of another example of where

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Speaker 1: we guess that a country really like certain people, like

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Speaker 1: we did with King Ludwig. So if you have you know,

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Speaker 1: your own personal experience to share about how big the

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Speaker 1: Chunk Sisters are in Vietnam, please email us and let

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Speaker 1: us know. It's History podcast at how stepworks dot com.

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Speaker 1: And I would also like to thank my good friend

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Speaker 1: Tray for this. Oh yes, thank you Traying. She helped

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Speaker 1: coach us with very patiently Vietnamese pronunciations that we've made mistakes.

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Speaker 1: They are ours and not hers. It was nice to

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Speaker 1: have a real live friend of ours to help us

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Speaker 1: out because usually we're reduced to putting out a call

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Speaker 1: on our Facebook fan page or on our Twitter at

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Speaker 1: miss in History, which is pretty helpful too, exactly for help.

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Speaker 1: So if you're one of those people who's very good

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Speaker 1: at pronunciations of foreign languages, please follow us you may

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Speaker 1: be hearing from him. And we also have a good

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Speaker 1: quiz fee to take. This is where we found out

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Speaker 1: about the Chun Sisters called fact or Fiction Vietnam, which

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Speaker 1: you can find if you search our homepage at www

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Speaker 1: dot house stuff works dot com. For more on this

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Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot

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Speaker 1: com and be sure to check out the stuff you

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Speaker 1: missed in History Glass blog on the how stuff works

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