---
node: chinese_domination
type: period
slug: chinese_domination_of_vietnam
title: "Chinese domination period"
lead: "From 111 BC to AD 938 the Vietnamese lands were governed as Chinese commanderies and provinces — the era Vietnamese historiography calls Bac thuoc, the northern subjection. Chinese institutions took root while Vietnamese language and customs persisted."
published: 2026-07-09
updated: 2026-07-09
---

## Overview

Han conquest in 111 BC opened a millennium in which the region was administered as Chinese commanderies and provinces. Chinese administration, writing, and Confucian-Buddhist culture took root, while the Vietnamese language and local customs persisted beneath them.

## Key developments

The era was punctuated by famous risings: the Trung Sisters (AD 40–43), Lady Trieu (248, in the traditional account), and Ly Bi, whose short-lived state of Van Xuan lasted from 544 to 602. The administrative record and the record of resistance both stand as plain facts of the period.

## End and transition

As Tang power weakened in the late ninth and early tenth centuries, the way opened for local rule. In 938 Ngo Quyen destroyed a Southern Han fleet at the Bach Dang River and proclaimed himself king in 939 — the start of lasting independence.