Phùng Hưng (馮興, ? – 789/791) was a chief and military leader who briefly reigned over

Protectorate General to Pacify the South Annan () was the southernmost administrative division of the Tang dynasty and Wu Zhou dynasty of China from 679 to 866, located in modern-day Vietnam. Annam is the Vietnamese form of the Chinese name Annan, which means "the Pacified South" o ...

during the 8th century. According to ''

Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư The ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' ( vi-hantu, 大越史記全書; ; ''Complete Annals of Đại Việt'') is the official national chronicle of the Vietnamese state, that was originally compiled by the royal historian Ngô Sĩ Liên under ...

'' (fascicle 6), Phùng Hưng, a native of Đường Lâm (in today's

Hà Tây Province Hà Tây () was a former province of Vietnam, in the Red River Delta, now part of Hanoi. On May 29, 2008 the decision was made to subsume the province into the city of Hanoi. The merger took place on August 1, 2008. The name of the province wa ...

), was rich and possessed prodigious physical strength. In 791, Phùng Hưng and his brother, Phùng Hải, led a rebellion against the ruling Chinese

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

. Taking the advice of Đỗ Anh Hàn, the Phùng brothers laid siege to the headquarters of the Annam Protectorate, which was managed by the corrupt officer, Cao Chính Bình (Gao Zhengping). Facing the crisis, Cao Chính Bình caught an illness and died shortly after. Phùng Hưng then became ruler of the Protectorate. He ruled for 11 years and was succeeded by his son Phùng An. Phùng Hưng was entitled Bố Cái Đại Vương by his son, and was defied by the people. Phùng Hưng is not mentioned in Tang works of history. In '' Tang Shu'' (fascicle 13) and '' Xin Tang Shu'' (fascicle 7), the rebellion is said to have been led by

Đỗ Anh Hàn Đỗ Anh Hàn ( Hán tự: 杜英翰; ? – 791), known in Chinese as Du Yinghan (Wade–Giles: ''Tu Ying-han'') was a chief in Phong, Tang Annan, in late 8th century who with Phùng Hưng led a revolt against the Tang dynasty during the Third ...

. As to his posthumous title, which means “Great King” in Chinese, Phùng Hưng's title represented two Viet Han words. The title ''Bố Cái'' is equivalent to “Father and Mother” (i.e. as respectable as one's parents), but they may also represent ''Vua Cái'', “Great King” (i.e. the meaning is expressed in two different languages).DeFrancis, John ''Colonialism and Language Policy in Viet Nam ''. The Hague: Mouton, p. 21-22.

References

Vietnamese revolutionaries 8th-century Vietnamese people 8th-century rulers in Asia Vietnamese monarchs Tang dynasty rebels {{Vietnam-mil-bio-stub