Vietnam's millennium of foreign occupation ended in 939 when the great Vietnamese general Ngo Quyen drove out the Chinese and proclaimed himself King Ngo Vuong. In a move clearly designed to emphasise the restoration of national independence; he transferred the capital from the fortress at Dai La back to Co Loa; capital of the first free Viet Kingdom of Au Lac.

Ng?Quy?n (??; March 12; 897 - 944) (r. 939-944) was a Vietnamese prefect and general during the Southern Han Dynasty occupation of Giao Ch鈛 in the Red River Valley in what is now northern Vietnam. In 938; he soundly defeated the Chinese at the famous Battle of B?ch ?ng River north of modern Haiphong and ended 1;000 years of Chinese domination dating back to 111 BC under the Han Dynasty. Pictures From Asia David Henley