Chinese domination of Vietnam

The Chinese domination of Vietnam (Vietnamese: bắc thuộc, "belonging to the North") began in 111 BC, and is usually considered to have ended in 938 AD. A fourth, relatively brief, 20-year punitive invasion by the Ming dynasty, 400 years later, is usually excluded by historians in discussion of the main, almost continuous, period of Chinese colonization from 111 BC to 938 AD.