Vietnams 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. Ngô Quyền (吳權; March 12, 897 - 944) (r. 939-944) was a Vietnamese prefect and general during the Southern Han Dynasty occupation of Giao Chu in the Red River Valley in what is now northern Vietnam. In 938, he soundly defeated the Chinese at the famous Battle of Bạch Đằng River north of modern Haiphong and ended 1,000 years of Chinese domination dating back to 111 BC under the Han Dynasty.