DIALECTICS OF NATIONAL VALUES AND WORLD VALUES -
THE CASE OF VIETNAM
Pham
Minh Hac
Institute
of Human Studies, Hanoi, Vietnam
A
Vietnam is a South East country with an area of 326,000 km2 and a population of
about 80 million with 54 familial ethnic groups. Vietnam has to conduct many
wars for the national liberation and such cause was completed in 1975: for its
independence in 1945, for the liberation of its North in 1954 and for the
liberation of its South in 1975 with, then, the reunification of its whole
country. In 1986, the Doi Moi (Renovation) of the country started: the
bureaucratic subsidy-based economy has been changing into the development of a
socialism-oriented market economy; important performances have been got in
economy, culture, education, … opening a new perspective to the reconstruction
of the country.
1-
Vietnam's Culture, Vietnam's Civilization
The
Vietnamese Culture is crystallized throughout the history of formation and
development of the Vietnamese people; it is a continual course of development.
Man appeared fairly early on the territory of Vietnam: traces of the
Homo-erectus found in Lang Son, Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces; the Son Vi
Culture about 23,000 years ago in the late Old Stone Age and the Hoa Binh
Culture about 6 to 10 thousand years ago in the early New Stone Age with the
Homo-sapiens who knew sharpening their stone tools, making pottery, taming
vegetation and animals - this is called New Stone Age Culture; they could, for
several thousand recent years - the Bronze Age Culture, make tools, weapons,
jewelry from bronze, this is the beginning of water paddy and breeding. Vietnam
has now the Cultures of Dong Son (in the North), Sa Huynh (in the Center), Dong
Nai (in the South-east), Oc Eo (in the South-west),… The Dong Son Culture
which is known with well-known brass drums was formed in about 700 years BC. The
nation of Vietnam was then formed, spreading from the Vietnamo-Chinese border to
the Gianh River. It was the nation of Hung's Kings and it was then called Au Lac
which was formed in the 3rd century BC. The Vietnamese Culture, Vietnamese
Civilization of this time were reflected in the folklore and several art works
that remain today. Even during this time, the Chinese regarded our country as a
civilization with its good morals and customs, deeply impregnated culture,
beautiful objects and outstanding talents (1).
The
Hai Ba Trung's insurrection in 40-43 is a great landmark in the growing up of
the national awareness. After more than 10 centuries of struggle, Vietnam could
again regain its dependence in the 10th century with the victory by Ngo Quyen
and Le Hoan. 10 centuries of fighting against assimilation for the preservation
of its national identity as well as for its dependence, raised the Vietnam's
Culture of its familial minorities to a new height from the 11th century (the Ly
dynasty).
From
the 11th to the 14th century under the dynasties of Ly (1009-1225) and Tran
(1226-1400), Vietnam became a powerful nation with a developed economy and its
own culture. A new high summit of the Vietnamese Culture was marked by Le Loi -
Nguyen Trai with Binh Ngo Dai Cao (Public Notice of Victory upon Ngo invaders
(1428)) as a declaration of independence, then by Le Thanh Ton, Nguyen Binh
Khiem, great landmarks in the development of the Vietnamese humanity, humanism
and philanthropy. The 16th, 17th and 18th centuries are the epoch of cultural
integration of the North with the Center and the Cuu Long River Delta (Oc Eo
Culture) with a new summit of Nguyen Hue's victory upon invaders for
independence. The national culture was still inherited and developed in the 19th
century with a great deal of great thinkers, men of culture such as Nguyen Du,
Le Quy Don, Nguyen Dinh Chieu and in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with
Phan Chau Trinh, Phan Boi Chau and many other outstanding poets and writers (2).
A
new summit of culture and civilization of Vietnam, epoch of defending the
country and developing the community of 54 ethnic groups, is the culture of Ho
Chi Minh Epoch - that of "National Independence and Socialism" (since
1945).
2-
World-wide acknowledged
-
During ancient times, Chinese esteemed Vietnam as a civilization with good
morals and fine customs, deeply impregnated culture, beautiful objects and
outstanding talents (1).
-
In his work "Study of History" (1972), Arnold Toynbee said that there
were 31 civilizations in the world in which Vietnam was among satellite ones
(3).
-
Even French authors, in a lot of their works, had a long ago come to such
conclusion: "… they (Vietnamese - P.M.H), though very poor, still refused
to live meanly, though trying to rush in for a too small interest and to accept
unwillingly a job,… with a meager remuneration, still built a corresponding
and reasonable civilization that could not be found in much more developed
countries, that could match with all great classic cultures" (4).
-
In their works on Vietnamese history, some American scholars just recently
starting study on Vietnam recognized that there was "a really Vietnamese
history", "a Vietnamese national identity", "a Vietnamese
spirit" (5).
It
it true that in the humanity exists a Vietnamese Culture, a Vietnamese
Civilization.
3-
Vietnamese cultural identity
The
national identity implies the national spirit, the national soul, the national
aptitude, the national characteristics, the national mentality, the national
customs. It is, in brief, the indigenous power of the Vietnamese nation and
people that has its deep roots, ensuring the ever-lasting existence of ethnic
groups living on the territory of Vietnam.
-
There are different arguments on the Vietnamese identity. For example, in Prof.
Tran Van Giau's opinion, the Vietnamese mentality covers 7 values: patriotism,
diligence, heroism, creativeness, optimism, charity and devotion (6). However,
most of Vietnamese culturologists, from Nguyen Van Huyen (1944) up to now (7),
have insisted that the essential of the Vietnamese identity is the communization
of family-village-country. And the Vietnamese national spirit has been developed
to reach summits of the patriotism and the heroism brilliantly showed in its 15
resistances against invaders which are considered by many culturologists and
politicians as a symbol of the spirit of national independence in the epoch of
national liberation. Such community, such national spirit relied on the
tradition of charity and devotion with a tolerant and open-hearted behavior.
They are basic factors in the Vietnamese present system of values that ensure
the ever-lasting existence of the Vietnamese nation and people. This shows the
dialectics of the traditional and the modern.
-
Another outstanding feature that takes part in the definition of the Vietnamese
cultural identity is its language and writing. For long ago, the Viet language
and Viet character have been used as common language and common writing of all
nationalities living on the territories of Vietnam. The Viet character appeared
in the 13th - 15th centuries and it was then the Nom that took strokes of
Chinese character to write sounds of the language of the Viets who were in
majority in Vietnam. The Viet character would be then written in Latin alphabet
called Quoc Ngu (National Language) and marked with the dictionaries
Portugala-Annam(before 1647), Annam- Lutitan- Latin (1651). Together with the
development of its writing, the Viet language in general became more and more
developed and improved, especially after the August Revolution (1945) with the
Quoc Ngu character and Viet language to be used at all levels of education and
all subjects, even in universities. This shows the high standard of development
of the Vietnamese Culture and Civilization and the rich creativity of the
Vietnamese spirit. As long as the Viet language and the Viet character are used,
our country and Vietnamese Culture exist and the nation perpetually exists with
the culture. So did our ancestors say and this is for us to further affirm
today. The Quoc Ngu is an important factor that has built, consolidated and
promoted the unity of 54 fraternal ethnic groups in the Vietnam nation.
-
The national identity is also showed in the fact that Vietnam could affirm by
itself its culture, making its sustainable existence. In this case of Vietnam,
this has been found evidently through the history of some thousands years of the
Vietnamese Culture in contact with other countries' culture such as South-east
Asian Culture, Chinese Culture, Indian Culture, French and Western-Europe
Culture, former Soviet Union and Eastern-Europe Culture, Vietnam has never been
assimilated but could absorb the other's quintessence and one may say that
Vietnam could vietnamize, apply creatively what it received to its circumstance
and make it its own. This is the ability of
acculturation. French authors wrote: "The permanent interest the
Vietnamese Culture let found is that it never receives exotic factors (from
India, China or the West) without making them bearing its own mark, this is an
assurance that such culture is strong enough to resist every pressure from
outside…" These authors wanted to say that the Vietnamese Culture could
assert itself its own culture factors, as said Rabindranath Tagore: "It is
not resist against Western Culture but to receive and really absorb it, using it
as nutrition without making it a burden, mastering this culture but not living
outside it…" (8). An American researcher also had nearly same comments on
Vietnamese spirit: the fusion of some aspects of the Chinese Culture, not simply
by an imitation or even by compulsory assimilation but by a reception and
marriage with Chinese ethnic minority people, those in their turn, would absorb
and Vietnamese to much larger extent than local people (9). This feature shows
clearly the dialectics of the indigenous values and the values of the mankind.
-
A feature of the Vietnamese cultural identity is manifested in the spiritual
life of the Vietnamese: in the family, it is the ancestral worship, in the
village it is the cult of tutelary god (of those who had merit of building or
defending the village), in the whole country it is the cult of King Hung (of
those who had merit of founding the country, the 10th of March, the anniversary
of death of the King Hung is taken as the national ceremony). In several
localities in the country, there are temples to national heroes with a not great
proportion of the population having Buddhist temples or catholic churches,…
and various rituals of each ethnic group or region. And today, Ho Chi Minh, a
hero of the national liberation and a world cultural celebrity (honored by
UNESCO in 1990) "Symbolizes meaning and value…, an essential component of
living tradition, and hence a touch stone for the culture of the nation (10).
The Ho Chi Minh thoughts and morals are very important components in the system
of value, the scale of values, the measure of values and the orientation of
values of the society and people of Vietnam today (11). Shortly, in the cultural
quintessence of the mankind exists the Vietnamese cultural identity. This shows
the dialectics of the common and the specific.
4- National cultural identity, absorbing cultural quintessence of the mankind. The diversity in the unity, the unity in the diversity.
Since
1986, Vietnam has adopted the policy of Doi Moi (Renovation) - a new summit of
the materialist dialects that takes the economic development as the focus of the
unity with the social development not simply the growth of income per capita as
its main target but the promotion of culture and civilization to a new height,
the raise of living quality together with living standard with a view of
sustainable human growth as its supreme objective. Vietnam has defined the
culture as a fundamental aspect of the society - politic, economic, social and
cultural and these four aspects should be of equal value. In the epoch of Doi
Moi, the cultural policy adopted by the Government was raised to meet the time:
culture for development, culture being objective and motive force of the
socio-economic development, taking the culture as the regulating system of the
socio-economic development.
The
Article No 30 of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (2001)
has oriented the cultural development to inherit and to develop values of the
culture of ethnic groups in Vietnam in absorbing the cultural quintessence of
the mankind. The present cultural policy of the Vietnamese Government is to
build and to promote an advanced culture rich of national identity, taking it as
an effective way for the development of the country under the policy of
open-door and integration and also as the way of approaching international
relations in the globalization. As we all know, the Vietnamese history has
passed through 15 wars and lots of annual natural calamities; the solidarity of
54 ethnic groups, a feature of the precious tradition, is a decisive factor for
every victory upon enemy, regaining and preserving the national independence -
the nation, overcoming calamities for the survival as well as for the progress
of the society.
The
Vietnamese Government and people always insist on the solidarity, support and
cooperation with government and people of countries in the world, taking it as
an important factor for their victory in the war and in the socio-economic
development. Results of the survey of national values conducted in 1992-1995:
4,887 people of 7 social groups were examined and the world values survey (WVS)
conducted in 2000 with more than 1,000 people throughout the country, most of
respondents esteemed general values of the mankind such as peace, solidarity,
cooperation among countries, nations, mutual respect as well as national
cultural values such as patriotism, national independence and familial values in
the time of Doi Moi; personality values. Such willing was generalized into
cultural direction: building and developing a culture rich of national
identity in combination with absorbing cultural quintessence of the mankind, taking
the culture as objective and motive force, regulation system of the
socio-economic development, this direction shows the Vietnamese dialectics
today.
Realizing such direction, pursuing the tradition of solidarity of ethnic
groups and the Ho Chi Minh Thoughts, the Vietnamese Government has formulated
the principle of "diversity in unity and unity in diversity":
"The Vietnamese Culture is a culture both unified and diversified in the
Vietnamese community of ethnic groups. More than 50 ethnic groups living in our
country have their own values and cultural colors that complete each other,
enriching the Vietnamese Culture and consolidating the national unity to be the
foundation for maintaining the equality and promoting the cultural diversity of
the fraternal ethnic groups" (12). The common and the specific always exist
in such dialectical relation.
This principle has been well perceived in every region and by all ethnic
groups, especially during 10 recent years, creating the base to assert that as
regards the state-nation, culture is the fruit and the manifestation of unity;
as regards the relation between ethnic groups and state-nation, culture is the
fruit and the manifestation of diversity. The people's cultural life always
shows the dialectics between unity and diversity, diversity and unity.
The cultural diversity takes root from the biological diversity,
ecological diversity, lingual diversity, group diversity, social diversity,
individual diversity,… from which the culture is shaped, the culture creative,
the creation is diverse. We should, therefore, respect all cultures, understand
and learn mutually between cultures, that is dialogue with each other; peoples
and cultures should meet each other (George F. Mc Lean, 1991) but not in
confronting, not in conflicting and not imposing values of this people's culture
on another. Let's together build and develop our own culture rich of national
identity at the same time cultivate, preserve, reinforce common values of the
mankind's culture. We have been, in Vietnam, doing so, taking it as our way to
the target of wealthy population, powerful country, just, democratic and
civilized society in which every people lives in prosperity, freedom and
happiness.
1-
Brief of DaiViet History, anonym, 1377-1388
2-
Dao Duy Anh, The historical thesis on Vietnam culture, 1938
Nguyen
Van Huyen, Vietnam civilization, 1944 (in french)
Phan
Huy Le, The process of Vietnation establishment and development, Publisher The
gioi, Hanoi, 1999a
3-
Arnold Toynbee, The Study of History, Vietnamese version, Publisher The gioi,
Hanoi, 2002, p.65
4-
Pierre Huard, Maurin Durand, Knowledge of Vietnam, French version, 1954,
Vietnamese version, Publisher Khoa hoc xa hoi, Hanoi, 1999, p. 8
5-
Stephen O'Harrow, The problem of Vietnam history, Journal Xua va Nay, Publisher
Tre, Hochiminh City, 2001, pp. 42-44-45
6-
Tran Van Giau, Spiritual traditionls of Vietnam nation , Publisher Khoa hoc xa
hoi, Hanoi, 1980
7-
Pham Van Dong, Culture and renovation, Publisher Chinh tri quoc gia, Hanoi,
1995, p. 24
Pham
Minh Hac, Cultural development, preserve and reinforce the nation values in
combination with absobing cultural quintessence of the mankind, Publisher Khoa
hoc xa hoi, Hanoi, 1996, pp. 34-40a
8-
See (4), pp. 10-11a
9-
See (5), p. 45
10-
George F. Mc Lean, Meeting of Cultures-meeting of peoples in "Relations
between Cultures", Washington, 1991, p.27
11-
Pham Minh Hac, Human adn human resouces studies, Publisher Chinh tri quoc gia,
Hanoi, 2001, pp. 130-139
Pham
Minh Hac, Vietnam education towards the XXI Century, Publisher Chinh tri quoc
gia, Hanoi, 1998, 2002, pp. 303-311
12-
Documents of fifth conference of Party Central Commettee (VIII term), Publisher
Chinh tri quoc gia, Hanoi, 1998,
p.57